Phone a Friend

[Deryk]

Hey Eric, do you know anyone that has an old (pre-96, mid to late 80s would be best for my current issues) domestic vehicle? If so is there a chance of you possibly doing some work on it?

I inherited a 1989 Ford LTD Crown Victoria and I’m not one to hand my car over to a shop unless I know it will take me weeks and parts everywhere that I have to sort through and clean to do the job (like a tanny rebuild). I know you can only make videos on what comes into your shop and kinda sorta specilize in honda/acura, but what about a big old American car? If it isn’t possible then maybe you or any other forum members could direct me towards a youtube channel or something that would be some assistance.

Thanks.

Topic

[EricTheCarGuy]

It’s not often I see those vehicles anymore and since I already have 3 production vehicles and the next one mapped out, it may be some time before I’m able to do that. The truth is that many of those older cars are just outmoded. They’re not quite classic yet but they are defiantly out of service for the most part. I don’t know of any channels that cover those makes exclusively. Perhaps someone else on the forum does. Good luck.

[Deryk]

Thanks, you have helped me out on things that most cars have like brakes and how to deal with tapered roller bearings, and basic essential engine maintenance. I was just taking a stab in the dark, it seems like I missed but I have a few buddies, a shop and a cousin that are very helpful with these things.

[Lord Ihcalam]

best thing to get on those old boats (like my caprice) is a factory service manual and make friends with someone at a dealer that has access to their all data systems. these years of cars can be hard to work on. not quite the old tech that your grandpa could make run 1000 miles on elastic, tape and a soup can, but not new enough to aid you in your diagnostice with service lights and code readers and all that.

[William Sevier]

Something you may check into is your local high school’s auto shop. They can do quite a bit of work and save you a fortune. They usually just require you to buy the parts once they find what’s wrong with your vehicle, they don’t charge a labor fee as they’re just learning. Here’s why I’m suggesting you try it because I’ve so far saves about $2700 in labor and guessing on parts on a 1984 Ford Bronco 2. I picked it up about 3 months ago, intitially it ran great on the test drive, some point before I was able to get it paid for and brought home the seller’s son started screwing around with it and hooked the alternator up wrong, so I fixed that. Then came the leaking head gaskets, I had the parts but no warm shop to work in and at negative temperatures I knew there was no way I could do it myself. A family friend has a son in auto and needed a project, I told him as long as he took his time and did it right he could do the work, well he did the job very well, then a couple weeks later I go to start it and get it started and hear what I thought was a rod about to go through the engine block, call up the kid and ask him if he wanted another project, he took it to the shop and well its been there 2 weeks now but turns out the previous owner replaced the clutch and had the flywheel resurfaced and in the process of replacing it they stripped the bolts so the flywheel was literally about to fall off the engine. So that’s been fixed, and then yesterday and today he’s spent replacing the oil pan gaskets and doing another oil/filter change on it for me. There’s no way on a $700 a month income that I could have been able to keep this truck going without the help of my local high school auto shop. yes there have been a few other kids working on the bronco 2 as well, but I know then and know how well they do working on their own cars so I’m not worried about it.

Now would I take my brand new $60,000 car to them, absolutely not, but an old truck or car I have no problems with because its not really worth anything to me sitting in the driveway broken down, and if that helps give some kids practice and helps them get a better grade in class for participation I’m all for it. The shop teacher always inspects the vehicles when they complete the service before its released to leave so it’s not like its all done and know one bothers to double check the work.

[Lord Ihcalam]

if only these classes in High school received their fair share of funding werent being cut completely in favor of yet more new football uniforms.

you can probably find some tech minded mechanically inclined senior needing a senior project too.

[William Sevier]

I agree, seems schools are catering more towards sports than a kid that wants an education. Another dumbing down of society. I know quite a few of the kids in the local auto shop and they love being in auto, its something they can do work hands on rather than sitting in a classroom reading a bunch of nonsense stories and making up reports about. I really wish schools would support these programs more rather than wasting tons of money on sports activities. The local high school has an auto shop, but the Woodworking program is long gone sadly as well, but the sports programs are still there that teaches absolutely nothing.

[Author]

Replies