New Rule

[guitar man]

The automotive engineers that design vehicles should have to work as a mechanic for a minimum of 5 years before they are allowed anywhere near car design. Also, they should be made to perform every repair on these things they design before they go into production. :grr: :grr: :grr:

[rrneck]

1. My cousin

(who was Dilbert personified) worked as a designer for a major filter manufacturer. He told me once about a strange looking filter produced for, I believe, a Dodge pickup truck. It was just weird and stupid looking and appeared to have been thrown under the hood. He said that it was because when they were working out the design it was almost Christmas and they wanted to go home.

True story.

[guitar man]

2. I believe it

This is an '01 Dodge van I'm working on. I swear they must have designed the whole thing right before christmas lol

[HopeHoops]

3. I changed the water pump on my 70 Maverick in 15 minutes start to finish - parked outside my apt.!!!

I don't think there is ANYTHING on a new car that you can replace in 15 minutes anymore. It took over an hour to figure out how to get the fucking headlamp out of my daughter's boyfriend's Hyundai. AAARRGGHH!!

[guitar man]

5. Ahh, the good old days

I changed the water pump in this van a while back and it took 2 days :(

[HopeHoops]

10. WOW! You must have already known where the damn thing WAS if you did it so quickly!

I don't even know what half of the shit under the hood even IS, much less where things are located. And I'm no stranger to major engine work! I tore apart my 68 Galaxie's 390 when I did the lifters - as in pulled the intake manifold. The damn thing weighed at least 70 lbs on its own.

It's just a pile of spaghetti and "modules" now. That doesn't keep me out from under the hood, but there are some things I just won't fuck with anymore.

[guitar man]

12. Well surprisingly

Under all that mess there is still something that resembles a 318 dodge engine so I had a good idea where to look for the water pump. The amount of dissasembly / assembly required to change it was a ball grinding bitch though.

[Brickbat]

4. You forget -- they don't WANT you to do it yourself anymore.

They want you to HAVE to take it in.

[guitar man]

6. I know

Unfortunately some of us are too poor to take them into the shop so we get stuck with bloody knuckles. I fear that little piece of heater hose running down behind the alternator is going to cost me dearly by the time I get it replaced :(

[Brickbat]

7. I hear you. Such a pain in the ass.

We still have a couple vehicles that you can still totally rig parts for...much more fun than hooking the damn thing up to a computer.

[guitar man]

8. I've got a '65 chevy pickup

I'm working at restoring it and I enjoy every minute of it. But any time I have to work on one of these modern vehicles ...aargh!

[Brickbat]

13. Very fun!

We have two 1970 IH pickups in various stages of...ahem..."restoring." Tinkering is good for the soul!

I make a pain in the ass out of myself when I get work done on my car. I always insist on "hand-tight" nuts and bolts, where applicable, regardless of whether I'll ever be working on it or not. :evilgrin:

[guitar man]

15. Cool

Dad had a IH truck when I was a kid, I think it was a '71 iirc.
I found a restorable '63 Mercury Comet that my wife is interested in. I may just build that one for her so we both have something classic, paid for and easy to work on to drive.

[Kali]

17. oooh don't tell the husband

he's got one that needs work too

[guitar man]

18. I'd make him a sweet deal

I'd help him with the mechanical work if he'd help me with some masonry :D

[Kali]

19. pretty sure we have enough mechanical work for somebody to get a house built!

In fact that IS how we got our last truck - traded house building for it with an old friend of his.

We have about a dozen vehicles sitting around that could be worked on!

[guitar man]

20. If they are old enough

I really dig working on them. Anything about '75 or earlier I can really dive into and get something done :)

[Kali]

22. I have a 64 lakewood if you can believe that

he has a 70 International PU, and the oldest son has a 74 (pretty sure) Impala

those are our "classics" - I've also got a 78 chevy hippie van (with purple flames, no less) and then there are a bunch of other junkers

[guitar man]

23. Once they reach a certain age

They're not junkers, they're "restorable classics" :D

[Kali]

24. maybe that is how I should start referring to MYSELF!

:think: :rofl:

oops left out a word - need to start with restoring my brain function!

[guitar man]

25. Me too

But I don't know how restorable I am :rofl:

[hobbit709]

9. It took an hour and a half to change the battery on a Pontiac Transport.

Along with 6 different size sockets. When I finished I wanted to put the old battery in a place where the sun don't shine on that design engineer.

[guitar man]

11. That's just wrong

The battery should be one of the most easily accessible parts on any car. That's ridiculous :(

[Lyric]

14. To get to the battery of our old '99 Dodge Stratus, you had to take the driver's side wheel off

How ridiculous is that? We haven't had a car in years, and that part is definitely NOT something I miss. Ugh.

[flvegan]

21. I had to take a friggin body panel off my last Corvette to remove the battery.

And you needed a special wrench to get at the bolt that held that panel on.

Idiots.

[guitar man]

16. Ha!!

Not as bad a I thought, only 4 1/2 hours to do that 5 minute heater hose job.

$3.99 in parts :D

the shop I talked to wanted $105 to do it .