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Thread: The hardest vehicle to work on...

  1. #41
    Boolit Buddy
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    The first thing you did with the Vette Mag pulse unit was to find another point type tack drive dist. and take the Mag pulse one out change a little wiring so you could use the point type dist.

  2. #42
    Boolit Grand Master


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    Quote Originally Posted by Huskerguy View Post
    Interesting thread. In my younger days I did auto collision and then taught it for 15 years.

    In my early years working in rural KS, we didn't even work on foreign cars, they were thought to be junk and too complicated.

    I learned to literally dislike a Ford product. I thought they were terribly made but the woorst part was to take a front end apart they had every size socket with the most unusual size heads of anything ever made. Constantly changing sockets and bolts were special for every part of the front end which made you memorize where they all went.

    After 5 or so years in rural KS I moved a bigger town that had all those foreign cars..my first job was repairing a Honda civic and I thought it was the easiest vehicle I ever worked on. I have generally loved foreign made vehicles since, European first, Asian second. We measured frames with very precise equipment and the U.S. made cars had by far the highest tolerances of any cars made.

    Eventually I worked in a shop where we did Mercedes, Vette, caddy's, Volvos and anything else high end. Loved it back then but I am glad I don't do that anymore.
    I have no doubts at all that the 80's, and 90's Asian cars kicked American car's butt. The 90's was all about American trucks. 80's American vehicles sucked all around. I don't think there is such a difference anymore, but I haven't worked on that many post 2015ish vehicles.

    European cars though? No way. I liked Saab, but that was about it. I hate working on a Mercedes, even bolting a tire on one is a two man job. I'm sure glad the Italians stuck with the high end markets, I hate Italian engineering.

  3. #43
    Boolit Master Wolfdog91's Avatar
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    M88s ( A1 and a2) sucked just because their so heavy.
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    Bradley had to be the worst though. Constant wire problems always pulling packs, PUAD's always not working ram door free falling, turrets not functioning crampy as all get out
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  4. #44
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Any ford.
    Me and fords just don't get along.

  5. #45
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    Quote Originally Posted by megasupermagnum View Post
    European cars though? No way. I liked Saab, but that was about it. I hate working on a Mercedes, even bolting a tire on one is a two man job. I'm sure glad the Italians stuck with the high end markets, I hate Italian engineering.
    The one Saab I worked on was 4 cylinders of the 6 cyl Triumph Stag engine, no fun pulling the head with angled studs but the body was a trip.
    Mal

    Mal Paso means Bad Pass, just so you know.

  6. #46
    Boolit Master Thumbcocker's Avatar
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    My Father in-law had a new Mercedes in the early 90's. I was driving a 90 Nissan hardbody at the time. 5 speed. 4 cylinder. 28 might and would haul 1000 pounds.

    He took the Mercedes in for brakes and an oil change and it cost about 1 1/2 times my monthly truck payment. Later the battery in the Mercedes died. You don't pop into the local parts store for a new battery. The dealer replaced the battery for enough to make a dent in the national debt. Here's the kicker. With a dead battery the radio was no longer programed. The solution. Replace the radio of course. The other option was to send the old radio to Germany to be reprogrammed. It was cheaper to put in a new one.
    Paper targets aren't your friends. They won't lie for you and they don't care if your feelings get hurt.

  7. #47
    Boolit Bub white cloud's Avatar
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    My wife has a 1997 Wrangler. It is pretty easy to work on. My 2014 Wrangler is not too bad. We make enough money to take it to a mechanic. Our problem is finding a decent shop.

  8. #48
    Boolit Master Garyshome's Avatar
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    The one that I am currently working on

  9. #49
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    Quote Originally Posted by contender1 View Post
    Like you, I'm quite capable as a mechanic & not lost in working on stuff.

    But Due to the things I've seen being built, and HOW the engineers do stuff,,
    Part of the problems are driven by "stylists" demanding shapes and spaces in vehicles that look neat but are a beast to maintain.

    Part of the problem is engineers rarely consider what will need to be done to maintain the vehicle.

    Part of the problem is so few modern (classroom trained) engineers have much - if any - personal experience working on anything.

  10. #50
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    Most anything built in the last 15 years will have something that is a royal pain to work on. Unbolting and raising the body to gain access, removal of the front end to change a thermostat, etc. Most all have something that's a bear to do.

