GM loses big-time
 

DK wrote in
:

And the car caught fire. I
pulled over to the side of the road, watched the fire, removed my
license plate and hitched on home. For all I know, that old MGA is still
there.

Sure was a pretty little car.


It's always so sad to see an old friend, and this car was I assume, go to
ground. I'm sorry you couldn't save her. They were great cars and lots of
fun to drive.

GM loses big-time
 

On Aug 3, 6:49 pm, DK wrote:

That reminds me of another story I read here a while back...

Sometime in the early 1960s, I was driving back from Ft.Leonard Wood to
Kansas City in a nice old MGA I owned at the time. About halfway home it
started raining heavily, I turned on the wipers, and EVERY SINGLE
electrical accessory and light in the car flashed on, there was a large
popping sound and it all blew out at once. And the car caught fire. I
pulled over to the side of the road, watched the fire, removed my
license plate and hitched on home. For all I know, that old MGA is still
there.

Sure was a pretty little car.

Well, they didn't call Joe Lucas the "Black ([K]night" or the "Prince
of Darkness" for nothing.

Q. why do the british drink warm beer?
A. Because Lucas builds refrigerators, too!

GM loses big-time
 

Tim wrote in news:a4045281-3a97-4305-8ae4-
:

Well, they didn't call Joe Lucas the "Black ([K]night" or the "Prince
of Darkness" for nothing.

Q. why do the british drink warm beer?
A. Because Lucas builds refrigerators, too!


With Italian cars and motorcycles, one could say the same thing of Magneti
Marelli....(c;

GM loses big-time
 

On Aug 3, 10:53 pm, Larry wrote:
Tim wrote in news:a4045281-3a97-4305-8ae4-
:

Well, they didn't call Joe Lucas the "Black ([K]night" or the "Prince
of Darkness" for nothing.

Q. why do the british drink warm beer?
A. Because Lucas builds refrigerators, too!

With Italian cars and motorcycles, one could say the same thing of Magneti
Marelli....(c;

Interesting enough. Marelli own's some joint production with Lucas.

"the blind leadeth the blind..."

GM loses big-time
 

On Sun, 03 Aug 2008 19:49:44 -0400, DK
wrote:

About halfway home it
started raining heavily, I turned on the wipers, and EVERY SINGLE
electrical accessory and light in the car flashed on, there was a large
popping sound and it all blew out at once. And the car caught fire.

That **** has been known to happen to pilots of aircraft flying in
clouds, at night. A parachute would be good, but some in that
situation haven't had one.

Casady

GM loses big-time
 

Tim wrote in news:3f78bd39-2c13-4acb-9ae5-
:

Interesting enough. Marelli own's some joint production with Lucas.

"the blind leadeth the blind..."



The pretty much describes driving a Moto Guzzi at night!

GM loses big-time
 

On Aug 4, 7:38*pm, Larry wrote:
Tim wrote in news:3f78bd39-2c13-4acb-9ae5-
:

Interesting enough. Marelli own's some joint production with Lucas.

"the blind leadeth the blind..."

The pretty much describes driving a Moto Guzzi at night!

Evenw ith the old Generator, I never really had any proble with mine.
But To note, that the "gen" light in the dash always did glow. I never
figured that one out....

GM loses big-time
 

Tim wrote in news:7e6b6b40-3ade-4572-917c-
:

Evenw ith the old Generator, I never really had any proble with mine.
But To note, that the "gen" light in the dash always did glow. I never
figured that one out....



A DC generator, unlike the alternators used today, only generates power
after a certain RPM threshold, caused by the counter EMF of the battery.
There are no blocking diodes, so a generator is actually a LOAD with
current backing up through it at low speed....or, worse yet, not turning at
all, which cooks whichever rotor and commutator core it happens to be
sitting on at the time.

This is why old people are always so crazy about NOT leaving the key on
when their car isn't running. The modern car, it makes no difference. The
old cars, it cooked the generators and contact ignition systems, killing
the battery in the process.

My Guzzi Marelli problem was always switches, in the handle bars. They
corroded in the rain and you rode in the dark or it wouldn't run...or it
wouldn't crank, and had no foot crank on it. Replacing the entire handle
bar assembly including electrics with one from a wrecked Honda 750 cured
this problem for the rest of their lives.

I lost a starter, once. It's core came apart. Being in rural SC, my only
choice was an auto electric shop that looked like it had been in business
since rewinding Ford coils in the 1920's. The owner, a nice old guy,
pulled it apart to look, shook his head we weren't gonna fix that one and
said, "This is just a Fiat starter running backwards. Let me pull the gear
off the end of it and put it on a rebuilt Fiat starter and you'll be fine.
You can't beat expertise in any field. He instructed his worker what to
do, an hour later they had it mounted back on my Guzzi and she cranked
right up. It was on there when I sold it years later. The points in its
little distributor were also the same as the Fiat rear engine Spider I also
owned at the time.

