Re: torn diaphragms.
TECH TIP: It does make sense to carry a spare diaphragm in the car.
However, if you don't have one with you, try mending it with a small piece
of that cheesy plastic
electrical tape. It's not necessarily a long-term repair (although it
might last quite a while -- mine always did, cheapo that I am), but it
will almost certainly get you home at speed and to the comfort of your
Moss/TRF/VB/??? catalog to order a new diaphragm and continue that great
turning circle of life we call LBC ownership.
Yes, it occured to me in retrospect, that since I had electrical and duct
tape with me, had I known what the problem was, I could have attempted a
repair enroute. It might have saved me:
1. one-week's car rental.
2. two extra nights in motels & several meals.
3. a 28-mile towing charge.
4. shop charges for "diagnosis", removing driveshaft and two weeks storage
in Louisville.
5. two-day tow dolly rental.
6. an 800-mile round-trip to recover the B, and
7. $400 for the A/C compressor on my Olds which blew in 95=BA heat while
towing the B back home.
But it taught me something: if I'm going to drive these cars, I better get
to know them. And, even when I didn't know anything about them, I
survived! Later that same summer, as my confidence was gradually restored,
I took the car on a 4000+ mile trip to Canada and the midwest: it ran
perfectly.
Allen Bachelder
|