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No working room and everything's hard to reach? (mopar rant)
Bought a 69 charger r/t this year with the 440 engine.
Already have a 72 cutlass supreme for about 8 years or so.
It might be just me but i feel like there is almost no working room and everythings hard to reach on the charger.
Especially compared to the cutlass.
Simple things like changing the spark plugs? Not so simple on the dodge.
I like this car its great but somewhat a nightmare to maintain compared to the olds right?
Stuffing a motorhome engine into an intermediate Mopar obviously wasn't a practical idea. The Olds is easier to work on, because it isn't a unibody.
I used to rant about doing tune-ups on my Slant 6 Mopar compacts, because the distributor was mounted on the wrong side of the block
Its not just Mopar, GM has created some maintenance nightmares too. To get to the #2 spark plug on my '76 T/A, I had to remove the RF wheel and go in though the wheel well and under the A/C compressor to reach it, no way to access it from the top. And don't forget those mid-70s Chevy Monzas (and their corporate cousins) w/ V8s that required the engine mounts to be un-bolted so the engine could be lifted to get to the #7 & #8 spark plugs.
The newer ones are worse- I had a '05 F150 you had to discharge the a/c, disconnect and move the a/c accumulator, remove the battery and tray, remove the PCM and bracket and a lot more to remove the right side valve cover! How about the car that has the starter inside the engine!
Stuffing a motorhome engine into an intermediate Mopar obviously wasn't a practical idea. The Olds is easier to work on, because it isn't a unibody.
I used to rant about doing tune-ups on my Slant 6 Mopar compacts, because the distributor was mounted on the wrong side of the block
The advantage of having a slant 6 is nothing even needs done to them! The Leaning Tower Of Power is well know for being darn near indestructible.
a friend of mine had a 69 charger with a 440, he bought a reproduction 6 Pac setup for it. His was a 4 speed car, I don’t recall too many difficult upgrades or maintenance jobs.
Always liked the Coke bottle Chargers. Not so much the first generation.
My flathead- and Slant sixes were great cars. They never once let me down. The distributor location was actually a small price to pay. Nowadays, I would take a different approach to such issues. Electronic ignition manufactured by a reliable company would be a sensible update
The advantage of having a slant 6 is nothing even needs done to them! The Leaning Tower Of Power is well know for being darn near indestructible
I had a Slant Six in a '67 Dart GT.
The gear on the camshaft drives a gear on the distributor, and also a gear on the oil pump. The gear on the oil pump failed. Since the distributor gear wasn't damaged, the engine ran until the engine seized. (Sister-in-law borrowed the car, didn't understand what the "OIL" light meant.)
Fookin' Unibodies--ESPECIALLY the ones with springs on the upper control arms, or MickeyP Struts. What were they thinking?
Last edited by Schurkey; November 13th, 2020 at 01:17 PM.
...The gear on the oil pump failed. Since the distributor gear wasn't damaged...
That's strange. I've never heard of an oil pump gear on one of those getting trashed. I've went through a few of those nylon distributor gears, though
Originally Posted by Schurkey
...Unibodies--ESPECIALLY the ones with springs on the upper control arms, or MickeyP Struts. What were they thinking?
Mopar did the right thing, through mounting torsion bars. The Chevy II, Falcon and Comets with the coil springs mounted in the shock towers were a joke. If you're going to have anything in there, then set it up to where the lower control arm gets sprung and not the upper. That way, you could mount the assembly lower. MacPherson struts suck, though. The following simple spring over shock system makes for a lighter spindle and doesen't have any strut cap bearing to wear out:
Last edited by Killian_Mörder; November 13th, 2020 at 10:10 PM.
Any 60s B-body Mopar with the high performance 440 is hard to change plugs due to the very effective HP exhaust manifolds and the greater width of the engine over the 383. Best way to change most of them is from underneath, on your back. And be sure the engine is dead cold!
done it for years, some of the plugs you just use the socket and then a 3/4 box-open end wrench on the socket itself,
The same goes for GM A-body, 68-at least up to 72 BBO with A/C. Socket with the flats for a box end...after you wrestle off the cooked on wire/boot which will likely break. Don't recall 73-76 BBO. But I believe it's the same drill. I know a 76 Cutlass 350 w A/C was no pleasure cruise either.
Compared to today's junk Ill take that kind of trouble 24-7.
