#8 is pretty close. I had a 1978 Ford Pinto. I went to change the spark plugs, something that we no longer do. I got 3 of them changed, but could not reach the last one that was too close to the firewall. I took it to a local mechanic, who had to loosen the motor mounts, jack the engine up, and use 2 socket universal joints in order to get that last spark plug out. I don't remember what he charged me, but it was worth it. A drunk driver hit my car in the driveway less than a year later. Of course, now we don't bother to change spark plugs, since the car is always in tune, with the computers. So it is not a problem, but I don't even do my own oil changes now since there is no place to either do it, or to dispose of my used oil. I used to live in the country, and did it in the front yard, and dumped the oil on my dirt driveway to keep the dust down.
My brother had an AMC Eagle that head a leaky head gasket. I told him to bring it over and we'd fix it. The head was part way in the firewall and there was no way to get the head off without doing something similar to what you described. We decided just to let it go. I was like you and did all the work on my vehicles. Not anymore, too old besides I'd have to lay in the grass with the fire ants...no fun. I just replaced my plugs on my Tacoma with 100,000 mile ones. Just because they're computer controlled does not mean you won't need to change them.
#8. '77 Pinto, starter went out. Other cars it was a driveway fix. Got all bolts out, starter bumped against something, would not go any farther. Called a mechanic from church, he came out, said he would have to unbolt motor mounts, jack up the motor to get starter work done. Learned not to try anything on the Pinto. In 1990 my wife bought a new Nissan Axxess. She did the whole deal, I stayed at home. She drove it into the yard, popped the hood latch, I opened the hood, looked at all that stuff inside, closed the hood, said, "Nope. I'm not doing anything," meaning "I am not trained to do anything here." My wife's 1995 Taurus was the last car I could do any work on.
Modern spark plugs have iridium or platinum tips which wear much slower than steel electrodes but they still have to be changed at 60-100k miles depending on the engine. My '09 Mercedes V8 has the oil filter at the top of the timing case and I use a vacuum evacuator to extract the oil through the dipstick tube. I have changed the oil and filter in the driveway in February and remained on my feet the whole time. When I build my custom pickup, I'm installing a remote filter kit on the Chevy LS block.
#8: Apparently the engine manufacturer of my XUV started with the fuel filter as the first component, then built the remainder of the engine around it. That bitch is impossible to reach. The oil filter is only partially visible with a flashlight if I contortion myself just right and replacing it is performed only by feel.
#4: In Canada at least, Costco or No-Name kitchen bags cost less than a plastic Walmart bag. You do need to buy in bulk though.
#8: I had a gen 2 Intrepid. Access to the battery was through the wheel well, and was a lot easier if the car was in the air. A part of me has always wanted to dump a bucket of wet dog shit on the person responsible for this.
#14: "Hey, you should check this article about blahblahblah." This can be useful in deciding who to cut from your life. If you've sent me anything about dire climate change warnings or the plight of the BLM movement, then we're probably not friends anymore.
My uncle bought my grandpa a Fuck You tie done in real fancy sideways script. Grandpa gets called into the office where the VP says “John, why did you wear such a vulgar tie when meeting our client?” Grandpa had no clue the tie said anything. My uncle got a real good ass beating that night.
You think cars are fun, I spent 26 years working on medical machinery. Almost all of seemed to be engineered to be disposable because you had to practically remanufacture it to to do maintenance. The worst thing I ever saw was a hemodialysis machine made by a manufacturer we won't mention. The line returning the fluid containing the waste products from the patient directly over the entire set of boards running the entire thing. Poorly secured and connected by cheap plastic clamps. Was working in a lab and found a water bath heater for growing samples that was wired so that the outer casing was live. Touching the case while grounded would zap you good. After I fixed it I asked one of the lab workers if they had ever got shocked when using it and was told that yeah sometimes it really nailed you. It apparently had been this way for several years and no one ever complained.
#8, Don't you wish sometimes you had a 66 ford f-100 with the straight 6. you could literally raise the hood and sit on the inside fender wells and work on it, and if it started to rain, you stayed dry. The audi R8, to change the pcv valve, you have to remove all of the twin turbo ducting, and move the turbo's out of the way, take off the fuel rails and the manifold to get to it. It cost about 3k to change it, 20 bucks for the part and 2980 for the labor.
