OT: Talking Cars Tuesday - Big Fixes/Mods

Submitted by JeepinBen on

Are you a grease monkey? When it comes to your car do you just fix it all yourself? Or have you put your mechanic's kids through college and bought him/her a boat? What's the story of your biggest repair job - either tackled by yourself or a willing team (for the right price). It could be a repair - OR - a big modification job.

As we know, (almost) every car's worth saving/upgrading

JeepinBen

July 19th, 2016 at 9:03 AM ^

The biggest modification/repair I ever tackled was the new suspension I put on Jeep #2. New coils, spacers, and shocks. Coil springs have a ton of energy storage potential, so it can be a real dangerous job. No coil compressors here, just a big floor jack and lots of articulation.

Also threw on a new cat-back system, but the hardest part of that was removing the old one (hello sawzall!). The new one was just a few U-clamps and away I drove.

ChuckieWoodson

July 19th, 2016 at 10:56 AM ^

Ha, the 89 was silver - sadly, crashed that going over an overpass rubbernecking at a viper heading west on 94 and ran into the back of a pickup.

Wasn't that bad of a crash but it had 179k on it so it was totalled and ended up getting a 91 which was red.

Sold that to a buddy of mine a few years later and he crashed it... bad luck for the SHO's.

Had both of them in my late HS/early college years so just a ton of great memories with each of them.  "Back in the day" pretty fast for a sedan.  Had a ton of fun with them.  It's really too bad Ford detuned them - the original 3.0 Yamaha motor made 300HP but IIRC, they detuned it so it wouldn't beat the Mustang GT from the factory of the same MY.

Eat Your Wheatlies

July 19th, 2016 at 9:25 AM ^

Just minor fixes here. I've done breaks, and recently put a modular air intake in my truck. I purchased a dual cat-back exhaust and planned on tackling it, but chickened out after crawling underneath the truck to look at the work ahead. Ended up having my mechanic install it instead.

AFWolverine

July 19th, 2016 at 9:28 AM ^

As a former Honda mechanic, I don't miss working on cars. When something is wrong with our vehicles, I will most often fix it, but I don't enjoy it. 

The biggest repair jobs I've ever done were probably transmission swaps on the problematic Honda Odysseys and Accords from the early 2000s. I've done a couple head gaskets, but they weren't complex motors; I think a mid 90s Civic if I remember correctly.

I nearly rebuilt the entire 1993 Accord I had, swapping the engine/transmission, new suspension, exhaust, tires, and brakes. That was all a clean in/out swap with no internal teardowns however.

readyourguard

July 19th, 2016 at 9:29 AM ^

For a few years, I owned my own small used car business that I ran out of my basement (back when you could get away with that stuff).  It was a legit business - licensed, bonded, and insured.  I tried to find a trusted mechanic I could send ALL my work to who would do a good job while giving me a volume discount.  No such mechanic exists, apparently.  So, in an effort to get necessary repairs done without giving away all my margins, I dove in and did repairs myself: brakes, motor mounts, window cranks, LOF, stuff like that.  The most challenging repair I attempted was a fuel pump on a 1996 Chevy S10 pickup.  I don't even remember how I diagnosed the problem, but based on the information I gathered after driving it and doing research, I deduced it was the fuel pump.  It was difficult because I was not about to take the bed off the truck to access the top of the fuel tank.  So I put the truck on jack stands and did the work lying on the ground.  It was a clown show trying to lower the tank enough to get the old pump out.  Half the time I was working blind.

I learned a very valuable lesson that day:  Fuel lines are under pressure.  When I undid the lines from the pump, fuel sprayed all over my face, saturating my eyes and mouth.  I ran to the bathroom and flushed for about a half hour.  It was one of those moments where you repeat to yourself over and over - "I can't believe I just did that."

After successfully saving my eyes, I returned to work and installed the new pump.  Lo and behold, it worked like a champ. The truck started and ran pefect.  AS a matter of fact, I liked it so much, I made it my daily driver for a month before selling it.

Unfortunately, two weeks after the new owner had it, he called me back to tell me the motor had blown.  HAHA.  I ended up giving him half his money back.

Waa Waa Waaaaaaaaa.

AFWolverine

July 19th, 2016 at 9:38 AM ^

I did the pressurized fuel line oops once myself. Thankfully it was only on my hands and arms, but still quite unpleasant to have burning skin for another hour or two. Plenty of fuel line jobs when I was at Honda. Those late 90s early 2000s Accords were notorious for needing entire fuel line jobs, sometimes the brake lines that ran along with them, too. Thanks for leaving lines exposed on the undercarriage, Honda. That worked real well with Ohio salty roads.

laninjafork

July 19th, 2016 at 12:04 PM ^

gotta pull the bed for the fuel tank on a truck. it should be like sox bolts and a couple electrical disconnects, and a screw holding the filler hose. tons of hassle saved. gotta put new straps in on mine and just waiting for a weekend my little brothers can come out and help me pick up the bed and put it back on.

goblueatkettering

July 19th, 2016 at 9:33 AM ^

I just put headers on my 01 Corvette (with my dad's help).  Even with a lift, it was not fun.  Especially when we got it all back together, and it wouldn't crank.  Another day of troubleshooting later, and we just ran a new wire from the back of the anit-theft relay to the S-terminal on the starter (with a fusible link).

