5 Reasons Fixing Your Own Car Will Change Your Life

[Casey Jones]

don't be envious...they only kinda-fit, what you don't see is the wad of duct tape stuffed in-between to help keep the clatter down

i still gotta chase one of 'em every once in a while...

That's a lie!

AMC used the same hubcaps on all their models.

....the same wheels. The same axles. Same three engines.

It's how a car company copes, in death. Studebaker, the last three years, made ONE model, the Lark. They gave it three names, for what was really trim differences; but before the final run, they just called that car the Lark. In the end, they called it the Studebaker.

AMC had one body style, after the Pacer was discontinued. It was the Hornet, renamed the Concord; chopped in the back to call it the Gremlin or Spirit...with a modded Jeep driveline jammed in to make it an Eagle.

Know how I know this? I owned one. Finding parts was exciting, but any AMC after 1970 or so would have mix-n-match parts.

 

[Casey Jones]

That is so true, the worse for me is knowing I have something but end up running to the local hardware store because I can’t find where I put it.

Guaranteed way to find your missing tool.

Go to the store and buy a replacement, and your missing tool will JUMP into your hand, as soon as you get the purchase home and out of the package.

Meantime, the receipt for your new purchase, slithers off to the hiding space. Never to be seen again.

 

[newmisty]

I've done 2 prius batteries. I'll never do another

Fry yer weenie?

 

[newmisty]

 

[Joe King]

That's a lie

Them's some strong words there. Got any documentation on that?

AMC used the same hubcaps on all their models.

That's not what a quick search pulls up.

This guy on ebay sells AMC hubcaps and quick scroll through shows what looks to me to be several different hubcaps.

(1) OEM 1974-1979 AMC American Motors Pacer Gremlin 14" Hubcap Wheel Cover #0C | eBay

The cap is accented with the original BROWN paint (painted to match the vehicle). You will need to either strip the paint or repaint it to match your vehicle if your particular car is not this color/shade of brown.

www.ebay.com

Them sweet lookin' '67 Rambler hubcaps is what @Buck should get. Be a hell'uva upgrade. Certainly make his car look faster and from a fair distance they'd almost look like nice aluminum wheels. Lol

@Buck , you should jump on them 'cause they'll go quick, and at under $85 for the set, you can't really go wrong.

..the same wheels. The same axles. Same three engines.

It's how a car company copes, in death.

Yea, but they weren't dyin' when he got his. In '74 they had $2 billion in net sales, thanks in part to @Buck (btw, that's up from $1.7b in '73) and were comin' off of four straight years of profitability.

Hardly a dying company, at the time. Their worst problem that year was a strike that cost 'em $7 million.

Meanwhile the big 3 were mostly bleeding money in '74 and cutting back due to reduced sales.




Sections BibliographyFootnotes Sections
A document from the CQ Researcher archives:
Report Outline
Economic Impact of Declining Sales
Industry's Growth and Concentration
Options and Outlook in Troubled Times
Special Focus
Economic Impact of Declining Sales

Concern That Slump Might Wreck Economy​

So far 1974 has not been a happy year for the American automobile industry. Sales have plummeted, production has been cut drastically, thousands of workers have been laid off, dealers have been plagued with huge inventories of cars they cannot sell, and declining profits have forced two of the Big Three auto manufacturers—Ford and Chrysler—to announce cutbacks in capital spending.


So as the most popular potus ever would say, c'mon man! Lol

 

[Casey Jones]

Them's some strong words there. Got any documentation on that?

Lighten up, Francis!

Regarding the hubcaps: There were variations, but after the Ambassador/Matador body got cancelled, 1979, the company had only one base platform (car).

In the 1970s, the company was "so profitable" that Gerald Meyers, president, was constantly fielding questions of whether American Motors could go as Jeep alone, without passenger cars. The Jeep line was producing money. The car division was close to breakeven in the early 1970s, and after they took their two wild gambles, the new Matador two-door and the Pacer, which was supposed to have had a Wankel engine, that AMC couldn't afford to design. Plan B was to buy the GM Wankel engine, due out in 1974. We know how that went. Plan C was to buy Mazda rotaries, but Mazda was having its own warranty issues, was moving back to piston engines, and wasn't interested.

Plan D was to put four-wheel-drive under the Hornet, something they were playing with from 1976. That took money, also, and with the Pacer and Matador flops, they ran out before it came to fruition. Which was why that ill-fated deal with Renault. That gave AMC survival time, but turned it into a subsidy to be passed from one major maker to another - Renault, Chrysler, then, together with Chrysler, to Daimler, then Fiat and now Peugeot.

