There was a post the other day how newer vehicles are difficult to work on,off topic and likely deleted. But on topic ,how about older cars and trucks? Takes a 37 and up Chevy with a 216,suppose the fiber timing gear goes bad,it will happen .You have to remove the radiator ,timing cover,but to remove the timing cover(unless the main cap previously threaded and the bolts go from the outside) The oil pan needs to be removed.(49 and up likely needs tierod dropped.Side cover comes off,rockers,pushrods and lifters need to come out.Remove the two screws holding in the cam retainer plate,slide out the cam,****! Cam hit the grill,now fiddle with a lot of bolts to remove the grille.Press off old gear,press on new gear. How about the torque tube? The seal or bushing goes bad and you have vibration and oil leaks out of the ****** into the rear axle.Pretty big repair job.Later on the Oakie buskie came out but it can still be a ****ty job. I owned one flathead Ford V-8, noisy valves.had to remove the intake,right? Then found the valves were not adjustable. Any others ?
I think all old cars had their share of 'quirks'. That being said, the major difference between old cars and newer ones, most shade tree mechanics could spend the time and eventually get the old ones fixed with common tools and plenty of time. That can't be said for modern cars. I have to agree with you, the grind the valve stem to adjust clearance on the old fords was a real joy.
Dang,Truckedup....I did 2 of those 216 timing gears before I was 18 years old and I sure don't remember pulling the cam out??...wtf??....I do remember my dad telling me I needed to pull the pan and I thought "no I don't"...BUT sure did as the two lower bolts in timing cover came in from the inside...Stupid Chevrolet engineers....But I did find out on my second 49 Chevy WHY the pan needs to come off....After cleaning out the broken teeth from the pan and installing an aluminum cam gear,... about a week later a rod started knocking...****....pulled the pan and darned if a fiber tooth hadn't found its' way into the #5 rod dipper and blued the rod and crank...End of that sweet little six cylinder....That's when the Olds Rocket went in!... Ought to be a fun thread to hear some of the horror stories of Damned Detroit Engineering...
In a similar vein, taking an old car into a shop for "service" can be interesting. I got a postcard in the mail from a local Chrysler dealer a few years ago, advertising "oil change, filter and lube" for cheaper than I could buy the oil and filter for, so I figured I'd let the shop change the oil in my 56 New Yorker. They put it up on the hoist to do the deed, then realized that the filter was in that "slanted can thing" on the right read side of the motor. They didn't have a filter for it, so had the local NAPA deliver one. It was the wrong one, so they sent over another. Then they couldn't get the filter canister to seal, and said they would have to charge me extra because there were so many grease zerks on the front suspension and steering. After over two hours of jacking around with wrong filters, leaking filter canister, and general frustration, I told the shop manager I wasn't going to pay for this circus entertainment, and made him give me a couple extra quarts of oil, as that's what I expected would leak out of the canister on the 8 mile drive home. Never again......
Can't put my finger on the model right now but some of the Big block mopars were all but impossible to change the 5 & 7 plug (drivers side) we used to cut a hole in the fender well and pull the tire. Corvettes with the the sheet metal shielding on the plug wires and distributer were a bear to change the points. Nothing like removing the intake the adjust the valves but still a pain in the ***. Long ram mopars needed the intakes removed to get at the valve train. Easilly done but still a pain when compaired to other vehicles.
Some of it a little newer than 50's, but changing spark plugs. V-8 Monza's (gotta take the motormount loose and jack up the engine) Fords with spring towers (especially FE's) Sunbeam Tigers (back plug comes out through a hole in the transmission tunnel inside the car) Lots of others (remove the wheel and go through the inner fender or jack the car up and change from underneath. Or how about pulling transmissions outta Corvettes with welded in transmission crossmembers. Pulling the intake on Ford FE's (remove the valvetrain and hope you don't get a hernia picking the intake up) More later when I remember stuff I've tried to forget for years. Larry T
I've heard a few guys say that.There's really no way to get a puller on gear with the cam in place.I suppose you can bust away the fiber and pull off the metal hub.But how do you press on the new gear? It's a several ton press fit.Hammer on the gear and for sure the brittle cam retainer plate will break,the cam will drive back and knock out the soft plug. If it's possible, I would like to see it done?????