I have a new clutch, flywheel, and master/slave cylinder ready to go, but immediately following that disaster, I have opted to have a speed shop install it all.

Blue4U

July 19th, 2016 at 9:40 AM ^

All kidding aside, I had an 01 Silverado.  I've done brakes (pads, rotors and calipers), shocks, fuel filter, plugs and wires, inner/outer tie rods, both upper control arm/ball joints, water pump, both belts/pulleys (ac unit and fan) as well as oil changes and otherfluids/flushes.  The engine intimidates me so I leave that for the mechs.  Amazing what you can learn from watchin utube vids.  I was never a wrencher but after replacing my 4 shocks (advance auto coupons) I realized I saved $500 doing it myself and I started doing the majority of my own maintenance.

Rabbit21

July 19th, 2016 at 10:38 AM ^

Youtube videos have been amazingly helpful for house repairs(which are horribly expensive and often not that hard to do if you're willing to try it out) and I just used one to teach me how to replace the headlghts on my Odyssey.

I can't second this recommendation enough. 

CJRockford

July 19th, 2016 at 9:44 AM ^

Before I had kids I had an 07 Mustang GT that I highly modified. Long tube headers, cats eliminated, h-pipe, BMR tubular suspension, torque converter, eibach springs, custom dyno tune, bunch of other stuff. Other than the torque converter and dyno tune, I did everything myself.

I've changed starters, alternators, even pulled a complete engine and installed a different one when I was 16 with the help of my dad. Now all my cars have warranties and it's just not as much fun working on a Ford Flex, lol




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JeepinBen

July 19th, 2016 at 9:47 AM ^

The Jeeps were great to work on. Tons of space, etc. etc.

The FWD CC and GTI? Less so. I swear packaging engineers love to mess with the rest of us. Granted, I don't envy their work of fitting all that stuff under the hood... but c'mon. Changing a headlight on my FWD cars have required contortions and hands smaller than mine.

JFW

July 19th, 2016 at 10:51 AM ^

who was an engineer at Ford WTF about that. He said that they had so many competing interests: hood height for looks/aerodynamics; craploads of stuff to fit under the hood; safety structures that had to be in certain places.... by the time all that got done it was time to think about serviceability; and the prevailin opinion was 'they should take it to a dealer. 

 

I think this sucks. But I understand how they got there. 

 

My mom's old '75 Duster had a slant six 211. Great engine, but the car rusted out. I realize any car today would crush this thing in many areas. But it was simple, easy to fix, and had cool things like the alternator was on a rack. My brother replaced it when he was 12. 

Loosen the bolts, slide the alternator to loosen the belts. Detatch wiring. Take off old alternator from rack. Put new alternator on rack. Then (with an adult) slide it back to make the belt taught. Tighten down bolts. 

He could sit on the fender with his feet in the engine bay to do this. 

Nowadays???

 

Between stupid smart keys and special parts its made it much harder and MUCH more exensive to work on things. 

 

The 90's were my automotive sweet spot. 

RGard

July 19th, 2016 at 9:54 AM ^

In the early 70s my parents were driving a Renault 10.  The fenders developed some rust and we had a couple of holes in the fenders.  In PA then, you could not have a hole in the fender bigger than a quarter or you would fail the safety inspection.

My dad got some sheet metal and a pop rivet gun.  Cut the sheet metal, drilled some holes and pop riveted the sheet metal patches to the fenders to cover the holes.  He slapped some primer on the patches.  No bondo, no sanding, no red paint to match the car's color, but the car passed the inspection.

Didn't need a pop rivet gun for this, but my eldest son rammed his Ford Escort station wagon front end into a wall or something (I never got a clear answer on that).  I replaced the grill, both headlights, the center strut that attaches to both fenders, bumper cover, the hood and pried the radiator back into place.  I watched a youtube video for that repair.

One last thought.  I haven't paid for somebody to replace brakes or rotors in 5 years.  We have 4 cars in the family and I do the brakes/rotors myself.  And yes, I owe my knowledge on how to do this to youtube.

bringthewood

July 19th, 2016 at 3:27 PM ^

My brother once duct taped beneath the rust holes and rolled on a new coat of Rust-Oleum paint, yes, with a roller. Really old truck. It passed the eye test from about 20 yards. Worst is this that the not the first Rust-Oleum paid job I've seen. A buddy did another brush on job that was not too bad on a late 60's TBird. Ahh, the 1970's and the age of rust...

swan flu

July 19th, 2016 at 9:48 AM ^

Helped my friend with head gaskets on a 97 impreza rs.

