Easiest to maintain sports/super car?

"Grindintosecond" (Grindintosecond) 10/29/2014 at 09:47 • Filed to: None

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I'm wondering. The GT-40 pictured here has amazing access to all parts. It had to, it's a LeMans purposed design. just like any of the Audi race cars, field maintainable. Stepping to road going sports cars, we have some requiring an engine drop or pull for anything more than an oil change. A Lamborghini isn't too bad, you just have to remove the strut mounts and some panels and a bracing beam and the coolant expansion tanks to get at the coil packs, according to someone on a Lambo forum who did it himself. Strut mounts?

I should decide what car to look at here. Anything can be called a sports car. Corvette or mustang or Ferrari or Porsche. A super car? Well we know there's a select group there and owning one means you can afford to have the shop pick it up for you, fix it, return it, and you don't care what it cost as long as it got done. I don't want that. I want to have an hour or perhaps two and fix most anything short of a REAL need to take the engine or transmisison out, ala a clutch job. I shouldn't have to tell anyone the car is down for a whole week because the valve cover gasket needs replacing. A friend of mine has one of the last 90's era Camaros. He laments the V8 installed. It's halfway under the windshield and is impossible to do anything to. Engine drops ahead for him, especially since hes running around 800hp and breaking transmissions.

We are all used to looking at our engines on our regular street cars and can see pretty much everything we need to get at. Belt/water pump service? Give us a torque wrench and the right parts and instructions. Done in an hour. My old Volvo had massive space in that compartment. My S-10 that replaced it required a special wrench for a spark plug and girly tiny hands to change the dizzy cap. It was shoehorn city with that one.

Here is a Ferrari flat-12 engine. I wonder what maintenance time this takes and how often it has been pulled for general upkeep from that Testarossa? A 911 engine had to be pulled to change the oil pump and unless your had thin hands, the valves couldn't be checked/adjusted without dropping it. The same thing on a 914, very difficult to really get at it and that was primarily a VW engine. I think a Boxter requires an engine drop to change plugs. A v6 Fiero, according to a mechanic i talked to at length, was hard to get to for the front side plugs of the engine but relatively speaking wasn't all that bad to get at for the rest. Remarkably, a Ferrari 308 can have all service done with it in the car, you just have to remove the tire and a panel from the right rear and plan ahead.

So what sports car/super car is the easiest to maintain? We could step back and look at muscle cars of the past but what about today? Can I do a belt service on a Veyron myself with the engine still in the car? Do I have to be a human pretzel to do it? What's astounding in performance yet fixible myself?

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > Grindintosecond 10/29/2014 at 09:49

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For me? I think it's a Honda NSX.

/thread

Nibbles > Grindintosecond 10/29/2014 at 09:50

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To put it succinctly, there isn't one.

CalzoneGolem > Grindintosecond 10/29/2014 at 09:50

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Pantera has to be up there.

The engine isn't really that easy to get to but it's a pretty normal Ford V8. Making engine parts really easy to come by.

Grindintosecond > CalzoneGolem 10/29/2014 at 09:51

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True. but can you get your hands in there to do the plugs and wires? The transmission looks easy to work on.

Milky > Grindintosecond 10/29/2014 at 09:53

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Obligatory and /thread

Nibby > Grindintosecond 10/29/2014 at 09:53

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MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Nibby 10/29/2014 at 09:55

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CHALLENGE:

CalzoneGolem > Grindintosecond 10/29/2014 at 09:55

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Yeah there's also a panel the opens to the front of the engine.

Grindintosecond > Milky 10/29/2014 at 09:55

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Interesting. The Viper I can see as a candidate. The top crossmember must be removed but that's designed to be done and the whole front hood tilts out of the way. The Corvette I'm not so sure about. Front engined doesn't necessarily mean easy. How much of that engine is under the windshield and surrounded by other surprises. The 4.3 in my truck had an easy to reach front end for belts and pumps but the rest was a killer to work with.

Grindintosecond > Nibby 10/29/2014 at 09:58

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scoob > Grindintosecond 10/29/2014 at 09:58

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I want to say GT-R.

Cherry_man1 > Grindintosecond 10/29/2014 at 09:58

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mustang GT is hands down the easiest to work on

MachineReplica > Grindintosecond 10/29/2014 at 10:03

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LS Miata. All the convenince of a normal Miata, lots of power, awesome handling, compact demensions, and usable. I would recommend a third gen (NC) if you want something a bit more livable. The 09+ Even had factory blue tooth on the Grand Touring trims.

Grindintosecond > Cherry_man1 10/29/2014 at 10:06

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I will go a step further and suggest the ecoboost 2.3 Mustang. It might have all kinds of space in there to work around and 300hp/tq to go with that....however, the car does weigh a bit under 4k pounds so it might actually need all that power. Honestly that's not much more power/weight over the FOX mustang of 93. So, is that 5.0 v8 version of todays mustang easy to work around? the DOHC nature makes it much wider now. I wonder.

Milky > Grindintosecond 10/29/2014 at 10:08

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It's not perfect buts it no Camaro either.

