What are some car-repair jobs you always wished you could do but have never done?

[RS Wood]

Fair enough. But if someone can't just tell me the answer, then that just means one or both of two things.

1. Nobody actually knows the answer (because if they can't simplify, they don't know it).
2. The answer is known but it's so freaking complex that nobody can summarize it (see #1 above).

If the answer can't be summarized *accurately*, then it's not known. So if I look it up, I'll just find out the same thing that everyone else already found out - which is that it's too complex to summarize accurately.

Which was my point.

[RS Wood]

I'm with you on the exhaust. It's a non-maintenance part nowadays. But we *all* had to deal with exhaust in the days of yore.

So kudos to the EPA for forcing stainless steel into the mix!

PS: I wonder how "Midas Muffler" stays afloat?

[RS Wood]

You're talking to Clare, but I also reduced my rear camber from negative 2 degrees to as close to 0 degrees as the adjustment would let me go.

I don't corner like a banshee, so, the positive effect I see is even rear tire wear.

Woo hoo! Gotta love being able to change alignment to suit your needs!

I just wish I could have done that on my own, without paying $100 for someone else to twist a bolt that I could have twisted myself.

[Ed Pawlowski]

I'd never buy one. Built in hefty expense.

FWD serves a purpose from what I was told. I got to ride in a Chevy Lumina about 6 months before anyone saw them. My friend's SIL works for GM and was driving one as part of road testing. He said the main reason for FWD was it can be built for $50 a car less.

[RS Wood]

Thanks. The way I'll remember it is Caster -> Camber -> Toe.

[rbowman]

My first front wheel drive was an Audi 100LS in the early '70s. It was a learning experience both for me and Volkswagen. My ex traded it for a Rabbit and got $400 on the trade. I've come to like them. They do well in snow.

[rbowman]

Valve adjustment with shims under the bucket can be painful. Fortunately my Harley has hydraulic lifters and the DR650 has screw adjusters. I checked the DL650 last year and it was still in spec.

[RS Wood]

That wasn't rotor warp. I know that because it's almost never rotor warp on a street vehicle.

Anyone who says a street rotor warped isn't following their own logic.

It's like people who point out studies that cellphone use is as dangerous as kicking a sleeping rhino, therefore cellphone use while driving causes accidents.

They don't even follow their own logic when they say stuff like that.

Hence, if someone suggests your rotors warped, keep your eye on them, and slowly at first, just like you would with a sleeping rhino, step backward, slowly, slowly, then a bit faster, and faster, and when you think you're far enough away, turn around and run like a banshee!

Look up the spec for grooves. It's enormous. I'm not saying grooves and gouges can't fail a rotor. I'm saying they have to be the size of the Grand Canyon to exceed specs.

What fails rotors the most (by far) is thickness.

Some pads are rated EE for cold/hot friction. Guess what steel on steel friction is? Yup. E.

[Ed Pawlowski]

I started the same time and had a '53 Merc. Longest owned was a '91 Buick Regal for 15 years. Best value was a 63 Pontiac Tempest bought for $150, drove for a year and sold it back to the original owner for $150. His wife missed it.

Cheapest car was a '64 Karman Ghia for $15. Needed engine work.

[RS Wood]

Nope. Not gonna buy it. You'll have to sell that elixer elsewhere. I have read too much practical stuff to believe in marketing bullshit.

Removing metal is not the best way to dissipate heat in a rotor. I get the surface area stuff. I do. I get the water-runoff stuff. I do. I get the lighter rotor stuff. I do.

Mass is what matters when you want to dissipate heat, all else (e.g., airflow over the rotors).

Why do you think the biggest spec for failing rotors is thickness?

Let's not just talk. If you really think that removing mass is the way to make rotors run cooler, then just show me a valid reference that agrees with your point of view. (Not marketing bullshit please.)

[RS Wood]

There is one and only one reason the manufacturers put in FWD.

And it's not handling.

[RS Wood]

You're completely right. There is one and only one reason the manufacturers put in FWD.

And it's not handling.

However, I would have thought the cost saving was a *lot* more than $50. Are you sure it's not closer to $1000?

[Ed Pawlowski]

Coupled with better rings, you get less blow by into the crankcase less oil contamination..

[RS Wood]

Oh that Tempest. My brother bought one for $50 and then had to pay more than that for just four new tires!

If we had mounted our own tires in those days, the equipment would have amortized itself in the first five years and then we would have had 50 years of free use of our tools!

I don't know if the tire changing tools were as easily available for homeowners though in those days.

The tire changing tools for the home are now ubiquitous. But in those days, were they so easily available to the home owner?

[RS Wood]

I just blew the dust off my tuneup toolbox (which is built like a vault).

All I needed was the feeler gauges at the top, plus some Suzuki shims:

And this yellow screw-in dial gauge for the #1 cylinder in mm-before-tdc:

[RS Wood]

Hmmmmm...... better rings? Are you trying to pull a fast one on me?

I am a logical thinker. That doesn't mean I'm always (or even ever) right.

I'm just logical. So the "better rings" has to be better ... somehow ... in some way.

Where a piston ring is a pretty simple thing (in practice).

NOTE: Just as with spark plugs, there is some engineer somewhere who knows everything there is to know about designing piston rings, so I know everything is complex at the design phase.

But a ring is a ring is a ring is a ring. AFAIK.

Pray tell ... what on earth do you think is *better* about a ring of steel today from that same ring of steel of yesteryear?

[RS Wood]

There is one reason for FWD's predominance, and only one reason. And that reason was *never* handling.

The whole handling thing was a MARKETING red herring so that the hoi polloi would *think* handling is the determining factor.

The only question is how much did the manufacturer save on FWD. Someone mentioned it was only $50 but I would have guessed at $1000.

Anyone know how much cheaper it is for them to build FWD cars?

[Ed Pawlowski]

It may be minor in the scheme of things, but EFI is much better at dosing the fuel. Running rich from the choke you can be dumping in raw fuel and washing lubricant away, blow by into the crankcase. Especially bad if you had a sticking choke. Back in the day of manual choke, people often left them full on way too long.

OMG, painting has drastically change. Part due to better technology, part do to new paint formula as mandated by DEP to eliminate VOCs.

Solvent paint is gone in favor of water based. Now your car is accurately covered by a robot rather than a guy with a hangover. Up to about 1923 cars were painted with a brush.

[gfretwell]

Based on the number of 4 stroke outboards that "make oil" (fuel dilution) I suspect there was a pretty high gasoline content in most crankcases of the older cars. They ran hot enough to boil off the volatile parts but it still was not really oil anymore. Outboards run much cooler. (120-140f)

[Ed Pawlowski]

Most are not coated but have inhibitors added to the plastic compounds.

The trash bin is an investment for the trash company that must maintain and replace them if damaged. They want quality that will last.

Homeowners are looking for price and no matter how good or bad the item is, many will be tossing it out soon anyway. Low price, high profit is the incentive in choosing material.