Forum Replies Created
-
Replies
-
I knew someone in Chevy Engineering, of course had ties in Ford engineering and they all admit to engineering failure. So that vehicles only last X amount of time before you need to replace them. Which includes all the things we spoke about as well. They used to engineer them to attempt to last longer. However, the techs were not seeing any more and the dealers began to scream. Typically a 70’s car would barely make it to 100k. Now cars are making it to 200k but with a lot of repairs. Interior plastic seem to be the first to fail and same with the seats and so on. Almost like it is clock work to ensure your miserable enough to buy a new car.
I have 3 cars. Chevy pick up 211k on it. Runs great. Interior is horrible. 2001 Mustang, Runs great, interior is fair 130k. 03 Jeep Liberty 180k Runs great looks great inside and out, I have put the most money into the Jeep on mechanical related items.I use flux core. Cheap as dirt, and you have to clean up from the slag no matter how clean the surface. I didn’t know it was so expensive. Which explains why people charge so much for materials welded by it perhaps. Good info. In fact the only gas welding I have done was making a gravel trail in Michigan. I had to rebuild all the sidewalls in the trailer. It was all aluminum. I was just thrown at it, as usual, no training. I figured it out for the most part. They had a plasma cutter there that I worked with, that was awesome. Well worth every penny.
I have seen the effects of tig welding, and I have seen OCC tig welding. Doing all those materials? Wow, and the lack of mess is awesome. I so need a tig welder after seeing this. I heard the cheaper ones really were not to good. I am always welding something here at the house just fixing odd and end things. I have the cheapest welder known to mankind, it is loud, messy and so hard to make a good bead even with all of my experience. Tig welders hand that bead to you on a silver platter! Nice. Not sure I would ever be able to get one. It is honestly worth saving for. I would just give me Mig to my son in law. Oh and those grampa lenses, I need them. Never knew they had them. Welding for 6 years non-stop basically kills your eyes. I hope you really enjoy that toy. That is a great tool to have. That guy was a great teacher to boot. Thanks for sharing those vids.
True, they expect that they can run them into the ground and all will be fine I guess. As they get used up and older, their parts wear out, and things need to be replaced. Just because it still looks new in the car, does not mean it isn’t in mechanical trouble.
Well, wish he would put dates on the vids. lol Unless I am just not seeing the dates. I am still looking for the Fairmont motor install, the car being finished, and all that and I think he told me that some of the vids were 2 years old. I guess I need to work out how to find the most recent vids.
That is what happened to a Frieghtliner I bought. It was sitting, and I did not know it was for so long. It had a 3406E Cat motor in it. Moisture some how got in the cylinders, pitted them out pretty bad. 6 months after I took out a loan with my sketchy boss, the cylinders got so bad it finally fully blew out the gasket. The boss had been starving me out of the truck. Which is typical of dodgy trucking outfits. Basically only giving me a load or 2 a week for months trying to get me to walk away. I knew he was doing it, and I found out later was taking my fuel money as well. At first some, then all of it. So basically he handed me a quote for the repair if I decided to get it fixed. $6500 to re-sleeve the motor and gasket sets. I told him with only a load or 2 a week I would never be able to pay for that. Suddenly he said he could make sure I had more loads. Yeah right. I cleaned out my truck and left.
His business went under after ripping off most of the drivers. Taking paycheck money and leaving town with it. Which was typical of this guy. He had the IRS on his backside, and a bunch of legal troubles when it was over with. I think several of the other drivers were suing him.I think that is what happened to my big truck. Sat for to long. It cost a ton of money to pull off a head. So 6 months of driving it, and my cylinders were so pitted it was going to cost me $6500 to fix it. That was no good.
Reading your post, I am going to assume that it is possible that when you put the engine back together that you possibly pinched a wire or so behind a bracket, a valve cover, or something you had taken loose. I would check everywhere you had worked for any wires being pinched. This will take a flashlight and a lot of effort.
Do as others suggest, pull all the fuses and slowly installing them until one blows. That is the circuit that is shorted out to ground. Or, if your main fuse blows before you can even get that far. You will need to do an even better visible search for shorted out wires. Check the loom the headlights are on. They gave you a pretty indication that you were getting a short before everything died.
Do not get frustrated regardless. Just take your time and look really good. Once you find the issue (DO NOT USE ELECTRICAL TAPE TO FIX IT) This is the worse thing you can do. Though it may last a little while, it may cause a lot of issues in the future. Use a splice that has shrink tubing on it. Splice it really tight, then heat up the tubing to shrink it around it. Then use some electrical tape (quality stuff) to add extra protection and if possible corrugated wire protectors to further protect it. It should last you a long long time. Make all the wires that were pinched get spliced back together correctly.
You want again quality splices. Some have solder in them and will actually help fuse the wiring together. Happy hunting.Aluminum you need to keep cool. Welding certain metals does not work together to well. Iron and steel actually mix. Never tried welding titanium yet. As I said, you most likely need a special welder for it at the least. Copper and silver mix as well. Which is really common in electronics and in plumbing. Now if you use copper or brass against steel welding, steel will not penetrate it to well and really just the heat does a little bit. However you can actually shape steel welding with copper and brass plates.
Glad it made your day. Looking for more episodes on that motor build… Your face when you seen the pitting in the cylinder wall. HAD THAT EXACT DAY. On my 3406E Cat motor. Then the dings on top of the pistons, then on the block from the rotating assembly. Do you expound on what caused all that? Great for learning. Someone got a little ambitious with that motor it looked like. I am thinking to harsh of a cam/crank/lifter combo in the hunt for more compression without doing the math or knowing the internals. Which brings us to another reality check. It is not just you if you are a mechanic thinking so. We all have days like that. It’s just part of the game.
