by "Frank Grimes" (FrankGrimes)
Published 06/08/2017 at 14:46
by "Frank Grimes" (FrankGrimes)
Published 06/08/2017 at 14:46
No Tags
STARS: 2
After 20 years. I think I realize I hate it. Or at least much of it. I spent 7 hours of non stop grudge work. Maybe it was too long or too hot. 94F. Changing power steering hoses on a Dodge Ram, removing the exhaust on my miata to fix a tiny exhaust leak at the manifold to down pipe joint that I must have not had the whole exhaust loose causing it to bind and leak. And changing the oil.
I don’t know how it took so long but I blame fasteners in horrible places and rust. It was total grimey slow hard fight the entire way and it made me realize much of working on cars for me it miserable. I hate banging my knuckles, greasy hands, rust falling in my hands and needing to wash greasy hand to flush out my eyes, seeing all the flaws and leaks and rust and grime on the underside of cars give me anxiety everything is going to fall apart and one day I am going to die. It triggers my OCD and wish I could just buy all new cars totally disassemble everything that unbolts and send it off to be powder coated and wrap the cars in vacuum seal bags with desiccant packs. It make me want to use the proper factory parts and lubes and sealants on everything and torque all bolts with properly calibrated torque wrenches. Changing the oil will take two days because the oil drain plug needs to be stripped and re zinc plated and I have to design some kind of solvent flushing/vacuum machine to remove every last drop of bad oil and acetone to wash the solvent out and heat blown into the motor to make sure everything is dry and no solvent is left behind.
Maybe its the sun or the 3 sodas I drank yesterday or I really do hate working on cars but lets hope by the time I need to do another project my attitude has changed.
"merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc" (merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc)
06/08/2017 at 14:50, STARS: 2
Sounds like me in college after a few binge drinking sessions.... I don’t want to do that again.... then Wednesday or Thursday rolls around and it was “who’s got the keg tonight?”
Do you have access to a hoist? I’ve found that ever since I’ve had hoist access, my pleasure with wrenching has increased. More zen than fighting and fussing.
"RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht" (ramblininexile)
06/08/2017 at 14:51, STARS: 0
I hate working on cars when I have to. When I don’t, or it’s somebody else’s car and I don’t necessarily have to give a crap, it’s still enjoyable. I get this, though:
It make me want to use the proper factory parts and lubes and sealants on everything and torque all bolts with properly calibrated torque wrenches. Changing the oil will take two days because the oil drain plug needs to be stripped and re zinc plated and I have to design some kind of solvent flushing/vacuum machine to remove every last drop of bad oil and acetone to wash the solvent out and heat blown into the motor to make sure everything is dry and no solvent is left behind.
"Frank Grimes" (FrankGrimes)
06/08/2017 at 14:54, STARS: 1
I think you are right. I have worked on cars using lifts and my gosh it is zen! I need more of that slow methodical working on cars instead of laying in piles of kitty litter and getting up and down 50 times for a different size socket or an extension that is 1/4" shorter than the one I have. My dream is to have a big shop with big tool boxes and a lift and oil drain deals.
"merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc" (merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc)
06/08/2017 at 15:16, STARS: 0
Amen brother! He has seen the light! But seriously, I’ve become spoiled having access to hoists. I do some volunteer work with a church group that repairs vehicles for primarily needy single mothers. So when we have personal projects we have access to the shop. Works out well.
"RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars" (rallydarkstrike)
06/08/2017 at 16:37, STARS: 1
Bah, just get a Citroen 2CV. Easiest mechanicals ever. The engines are unkillable and air cooled.....no power anything belts to change, no auto trans fluid to change, the suspension will soak up every bump ever and still be fine.
Yould even get a galvanized restored one from EuroCar Imports in New Jersey so you wouldn’t have to be afraid of rust! :P
"CobraJoe" (cobrajoe)
06/08/2017 at 16:38, STARS: 2
I’ve found the best way to work on cars:
Get 2. One for driving, one for wrenching.
That way, you can just walk away form the project whenever you want.
And protip for choosing that 2nd car, find something older. They left so much room around the 60's and 70's engines and transmissions, it’s easy to reach any bolt. (Surprisingly, rust might not be an issue, some of those older vehicles seem to have better quality steel or something).
"TheJMan92" (TheJMan92)
06/08/2017 at 17:38, STARS: 1
I’ve spent over 16+ hours (spread out over like 5 days) swapping steering racks on my Mazda. I got to the point where I decided that if I couldn’t get it to work that I’d just buy a different car. That made me feel a little better.
Sidenote in case you’ve seen me bitching about the steering rack issues I’ve had here or on OppositeTalk: successfully installed a very nice reman from Chicago Remanufacturing last night. With the inner tie rods attached, somehow, because I couldn’t get them off. 3 swaps later I still have play, so it’s likely I never needed a new rack to begin with. :(
"daender" (daender)
06/08/2017 at 18:58, STARS: 0
I recommend potentially investing in a Thompson oil filter relocation kit for the Miata if you haven’t already. It’s pricey but it relocates the filter to just behind the passenger headlight. Currently Thompson isn’t producing them at the moment but they still have some in stock that could be for sale and they’re testing the waters on the Miata.net forums to see if there’s enough interest to produce another batch of kits.
Ditto about having a lift making life a lot less stressful when working on cars. Pops and I almost got into a fight because we attempted to replace my Miata’s starter (turns out that wasn’t the problem, so we got lucky there) using jackstands in hot garage on a humid SC night with bugs.
"arl" (arl1968)
06/08/2017 at 19:15, STARS: 0
I feel you man. I can work on my car for 8+ hours no problem polishing and waxing it. But ask me to spend 8+ hours wrenching on it? No way, I start to get frustrated, discouraged, etc, and all I want to do is crawl inside the house and drink beer.
I romanticize working on my own car, but when I actually get out there, I hate it. The nice thing about detailing a car is that the car WILL look better at the end of your work. With wrenching (for me anyway,) things tend to go wrong, rusty bolts fight back, hoses don’t fit. I just get too frustrated to do it.
I have total respect for people who wrench and do all sorts of stuff that seem magical to me (engine swaps, rear end rebuilds, so on and so forth).
"Lokiparts" (lokiparts)
06/09/2017 at 08:33, STARS: 2
This is pretty much where I landed after having a string of daily driver project cars for years. I was tired of constantly chasing gremlins and working late on Sunday nights just so I could make it to work on Monday morning. So I got the most dead reliable car I could afford and I kept my beater truck as something to tinker with. It’s not something cool from the 60's or 70's but it’s old and basic enough to be very straight forward to work on. Plus it actually frequently gets used for hauling stuff. And if I keep it long enough, someday it may be a cool classic. Shoot it’s already technically an antique.
"Frank Grimes" (FrankGrimes)
06/09/2017 at 23:45, STARS: 1
Jobs like that can be the worst. All that stuff in the way removing stuff just to get to other stuff so you can remove yet more stuff, and in the end its just working like it should have worked all along.
"Frank Grimes" (FrankGrimes)
06/09/2017 at 23:47, STARS: 1
I was actually thinking this. I want a new honda accord coupe and just leave it stock forever!
"CobraJoe" (cobrajoe)
06/12/2017 at 09:03, STARS: 0
But buying used leaves more money for the project car!
In fact, just buy that old “mechanics special” on craigslist, it only needs a headgasket, that’s the cheapest option yet! Don’t consider it another project car, it’s an investment!
"Frank Grimes" (FrankGrimes)
06/12/2017 at 19:25, STARS: 0
haha and then I would have two project cars.