I've worked on both new and old in the shop, and I think new ones are so much easier to work on. Maybe when they were new, the old ones were easier. Not after 50 years....
get your buddy to go under there with a pry bar, and hold the cam forward as you beat the gear on. I'd pull the cam.....
...on your 37 Chevy example, you can't remove the radiator without removing the hood, support rods OR the grille shell!,...so you've got the car 1/2 dismantled just to replace the timing gear. I cut the top part of the grille shell on my 37 so I can remove the radiator without removing the whole shell; but still have to remove the hood & support rods!
A tune up on a 69 427 Corvette with air. I stopped by my buddies garage and he wanted me to weld something. I said I just bought this Vette and I want to tune it up. He said weld this for me and I 'll tune it up. I said sure! I think he ended up pulling the right front wheel to get to the spark plugs through the wheel well under the compressor. He said I knew you agreed to easily. I seem to remember a V8 Monza required you to loosen the motor mounts to get it high enough to change the plugs. I looked up changing the clutch on a Saab IIRC. it paid 13 hrs which included pulling and replacing the engine. I declined the job.
aside from shredded fiber cam gears, though.... how much of this "prehistoric" technology would put a car on the side of the road, waiting for a wrecker to take it back to the dealer for diagnosis? most of what you guys have been describing so far isn't normal driveway maintenance IMHO. while it wasn't out of the question for owners to do this stuff, the corner service station usually took care of it. my Dad used to regale me with stories of sliding Ford axles back into the tube; running a gallon can of gas into the fuel inlet when the fuel pump died; carrying a huge prybar to pop the front axle back over on his Ford when the panhard rod came off.... riding around in a buddy's Packard where the more buddies, the easier it was to push start it.... you have to remember, too, that a lot of that "stone age" technology wasn't all that old yet. tell ya what; ask me this question again in thirty years, when the present era of cars has long been resigned to the catbox of time.
On the 38 Plymouth to adjust the valves on the flat six you jack up the front, remove the front wheel,and the inner fenderwell panel on the p*** side, crawl under the fender, remove the two covers, ...with three 1/2 valve wrenches, and with the engine running, a feeler gauge close by, loosen the lock nut and reach through the hot headers, hold the lifter and the valve with two of the wrenches, adjust to .017 and take the third wrench and tighten the lock nut while not moving the lifter or the valve... ...simple
I think the biggest difference between old cars and new ones is SPACE. Old cars had room for your hands and tools. New cars have none which is why you have to remove so many ***emblies and sometimes whole engines to service a part. These things are computer designed and robot built today to squish everything into a compact space and everything fits into its space like a jigsaw puzzle piece. I'm sure the engineers could do otherwise, but I think they have to make things hard to fix to help the dealers make service money.
Had a 69 Chevy pickup a few years ago and took it to an oil change place for the same reason. Heard the kid in the pit "oh no its one of those cannister things!" That one was worth the entertainment!
Power steering equipped cars are tough to get to #3 as well.... Installin' headers on a BB Mopar is a mutha****a too....cause usually at least one stud breaks off in the head. The rear seat power window motors on 2dr Mopars will take yer finger off if yer not careful.... On another note....as much as I hate new cars, I agreed to swap the engine in a neighbor's granddaughter's '95 Civic. Engine and trans had to come out to do so. It went almost as easy as an old V-8 car. I was pleasantly suprised....as most other newer cars I've worked on are a *****.
I might have to replace the harmonic balancer on my 37 Chevy p/u and it looks like it will be easier to remove the whole front clip to do the easiest,I would rather have to do that then work on any front drivers.
Why don't we start at the begining with replacing the bands in a Model T. I made the mistake of building my first speedster ch***is first then building the body on. You may think that this is totally normal however I did forget to leave clearance to pull the hoggs head off. First band change required unbolting the body and jacking it up about 4 inches with a ***along to get at the bands.
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