    Basically I think its from jamming way too much stuff in a small space and emissions crap. That's 90% of it IMHO.

  11. #51
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    Easy to work on.... PT Cruiser.. Fortunate because there is a lot of stuff that will need fixing. But seriously all the vehicles I have had didn't become hard to work on until we got them past the 100,000 to 150,000 mile point. Then is when all the engineered in problems come to light. We have a KiA Soul that just hit 150,000 miles and so far we have replaced tires, brakes, timing belt and water pump, accessory belts , wind shield wipers, head lights, transmission fluid, Oil every 3to4 thousand miles. And had the wheels aligned twice. Most recently , at the last alignment ,the place i took it to said we might want to replace struts and shocks for a cost of about $1200. I think it is okay for now so we will hold off on that.
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  12. #52
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    Quote Originally Posted by Idaho45guy View Post
    Back in the `80's, when life in the automotive world was sunshine and roses, I bought a 1969 Ford Ranchero GT with a 390 CI V8 that needed a tune-up. Paid $500 to the original owner.

    After replacing the points in about ten minutes, and the air filter in five minutes, I embarked on changing the spark plugs. I soon discovered that the driver's side rear plug required, according to my Chilton's Manual, that the motor mount be removed, and a jack deployed under the motor, in order to raise the motor about 2 inches. This would then allow access to the #8 plug due to clearance issues with the brake booster and steering column.

    Back in the `80's, I thought this to be ridiculous.

    Which it was. But in today's increasingly insane world of nonsensical reasoning and engineering, I continue to come across situations and engineering that defies all reason and sanity.

    Today, I decided to check the air filter of my 2007 Chevy HHR.

    Now, this vehicle was purchased new by my father and was promoted as a "retro" vehicle that evoked the styling of a `40's Chevy delivery sedan. Opening the hood reveals a very simplistic and spartan engine bay with a 2.0 liter 4cyl "Ecotec" engine that puts out more horsepower than any 6 or 8 cyl motor in the `40's.

    However, checking the air filter proved beyond my capability as a seasoned engine re-builder, shade-tree mechanic, and person with above-average mechanical aptitude and abilities.

    After studying the engine bay for a few minutes and poking around, I could not figure out how to access the air filter.

    Let that sink in for a few minutes...

    a 52 year old man, with decades of mechanical experience, years of building hot rods, and a love of mechanical engineering, could not figure out how to change the air filter on a 2007 GM vehicle...

    I finally had to relent to searching YouTube on how to do it.

    After watching the video, I do not feel bad one bit regarding my intelligence or mechanical aptitude.

    The GM engineers who designed the air intake system should be ashamed.

    No. They should be fired. Then brought into the public square in shackles and flogged and spat upon by the public for their absolute idiocy and failure in engineering.

    What used to be a wingnut and 5 seconds was turned into two hand tools and three different processes in order to check a freaking air filter.

    This is a perfect example of how America is failing and devolving into a 3rd world country right before our eyes.
    Before being allowed to work as an engineer, students should spend at least five years as a mechanic working on the sorts of systems they will be designing. Then another five years as a machinist. And weekly flogging sounds like a good idea to me, just to remind them that someone has to work on this crap they design!

    Also, at no time should an engineer be allowed out without a keeper.

  13. #53
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    Another fun one...

    1970 Mustang Mach One wit a 428CJ and headers... plugs were impossible for anyone with big hands. I have long skinny hands and could *just* barely get the plugs in. No modding the body to make it easier, this was a concourse level restoration except for the headers, they were aftermarket. Car was worth $125k back in the early 80's... we spent 4,000 hours on just the body, panel fit was way better than factory when we were finished. No filler other than a skim coat! Probably 1500 hours just sanding it to make sure it was perfect. He went on to restore 5 more Mustangs in the following 20 years. Takes almost 4 years to do one... lot of that is spent finding factory date code parts and getting them rebuilt... numbers MUST match!

