Onslow's car backfiring.

You can’t beat a good backfire, my old campervan occasionally likes to let one go!
As well as my current scooter I’ve always been fond of old 2 stroke mopeds and have had a few. I was out on my little Tomos and all of a sudden a crack developed in the carb’ housing as I was sat at a junction. It started to manically rev and it took me a few seconds to realise what was happening and I quickly turned it off and it died slowly only to give a massive explosion from the exhaust and it shot the baffles out into the car sat behind me :)
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When I started to work for Posts and Telegraphs in Dublin most of the vans we drove were Commers which backfired really loudly if you turned the ignition off and on again while driving. Everyone was at it, used to scare the life out of pedestrians. It was getting out of hand until a warning letter was sent from HQ that anyone caught at it would be fired immediately. We stopped.
 
I had a 1975 Jaguar XJ6, appropriately colored lemon yellow. If my memory serves me, it was carbureted with 2 Strombergs. This car had an orgasm almost every time I shut it off. The car would have a brief moment of silence after I shut it off, which would lull me into the false sense that it wasn't going to happen. Then it would begin, Za Za Za...... Za Za Za...... Za Za Za Za...... Za Za Za Za...... Za Za Za Za Za...... then a momentary silence, then BANG!, followed by a discharge of gray smoke from the engine compartment around the periphery of the hood (oops bonnet, sorry). It even happened to me on a blind date once. There was no living that one down.

There was a Jaguar Mechanic named Brian Morton who worked at the Jaguar factory in Coventry. He moved to the US and set up shop in Chelmsford Massachusetts. He was a wizard with these things. The Boston Jaguar dealer (located in Wellesley Massachusetts) used to bring the cars they couldn't fix up to Brian because Brian could fix them. I described the problem to Brain and he said "oh you have the fart bangs". He replaced one small condenser and voila, problem solved. When handed the small failed condenser and confronted with his bill I complained angrily, to which he replied "if you don't like it, drive a Chevy". I shut up and paid him and that was that. I ended up trading the car to an autobody shop in exchange for a paint job for my 1969 E Type roadster.
 
Many, many years ago, I had the car in for repair and the mechanic went on and on in explaining about a certain repair. Since mechanics usually utter one or two words about the problem, this guy was doing a sales job and that should have been my cue to turn him down. Back then I was naïve and the so-called problem was OKed and then "fixed." Word to the wise, if the mechanic waxes poetic about a certain problem, it's probably not really a problem.
 
Has anyone noticed the huge rise in powerful cars with large and loud exhausts polluting our streets with noise all hours of the day . It's difficult to tear around to Toon city centre but it does not seem to put off these parading plebs from giving it ago :mad:
 
captain clutterbuck said:
Has anyone noticed the huge rise in powerful cars with large and loud exhausts polluting our streets with noise all hours of the day . It's difficult to tear around to Toon city centre but it does not seem to put off these parading plebs from giving it ago :mad:
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It's often youngsters buying a bog standard Corsa or Fiesta and fitting a sports exhaust to impress their friends.
 
Bora Natty said:
We call the mufflers they use fart cans here..
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Fart cans can sound OK if you have the authority of a V8 squashing air through them with a nice rumble. But they put these things on shameful little 4 cylinder rice burners, which present like an automotive "death rattle".

Bora Natty, if you recall the hot muffler of our yesteryear was the Thrush Glasspack. Perhaps you had a couple on your GT350? 1715304423201.png
 
Oh yes sir, I do. I never ran Thrush, or Cherry Bombs (I don't know if you had those available there) I like the V8 sound, cammed up of course, through dual regular mufflers. It sounded full and rich, with that lope of the cam turning over. I had a 66 SS Chevelle, and if I had put the a fore mentioned mufflers on it, you'd have probably heard me over there when I got into it. I think today's cars sound better when the kids straight pipe it, no catalytic converter, of course that's just my opinion. Gosh, I miss those days!
 
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Wow Bora I didn't understand any of that but clearly you know your car stuff . You should have a private chat with Barry and Graham who I know are huge car fans.
 
Afraid not Nora DIY and Autocare are not me . The writing on the wall was set at school when I was thrown out of Woodwork and Metalwork classes and told never darken our doors again leading to me having to join the Domestic Science class as the only other option [made me into a reasonable cook and baker] . My old man had an engineering background and I am sure secretly he was disappointed I was so inept :)
 
captain clutterbuck said:
Afraid not Nora DIY and Autocare are not me . The writing on the wall was set at school when I was thrown out of Woodwork and Metalwork classes and told never darken our doors again leading to me having to join the Domestic Science class as the only other option [made me into a reasonable cook and baker] . My old man had an engineering background and I am sure secretly he was disappointed I was so inept :)
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That must have been much earlier than male students here in New York State were permitted in Home Economics classes. There was no choice for the boys but to accept shop in middle school, even if a failing grade was inevitable.
 
In my high school, it was a given, not under discussion or debate that girls took Home Ec and boys took shop. And it was lovely to be in a class with all girls. We could have discussions on topics related to female concerns. And I learned why you must put a sweet potato pie on a cookie sheet before baking it.
 
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