Gone is the $50 tine up. Everythings $1000 now. Brakes, tune-ups, or whatever.
Anything front-wheel drive with exception of early Toro/Eldo is a complete nightmare.
Service is and always has been an afterthought. The poor service tech is at the bottom of the hill, schizts final destination hopefully with a can of polish.
Manufacturing dwell time is the almighty #1 goal with whatever you are making.
That's why I'm almost glad that future cars will likely be electric-powered. Not only because of tailoring a gasoline- or diesel-powered engine to fit modern requirements cramps up the engine compartment. The more one isn't able to service his/her own vehicle, the more seceptable one is to being taken to the cleaners for either repairs performed on complicated units or because of dishonesty on the part of who's servicing the vehicle. The latter of which mostly women fall prey to (just ask my ex-wife).
The only thing which worries me about alternative drivetrains such as electric- and hydrogen fuel celled-powered vehicles is the forfeiting of individual independence, if a so-called "national emergency" were to take place. Electric power and hydrogen can't be stored in a canister in one's garage, for example. Which means, if they ever make social scorecards applicable elsewhere, like they've done in China, anybody having "negative" social credits will not be able to get a charge-up or a tank full of hydrogen. At home, I can still always store gasoline and even greater amounts of diesel fuel in either the garage or basement.
My ex-wife gave me her old Audi A6 torbo-diesel, under the precondition that I pay one of those bogus repair bills. Replacing the timing belt on one of these starts at 1.000€, if done at a service garage. it takes them around 10 hours, because much of the front end first has to come off.
This engine does haul @$$, though. If I had a '62 Cutlass sitting around, this would make a great engine swap. However, since this engine weighs in about as much as a Pontiac 8, I'd need at least the Tempest's front springs and maybe even its transaxle, in order for the vehicle to sit right:
Last edited by Killian_Mörder; November 15th, 2020 at 10:21 PM.
I just replace the intake manifold on my 07 Grand Marquis. It took some time to do but very straight forward for a modern era car. The biggest pain was cleaning the head surfaces of the stop leak around the coolant passage.
When(if) I retire my 68 Olds and 68 Vette will become my daily drivers.
The only concession to modern amenities is HEI and MSD ignition...respectively and radial rubber.
If either needs a radiator...easy peasy. The Vettes a bit more involved but miles ahead of the 2015 Heep Cherokee I just put a radiator in WHAT A ROYAL PITA.
My sister had a Honda Pilot that needed a rad. You had to cut the core support or remove the engine to R&R the rad! Crazy!
Moral of the story...
Older is better, simpler is better. I'll take that philosophy with me to the 6-foot box. then it's someone else's problem as EVERYTHING is off in a ditch today.
My ex-wife gave me her old Audi A6 torbo-diesel, under the precondition that I pay one of those bogus repair bills. Replacing the timing belt on one of these starts at 1.000€, if done at a service garage. it takes them around 10 hours, because much of the front end first has to come off.
Originally Posted by droldsmorland
My sister had a Honda Pilot that needed a rad. You had to cut the core support or remove the engine to R&R the rad!
Holy crap. I thought the Audi was irresponsible design/engineering, until I read about the Honda.
Audis were almost always extreme. Try doing a tune-up on an Audi 100 LS, without a special 10 mm distributor wrench. The last ones had the Porsche 924 overhead cam engines (the old 100 LS block bored out and equipped with a new head and fuel injection) dropped in, thankfully. Unfortunately, they bothered doing so, just before this model was discontinued. In the engine compartment of both, the heater blower motor sticks out in your face. However, when it's time to replace it, all you have to do is to rip out the entire dash. Despite improved handling through less sprung weight, its inboard disk brakes helped corrupting the vocabulary of many a frustrated mechanic doomed to having to replace brake pads.
The later Audi Fox and larger 4000- and 5000 models weren't that bad at all. The engines were VW-built and sat transversely-mounted. Beginning with the A series, things began getting tight again
Before:
The same vehicle equipped with a 924 Turbo engine. The plumbing might be unoriginal, though:
Before the Porsche 928 went into production, the Porsche's new V-8 engine was stuffed into an Audi 100 LS fastback. This was done, in order to test a 928 prototype without anybody knowing that they were. How would you like to change plugs on one of these? You guys therefore don't know how good you've got it there:
November 11th, 2020, 10:08 PM