No, I'd say they weren't doing so well.

 

[DodgebyDave]

AMC died because of the partnership with Renault, that car was a hideous looking pos nightmare to sell or own

 

[Buck]

@Buck , you should jump on them 'cause they'll go quick, and at under $85 for the set, you can't really go wrong.

replacement hubcaps: $85

roll of fresh duct tape: $5

stealing borrowing someone elses hubcaps: Priceless

 

[Joe King]

Regarding the hubcaps: There were variations,

Exactly, but you previously said they were all the same. Can't be both, that casts doubt on the rest of your original post, no?

but after the Ambassador/Matador body got cancelled, 1979, the company had only one base platform (car).

Big difference betwixt '79 & '74 for amc. I posted docs showing that in '74 they were comin' off of 4 profitable years, which is more than the big 3 could say. The whole '70's sucked for them.

I'm just sayin' that maybe you should take it easy on ol' Buck and his purple and cream color '74 Pacer with mis-matched hubcaps. It was all he could afford.

 

[Someone_else]

That reminds me of another thing young people have never seen...

A hubcap laying on the side of a road.

 

[Casey Jones]

AMC died because of the partnership with Renault, that car was a hideous looking pos nightmare to sell or own

Disagree.

Without the "partnership" AMC would have been forced into bankruptcy in 1979. They were out of money and when they requested more credit from banks carrying their revolving-credit accounts, they were told, "no."

Chrysler, already in bailout talks, was deemed "too big to fail" but AMC, owner of AM General, the M-151 and Postal Jeep maker...was not seen as irreplaceable.

In desperation they went to Renault. First for cash, and second, for a license to build their R11 fwd car. The idea at the time was that AMC could mod it for American use. That didn't happen, because the license and cash loan, turned into a controlling interest - Renault wound up owning a majority of AMC, and put their own people in to run it. So, aside from the Jeep division, which Renault left alone (didn't understand it) the cars got cheapened.

The corporate organization was improved, with less red tape, but the product...as cheap and shoddy from Wisconsin as it was from Paris.

The first year, the Alliance sold like hotcakes. The second year, the first year's Franco-American cars were already falling apart. Word traveled fast; and potential buyers disappeared.

 

[Buck]

It was all he could afford.

lol

my plan is working to perfection

(portray a drunken idiot who's barely got two nickles to rub together)

 

[Joe King]

A hubcap laying on the side of a road.

I saw one of those just the other day. If it's still there next time I roll by, I'll take a pic of it for you.

 

[Casey Jones]

Exactly, but you previously said they were all the same. Can't be both, that casts doubt on the rest of your original post, no?



Big difference betwixt '79 & '74 for amc. I posted docs showing that in '74 they were comin' off of 4 profitable years, which is more than the big 3 could say. The whole '70's sucked for them.

I'm just sayin' that maybe you should take it easy on ol' Buck and his purple and cream color '74 Pacer with mis-matched hubcaps. It was all he could afford.

A lot of that was Happy Talk. Whistling past the graveyard.

Neither the financial papers nor the buff books, will EVER call something a dog. The few times an auto writer has tried (David E. Davis, and a few others) he's been sacked, fast. The industry exists on advertising, from the same people whose products are reviewed.

The financial people are likely to be sued into penury, if they cannot defend every word and if with time, it doesn't unfold exactly as they say. So they're circumspect in calling a business out, also.

Here's a between-the-lines clue. There's a lot of ruin in a successful business. Studebaker (1952-1959), Chrysler (1959-64 and again, 1974-79) and GM (late 1990s-2008) all had LONG runs of unprofitability before bankruptcy, bailout or reorganization. AMC was in palpable danger from 1977. And despite the cheerleading, it was apparent much sooner.

My reading is, they had real troubles from the 1973 Arab Oil crisis, and never recovered. They were still reeling from the cost of buying Kaiser-Jeep...which of course was not a bad move, but which did take money they scarcely had.

 

[Joe King]

Without the "partnership" AMC would have been forced into bankruptcy in 1979. They were out of money and when they requested more credit from banks carrying their revolving-credit accounts, they were told, "no."

Chrysler, already in bailout talks, was deemed "too big to fail" but AMC, owner of AM General, the M-151 and Postal Jeep maker...was not seen as irreplaceable.