But "easiest to maintain" also has to partly include how much things break and to some degree parts availability. You'll be able to get C7 parts anywhere, and the Viper's engine has to be the least stressed 600+hp ever.

C-5M Load Smasher > Grindintosecond 10/29/2014 at 10:14

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fapfapfapfapfapfapfapfap

Fuck, my keyboard, oh well.

C-5M Load Smasher > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 10/29/2014 at 10:21

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No. You can't get to the front side of the engine if you wanted to. That being said, you'll never need to sooo... Yeah maybe it's the NSX.

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > C-5M Load Smasher 10/29/2014 at 10:22

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Yep. why you have to do that?

Lotus Evora with the standard Camry engine finishes second.

Trevor Slattery, ACTOR > Grindintosecond 10/29/2014 at 10:24

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Huge fan of Triumph's tilt bonnet models (Spitfire, GT6 and Herald) and their ease of access is a big reason. Tilt the bonnet up, sit on the front tire, set you beverage next to the master cylinder or battery and work on your car.

whatisthatsound > Grindintosecond 10/29/2014 at 10:31

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My vote is for the lotus elise/exige. When you install a clam hinge it is really really easy to work on. Without the clam hinge you can have both clams off and the car naked within two hours. After that it is a celica engine and drive train, easy to access the suspension and do your own work on.

Rock Bottom > Grindintosecond 10/29/2014 at 10:44

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I've been unlucky enough to have changed header gaskets on a GT40 many years ago... don't let the perception of easy access fool you! These things still suck wild ass to wrench on! Of course, I have nothing to compare them too... I must go find a broken Lambo to "fix" now, for scientific purposes...

Grindintosecond > Rock Bottom 10/29/2014 at 10:54

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im sure there are many a lamborghini that need work. I suppose field repairable at LeMans means for doctorate holding trained race mechanics.

Grindintosecond > whatisthatsound 10/29/2014 at 10:56

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you know, I like that a lot.

Cherry_man1 > Grindintosecond 10/29/2014 at 11:07

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The 5.0L Coyote you can reach al the way to the bottom on the engine if you got long enough arms.

avens > Grindintosecond 10/29/2014 at 11:13

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Came here expecting someone to call his miata a sports car; a super car even. Left disappointed.

MultiplaOrgasms > Grindintosecond 10/29/2014 at 11:34

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Straight 6 Jaaaaaaaaaag E-Type maybe? Huge front clamshell plus straight six yo.

whatisthatsound > Grindintosecond 10/29/2014 at 11:38

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It's a very simple car.

Grindintosecond > MultiplaOrgasms 10/29/2014 at 11:55

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A relative of mine has one, a 3.8. Once it's open, it's easy to get to. Once everything is working. Now go look at the rear suspension and how a brake job will go. Inboard discs. I did meet someone who can do the rear brakes in two hours. Excellent. I guess once you know your way around a specific car top to bottom everything becomes much easier to do.

anothermiatafanboy > Milky 10/29/2014 at 13:11

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Some people seem to be taking this as 'easiest to work on' or 'best access to engine' for me easiest to maintain means least costly (through time and expense) to keep on the road running strong. By that definition its gotta be the Corvette. I figured someone would have beaten me to it.

Milky > anothermiatafanboy 10/29/2014 at 14:12

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Yea, we're on the same page. Hell I bet Autozones in the middle of no where carry 'vette parts. Not to mention its a SBC, it'll run forever.

RallyWrench > CalzoneGolem 10/29/2014 at 15:19

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They look that way, but it really is a pain in the ass to get to the engine.

wkiernan > Grindintosecond 10/29/2014 at 17:40

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It might be a stretch but the owner's manual for my '67 SAAB Monte Carlo described it as "a sports car with super performance" so I'm going with that. One night I removed the engine from mine, by myself, without a hoist, to replace the clutch disc. Then after I bolted the whole thing back together except for the hood, I looked at the garage floor and what did I see there? why that's the circlip that holds the throwout bearing on the fork, gee I guess I forgot to put that on! so I turned around and did it again .

Axial > Grindintosecond 10/29/2014 at 22:02

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The picture of the C7 engine compartment that Milky posted doesn't do justice to just how empty it really is in that engine bay. If you ever get a chance to see a C7 up close, ask to pop the hood. There is a LOT of space in there, more than there was in the C6, and it's simultaneously depressing (that's all the engine there is!?) and impressive. The real bitch is going to be the rear plugs, and that's been true for as long as the SBC has been a thing.

If you want easy to work on, though, the C4 ZR-1 is in there. The whole hood tilts out of the way, the plugs are on accessed from the top of the valve covers rather than from the side between the exhaust outlets, the plenum is easy to remove to get at the vaccuum lines, and it just plain ol' doesn't break. Parts for C4s are also pretty inexpensive, just like all Corvettes, and it's ultimately still a Chevrolet, so you don't need new and special tools.

Only part that really sucks is the heater core, but name a car where that isn't a pain in the butt.