5 Reasons Fixing Your Own Car Will Change Your Life

[newmisty]

Yep, that's the stuff! Comes out damn near as clean as it went in after 6,000 miles in my old 4.3 S10, amazing with 189,000 on the girl.
I pulled my transmission pan 15,000 miles ago and it was really really clean too. I changed the filter and shift solenoids while I was in there.
My engine and transmission being in such good shape is the reason I'm fixing the rest of it.


.

Every bolt we screw is a screw you to planned obsolescence.

 

[newmisty]

Once upon a time I bought a rare Thunderbird. I later sold it and bought a more rare one that is one of 574 made. The SC was made to compete with the BMW 6 series as an autobon cruiser. It had exception suspension, a factory supercharged forged 3.8v6 and 5sp Mazda truck tranny. Long ago I decided to just buy one car and restore and maintain it as I loath modern crap. I've had it dissasembled fairly deep and got it back together again through study and utilizing the close knit community the cars have. Most recently the alternator went bad and fearing it was the Supercharger, having still had stock bearings in it as far as I knew, bought a rebuilt one and did the swap myself. I had a mechanic friend who owned an old school shop that is now a Millenial Computer business thingy and did the swap undercover(was winter). Anyway, I didn't have pics handy earlier but then remembered I posted in another thread (Do you like HOTRODS).

I used the factory manual, I bought, my previous experience with this motor, and the fingers and watchful eye of my pal to get the job done quickly and proper. The thing I'm holding in the picture is the deleted egr I did while in the area by just rtv'd a plate to the opening and plugging off the lower hose.

One super hepful thing on dismantling and refarking with this motor are the teflon/silicone gaskets a guy made for the SC top and the two intercooler tubes. Normally an RTV sealant is applied and has to dry and is messy/hard to clean off properly but with those you just bolt down and they seal. Takes a lot of the challange outta the cramed space....ONCE you throw the hidden lower intercooler tube bolt into the woods!

 

[newmisty]

 

[newmisty]

 

[Irons]

Product alert! I got one of these 5x9 magnetic trays and they are great quality and dirt cheap. I am going to snag a couple more.
It's nice not losing all your nuts, bolts and tools while working under the car or under the hood. They stick to the tray.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/9-1-2-X-5-1-2-Stainless-Steel-Permanent-Magnetic-Tool-Parts-Tray/112403266947?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

 

[Zed]

I've always serviced and fixed my cars. The current one is the first one I'm getting serviced but...

I have a sick desire to highly modify an old car. Not valuable old, maybe turn an old wagon into a ute, maybe put a Suby AWD Sti drive train into a bug or kombi. I relieve my desires by watching nutz on YouTube do it... insert porn analogy here!

I love the two mad Pommies doing project Binky on YouTube... sticking an AWD Turbo Celica drive train in a Mini, insane but possible...JUST.

 

[newmisty]

I've always serviced and fixed my cars. The current one is the first one I'm getting serviced but...

I have a sick desire to highly modify an old car. Not valuable old, maybe turn an old wagon into a ute, maybe put a Suby AWD Sti drive train into a bug or kombi. I relieve my desires by watching nutz on YouTube do it... insert porn analogy here!

I love the two mad Pommies doing project Binky on YouTube... sticking an AWD Turbo Celica drive train in a Mini, insane but possible...JUST.

I liked this guys approach.

 

[newmisty]

This ones super tight:

 

[DodgebyDave]

Don't forget to snag yerselves the various handy retrieval tools for fishing dropped bolts nuts washers sockets rivets wrenches

 

[newmisty]

Don't forget to snag yerselves the various handy retrieval tools for fishing dropped bolts nuts washers sockets rivets wrenches

I inherited a skookum one from my grandpa. Flexible metal with 3 or 4 grabber teeth that expand and retract. It's great for when a magnet on a stick ends up sticking to everything but the dropped bolt/screw.

 

[Irons]

Oh man I remember these cars! Never had one but a couple of my friends did.
Meep Meep!

The History of the Plymouth Road Runner

 

[newmisty]

Oh man I remember these cars! Never had one but a couple of my friends did.
Meep Meep!

The History of the Plymouth Road Runner

Am I the only one who reads Plymouth as Ply-Mouth?

 

[DodgebyDave]

1:15. The Camara and The Mustang were never MUSCLECARS

Let me help.

A muscle car was a stripped down intermediate sized 2 door sedan or Hardtop, bench seat, radio or heater delete, dual exhaust, 4spd.

