The Automotive (& other mechanized vehicles) thread

[lordgalvar]

I'm all for some kit car and Frankenstein craziness.

[crochambeau]

I changed the spark plugs on the Buick today. Whoever decided a transverse V6 was a good idea made a terrible career choice and should have stuck with misting produce or garbage collection. Fucking terrible.

Oh man.
In my gf's Lumina, you have to unbolt the engine from its mounts and use a ratcheting tie-down or something to rotate it forward so that the rear plugs are accessible.
It can theoretically also be accomplished through clever use of extensions, a u-joint and very tiny hands, but fuck that.
Well, fuck all of it, really.

Yeah, this was exactly how I had to do it. Unbolt the engine mounts and tilt the fucking thing as far forward as I could. and it was STILL a pain in the ass.

Today I changed out the spark plugs in my VW Squareback, not a lot of room - but SO MUCH EASIER. All the tune up stuff, then adjusted and lubed the front beam. She drives so much better now, I've been a terribly neglectful owner of late.

^
That would be super cool.

Crazy kit car for sale locally to me:









https://vancouver.craigslist.ca/bnc/cto/6187495753.html

Holy shit, that could turn into a Machine Gun Joe car!

[Achtane]

You're so much braver than I am. I'm working my way up to the plugs. Finally figured out that the power steering pump isn't leaking after all (also, removing and installing pulleys on pumps is horrible), but the high pressure line to the steering rack is! I'm sure that will be deceptively complicated to replace!
Even worse than the engine tilting spark plug change is that, in this car, the fucking battery has terminals on its sides and the put it UNDER THE WINDSHIELD WASHER RESERVOIR, WHICH IS UNDER A CROSS-BRACE THAT HAS TO COME OFF FIRST.

You can't just quickly jump this car, you have to first find your wrench kit under all the shit in the back seat, get out in the rain/snow (it's always one of the two) in whatever parking lot you broke down at tonight, unbolt the brace, try not to lose the bolts, accidentally pour washer fluid all over yourself and the battery, then lust for death as you try to fit your cables in the 4mm space between the air filter and the terminals.
FUCK YOU, GM

[Chankgeez]

These guys used to have their garage a few blocks from where I used to live:

http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture ... s-weekend/

[Achtane]

No!!!

[Chankgeez]

[Chankgeez]

Check out the guitar dude built for himself:



http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/class ... collection

[Achtane]

That dude is a true hero.

[lordgalvar]

That was a good article, Chankgeez. Thanks!

My wife picked up an inline 6 1966 Mustang. Got it running well enough for a daily driver on the Holley 1940 carb (this is the small log head). Everything is stock on it pretty much (even the Holley was an oem replacement). All amazing 65 hoursepower at the wheels!

Turns out that the early mustangs had 2 different carbs and two different distubuters depending if it was auto, manual, California made or other 48. Luckily mine matched...but it was stalling at take off and in reverse (which is usually a mismatched carb/distro....the more common setup used an scv, which the California ones didn't for emissions).

Australia kept these engines around longer than we did and did some cool stuff (as did Argentina).

So far I have added seatbelts, fixed some wiring, found a vacuum leak, and readjusted the carb.

I got plans though....someday.

One kinda neat build:




Tons of neat builds of this overlooked engine....I've gotta brush up on my braising skillz

[Achtane]

Nice! Pics!

[lordgalvar]

IMG_20170701_101213815.jpg (68.45 KiB) Viewed 4271 times

Will post more when I do some stuff to it.

Just to mention spark plug clearance:

IMG_20170719_190723614.jpg (79.75 KiB) Viewed 4271 times

I got space.

Also easy access to just about everything.

[Chankgeez]

[lordgalvar]

http://www.hotrod.com/articles/how-to-b ... al-engine/

[crochambeau]

That Mustang is super clean, nice score!

[Chankgeez]

Crazy engine building article.

In an effort to abate flippers when I sell pedals, I may pull a page from Ferrari's book and impose an 18 month no resale period:

http://www.drive.com.au/motor-news/meet ... leResults3