My '85 MGM, "Maisa"

[Arquemann]

Not according to OEM literature Owner's manuals usually describe using the parking brake any time you park the car, especially on hills before shifting into park, so you don't damage the parking pawl when trying to shift out of park. I think the days of losing brake function entirely went away for us around '68, when dual channel braking systems became standard.

Don't you guys drive lots of stickshifts in Finland? I wish the parking brake in my truck worked, I'm tired of having to shut it off every time I want to park and get out for just a few moments. I'm waiting to find a 14 bolt rear end for it though, soon as I do that swap I'll put a new cable in it and be good to go.

I always let off the brake slowly after putting it into Park, doing the little "bounce" off the parking pawl feels awful. The MGM does it quite a bit, but my Beemer does it sometimes aswell. I'm not as careful with it since it does it rarely.
Having to park on a hill seems to be really rare for me. In my home town there's like one hill where there's parking and a grade steep enough to feel safer with the handbrake applied. How about I call it that? Not even applied with a hand in panthers Finnish legislation uses "standingbrake" and handbrake interchangeably. Seisontajarru/käsijarru. How about "skäibä"?

Manual transmissions are still very common here, it's pretty much the default for smaller cars, VW Golf -sized and smaller. Of course they are getting less common with electric and hybrid vehicles, but you can still get almost any small new car with manual trans, even Mercs and BMWs. I don't really care about manuals, I get it on a dedicated sports or track car, but on regular cars it's more of an inconveniece in my opinion. But in Finland if you do your driving test on an auto, you're not allowed to drive manual, which is why basically everyone learns on manual.

[DerekTheGreat]

I do that too, if on a small hill. Feels awful and looks awful, I see that a lot. I never paid much attention to it or used the P brake until I went to Seattle, Washington. The hills there are just wow. The Jeep I borrowed almost did not want to come out of park, felt like I was going to break the shifter. Standing or hand brake sound fine to me. My Fireturd has an actual hand brake, easy to use and sometimes I do use it to stop the car, just for funsies.

I love driving a manual, always have for some reason. I guess I like the simplicity of it all and I've never lost one or have had to have one rebuilt. Although I've never had a problem with any of the auto transmission vehicles I've personally owned or have had rebuilt properly. I just find myself locking out gears or disappointed with shift quality or how often the damn things shift and then shift again. Not allowed to drive manual unless you test with one? Wow, that sounds harsh.

[Arquemann]

Yeah manual transmissions definitely have the simplicity and ruggedness aspect, I can respect that. What I don't like are the people who claim and declare that manual is the best and only way.
Manual transmissions do have differences aswell, you can't slam gears in an old Land Cruiser trans like you could in a Honda.

My family all drives autos, my sister just got her license, learned on manual of course. Now that she's got her license, the manual Audi will be sold and replaced with something that's auto, since it's my parents' secondary car and mom doesn't like manual. Dad teached both of us to drive, since driving school is pretty expensive. But if you're going to driving school, you'll be learning manual regardless. I don't really find the auto-only rule too harsh, if you want to drive manual, you only need to take the driving test again in a manual. I've seen enough videos of idiots in cars not knowing how to drive stick.

[DerekTheGreat]

Yeah, arrogance isn't attractive in any form it manifests itself in. I think autos are faster now, but it's the hobby aspect I like. Plus, they're really rare in the states, so it's the hunt aspect of finding one.

How does the test differ, auto vs manual? Nobody follows the rules around here anyway, too entitled to be bothered I guess.

[Arquemann]

How does the test differ, auto vs manual?

No difference really, general handling of the car is evaluated constantly during the test, so obviously an auto is a bit easier to drive. Stalling is allowed, but try not to stall in a dangerous spot, duh. A hill start is also a breeze in an auto, but nowadays even the manual driving school cars have fancy gadgets like hill start assist and other crap.

[Arquemann]

Oh yeah, I washed the MGM, finally.

[gadget73]

One spot that is absolutely hands-down a winner with an automatic is launching a boat. Mostly because there is zero concern of rolling back or stalling, just gas and go. I've done it with a manual, but its a hell of a lot more nerve-wracking, especially on something where the parking brake doesn't work and you have to do the 3 pedals with 2 feet thing.

[DerekTheGreat]

Yeah, I suck at that. VCV can attest as well. If not for him, I don't know how we'd have gotten that van and my truck out of that Austin Powers situation. But for everyday driving even with hills, I love grabbing my own gears.

[DerekTheGreat]

No difference really, general handling of the car is evaluated constantly during the test, so obviously an auto is a bit easier to drive. Stalling is allowed, but try not to stall in a dangerous spot, duh. A hill start is also a breeze in an auto, but nowadays even the manual driving school cars have fancy gadgets like hill start assist and other crap.

Right, autos have that advantage for sure. I do appreciate them in a luxury vehicle. It's just the whole thing if I can get the vehicle with a manual, that's the version I want to find. Perhaps when my knees give out I'll give up on them.

[Arquemann]

My cruise doesn't work
It worked last friday, and since I've touched the automatic handbrake release. Does it have anything to do with the brake switch? I just removed the vacuum source from the distribution block on the firewall.

[kishy]

Cruise is canceled by two mechanisms:

1, electronic, the brake light circuit

2, mechanical (failsafe), a vacuum valve somewhere buried up high above the brake pedal so the brake pedal can mechanically release the vacuum from the cruise servo.

The cruise module on years prior to it being integrated with the ECM (and yours is prior to that) is, off the top of my head, attached to the right of the ECM. Since it's very close to the area you were working in, I'll suggest inspecting the wiring. The connectors get brittle with age and maybe a wire got pulled out. This happened on my '85. It's typically a wide flat black plastic box and takes two single-row connectors.

[sly]

Lots of vacuum is used for HVAC, Cruise, EGR, and smog. As for removing the feed from the distribution block, are you sure you didn't pull more than you thought? If you disconnected the entire tree, you won't have HVAC control either.

[Arquemann]

Just the one plastic line from the dist block to the brake release valve. I put it back and made no difference. The amount of vacuum crap has reduced to a tolerable level now that all the smog, egr and other crap has been removed. Only cruise, handbrake release, soup can and hvac left.
Ill have to dig in tomorrow, check the vacuum release and connectors. I can see I have brake lights and theyre not on constantly.

The cruise has worked so valiantly for so long and now it just disappears without a word.

[sly]

The vacuum release switch is separate from the brake light switch, so you may just have to adjust the vacuum switch if it happened to just back off unfortunately at the same time as you doing all this work.

[Arquemann]

I checked the vacuum dump valve, it didn't leak. Then I just jiggled the black box and servo connectors and now it works again. Yay!

Had a longer trip yesterday to a cruise night and back. Cruising AFR is getting there, probably one size down and it'll be set. WOT is still way too rich... It's about 10,5 AFR. Currently on size 62 jets, down from size 68 (stock jet)
The council approves my carb swap (especially the gold valve covers and the shitton of removed vacuum crap)

I've got to remove the front door panel again, because the speakers I installed are rattling. I'm pretty sure it's just the speakers that are crap or me installing the upsidedown causes them to rattle. We shall see.

Oh hey, will any push-through center caps fit on stock steelies? Kinda want something shiny in the middle since I can't get my poverty caps attached and the rear spacer wouldn't be visible (they are kinda illegal).
I'd really like my poverty caps, but I haven't found suitable steelies or a way to install the caps on my steelies. Mooneyes bolt-on bullet caps would be cool but I don't know if they clear the front hubs and they're really fcking expensive.