Back in the day what car would you buy

[Cav]

Originally Posted by marty351

The cops took down my details but I never heard any more about it, probably because I told them I was going into the Army in a week's time.

Cav's army photo.....[/QUOTE]

Bastard

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by mick taylor

My Father in law had a FB Grey motor with twin strombergs on it, I remember him saying that the body's were sleaved down from the std Grey throttle body's.

And my mate with the worked 202 had the 149 carby and throttle body's just like the X2 came with, stock fuel pump was fine. I remember once he put the pump in under the cam and she broke it off but had another pump in the shed. we had just rebuilt the engine because the block had split across the welch plugs when they make that much power spinning to 7000rpm.

I really liked the X2 set up but decided triples were better, later this set up was replaced with a 2 71 blower direct drive mounted in front of the crank, sticking out under twin radiators with a single side draft 45mm Weber.
Copied concept from the ol Supercharged Bentley. Front mounted direct drive blower.
Sorta worked but kept breaking blower drives due to constant flexing and misalignment.
Scrapped that idea and went back to stock.

[Fed]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

2 in would bog down a Holden 6 both grey and red, 1 3/4in was the norm with triples.
I ran triples on a 202 (208) it wouldn't run right until I installed a pressure switch and turned the fuel down to 1/2 pound. Normal mechanical 6 pack fuel pump of the day would supply around 4-5 pounds.

Yeah I had 1 3/4"s but other mates with 2" as well.
Never had a problem with fuel pumps.

I did have a firewall modification tool so the back carbie would fit in, 6' of 2" water pipe & a sledge hammer.

[mick taylor]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

I base trade work on their workmanship and not what car they drive.

Only got to look at all the Hollywood Harolds out there today in the flash cars.

Well that's true, but I would turn up quoting in a VY SS ute and some people did not like that at all, but one could turn up in the 4x4 that is worth 2x mine and all is good.
But I could not afford a 4X4 or want such a thing unless it was on the beach or out in the bush really other than that I can't stand them.

It was about 1990 working for a big company and say 30 tradesman and every car that they had that I walked by, if I was a cop I could of took off the road, balled tyres and just junk and nothing worth over $3000 it was that bad.
But now you have kids with the way over the top flash 4X4, cars, bikes and all, but all in hock to the eye balls most of them are on drugs and totally crap tradesmen to the point of a joke f ing hopeless brain dead morons beyond belief. living in a fantasy world claiming to become a billionaire and then they loose the lot.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by Fed

Yeah I had 1 3/4"s but other mates with 2" as well.
Never had a problem with fuel pumps.

I did have a firewall modification tool so the back carbie would fit in, 6' of 2" water pipe & a sledge hammer.

Yeah I remember the third triple would foul the heater box (HQ WB) unless some mods took place. Finding air cleaners for them was painful too.
Also found any SU's gave serious problems with vacuum if it ran an auto gearbox. Manual boxes were fine.

[mick taylor]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

I really liked the X2 set up but decided triples were better, later this set up was replaced with a 2 71 blower direct drive mounted in front of the crank, sticking out under twin radiators with a single side draft 45mm Weber.
Copied concept from the ol Supercharged Bentley. Front mounted direct drive blower.
Sorta worked but kept breaking blower drives due to constant flexing and misalignment.
Scrapped that idea and went back to stock.

Box head put triple SU on his but it only gave more power right up to and that was worthless power, the response and low to mid range were king and key to fanging about on the street or 1/4 mile and good fuel economy, but triples chewed the juice.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by mick taylor

Well that's true, but I would turn up quoting in a VY SS ute and some people did not like that at all, but one could turn up in the 4x4 that is worth 2x mine and all is good.
But I could not afford a 4X4 or want such a thing unless it was on the beach or out in the bush really other than that I can't stand them.

It was about 1990 working for a big company and say 30 tradesman and every car that they had that I walked by, if I was a cop I could of took off the road, balled tyres and just junk and nothing worth over $3000 it was that bad.
But now you have kids with the way over the top flash 4X4, cars, bikes and all, but all in hock to the eye balls most of them are on drugs and totally crap tradesmen to the point of a joke f ing hopeless brain dead morons beyond belief. living in a fantasy world claiming to become a billionaire and then they loose the lot.

Back in 85 I can remember quoting a big job in Woolahra, Sydney (Jewish princess mansion) at the same time a bricklayer came around in a early 80's 450SEL Merc,, after he left, client exclaimed to me I don't think I'm going to use him as he obviously makes to much money off his clients.

I was driving a fake HJ GTS Monaro.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by mick taylor

but triples chewed the juice.

That a bit of a fallacy, my HX triple SU van was a courier car and gave really good fuel mileage especially after conversion to a 5 speed Supra box (due to the 1/2 pound pressure) this was the reason they were always referred to poor mans fuel injection.