76 Ford F-250 with a V8 in it. Dad and I would sit IN the engine well to work. Raining? just lower the hood a bit to keep the rain off of you. That truck would climb trees, but got 9 mpg on a good day. I loved that truck...
my first vehicle was a 69 Ford F100 with the 390. I was changing the valve cover gaskets when it started raining. Climbed in the engine bay and sat of the fender to finish the job.
I had a "gray market" (no smog/emissions bullshit, etc.) 1980 Mercedes sedan. It was a six-cylinder, carbureted gas burner. When you popped the hood, it was like I was looking at simple tractor engine from my youth. I loved that car.
As usual spot on & funny as hell! #8 especially as my first wheels here in Hawaii was a 66' Plymouth Valiant with a 'slant 6'. My skinny surfer ass could climb in the engine bay to get to the filter. My dad taught me how to change the alternator, starter, radiator, generator & all the fluids. He had a 'timing gun' so we could do our own tune ups. Dad cut out the back seat support pillars & took out the backrest part of the seat so I had a hatch back & could put 4 surfboards in from the trunk! Pioneer Super Tuner cassette deck with good speakers & '3 on the column shifting so it was a sweet surf car...
Outstanding as usual! The ones that stood out for me today were #'s 6,8,15 & 20
ReplyDeleteThank you
#8 is pretty close. I had a 1978 Ford Pinto. I went to change the spark plugs, something that we no longer do. I got 3 of them changed, but could not reach the last one that was too close to the firewall.
ReplyDeleteI took it to a local mechanic, who had to loosen the motor mounts, jack the engine up, and use 2 socket universal joints in order to get that last spark plug out. I don't remember what he charged me, but it was worth it. A drunk driver hit my car in the driveway less than a year later.
Of course, now we don't bother to change spark plugs, since the car is always in tune, with the computers. So it is not a problem, but I don't even do my own oil changes now since there is no place to either do it, or to dispose of my used oil. I used to live in the country, and did it in the front yard, and dumped the oil on my dirt driveway to keep the dust down.
My brother had an AMC Eagle that head a leaky head gasket. I told him to bring it over and we'd fix it. The head was part way in the firewall and there was no way to get the head off without doing something similar to what you described. We decided just to let it go. I was like you and did all the work on my vehicles. Not anymore, too old besides I'd have to lay in the grass with the fire ants...no fun. I just replaced my plugs on my Tacoma with 100,000 mile ones. Just because they're computer controlled does not mean you won't need to change them.
DeleteMy wife was driving a Pinto when we met. Changing the plugs was fairly easy. One would pop out on its own every week or so.
Delete#8. '77 Pinto, starter went out. Other cars it was a driveway fix. Got all bolts out, starter bumped against something, would not go any farther. Called a mechanic from church, he came out, said he would have to unbolt motor mounts, jack up the motor to get starter work done. Learned not to try anything on the Pinto. In 1990 my wife bought a new Nissan Axxess. She did the whole deal, I stayed at home. She drove it into the yard, popped the hood latch, I opened the hood, looked at all that stuff inside, closed the hood, said, "Nope. I'm not doing anything," meaning "I am not trained to do anything here." My wife's 1995 Taurus was the last car I could do any work on.
DeleteI said "head gasket" when I meant valve cover. Getting old is a bit@@
DeleteModern spark plugs have iridium or platinum tips which wear much slower than steel electrodes but they still have to be changed at 60-100k miles depending on the engine. My '09 Mercedes V8 has the oil filter at the top of the timing case and I use a vacuum evacuator to extract the oil through the dipstick tube. I have changed the oil and filter in the driveway in February and remained on my feet the whole time. When I build my custom pickup, I'm installing a remote filter kit on the Chevy LS block.
DeleteI think I replaced the plugs on my 2001 F-150 at 120,000 miles. It was the first time they'd been changed.
Delete#8: Apparently the engine manufacturer of my XUV started with the fuel filter as the first component, then built the remainder of the engine around it. That bitch is impossible to reach. The oil filter is only partially visible with a flashlight if I contortion myself just right and replacing it is performed only by feel.