GM loses big-time
 

Larry wrote:
Tim wrote in news:7e6b6b40-3ade-4572-917c-
:

Evenw ith the old Generator, I never really had any proble with mine.
But To note, that the "gen" light in the dash always did glow. I never
figured that one out....



A DC generator, unlike the alternators used today, only generates power
after a certain RPM threshold, caused by the counter EMF of the battery.
There are no blocking diodes, so a generator is actually a LOAD with
current backing up through it at low speed....or, worse yet, not turning at
all, which cooks whichever rotor and commutator core it happens to be
sitting on at the time.

This is why old people are always so crazy about NOT leaving the key on
when their car isn't running. The modern car, it makes no difference. The
old cars, it cooked the generators and contact ignition systems, killing
the battery in the process.

My Guzzi Marelli problem was always switches, in the handle bars. They
corroded in the rain and you rode in the dark or it wouldn't run...or it
wouldn't crank, and had no foot crank on it. Replacing the entire handle
bar assembly including electrics with one from a wrecked Honda 750 cured
this problem for the rest of their lives.

I lost a starter, once. It's core came apart. Being in rural SC, my only
choice was an auto electric shop that looked like it had been in business
since rewinding Ford coils in the 1920's. The owner, a nice old guy,
pulled it apart to look, shook his head we weren't gonna fix that one and
said, "This is just a Fiat starter running backwards. Let me pull the gear
off the end of it and put it on a rebuilt Fiat starter and you'll be fine.
You can't beat expertise in any field. He instructed his worker what to
do, an hour later they had it mounted back on my Guzzi and she cranked
right up. It was on there when I sold it years later. The points in its
little distributor were also the same as the Fiat rear engine Spider I also
owned at the time.



There are rumors that FIAT is planning to re-enter the American
market...again.

I had a FIAT Abarth 850 for about three months once. Used. Awful car.
Now they are collector's items and fetch big bucks. They're still awful
cars.

But the prettiest awful car I ever had was an MG-A. Gorgeous, white with
red leather. Looked very pretty sitting in the driveway where I lived in
Kansas City. That's where it spent most of its time, too, sitting in the
driveway. It was a mechanical and electrical P.O.S. It was sort of like
the girl I was dating at the time...very pretty, with really nice
upholstery, but it was damned hard to start her up and keep her running.

GM loses big-time
 

hk wrote:
Larry wrote:
Tim wrote in news:7e6b6b40-3ade-4572-917c-
:

Evenw ith the old Generator, I never really had any proble with mine.
But To note, that the "gen" light in the dash always did glow. I never
figured that one out....



A DC generator, unlike the alternators used today, only generates
power after a certain RPM threshold, caused by the counter EMF of the
battery. There are no blocking diodes, so a generator is actually a
LOAD with current backing up through it at low speed....or, worse yet,
not turning at all, which cooks whichever rotor and commutator core it
happens to be sitting on at the time.

This is why old people are always so crazy about NOT leaving the key
on when their car isn't running. The modern car, it makes no
difference. The old cars, it cooked the generators and contact
ignition systems, killing the battery in the process.

My Guzzi Marelli problem was always switches, in the handle bars.
They corroded in the rain and you rode in the dark or it wouldn't
run...or it wouldn't crank, and had no foot crank on it. Replacing
the entire handle bar assembly including electrics with one from a
wrecked Honda 750 cured this problem for the rest of their lives.

I lost a starter, once. It's core came apart. Being in rural SC, my
only choice was an auto electric shop that looked like it had been in
business since rewinding Ford coils in the 1920's. The owner, a nice
old guy, pulled it apart to look, shook his head we weren't gonna fix
that one and said, "This is just a Fiat starter running backwards.
Let me pull the gear off the end of it and put it on a rebuilt Fiat
starter and you'll be fine. You can't beat expertise in any field.
He instructed his worker what to do, an hour later they had it mounted
back on my Guzzi and she cranked right up. It was on there when I
sold it years later. The points in its little distributor were also
the same as the Fiat rear engine Spider I also owned at the time.



There are rumors that FIAT is planning to re-enter the American
market...again.

I had a FIAT Abarth 850 for about three months once. Used. Awful car.
Now they are collector's items and fetch big bucks. They're still awful
cars.

But the prettiest awful car I ever had was an MG-A. Gorgeous, white with
red leather. Looked very pretty sitting in the driveway where I lived in
Kansas City. That's where it spent most of its time, too, sitting in the
driveway. It was a mechanical and electrical P.O.S. It was sort of like
the girl I was dating at the time...very pretty, with really nice
upholstery, but it was damned hard to start her up and keep her running.

Did you ever think it might be the operator and not the equipment?