I got called into the RTA emissions testing at Lidcombe for to loud exhaust where they put the sniffers into the pipes to test emissions ( I was packing **it thinking I in big trouble ADR 27A stuff removed) the guy comes back and tells me "that's the cleanest running Holden that's ever been here" he put it down to the SU carbies vacuum system and fuel burn.
They sort of turned a blind eye and I was back out couriering the next day with quieter mufflers.

[Sprintey]

just wondering if anyone has triple carb'd a Barra?

Would it be a weapon?

Back on thread:
1970 XJ6
1979 Renault 12 Virage wagon

[arronm]

No , fuel injection RULES

[mick taylor]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

That a bit of a fallacy, my HX triple SU van was a courier car and gave really good fuel mileage especially after conversion to a 5 speed Supra box (due to the 1/2 pound pressure) this was the reason they were always referred to poor mans fuel injection.

I got called into the RTA emissions testing at Lidcombe for to loud exhaust where they put the sniffers into the pipes to test emissions ( I was packing **it thinking I in big trouble ADR 27A stuff removed) the guy comes back and tells me "that's the cleanest running Holden that's ever been here" he put it down to the SU carbies vacuum system and fuel burn.
They sort of turned a blind eye and I was back out couriering the next day with quieter mufflers.

Mainly most were not tuned well and went out of tune fast was the story of all that I know that had them.

Just look at the Valiant with triples Valiant Australia could not get them to work for crying out loud and they sent the engine to Italy for them to work out how to tune them correctly it took some time even for them to work it out.
I would have a 265 R/T with a 2 barrel Carter any day than the stock 265 type one with triples, you have your E49 and that's fine with triples because she has the big cam to make use of that.

Sure I had 4 carbs on my ZX10 Ninja back in 1988 but she can rev to 11500RPM

I think one problem with the old SU was that the needles wore out messing with the tune problems.

Many of them real hot cars back in the days were temperamental one day they would fly and the next they were a bastard running like crap and you had to know what you were doing yourself because you would spend a lot of time under the bonnet.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by mick taylor

Mainly most were not tuned well and went out of tune fast was the story of all that I know that had them.

Just look at the Valiant with triples Valiant Australia could not get them to work for crying out loud and they sent the engine to Italy for them to work out how to tune them correctly it took some time even for them to work it out.
I would have a 265 R/T with a 2 barrel Carter any day than the stock 265 type one with triples, you have your E49 and that's fine with triples because she has the big cam to make use of that.

Sure I had 4 carbs on my ZX10 Ninja back in 1988 but she can rev to 11500RPM

I think one problem with the old SU was that the needles wore out messing with the tune problems.

Many of them real hot cars back in the days were temperamental one day they would fly and the next they were a bastard running like crap and you had to know what you were doing yourself because you would spend a lot of time under the bonnet.

Hang on a minute E49's ran triple two barrel side draught Webers not SU's.

SU's needed to be adjusted so they didn't open all at once, otherwise they would just bog the car down with to much vacuum.
I became pretty good at tuning mine with a small length of pipe and never had a problem with them considering the van was driven everyday at high speeds delivering stuff. The 208 had a mild "Competition Cams" cam.
I regularly did urgent transplant organs to the airport from Wahroonga Hospital.

[Cav]

My first brand new car was similar to this one.

It was a 1971 XY Falcon 500 with bench seat, saddle trim, 3 speed manual and ER70 tyres.

I bought it in January 1972 just as the XA Falcon was about to be released.

It cost me $3,150

I bought it from the Ford Dealer in Maroubra.

The salesman name was Todd, he was married to a famous blond female singer whose name escapes me at the moment.



UPDATE

This is them ....

[MrZ]

Originally Posted by mick taylor

It was about 1990 working for a big company and say 30 tradesman and every car that they had that I walked by, if I was a cop I could of took off the road, balled tyres and just junk and nothing worth over $3000 it was that bad.

From what I remember as a kid (and was told), back in the day, people who could afford a new car quite often didn't buy one, simply because they might be looked down on by others - i.e. tall poppy syndrome. As such, they'd buy something second hand and ordinary, so as not to draw attention to themselves. Buying a new car, of any kind, meant that you were showing off. It was a terrible attitude, that thankfully seems to have disappeared in recent years.

I also remember that the tall poppy syndrome also applied to people who bought foreign (in particular, Japanese) cars, rather than Australian made ones.

[roKWiz]

Nah, back in those days cars were built solidly and lasted for years so they didn't need replacement as often as now.
Back then cars weren't junked because of a ECM or a little bingle that no one now, knows how to fix.

