About MBS
Hello, my name is Mike and welcome to my previous life as a specialist mechanic in the field of Engine Tuning. I started my apprenticeship with Dillon Motors in Brisbane at the start of 1974. My employer was a specialist chassis Dyno Engine Tuner well known through-out the country and the USA for his expertise in the field with a heavy involvement in the speedway circuit. My first six months was spent on Differential reconditioning, then a few months on servicing, a gearbox here and there a few engines to rebuild and then onto carbies, distributors and a small mix of fuel injected vehicles. I became workshop foreman in my third year after Brian's business expanded and moved to bigger premises. I was responsible for the training of new apprentices, training new Dyno Tuning technicians when needed and overseeing the quality control of the work. I was astounded by how many mechanics we hired that had little to no diagnostic skills which was absolutely essential for this field of work. The joy however was overseeing the training of our apprentices, just like Brian and his previous foreman personally oversaw my training, so too our apprentices left with skills second to none. After my indenture was over I stayed on for another year and spent all of my time on carby and distributor reconditioning.
In late 1978 I moved to Rockhampton and started subcontracting my services to a Dyno Tuning firm. My main tasks were to fit turbochargers, performance cams and high performance accessories. One year later and I was in my own business in Gladstone, QLD called MBS Tuning and after a few years I became known to the local community as MBS. I spent a lot of time upgrading my skills on EFI by attending courses in Brisbane during the first few years. I specialised in Engine Tuning, Carbies, Distributors, Fuel Injection, Performance mods, differentials and Engine re-conditioning. If it had anything to do with the engine & its operation, then I had it covered.
My business steadily increased over the years. I had a shop front built and began a very good trade selling ignition, carby and performance spares, at this point I had hired someone to manage the shop front, freeing my time up to repair the cars. I sold the business in 1987 with an agreement that the new owner would upgrade the equipment if I stayed on and trained him and his employees. He came good and soon purchased the best diagnostic equipment available. We had a state of the art Chassis Dyno by Dyno Dynamics, the best Oscilliscopes from Sun and Bosch, 4 gas exhaust analysers & specialist injection equipment. All the new equipment entitled the business to become an authorised Bosch Fuel Injection Service Agent which certainly stimulated the business somewhat and put a few dealership noses out of joint. The new equipment also enabled me to R & D products we sold, as well as gain horsepower & fuel economy from any vehicle. We carried out a lot of R & D and tested many products that the manufacturers claimed would increase power & fuel economy. There weren't that many products that lived up to their claims. Soon we had Boral approach us to sign up as their LPG gas conversion installers. We built a clean room that doubled as an engine rebuild & fuel Injection room. It was all happening and was the best time of my career.
Sadly the owner over capitalised and went bankrupt within 2 years. I moved on to a process operators position at the Alumina refinery and was there for 10 years, then I joined the Royal Australian Electrical & Mechanical Engineers (RAEME) which is a Corp of the Army. They upgraded my skills to A grade mechanic and then posted me to Townsville where I have stayed to this day.
In Nov 2013 I purchased a local wrecking business called Kenny's Holden Spares. I set up a workshop & called it MBS-auto. Same deal as before, I specialised in Carbies, Distributors along with fuel injection diagnosis and injector cleaning. Another great memory in my life. It seemed I travelled full circle back to a business very similar to what I had in Gladstone. After 5 yrs I called it a day and decided to semi-retire to persue other interests. I just simply sold what I could in 3 months, dumped the rest, closed the doors and walked away, easy as.
Since closing the wrecking yard, I had to get used to doing very little for a while. I got bored so have done bits and pieces for this website, filmed a few videos which I now have on U-tube. My enthusiasm has been up and down and all over the place but I am moving slowly along creating videos & adding new stuff ocassionaly to my website when I am not working on the motorhome. I don't have the resources and tools anymore to produce a diversified range of topics but I will do what I can when I can if opportunities come my way. I have allocated more time to play golf and convert a Toyota Coaster to a motorhome which is now almost complete. We have gone out for a few overnighters and for a week down south to get a feel for it. More travels are a coming. Unfortunately I am not a HTML person so this site is not optimised for viewing on phones. Well that is the quickest summary of 49 years I can do.