Quote:
Originally Posted by HenryA
Yep, its amazing how long “tune up” parts go in modern cars.
|
Well if a person understood the older cars you can make the tuneup parts last a long time.
Sparkplugs got fouled back in the day due to 2 reasons, mostly lead in the fuel which was removed in 1999, the second thing was low voltage from the coil to the plug, I'll get back to that. But with the lead out standard copper plugs would last about 25,000 miles, and Autolite plugs lasted longer.
Then there was the points and condenser problem, but a product came out years ago and is still around today called Pertronix electronic ignition, the unit replaced the mechanical points and condenser, you simply removed the old ones and replaced it with the new one, the wiring was the same, just had to gap it which the gapping device came with the kit. After that, you never had to mess with points and condenser ever again.
Also from Pertronix you could buy their coil which puts out more voltage, and replace the old coil with the new, and now those cheap copper plugs could last at least 50,000 miles.
So the only things left to do on the car was to keep the carbs adjusted and cleaned, but without lead in the fuel the carbs stayed adjusted and cleaner a lot longer, and now with detergents in the fuel you could easily go 50,000 miles between cleaning the carb, and the rebuilding of a carb might be as long as 100,000 miles. The other thing you had to do was use a timing light to make sure the distributor timing was correct.
What all of this meant was that a car that was supposed to be tuned up every 12,000 miles is now able to extend that to at least 50,000. And due to the nature of how cars were built back then, changing plugs was extremely easy and quick, you could be done changing plugs in a V8 in 20 minutes. And then about every 12,000 the only thing you have to do is check the timing, if an adjustment had to be made then it would take about 10 minutes to set up the light and make the adjustment.
Even before the Pertronix and before the lead was taken out, a tuneup would only take about 30 to 45 minutes, and you could do it yourself, and most people did do it themselves. The tools to buy to do the work would cost you today about $200 which would include the timing light, a vacuum gauge, a dwell meter, screwdriver, and ignition wrenches. But if you were going to buy a dwell meter you might as well get a multimeter with dwell and RPM built into it so you check alternators, battery, starter, etc.
Today cars use iridium plugs which last far longer than copper, but they have to because changing plugs today is much more of a headache, plus you have a lot higher voltage from coil packs, so 75,000 to 100,000 is the recommended time for tuneup. Modern plugs cost as much as $18 each vs $4 for copper plugs, so in the long run changing the copper plugs, and doing a tune-up are cheaper in an older car. Word of note, buy your sparkplugs BEFORE you go to a mechanic to have the plugs changed, mechanic shops will charge you around $60 a plug for iridium instead of $18 or so, then have the mechanic install your plugs.
Older cars are less expensive to work on in regards to labor hours. For example, modern heater cores are located behind the dash of modern cars, forcing you to remove the dash, that's between an 8 to 12-hour job; in older cars, it was a 20-minute job at the most.