Cars are ass holes. So many small little shit issues like snapping a head off a seized bolt.

But really cars are a collection of simple machines, really cool to understand how everything works together, and I've saved thousands of dollars doing my own work.

I won't touch electrical, though. No thank you.

bluenoteSA80

July 19th, 2016 at 9:51 AM ^

I bought a used '76 Buick Regal when I was in college. It was a sweet car, power everything, including a moonroof, but the body had a lot of rust. My dad was a fix-it kinda guy and had done quite a bit of bump and paint work on cars. We spent a good part of the late winter and early spring out in the garage with a woodstove going during the cold days and restoring the body on that car (Bondo anyone?). It was a great memory of spending hours with my dad and when we were done, the car was cherry. It was a real sleeper too, 350 engine with locking rear differential, but didn't look like a speedster. I remember embarassing a lot of guys driving what they thought were hot Novas in the day, those candy apple red ones with jacked up rear ends. They'd spin their tires when the light turned green and I was gone like a shot. Good times!

JimboLanian

July 19th, 2016 at 9:59 AM ^

Nothing major for me. Water pump years ago. More recently I changed the starter on my wife's car. Cold winter garage floor. Last year while doing a minor repair, I dropped a small ratchet and it landed perfectly on the starter and the engine block and started arcing and welding itself to the car. Had to jam a broom handle down to free it. Profanity increase greatly while doing car work.

JFW

July 19th, 2016 at 10:02 AM ^

I've owned 2 dodges (Dynasty, Intrepid) and 3 Jeeps (XJ, ZJ, XK) and a Ford 500 as my main battle cars. I've kept them all ~ 200-250K miles. The biggest repairs that had to get done were on the Dynasty, which ate its transmission. I had to get the tie rod ends done on the Intrepid at 100k ($1100...ugh). But the rest were all smaller. Water pump on the Intrepid. Rear main seal on the 4.0 liter on the XJ. The ZJ was bulletproof (all hail the 318 and the 4.0). I had to replace a $500 speed sensor on the Ford. 

 

Caveat: I ignore some things; When my AC's eventually die, I either roll down the windows or just add R-134 during the summer months. The fascia on the Ford's bumper is cracked, and will stay that way. 1 plug on the Dynasty was so hard to get to I let it sit there for 250K miles. 

 

The biggest job I did myself was a new roof on the Miata. THe biggest job I'd like to do is to put a turbo on the Miata. But that would be a 'hire this out to a speed shop' job. 

PopeLando

July 19th, 2016 at 10:04 AM ^

My friends and I modded my '85 Ford Country Squire when we were 16. It was everything that 16 year olds might do.

First, we removed the exhaust system. Everything behind the catalytic converter was removed, and replaced with straight pipes pointing downwards. This both increased the decibel level, and actually made it easier to drive in the winter: the hot exhaust melted the ice under the rear tires at intersections, so I didn't spin out as much.

Second, we neon'd the shit outta that car. We installed a blacklight over the back seat, a blue bar under the passenger side glove box, and blue "eyes" on the front grille. I think there was something else too, maybe blue underbody?

Third, we improved airflow by cutting holes in the wheel compartments and installing air scoops.

Finally, we painted the hubcaps gold. This doesn't have anything to do with anything, but it looked cool.

We were 16. That's my only defense.

bringthewood

July 19th, 2016 at 3:34 PM ^

When I was about that age, long before cell phones - early 70's - I took a baby blue house phone and mounted it to my dash - rotary no less - and hooked it to a tape player in the glove box. Pick that handset up and you would get dial tone. This was when all you could get was a super expensive radio phone. Confused a few people as how I could have a phone in my crappy truck.

 

lbpeley

July 19th, 2016 at 10:11 AM ^

I ever did was put a block M sticker in the back window of my truck. It was the split logo, unfortunately. DB probably would have keyed it had he found it in Pioneer's tailgate lots on game days.

xtramelanin

July 19th, 2016 at 10:35 AM ^

we grew out of the suburban about 6 yrs ago.  n.b. - i paid for the conversion to be done, not nearly handy enough to do it on my own.  wish i was.

representative picture here:

 

Image result for 4 x 4 van

fh maven

July 19th, 2016 at 10:35 AM ^

1 -    In highschool during Christmas break help my friend rebuild a 1949 Ford flat-head in-line 6 in Detroit.  Unheated garage and it was very cold that winter.  In fact, had major freezing rain New Year's eve and tire ruts on side-streets prevailed until late March.

2 -    Replaced the clutch on my '66 GTO in an appartment parking lot.  Around 4:00 that day had to take my friend and his wife to JFK for a flight, so I didn't have any leeway for mistakes or re-do's.