The first "muscle car" was the pontiac GTO in 1964. They took the entry level tempest, put in a 389 tri-power and removed everything but the window cranks. A legend was born.

Also for 1964 was the lightweight and compact for the time was the Mustang that was available with the straight 6 or the relatively new 289. The Pony car was born.

Camaro, Mustang, Nova, Dart, Duster Demon, early barracuda were all pony cars.

The only real and true muscle cars were the GTO, Roadrunner, Chevelle, Fairlane 500

The Dodge Charger, the GTX, The Buick Gran Sports and the Olds Rockets were luxury sports.

In 1969 a hemi roadrunner was 3300 out the door. A loaded hemi charger was almost 5000. More than a loaded vette!

What we see here though is the very last gasp if the "horsepower wars" era. By then however, the "Roadrunner" was no longer a true muscle car and more of a Sattilite sticker car. Very very few +6 and hemicars were built in 1972, for 73 they were gone forever

What you see is a very nice example of a Sports Intermediate. The class it would be in would be C or D stock automatic, run about a 14 second quarter mile. To be competitive though it would have to get 4 seconds faster and still weigh 4000 pounds.

4k is a heavy car. Not a muscle car by any means!

By way of comparrison an A-11 code 440+6 roadrunner from 1968 would weigh about 3300 pounds and run an 11:00 and dip into the 10s if conditions were good.

A hemI dart or Cuda from that era are running low 8s.

Now you know.

 

[newmisty]

Love this guy:

 

[DodgebyDave]

Nifty trick, but, you could have walked there and back quicker!

I keep one of these.

 

[newmisty]

Good tips here. First I've heard of using an ultrasonic machine to look for leaks...

 

[southfork]

https://www.autozone.com/repairguid...stem/Wheel-Speed-Sensors/_/P-0996b43f8037c735

View attachment 121617

They're like $30 each.

Found them, tested all 4 with ohm meter, one the resistance hovers around 900, the other 3 the reading jumps to 1.8 and then drops to 1, meter is set on 2k ,it sits on 1. without use any thoughts

 

[newmisty]

Found them, tested all 4 with ohm meter, one the resistance hovers around 900, the other 3 the reading jumps to 1.8 and then drops to 1, meter is set on 2k , any thoughts

Once you go elechiken on me I'm out! Best I can do is suggest finding out what the proper readings should be. There are forums dedicated to pretty much every tyoe of car and guys there have usually collectively fiddled the whole car by now. That's what I'd try if you can't get an answer from a manual or parts store/mechanic.

 

[newmisty]

First I've seen of this thread.

https://www.goldismoney2.com/threads/rate-your-hand-tools-for-vehicles-and-other.83312/#post-919486

 

[newmisty]

How To Perform a Parasitic Draw Test - EricTheCarGuy

 

[newmisty]

Wow, check out the build this guy did with an old Wagoneer. *Under 6 min vid

 

[newmisty]

So I want to pull the seats out of the truck to get a good cleaning area and the tracks. Did a quick search and learned that it's an E-14 and E-20 socket. I hadn't even heard of them before though I've seen the bolts. A lot of people claim success with an 11mm and 15mm respectively. 12 point optimal but it sounds like either works. OF course I can't find my deep well sockets AtM but I'm in no rush. Apparently Harbor Fraught has sets but not the 20 so I'd rather not hoof out the dough. Anybody have ex-pernse?

 

[Irons]

So I want to pull the seats out of the truck to get a good cleaning area and the tracks. Did a quick search and learned that it's an E-14 and E-20 socket. I hadn't even heard of them before though I've seen the bolts. A lot of people claim success with an 11mm and 15mm respectively. 12 point optimal but it sounds like either works. OF course I can't find my deep well sockets AtM but I'm in no rush. Apparently Harbor Fraught has sets but not the 20 so I'd rather not hoof out the dough. Anybody have ex-pernse?

First time I have seen them, it's like a reverse torx? Odd but you can buy the sockets individually at lowes and HD it looks like.

https://www.google.com/search?q=E-2...et&aqs=chrome..69i57&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

[Irons]

Ha! Scotty mentions "false data" from a cheap scan tool and flashes a CNN logo when he says it!

 

[newmisty]

First time I have seen them, it's like a reverse torx? Odd but you can buy the sockets individually at lowes and HD it looks like.

https://www.google.com/search?q=E-2...et&aqs=chrome..69i57&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Yeah like an inverted torx. Went to a local Home Cheapo and they didn't have a one though they were on the website.