You are dead on right. Never ever expect things to go your way. Power on, the end result is totally worth it. The pride and joy of knowing it is done and right.Watch your 8.8 vids. I loved the reality check in them. I worked in a dealership, 60 mechanics. We were swamped day in and out. However, the service managers and assistant managers would put trainee’s where they thought they would best fit, and when it came to mechanics according to their specialties if they had any. Trans guys did nothing but transmissions. So they could rip out a trans in record time because they knew them inside and out. I was in drive-ability, suspensions, top-ends, ac, electronics, brakes, alignments, and so on. When I moved to a smaller shop (4 mechanics and 2 porters) they dropped a heck of a lot more on me. For me this was bitter sweet. This was again a dealer but they would work on any car. So no manuals for off brand cars, and limited help on any repairs.
Bottom line, because a lot of it was new, we just had to figure it out and get it done as fast and as professional as possible. Which was like your axle job. I had to re- sleeve a Eagle Premier’s engine I am pretty sure is what it was. Had a lot to learn with that one. Then after that head gaskets on a Subaru. So you were constantly learning new systems. Never really getting a chance to stop learning. Which was cool, but it just was more frustrating and took more time.
I noticed in your shop you are working on a wide variety of cars and with a wide variety of issues. A mechanic who specializes just in axles would of turned out that axle in minutes. You took the time to do it right, which is good. A lot of guys would say “Good enough for who it’s for” and move on. Though frustrating, and obvious a pain in the donkey, I applaud your patience. I like that you showed all the hardship. Being a wrench has it’s downsides. The up side is the pride in doing it right no matter the cost.
Now the frustrating part is billing the customer. You put 20 hours into a 3 billable hour job. Punching the clock would be just so wrong. You are just gonna have to eat it. I appreciate you doing it right and showing some true reality. You do not get that from MCM, or even with the Roadkill, Roadkill garage, or Engine masters. Good work Eric.[quote=”mike521″ post=164295]It was a plug wire!! Over the years I’ve purchased several different types of parts that were bad straight out the box. However I’ve never gotten a bad wire!!! Its not like I bought the cheapest wires available these were motorcraft. I couldn’t find the bad spot/break in any of the wires. I didn’t get my meter out but I did remove all the boots for visual inspection and all looked fine. It took me 2.5 days to even consider changing the wires and the only reason I did was desperation. Anyone else ever gotten a bad wire?[/quote]
I had the exact issue in a 03 Taurus, I was fortunate and noticed it with my timing light. Crazy firing times. The coil burnt up because of it. So I replaced the coil and replaced the wires and it ran great. Then a day or so later I noticed it acting up slightly. Sprayed around the engine and noticed the IACV was leaking. Pulled it off, I could see where it was leaking, made a gasket for it and the car ran great from that point forward. The thing seems to be with Ford is they act up and damage other parts and slowly start running bad. Multiple issues are always there. Not sure if the ECU was trying to make up for the failings of the wires, but usually what I have found it is a total domino effect with Fords.
I have only 2 possible cars, and hopefully maybe one day I can have both. 1. 2001 Mustang car I presently own. I want to build it top to bottom, modify it’s body slightly perhaps. I want to build the engine up, and the entire car suspension, trans, axle, everything. I have already started on it, and I guess for me, I am making it a part of me, who I am. I want to use it for road course racing events. Nothing to insane. I also want it to be a nice driver. I figure since I already own the car, and have done some upgrades to it. It would be cheaper to build this than to buy a new Cobra 1000.
The second car which I really like would be either a 69 or 70 Mustang Shelby which I would build up as well. Either way I want a car that I know inside and out. Welding on it and creating something better than the manufacturer made due to what is available now opposed to 1970.I seen the first vid. Missed the later one. I am looking to soak serious coin under my hood to up my Mustang. People do not realize, if you want real power, you need the motor to create it and expensive parts in that motor. $10-15k in my motor, and that is nothing. Honestly nothing to put into the engine. Then I am going after the suspension and braking. A ton of money there. A $30 part is doing nothing for you. I like how you put the ignorance bit. The whole point just because someone claims you will get 25-45hp does not mean they are telling the truth. You pay for gains like that.
You put it well. If you want these gains, you will suffer in other areas. You cannot have it all. Slammed cambered cars, eat tires, and suck driving in a straight line. Huge waste of money, and performance plus to anyone who knows, these people look “ignorant” I think bottom line, they look stupid. Surely they bought a few sets of tires. Then you look at the actual tire surface hitting the road and keeping you on the road. I am ranting on this, because when I bought my car, the first thing I needed to un-modify was the cambered out tires. Then buy tires. 600 for 2 tires, eats at your wallet.
Just because Johnny Slick down the street with the JDM F-350 thinks you need to do this or that. Spend the time shopping and searching like you said. KNOWLEDGE IS FREE via the internet!!!!! 😛 Why do we still have see this stuff?
Thanks for the response Eric, I will stick with my nice blocks and rotating assemblies. Take care.Ford Windstar intake. Look up vids for the mod and make sure it fits your model correctly. You might use the heads, and cam as well. Just be a junkyard pick and pull event. Look, your engine is asleep. I think it is like 128 RWHP and that is about it. You could just go with a windstar motor. Or a 99-04 Mustang engine if you want to stay with V6. The T bird came with a supercharged engine. Getting one from a junk yard would be a boost. Also check out Super six motor sports. Cai exhaust, tune, you need a lot buddy.