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I watched the video on ETCG1 carburetors vs fuel injection. It was a good video. One comment made was about how some people look at carburetors as “yesterday” technology. That got me to thinking about something. Is the challenge in the automotive repair and modifying gone? Eric talks about enjoying the challenge of working with the carb on his Fairmont modification project. I’ve watched every episode of Wheeler Dealers, at least once, and Ed China has mentioned about the cars Mike Brewer brought in and loving a good challenge. Numerous times on the show China would show something he had to make to get something to work. Like the episodes with the VW splitty-van and the Polish car, in fact both dealt with the steering column. Today cars are so over-computerized that the human equation of working on them seems to have disappeared. It’s basically unplug the old part and plug in the new part or it is more cost effective to replace the whole engine than to rebuild it. I’m finding that to be the case with my wife’s 1999 Suburban. That’s another long story. Anyway, is this making any sense? Society has gotten to the point that everything has got to be “right now” and the automotive world seems the same way. I’m in a whole other profession, but I like working on cars though. The tools in my hands, taking something apart and putting it back together. Have I gotten frustrated? Oh yeah and not just a little bit! My wife has heard me cussing and she would ask me, “If you get frustrated at it why do you do it?” I’d grumpily reply, “Because I love it!” After I’m finished with the repair that was getting the best of me and all is working well again I can’t wait to do it again.
Looking at Tap and Die sets from Craftsman, Harbor Freight, O’Reilly Auto Parts, etc. there aren’t any with the 7/8-14 size I need.
The photos I have added show the fitting that inserts into the driver’s side of the lower intake manifold, right behind the ac compressor. This fitting is part of a braided rubber hose that goes from the intake manifold to the driver’s side exhaust manifold right about where the exhaust pipe attaches. Both ends are aluminum with the threaded fittings.
I replaced the intake manifold gaskets on my wife’s 1999 Chevy Suburban. Attempts at reconnecting the EGR hose back into the lower part of the intake has led the fitting to become partially stripped. I have taken the time with a small triangular file to file the threads, but I’m not getting anywhere. The tapered fitting is a 7/8-14, but I cannot find a thread repair kit of that size at my local auto parts stores, all I find are heli-coil kits for spark plug thread repair. What other suggestions are available from you more knowledgeable Fellers?
Back in the early nineties Car and Driver magazine did a road test comparison of the most popular mid-sized sedans available from the various manufacturers back then. One thing that has always stuck in my memory about that article was a stop the crew had made. A passer-by asked one of the car testers what kind of car were they testing and the response was that all the cars were different. The curious one said, “Oh they’re all different cars”. After the test crew stepped back to observe the line-up of cars they were driving it was apparent that all the cars looked similar. Nowadays it’s even more so. Every car we see today has design elements borrowed from every other car. I liked the older vehicles for their character and ease of maintenance. The most fun truck I had was a 1985 Chevrolet C10 that I bought from my buddy’s brothrr-in-law for $300. He bought it brand new twelve years before. This truck was the shortbed with 2wd, a 250 c.i. in-line six and three on the tree. Options? Yeah, you name it the truck DID NOT have it. My wife has a 1999 Suburban that I am in no hurry to get rid of, I have a 2000 Silverado, (Because of GM”s stupidity I don’t intend to buy anything new from them, I’ll stick with the older Chevies) and my “company car” is a 2008 Crown Vic. I have always liked working on cars, but haven’t held a tech job since the late eighties. I mainly do all my own work I can until I really need to take it to a shop. I would consider myself as good a mechanic as ETCG is on a bad day.
Lord willing when I retire from my State LE job I can go back to wrenching for something to do and keep the older cars running as long as possible.