 

[newmisty]

Ha! Scotty mentions "false data" from a cheap scan tool and flashes a CNN logo when he says it!

He's cool as a cucumber with those pictures. Lots of subtle wisdom if you watch/listen carefully. In that vid he say's "Don't waste your money" referencing the air flow gadget but flashed a Bitcoin symbol. Sometimes I bark with laughter at his humor.

 

[BigJim#1-8]

1:15. The Camara and The Mustang were never MUSCLECARS

Let me help.

A muscle car was a stripped down intermediate sized 2 door sedan or Hardtop, bench seat, radio or heater delete, dual exhaust, 4spd.

The first "muscle car" was the pontiac GTO in 1964. They took the entry level tempest, put in a 389 tri-power and removed everything but the window cranks. A legend was born.

Also for 1964 was the lightweight and compact for the time was the Mustang that was available with the straight 6 or the relatively new 289. The Pony car was born.

Camaro, Mustang, Nova, Dart, Duster Demon, early barracuda were all pony cars.

The only real and true muscle cars were the GTO, Roadrunner, Chevelle, Fairlane 500

The Dodge Charger, the GTX, The Buick Gran Sports and the Olds Rockets were luxury sports.

In 1969 a hemi roadrunner was 3300 out the door. A loaded hemi charger was almost 5000. More than a loaded vette!

What we see here though is the very last gasp if the "horsepower wars" era. By then however, the "Roadrunner" was no longer a true muscle car and more of a Sattilite sticker car. Very very few +6 and hemicars were built in 1972, for 73 they were gone forever

What you see is a very nice example of a Sports Intermediate. The class it would be in would be C or D stock automatic, run about a 14 second quarter mile. To be competitive though it would have to get 4 seconds faster and still weigh 4000 pounds.

4k is a heavy car. Not a muscle car by any means!

By way of comparrison an A-11 code 440+6 roadrunner from 1968 would weigh about 3300 pounds and run an 11:00 and dip into the 10s if conditions were good.

A hemI dart or Cuda from that era are running low 8s.

Now you know.

When I was a kid I went with the older guys & watched them unload the car carriers at Mr.Norms Grand Spaulding Dodge. Saw many "race ready" cars.
Great times.

 

[BigJim#1-8]

Well, battery died in my Silverado, battery stuffed into firewall passenger side, had to remove 2 brackets, get step stool to reach over battery to unscrew hold down.
Good Times.....

 

[glockngold]

If you can wait:
6pc E Torx Star Bit Female Socket Set Automotive Shop Tools 3/8 External E10-E20
https://www.ebay.com/itm/6pc-E-Torx...c:USPSPriority!17368!US!-1:rk:2:pf:0&LH_BIN=1
Foreign crap, but would get it done.

 

[Irons]

SPIDERS! FECK!

Yep. Them things. My next trick will be swapping out the old poppit style central port injection system to the updated version that has the injectors at the ends of each tube. I am waiting for the weather to get a little warmer so probably in March. The injector assembly and the upper intake plenum are plastic and are sealed with rubber O rings so doing this in below freezing weather is inviting trouble. Much of the stuff I have to remove to get to the spider is plastic too. I can't get my garage warm enough for long enough with my propane heater and old plastic just breaks in the cold.

GM Vortec 4.3 V6 and some V8 engines had the old spiders from 1995 to 2002 or 03. Most of them worked fine for quite a while but a decade or so of heat, ever changing fuel, wear and tear plus ethanol took their toll on a system that just wasn't made to last. The upgraded ACDelco spiders get great reviews on the 4.3 v6 with many folks saying their trucks never ran this good even when new. Idle, power and gas mileage all vastly improve with the upgrade.

Except for a occasional stumble at idle my old spider has not given me any trouble, which is kind of amazing with 190,000 on the engine. Most went out well before that so once again I have nothing to complain about. Routine maintenance IMO.
I sent all the clad I scooped up in 2018 through the coinstar and turned it fee free into a Amazon gift card so my new spider is mostly paid for. They are $226 or so and up shipped depending on where you get one, with the corner store auto parts places costing the most. To have one installed is very expensive !

 

[DodgebyDave]

30 hours to change the oil filter on a Noble.

 

[Irons]

30 hours to change the oil filter on a Noble.

Had to look that one up............. What engine is in it volvo or ford?