ReplyDelete#8 70 Camaro with blackjack headers. Bottom picture.
ReplyDelete#4: In Canada at least, Costco or No-Name kitchen bags cost less than a plastic Walmart bag. You do need to buy in bulk though.
ReplyDelete#8: I had a gen 2 Intrepid. Access to the battery was through the wheel well, and was a lot easier if the car was in the air. A part of me has always wanted to dump a bucket of wet dog shit on the person responsible for this.
#14: "Hey, you should check this article about blahblahblah." This can be useful in deciding who to cut from your life. If you've sent me anything about dire climate change warnings or the plight of the BLM movement, then we're probably not friends anymore.
My uncle bought my grandpa a Fuck You tie done in real fancy sideways script.
ReplyDeleteGrandpa gets called into the office where the VP says “John, why did you wear such a vulgar tie when meeting our client?”
Grandpa had no clue the tie said anything.
My uncle got a real good ass beating that night.
You think cars are fun, I spent 26 years working on medical machinery. Almost all of seemed to be engineered to be disposable because you had to practically remanufacture it to to do maintenance. The worst thing I ever saw was a hemodialysis machine made by a manufacturer we won't mention. The line returning the fluid containing the waste products from the patient directly over the entire set of boards running the entire thing. Poorly secured and connected by cheap plastic clamps.
ReplyDeleteWas working in a lab and found a water bath heater for growing samples that was wired so that the outer casing was live. Touching the case while grounded would zap you good. After I fixed it I asked one of the lab workers if they had ever got shocked when using it and was told that yeah sometimes it really nailed you. It apparently had been this way for several years and no one ever complained.
#8, Don't you wish sometimes you had a 66 ford f-100 with the straight 6. you could literally raise the hood and sit on the inside fender wells and work on it, and if it started to rain, you stayed dry. The audi R8, to change the pcv valve, you have to remove all of the twin turbo ducting, and move the turbo's out of the way, take off the fuel rails and the manifold to get to it. It cost about 3k to change it, 20 bucks for the part and 2980 for the labor.
ReplyDelete76 Ford F-250 with a V8 in it. Dad and I would sit IN the engine well to work. Raining? just lower the hood a bit to keep the rain off of you. That truck would climb trees, but got 9 mpg on a good day. I loved that truck...
DeleteI had a 1964 Chevy C-20 that I did the same with the 327 and later, a couple 350s.
Deletemy first vehicle was a 69 Ford F100 with the 390. I was changing the valve cover gaskets when it started raining. Climbed in the engine bay and sat of the fender to finish the job.
DeleteI had a "gray market" (no smog/emissions bullshit, etc.) 1980 Mercedes sedan. It was a six-cylinder, carbureted gas burner. When you popped the hood, it was like I was looking at simple tractor engine from my youth. I loved that car.
Delete1982 Ford F100 straight six you could almost lay down under the hood next to the engine.
Delete# 8 mid 80's S-10's with the 2.8 V-6
ReplyDeleteGM sat the transmission on a milk crate and built a truck around it..............
I wonder what a "tounge" is, or a "tyrnna". Life is full of mysteries, and morons keep supplying more.
ReplyDelete--Tennessee Budd
#4. Hold it! Those bags cost here one penny, taxed at 2400% !!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteSo if you can afford to put one in your trashcan you're RICH.
#7 Yuk, Starbucks tongue. Like a muddy road.
ReplyDeleteAs usual spot on & funny as hell! #8 especially as my first wheels here in Hawaii was a 66' Plymouth Valiant with a 'slant 6'. My skinny surfer ass could climb in the engine bay to get to the filter. My dad taught me how to change the alternator, starter, radiator, generator & all the fluids. He had a 'timing gun' so we could do our own tune ups. Dad cut out the back seat support pillars & took out the backrest part of the seat so I had a hatch back & could put 4 surfboards in from the trunk! Pioneer Super Tuner cassette deck with good speakers & '3 on the column shifting so it was a sweet surf car...
ReplyDelete#3 "Freak" is a relative term. If you want to find out, try Walmart at night.
ReplyDelete