In desperation they went to Renault. First for cash, and second, for a license to build their R11 fwd car. The idea at the time was that AMC could mod it for American use. That didn't happen, because the license and cash loan, turned into a controlling interest - Renault wound up owning a majority of AMC, and put their own people in to run it. So, aside from the Jeep division, which Renault left alone (didn't understand it) the cars got cheapened.

The corporate organization was improved, with less red tape, but the product...as cheap and shoddy from Wisconsin as it was from Paris.

Yea yea yea, sounds like one of them "likely stories". Lol

The first year, the Alliance sold like

Ok, but the truly important question is, what style of hubcaps did it come with?

 

[Joe King]

My reading is, they had real troubles from the 1973 Arab Oil crisis, and never recovered.

That actually helped them. They had increased sales in the those days due to the fact they made crappy little cars that got decent gas milage. In an oil crisis, ain't that what'cha want? It was certainly what ol' Buck wanted.
...and still do.

 

[Casey Jones]

See what I mean? That's Happy Talk, what the motoring press was spewing.

Their cars got LOUSY gas mileage. The Gremlin, with its 550-pound six as the smallest engine, got 19mpg in actual city use. Popular Science tested several, over the years, and I also later owned one. The car was short and stubby, but the heaviest of the "subcompacts."

And that was their economy champ. The only thing economical about it, was the purchase price.

AMC had the IMAGE of economical cars, one that was rooted in their position 15 years earlier...but the market changed around them. Their cars, even the compact line, had gained bulk. The subcompact Gremlin was a hack job...a clever hack, but a hack. AMC couldn't afford to engineer a tiny car with a four - they never could, even their 1950s Metropolitan was built by Austin in England for them. This time they didn't have even that option.

 

[Casey Jones]

Yea yea yea, sounds like one of them "likely stories". Lol

Elsewhere I'd mentioned that I enjoy business histories.

This is one I'd read considerable about - partly because, at various times, I'd owned AMC and Jeep vehicles, but partly because it's fascinating in its own right. The whole saga of Jeep, from Bantam to Willys to Kaiser to AMC, Chrysler, Daimler-Benz and to today, is really melodrama in its own right.

Research it, if you're interested. So much of the details have been lost, today...someone born when AMC was taken over by Chrysler, would now be 35 years old...early middle age. Would likely never have driven an AMC, or looked at one close up. It's all in the background...the way the Hupmobile was to me.

 

[Casey Jones]

Ok, but the truly important question is, what style of hubcaps did it come with?

None.

It had the cast wheels with the exposed lug nuts - that were fashionable in the 1980s.

 

[newmisty]

 

[newmisty]

Elsewhere I'd mentioned that I enjoy business histories.

This is one I'd read considerable about - partly because, at various times, I'd owned AMC and Jeep vehicles, but partly because it's fascinating in its own right. The whole saga of Jeep, from Bantam to Willys to Kaiser to AMC, Chrysler, Daimler-Benz and to today, is really melodrama in its own right.

Research it, if you're interested. So much of the details have been lost, today...someone born when AMC was taken over by Chrysler, would now be 35 years old...early middle age. Would likely never have driven an AMC, or looked at one close up. It's all in the background...the way the Hupmobile was to me.

You may enjoy this channel if you're not already familiar with it

https://youtube.com/channel/UCQMyhrt92_8XM0KgZH6VnRg

 

[glockngold]

Elsewhere I'd mentioned that I enjoy business histories.

This is one I'd read considerable about - partly because, at various times, I'd owned AMC and Jeep vehicles, but partly because it's fascinating in its own right. The whole saga of Jeep, from Bantam to Willys to Kaiser to AMC, Chrysler, Daimler-Benz and to today, is really melodrama in its own right.

Research it, if you're interested. So much of the details have been lost, today...someone born when AMC was taken over by Chrysler, would now be 35 years old...early middle age. Would likely never have driven an AMC, or looked at one close up. It's all in the background...the way the Hupmobile was to me.

AMC
"Hey Javalin"
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Better Call Saul

 

[viking]

Ok, so recently I keep getting Misfire code P0300. And occasionally P0101, Mass Air Flow Sensor.

Also had P0420 Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold for a long time.

Could these be related? Spark plugs and wires all in good shape. Just cleaned Mass Flow sensor. Any ideas?

Vacuum leak?

