Quote:
Originally Posted by john.wigley
Yes, indeed. Standards, along with expectations, have definitely changed dramatically in the last half-century or so. Tighter manufacturing tolerances, combined with improved lubricants, have resulted in vastly increased economy, performance and reliability from ever smaller engines, but at the expense of greater mechanical complexity and sophistication.
When I was running 1950's cars in the '60s, the need for a 'top' overhaul was not uncommon every 10 thousand miles, with a full one becoming necessary at 30. These were relatively simple affairs, but I would not want to do that on a 240 Alan, much less on a modern performance car such as your Porsche.
Take the Fiat 500 that I spoke of earlier for example, little bigger than a motorcycle unit, it was what I called a 'kitchen table' engine - one that you could take out, strip down and rebuild - on the kitchen table, if necessary! 
Regards, John. |
Absolutely John, things have come a long way, but machines are much harder to fix if they go wrong.
You may recall, I’m much more of a bike guy than a car chap - top end overhauls were very common indeed with bikes - particularly when we used to ride air cooled 2 strokes. Rings on performance 2 strokes such as MX bikes only lasted 20 hours run, but they were very cheap and could be changed in half an hour or less.
As I just wrote to Dave, the RB doesn’t need any ring work at the moment (and had a rebuilt cylinder head last year that I bought for only £99), but I’m mindful that the motor is 40 years old and it may need some work one day. I wouldn’t be too worried about putting in new rings and big ends - there is so much room around the engine I think that would probably be a one day job without taking it out of the car. Anyway: if it ain’t broke don’t fix it Alan!
I certainly would not attempt that job on my flat 6 double DOHC Porsche!
:-)