You know you are getting old when......

You know you're getting old when an 'all nighter' means you sleep right through till morning without getting up for a pee.
 
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Yes I remember the carburettor, the distributor, and thermo syphon water circulation. I remember the guy teaching me had a washing machine water pump on his Morris 8 to make the cab heater work.

The dash board had a vacuum gauge to help you get fuel economy, and remember fitting a rotary atomiser to a Standard 8 to get better fuel economy during suez crisis, well not quite, I remember my dad fitting it.

My dad started with a new car, that Standard 8, 173 AFM wonder if still about? But I started with new Honda P50, but car wise an old Mini.

As a mechanic I worked on tractors and wagons, some car derived vans, but WWII stuff was still being used, an old Mack 6 x 6 with 12 foot snow plough, 6 volt electrics and 12 volt start petrol.

Still used an old Lister D type upload_2021-11-29_16-51-17.png with a water pump and remember the guy using it telling me head gasket had failed, he knew as it was tainting his tea, he actually used the cooling water to make his tea.

But old stuff lingers on, 1980 went to work in Algeria, and they still had 583 side booms (D8 converted) with 6 volt electrics and donkey engine start, lost £5 as said to store keeper no such thing as 8 volt battery, but seem CAT made them to get better lights, it came with instructions on how to reset the dynamo regulator for 8 volt.

Today at 70 still working on engines made 1902 by Beyer Peacock. Well Zillertal was one of two U-Class 0-6-2T locomotives was built in 1900, before the railway I work on was built. Never mind carburettors I am still working on steam. However have two 22 kW EV charging points outside our store window.

I was trained on Diesel engines which were designed for multi-fuel. Paraffin, petrol, diesel it did not matter, the Bedford TK would use whatever was available, Whiskey if you wanted. Although I can think of better uses.

That old P50 I ran on paraffin for a bet, 9:1 compression ratio, overhead cam and overhead valve, and could still run on paraffin once warm, won that £5. Who remembers TVO?
 
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I was trained on Diesel engines which were designed for multi-fuel. Paraffin, petrol, diesel it did not matter, the Bedford TK would use whatever was available, Whiskey if you wanted. Although I can think of better uses.
That old P50 I ran on paraffin for a bet, 9:1 compression ratio, overhead cam and overhead valve, and could still run on paraffin once warm, won that £5. Who remembers TVO?

Yes I do remember TVO though never experienced any machine using it.
The multi-fuel concept in military vehicles interests me, especially the different approach taken by the US & Russia (during the Soviet era)
 
Odd but it was a siemens pump which allowed the use of multi-fuel.
The DPA (distributor fuel injection pump - Lucas) was not able to handle multi-fuels.
The Bedford 300 and 330 cu inch engine both petrol and diesel were very similar to each other. QL, RL, and TK had so many common parts.
But it was the 1970's and to remember back 50 years not so easy.
 
We live in rural Dorset, TVO was alive and well until a few years ago. Still a lot of grey TVO fergies about.

Peter
 
Odd but it was a siemens pump which allowed the use of multi-fuel.
The DPA (distributor fuel injection pump - Lucas) was not able to handle multi-fuels.
The Bedford 300 and 330 cu inch engine both petrol and diesel were very similar to each other. QL, RL, and TK had so many common parts.
But it was the 1970's and to remember back 50 years not so easy.

'Ah yes the good 'ole RL, lovely truck & popular as a classic vehicle for those who are not fazed by sub 10mpg fuel consumption (y)
Unlike the former QL, which was/is too noisy & slow.
 
We live in rural Dorset, TVO was alive and well until a few years ago. Still a lot of grey TVO fergies about.

Peter
I remember TVO tractors when I was a kid on a farm. Fordson Majors and the older Standard Ford. We had some bad winters in late 1960s when the cars wouldn't start, we swung-started the Standard Ford and then towed the cars round the yard to start them. If I remember right the Fergies wouldn't run at all well on TVO. The Fords had serpentine heat-exchanger from the exhaust, which helped, but even they would only run properly if they were boiling.
The smell of jets taking off still brings back memories!
 
Oh yes, I remember it well. Starting diesels in the '50s was fun. I had fitted a brand new Perkins 4/99 engine into a Vauxhall Cresta (Perkins did kits to fit them into all popular cars) and even that wouldn't start, largely because the fuel waxed and wouldn't go through the filter and pipes.

Lorry drivers used to light a fire under the sump to enable them to start. Common sight, it worked though. We lived in Kent then which tended to get a lot colder than down here in the Westcountry.

Peter
 
Lorry drivers used to light a fire under the sump to enable them to start. Common sight, it worked though. We lived in Kent then which tended to get a lot colder than down here in the Westcountry.

I remember that too, quite common when it was really cold. Metal dish, filled with oil or paraffin, plus sawdust or rags to act as a wick.
 
Not remember them mixing petrol into the diesel tanks of lorries and buses in the winter '62/'63 to prevent them freezing?
 
This thread is starting to sound like an episode of 'Last of the Summer Wine' :whistle:

I too was kid in the 'fifties, don't remember seeing these antics taking place (no transport yards near where we lived) but I certainly heard of them.
I was a tipper driver in the early 'seventies & when it was really cold we'd get one truck fired up & then push-start the others, tailboard to tailboard. Some of the blokes were not that gentle & the TB's had the scars to prove it.

Fuel waxing was still a problem when I was on the tankers in the 'eighties. One model of the 'tractor units had the filters right at the back of the engine, thus unprotected by the cab & still waxed despite having additive in the fuel.
 
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