[mondeomatureguy]

Rokwiz is right cars lasted a long time back then. The only thing that really killed them was rust.

They were easy to fix, parts were cheap, and the Bumpers were made of metal.

[MrZ]

I would argue that modern cars last just as long, if not longer, than cars of the 60s/70s. Today's engines can easily go for beyond 250,000km, whereas decades ago it was rare for an engine to last that long. Today's car's require far less frequent servicing as well. Furthermore, it's a fact that the build quality of today's cars is far better than at any point in the past.

The facts speak for themselves: in 1976, only 13% of cars were over 12 years old, and 3% were over 17 years old. By 2001, over 40% of cars were over 12 years old, and about 20% were over 17 years old.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by MrZ

I would argue that modern cars last just as long, if not longer, than cars of the 70s and 80s. Today's engines can easily go for beyond 250,000km, whereas decades ago it was rare for an engine to last that long. Today's car's require far less frequent servicing as well. Furthermore, it's a fact that the build quality of today's cars is far better than at any point in the past.

You reckon. I've had old cars with 400 000km on them with just simple servicing (which I could do myself) They rusted out long before the drivetrain failed.

[mondeomatureguy]

I do have to admit my MC Ford Mondeo now has 290,000ks on the clock and still going strong.

It has the original Drive Belt on it still and I replaced the Battery six years ago and had an engine mount replaced, Brake Rotors and pads replaced and that's all apart from getting it serviced.

[XR Martin]

Anyone think the purple/harlequin BFs will be worth anything?
Saw one the other day and thought about getting one.
It's not like I don't have enough cars already...

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by MrZ

From what I remember as a kid (and was told), back in the day, people who could afford a new car quite often didn't buy one, simply because they might be looked down on by others - i.e. tall poppy syndrome. As such, they'd buy something second hand and ordinary, so as not to draw attention to themselves. Buying a new car, of any kind, meant that you were showing off. It was a terrible attitude, that thankfully seems to have disappeared in recent years.

I also remember that the tall poppy syndrome also applied to people who bought foreign (in particular, Japanese) cars, rather than Australian made ones.

Don't know how far you are talking about "Back in the Day" but I do remember in the 60's & 70's if you could buy a new car you did with pride and be proud to show it off for all to see.
Cheers.

[ford71V8]

1974 Landau - one in particular that was almost mine

[mick taylor]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Hang on a minute E49's ran triple two barrel side draught Webers not SU's.

SU's needed to be adjusted so they didn't open all at once, otherwise they would just bog the car down with to much vacuum.
I became pretty good at tuning mine with a small length of pipe and never had a problem with them considering the van was driven everyday at high speeds delivering stuff. The 208 had a mild "Competition Cams" cam.
I regularly did urgent transplant organs to the airport from Wahroonga Hospital.

I know what the webers are and the SU difference.
But did not know that you did not adjust all SU's to open at once and I never had triples and I never tried to tune such.
You must of opened the middle one first I would think then.

I remember a LC XU-1 that had number 3 and 4 piston 0.030 over size and the rest were stock and this was done by Holden dealer on warranty, but the owner did not know why his was done and did not know this until he removed the head many years later. maybe both of the carby's on the ends opened in tune and 3 and 4 kicked in later ?

But if Valiant Australia could not get the tune setup right and had to send engines to be sorted out and it took weber months to sort out things are not as easy as one would think to set up such a thing from scratch.

I would think that the story that you said about the RTA well with one SU only set up as such no wonder it was fine.

[mick taylor]

Originally Posted by Cav

My first brand new car was similar to this one.

It was a 1971 XY Falcon 500 with bench seat, saddle trim, 3 speed manual and ER70 tyres.

I bought it in January 1972 just as the XA Falcon was about to be released.

It cost me $3,150

I bought it from the Ford Dealer in Maroubra.

The salesman name was Todd, he was married to a famous blond female singer whose name escapes me at the moment.

image

UPDATE

This is them ....

200 6 cyl ?

Boy forking out for ER 70 Tyres in 1972 would of stung ya.

I remember people bagging people for forking out for such tyres back in the day and steel belt only became popular around 1976 say in general as most were running on rags that I remember.

My 90yo mate is still stuck in the 1960's with tyres as the only point he has is mileage you get out of them and nothing other is of interest to him, he claims that the more the tyre weighs the more rubber is in them thus a better tyre. that I am sure was correct back in 1930's to early 60's, so he argued that I was wrong and he went to a tyre bloke that knows his stuff and spun his line to him and this bloke flew off the rocker and gave him back both barrels yelling that he had no idea what he was talking about.