  14. #54
    Boolit Master 444ttd's Avatar
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    i remember when you could crawl into the engine space with engine and go to sleep. my first car(used) was a 1973 buick century with a 350 in it. i had thro a quart of oil into it every week and it ate the bottom of a spark plug(i went from 12mpg to 2mpg and boy, does it miss!!!). i was 16yo and $200 in my pocket when i bought her. i did everything you weren't supposed to do in my car, like go 4 wheelin, burn tire.... she was a good car, other than the oil and spark plug. then i bought God's desecration, a 84 ford escort. i broke the motor mount bolts so much i got a box of them on hand. the timing belt broke, so i deceded to replace it. after burning a hole in my frame and air impact wrench the bolt of the crankshaft, i finally put it on. but wait there more!!! i found out, much later, that a timing light was no good. my uncle and i spent about a week to get it right. the alternator broke as well as the other things that need fixin(brakes, oil, air filter...), stuff i had do. the last time i ever drove it, it had a inner and outer bearing go out about 30 minutes before my place. i was so mad at the escort, that i drove it till it went completely out. the 30 minute drive turned into 2 1/2 hours because i broke it. and broke it, i did. i would driving driving down the road, never mind the squealing, until the escort dragged me to berm. we sit there for about 20 minutes and driving would commence until the the next it dragged me to the berm. when i got home, i had a smile upon my face. i could either sell it or take it to the junk yard.(i sold it for $400)

    i was never so glad to get rid of it.
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  15. #55
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    Quote Originally Posted by Idaho45guy View Post

    The GM engineers who designed the air intake system should be ashamed.

    No. They should be fired. Then brought into the public square in shackles and flogged and spat upon by the public for their absolute idiocy and failure in engineering.

    What used to be a wingnut and 5 seconds was turned into two hand tools and three different processes in order to check a freaking air filter.

    This is a perfect example of how America is failing and devolving into a 3rd world country right before our eyes.
    They had a set of requirements they were optimizing for. None of those requirements were "ease of shade-tree mechanic access"...

  16. #56
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    Last year we inherited my father-in-law's 300E, 4Matic, 2017 Mercedes with 12K miles on it. I had it for 6 months before I opened the hood just to see what was under there. Nope, nothing there for me. We were going to sell it but it is very comfortable, performs quite well and we can afford it, especially for what we paid for it. So, I just laugh at the service bills.....good grief....lol!! I never needed prestige that bad.

    I made my living as a mechanic....back in the late 60's and early 70's, then worked on T-38's for dear Uncle and for a while after I got out of the Air Force. I have 3 MG's, a '55 TF, '56 A and a '74 B and a '67 Morris Minor 1000. I do everything to all of them. I worked on them for a living back in the early 70's so familiarity is there and if you can work on an 8N Ford you can work on any of the old BMC/British Leyland vehicles.

    The most difficult to work on, anything Italian or anything German made since the early 80's. The Italian stuff can go back to the early 70's. I swear, before any Italian car is sent to production the first thing designers and engineers ask is, "how can we make this difficult to work on?"
    Last edited by sharps4590; 05-20-2021 at 06:55 PM.
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  17. #57
    Boolit Master
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    Had a few, Some were beast's
    57 Ford Fairlane 500 coupe 312/4 speed Bored out.
    66 Mustang GT 289
    66 Ford step-side SWB 6 banger 3 speed
    72 Ford Ranger SWB, Dropped a 390 in this one
    Couple of VW's 1 was a dune buggy
    Dropped a VW engine in a mud boat, Does that count?
    77 Maverick 6 banger, Probably the easiest to work on
    Several more 240Z 300ZX,81 Vette
    Couple of Dakota's weak transmissions in these.
    Jeep Wrangler 05 Rocky MTN Edition Wish I had kept that one for weekends
    Right now 2014 Maxima and F150 5.0 4x4 for pulling the tractor
    Several more like a Toyota suv thingy and a Nissan suv thingy

  18. #58
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    Quote Originally Posted by kerplode View Post
    They had a set of requirements they were optimizing for. None of those requirements were "ease of shade-tree mechanic access"...
    Looks like an engineer showed up to show how smart he is...
    "Luck don't live out here. Wolves don't kill the unlucky deer; they kill the weak ones..." Jeremy Renner in Wind River

  19. #59
    Boolit Buddy
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    Quote Originally Posted by Idaho45guy View Post
    Looks like an engineer showed up to show how smart he is...
    No...Just to remind you that the auto company engineers don't care if it's hard for you to work on the car. Don't care. At all.
    Last edited by kerplode; 05-20-2021 at 06:47 PM.

  20. #60
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    Quote Originally Posted by kerplode View Post
    No...Just to remind you that the auto company engineers don't care if it's hard for you to work on the car. Don't care. At all.

    The engineers all think their design is too good to fail so they don't care.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check