Noble Cars
Noble Automotive Ltd., more commonly known simply as Noble, is a British sports car manufacturer based in Leicester. ... Noble is a low-production British sports car company, its past products include the M12 GTO, M12 GTO-3, M12 GTO-3R and Noble M400.
Owner:
Peter Dyson
Founder:
Lee Noble in Leeds

 

[WillieTheKid]

Good on y'all for fixing your stuff yourself. I used to do that in my younger years, and even totally overhauled a couple of Motorcycles, a Sweet Red Honda 160, and an older Vintage 305cc Superhawk (the motorcycle the guy rode in the book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance").

It was nice riding them when I knew exactly what was going on with the motors.

I worked on a few cars, too, but never rebuilt an engine or anything like that. I have HAD an engine rebuilt, however.

Now I just buy new cars and have the dealers fix 'em. Not as much fun or as much pride, but things seem to be getting done properly, and I probably wouldn't know that unless I had done some stuff myself.

 

[DodgebyDave]

M400, Ford twin turbo. The trouble is on this car the remote filter location is borked with about a gazillion things in the way.

 

[Irons]

Good on y'all for fixing your stuff yourself. I used to do that in my younger years, and even totally overhauled a couple of Motorcycles, a Sweet Red Honda 160, and an older Vintage 305cc Superhawk (the motorcycle the guy rode in the book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance").

It was nice riding them when I knew exactly what was going on with the motors.

I worked on a few cars, too, but never rebuilt an engine or anything like that. I have HAD an engine rebuilt, however.

Now I just buy new cars and have the dealers fix 'em. Not as much fun or as much pride, but things seem to be getting done properly, and I probably wouldn't know that unless I had done some stuff myself.

The truck I am rebuilding now is a 2000, so it's still old school enough that doing most things on it isn't a freaking nightmare buried in layers of plastic. Big thing with these trucks in Michigan is the bodies rot and rust right off them while everything else still runs perfectly. Parts are cheap and plentiful too.

Being stubborn and not too bright I figure I'll spend the rest of my life happily stuck at the turn of last century when it comes to 4 wheel drive vehicles. When this truck wears out I can get another one from a rust free state and use my current truck for parts.

Then there's the fact that I am ZERO impressed with the 50 thousand dollar pieces of chinese plastic slapped together in mexico they call trucks nowadays.

 

[mtnman]

I like keeping them simple...This is in my shop right now. I'll be driving her this spring.

 

[newmisty]

I like keeping them simple...This is in my shop right now. I'll be driving her this spring.

That's a rather ambitious project! Looks like a 70's CJ-5

 

[mtnman]

That's a rather ambitious project! Looks like a 70's CJ-5

1950 CJ3A. Complete, from the frame up, restoration. It'll be a brand new Willys when I'm done.

 

[Ironpig]

SPIDERS! FECK!

Yep. Them things. My next trick will be swapping out the old poppit style central port injection system to the updated version that has the injectors at the ends of each tube. I am waiting for the weather to get a little warmer so probably in March. The injector assembly and the upper intake plenum are plastic and are sealed with rubber O rings so doing this in below freezing weather is inviting trouble. Much of the stuff I have to remove to get to the spider is plastic too. I can't get my garage warm enough for long enough with my propane heater and old plastic just breaks in the cold.

GM Vortec 4.3 V6 and some V8 engines had the old spiders from 1995 to 2002 or 03. Most of them worked fine for quite a while but a decade or so of heat, ever changing fuel, wear and tear plus ethanol took their toll on a system that just wasn't made to last. The upgraded ACDelco spiders get great reviews on the 4.3 v6 with many folks saying their trucks never ran this good even when new. Idle, power and gas mileage all vastly improve with the upgrade.

Except for a occasional stumble at idle my old spider has not given me any trouble, which is kind of amazing with 190,000 on the engine. Most went out well before that so once again I have nothing to complain about. Routine maintenance IMO.
I sent all the clad I scooped up in 2018 through the coinstar and turned it fee free into a Amazon gift card so my new spider is mostly paid for. They are $226 or so and up shipped depending on where you get one, with the corner store auto parts places costing the most. To have one installed is very expensive !

View attachment 124188 View attachment 124189

My 98 4.3 may need this. Truck has only 50 thousand miles. Yes , thats right. Problem: used around salt and salt water. Back end rusted pretty good. Spring time job: remove bed, replace busted leaf, shackles, fuel lines, fuel pump, rear cab mount brackets and whatever rears its ugly head. Hopefully i can hold out awhile before the spider. But so geatful for your post, Thank You!

 

[Ironpig]

Oh yeah, how could i forget. Currently truck "BOUNCES" down the road. LOL! Shocks!