 

[glockngold]

Year Car Motor?
300 by itself could be coil pack

 

[viking]

Year Car Motor?
300 by itself could be coil pack

2003 Suburban 5.3L

 

[newmisty]

2003 Suburban 5.3L

Fuel filter

 

[Bottom Feeder]

Automotive tip:
Rent the same type of car you own and switch the tires.
Save a couple hundred dollars on a $19.95 investment.

 

[Someone_else]

Hey, that's pretty funny! Just like buying an identical product to one that failed, exchanging the faulted part, and returning it for a refund. Wait, isn't that fraud? No. Not unless someone notices the exchange.

 

[newmisty]

"Fight it tooth and nail. Don't accept this crap."

 

[DodgebyDave]

 

[alicestevens]

I can do some basic things in my car but that's something I really hate doing, so paying professionals is much easier for me that doing the job myself. A simple tire change can take up to two or three hours of my time and regarding to national tire and battery reviews on this website guys do in a couple of minutes. Meanwhile I can drink a coffee and do the job I am good at.

 

[newmisty]

I can do some basic things in my car but that's something I really hate doing, so paying professionals is much easier for me that doing the job myself.

Hi Alice. What's considered a basic thing in your view?

What's unpleasant about it, the complexity/ tools needed, the filthy aspect of it etc.?

 

[Casey Jones]

Hi Alice. What's considered a basic thing in your view?

What's unpleasant about it, the complexity/ tools needed, the filthy aspect of it etc.?

I can't speak for Alice; but my reaction is the same.

What's unpleasant about it? That so many things can go WRONG. Drain pans spill - and out comes Karen the Apartment Manager. Bolts needed to remove, require SO MUCH other crap taken off. Often hidden secrets - like taking a tail-light assembly out. You have to know which screws hold it in, and which areas are held in with plastic tabs. You pull...but THIS direction, off at an angle; if you pull straight out, you break it.

This oil plug or engine line or screw, goes into aluminum. EIGHT foot-pounds, and not a bit more....OOOHHH! I STRIPPED IT!

Then it become Tool-Throwing Time, and then I have to call the wrecker, and dig out the bag of gold.

That's why I try to avoid it, as much as I can.

 

[newmisty]

I can't speak for Alice; but my reaction is the same.

What's unpleasant about it? That so many things can go WRONG. Drain pans spill - and out comes Karen the Apartment Manager. Bolts needed to remove, require SO MUCH other crap taken off. Often hidden secrets - like taking a tail-light assembly out. You have to know which screws hold it in, and which areas are held in with plastic tabs. You pull...but THIS direction, off at an angle; if you pull straight out, you break it.

This oil plug or engine line or screw, goes into aluminum. EIGHT foot-pounds, and not a bit more....OOOHHH! I STRIPPED IT!

Then it become Tool-Throwing Time, and then I have to call the wrecker, and dig out the bag of gold.

That's why I try to avoid it, as much as I can.

100%. But, that's exactly what what is so fun and exciting about it. When you can face that challenge and succeed it's a high it can't be bought.

The more things that have gone wrong on my vehicles, the more I learn about them, so the better I understand them oh, so the easier they are to coexist with and develop a very strong appreciation for their value.

It's something I've pondered about people in the past with their horses and the horse/rider connection.

It really adds to the overall driving experience and one's knowledge about a broad spectrum of things not limited to greedy corporations and planned obsolescence.

 

[Casey Jones]

100%. But, that's exactly what what is so fun and exciting about it. When you can face that challenge and succeed it's a high it can't be bought.

The more things that have gone wrong on my vehicles, the more I learn about them, so the better I understand them oh, so the easier they are to coexist with and develop a very strong appreciation for their value.

It's something I've pondered about people in the past with their horses and the horse/rider connection.

It really adds to the overall driving experience and one's knowledge about a broad spectrum of things not limited to greedy corporations and planned obsolescence.

With cars that can reasonably be worked on, I've done it, over the years. New clutch cables and new hydraulic slave clutch cylinders. New carbs; new plugs; points, condensers (I had no idea what "dwell" was until I had to set it with my Pinto. Christ, what a mess that was!) Valve adjustments, on that same Pinto, taught me never to try with a motorcycle. Some have feel for it; I do not. On the Pinto, I settled for too loose...ran fine but the valve-clatter got to me. Because I knew what it was.

I'd replaced the rusty tub on a Jeep CJ, a 1973. Relatively simple wiring, until you take it off. Then it becomes a hydra-headed snake. Just marking all the terminals, was a day-long job.