[mick taylor]

Originally Posted by MrZ

From what I remember as a kid (and was told), back in the day, people who could afford a new car quite often didn't buy one, simply because they might be looked down on by others - i.e. tall poppy syndrome. As such, they'd buy something second hand and ordinary, so as not to draw attention to themselves. Buying a new car, of any kind, meant that you were showing off. It was a terrible attitude, that thankfully seems to have disappeared in recent years.

I also remember that the tall poppy syndrome also applied to people who bought foreign (in particular, Japanese) cars, rather than Australian made ones.

Yep I remember that type that only bought second hand and they are still around but I think it's more to do with not forking out, they could afford it for sure even millions in the bank but they would never fork out for new and yes even so drive old clapped out junk on the road that you would think that he had the **** out of his pants but he is one of the wealthiest people in town worth millions and even tens of millions.

Jap made cars in the 60's and 70's were a insult to the people who were in WW2 especially the ones who were prisoners to the Japs. one of them blokes owned 2 fuel stations and anyone who came in to repair their Jap car got told to clear off and in formed they they were a traitor.
But people in general just looked down on owner of a Jap cars as not a true Australian, many who bought Merc's were what was called new Australians Germans or Italians loved their Merc's and wealthy Pommy's drove Jaguars or a Rover.

My dad had a Jag in the late 50's and he could not give a toss what anyone thought at all and he had a 1971 Galaxie and I remember people yelling out capitalist pig as we drove by and I could see dads face in the mirror smile from ear to ear.

I remember people squabbling at a job site about my new 2003 SS ute as they did not like that I had it for sure, but I could not care less what anyone thinks at all. my only interest is in what they do know, not what they may think at all.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by mick taylor

I know what the webers are and the SU difference.
But did not know that you did not adjust all SU's to open at once and I never had triples and I never tried to tune such.
You must of opened the middle one first I would think then.

I remember a LC XU-1 that had number 3 and 4 piston 0.030 over size and the rest were stock and this was done by Holden dealer on warranty, but the owner did not know why his was done and did not know this until he removed the head many years later. maybe both of the carby's on the ends opened in tune and 3 and 4 kicked in later ?

But if Valiant Australia could not get the tune setup right and had to send engines to be sorted out and it took weber months to sort out things are not as easy as one would think to set up such a thing from scratch.

I would think that the story that you said about the RTA well with one SU only set up as such no wonder it was fine.

Mick,
XU 1's ran triple single barrel Strombergs a totally different breed to SU's, they were more like a conventional carby but like triple SU's had the inlet manifold connected via a log runner between them, they weren't totally independent like modern day fuel injection manifolds.
Hence it wasn't such a matter of which one opened first as long as they didn't open all at once.
Valiant's E49's would have been a nightmare to set up if you weren't familiar with them as they were a large 45mm barrel for each cylinder.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Valiant's E49's would have been a nightmare to set up if you weren't familiar with them as they were a large 45mm barrel for each cylinder.

I had a car with triples 45's as standard (not a Valiant) I didn't even consider trying to set them up properly

[snap0964]

Originally Posted by mick taylor

I know what the webers are and the SU difference.
But did not know that you did not adjust all SU's to open at once and I never had triples and I never tried to tune such.
You must of opened the middle one first I would think then.
I remember a LC XU-1 that had number 3 and 4 piston 0.030 over size and the rest were stock and this was done by Holden dealer on warranty, but the owner did not know why his was done and did not know this until he removed the head many years later. maybe both of the carby's on the ends opened in tune and 3 and 4 kicked in later ?
But if Valiant Australia could not get the tune setup right and had to send engines to be sorted out and it took weber months to sort out things are not as easy as one would think to set up such a thing from scratch.
I would think that the story that you said about the RTA well with one SU only set up as such no wonder it was fine.

A mate of mine years ago made up a triple SU setup for his HT GTS 186S Monaro - the thing really went well, can't remember how he set up the carbies - each had it's own butterfly adjustment - he got the stock manifold, milled off the end, tigged on an alloy section, bored out the holes for the carbies, added stud mounts, etc - great workmanship.
The factory XU-1's had triple Stromberg CD's IIRC, they were very similar to SU's.
Rokwiz - they were still a side draught carby.
The Bathurst cars had triple webers.

[DJR-351]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Valiant's E49's would have been a nightmare to set up if you weren't familiar with them as they were a large 45mm barrel for each cylinder.

Back when i had my E49 (78 to 81) Borg Warner in Vic Park, Perth were the reps for Weber, the old guy to see was Geoff and he would get them triples running like a top of the range Rolex, all by ear......

He did show me how but i never got them to run as sweet as he did, my excuse was a pierced ear drum

[Tassie f100]

Originally Posted by GasoLane

I had a car with triples 45's as standard (not a Valiant) I didn't even consider trying to set them up properly

Was that one of those Prince (Nissan) Skylnes? If so I thought they ran triple Weber 42,s