british-cars
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: How tight?

To: british-cars@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: How tight?
From: Jay Nemeth-Johannes <jayj@hpislj.lvld.hp.com>
Date: Tue, 24 May 94 11:41:49 MDT
> Scott Fisher said:
> "Julia just didn't have the in-the-bones sense of how tight things need to 
>be."

> She's not alone.  A dear friend lovingly restored his MGA recently.
...
> >From this experience we coined the term: "Schindler Tight" for anything not 
> quite tight enough.  A year later, he has finally overcome his initial fear 
>of 
> breaking things and his MGA no longer leaks from every fitting.
>   
> George Haynes


> >From ``Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'' by Robert Pirsig:

> ``..... There's what's called ``mechanic's feel,'' which is very obvious to
> those who know what it is, but hard to describe to those who don't; and when
> you see someone working on a machine who doesn't have it, you tend to suffer
> with the machine.

I used to have a pretty good feel.  Then, about a zillion years ago, I
made a mistake and joined the Air Force.  Had this master sergeant in
the QA department who would fail you if he could turn a screw or nut.
We stripped out more inserts, trying to pass QA, and for 25 years now,
I have been struggling to get that feel back. I tend to overtighten
everything :-( Any hints on getting it back?

  Jay  "I use torque wrenches to put jar lids back on" Johannes


<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>