I'd drained an automatic transmission, replaced the filter on it, and filled it up with fresh fluid. Great! Worked much better! NOW...you CAN NOT do that, and when that tranny springs a leak, the shop has to do $700 in labor just to GET to where they can add fluid. So the garage will try to sell you a new pan/gasket/seals on the output shaft(s). $$$$ and often it doesn't solve the problem. As I learned on another Ford...somehow, Fords always seem the worst offenders. If there's a bad idea out there, crap steel that rusts, transmissions that don't last, poor engine design...Ford is right in there.

Nowadays...you can't even put, say, an LED taillight bulb in a socket to replace an incandescent, without tripping some computer. Because, YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO PAY A PREMIUM TO THE FACTORY FOR LED LIGHTS. We've made SURE you cannot do it in your garage. You can't pull out the headlight reflector, without special tools and an hour-long Youtube primer on how to do it. Compare that with the sealed beams of 30 years ago...three screws and it's out.

I have gone beyond appreciation for the complexity of my vehicles. I've come to curse and damn them for that, and to LOATHE everything about modern cars and trucks, and the government and greedy con men who design them that way.

 

[newmisty]

With cars that can reasonably be worked on.

That's the rub though isn't it? The greedy electrified scum. Like we really need a computer module to automatically open the window a half of an inch when you get out of the car so that when you shut the door it doesn't disturb the air pressure inside the vessel,

 

[mtnman]

With cars that can reasonably be worked on, I've done it, over the years. New clutch cables and new hydraulic slave clutch cylinders. New carbs; new plugs; points, condensers (I had no idea what "dwell" was until I had to set it with my Pinto. Christ, what a mess that was!) Valve adjustments, on that same Pinto, taught me never to try with a motorcycle. Some have feel for it; I do not. On the Pinto, I settled for too loose...ran fine but the valve-clatter got to me. Because I knew what it was.

I'd replaced the rusty tub on a Jeep CJ, a 1973. Relatively simple wiring, until you take it off. Then it becomes a hydra-headed snake. Just marking all the terminals, was a day-long job.

I'd drained an automatic transmission, replaced the filter on it, and filled it up with fresh fluid. Great! Worked much better! NOW...you CAN NOT do that, and when that tranny springs a leak, the shop has to do $700 in labor just to GET to where they can add fluid. So the garage will try to sell you a new pan/gasket/seals on the output shaft(s). $$$$ and often it doesn't solve the problem. As I learned on another Ford...somehow, Fords always seem the worst offenders. If there's a bad idea out there, crap steel that rusts, transmissions that don't last, poor engine design...Ford is right in there.

Nowadays...you can't even put, say, an LED taillight bulb in a socket to replace an incandescent, without tripping some computer. Because, YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO PAY A PREMIUM TO THE FACTORY FOR LED LIGHTS. We've made SURE you cannot do it in your garage. You can't pull out the headlight reflector, without special tools and an hour-long Youtube primer on how to do it. Compare that with the sealed beams of 30 years ago...three screws and it's out.

I have gone beyond appreciation for the complexity of my vehicles. I've come to curse and damn them for that, and to LOATHE everything about modern cars and trucks, and the government and greedy con men who design them that way.

I just chuckled a bit over this post. As I was reading I thought, Sound like a days work back when I pulled wrenches for a living!

 

[Casey Jones]

I just chuckled a bit over this post. As I was reading I thought, Sound like a days work back when I pulled wrenches for a living!

And that's why I wasn't an auto mechanic.

All thumbs; poor spacial awareness (wrench size, space needed to pull fasteners) and ZERO patience.

Interestingly, we had a couple of young auto mechanics change careers and go to work on the railroad. But although I did fine driving trains, there is no way I could have made money wrenching.

 

[mtnman]

That's the rub though isn't it? The greedy electrified scum. Like we really need a computer module to automatically open the window a half of an inch when you get out of the car so that when you shut the door it doesn't disturb the air pressure inside the vessel,

View attachment 257624

And that's why I wasn't an auto mechanic.

All thumbs; poor spacial awareness (wrench size, space needed to pull fasteners) and ZERO patience.

Interestingly, we had a couple of young auto mechanics change careers and go to work on the railroad. But although I did fine driving trains, there is no way I could have made money wrenching.

I went from cars and motorcycles in the 70's to Ship Repair in the 80's, a lot less customer complaints...

 

[Fatboy]

Has doing your own work so you don't get sued been mentioned yet?

https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/ca...gets-sued-after-worker-dies-during-oil-change