I tried one of those $25 rebuild kits off Amazon for my 92 F-150's carburetor last month. The gaskets were too thin and the floats felt way off, so it flooded my engine after just three drives. I learned you gotta spend the extra money on a name brand kit from a parts store like AutoZone or O'Reilly's. Anyone else have a bad experience with those no-name rebuild kits?
I spent three years fighting with the Rochester Quadrajet on my 1979 Camaro. Rebuilt it twice, messed with the float levels, swapped jets and rods like crazy. It would run great for a month then go back to stumbling and stalling at stoplights. Last summer I finally got tired of it and swapped on a Holley Sniper EFI kit. Night and day difference. The car starts instantly even in 40 degree weather and idles smooth as glass. Cost me about 900 bucks all in but I haven't touched it since I installed it last June. Anyone else here ditch the carb for fuel injection on their old ride?
I always figured OEM was the only way to go for cooling parts. But a guy there showed me a 1992 F-150 with a two-row aluminum radiator that had been in for 8 years without a leak. The thing looked better than the stock one sitting next to it. Has anyone else had good luck with the cheap all-metal ones?
Honestly, I used to think keeping points and condenser was part of the charm for my '72 Chevelle. But after a buddy timed my car and showed me how my dwell was all over the place, I caved and put in a Pertronix kit. Runs smoother now, and I don't have to adjust it every 3,000 miles. Anyone else convert and feel guilty about it?
My old Ford's wipers kept dying mid sweep, drove me nuts every time it rained. Took the wiper motor apart and found the copper contact strip had worn down by maybe 1/8 inch. Instead of buying a whole new motor for $150, I bent a paperclip into shape and wrapped it in heat shrink tubing to build up the contact point. Solder a little wire to it and bam, they've been working perfect for 3 months now. Did I totally ghetto rig it? Yeah probably, but it saved me a ton and the junkyard wanted just as much for a used one. Any of you guys ever fix a wiper motor with random junk from your toolbox?
Honestly, I knew it was a dumb idea but I was stuck in my driveway in Billings with the truck half torn apart and no weld shop open until Monday. The hole was about the size of a golf ball on the rear quarter panel, right above the wheel well. I figured a crushed Coors can would make a decent backing plate if I smeared enough bondo over it. Tbh it looked okay for about 15 minutes until I tapped it with a screwdriver and the whole thing caved in like a tin foil hat. I ended up just calling a buddy with a welder and he charged me 40 bucks to patch it proper. Has anyone else tried some redneck fix that failed spectacularly on an old ride?
I spent last Saturday pulling the intake on my '89 F-150 to replace a leaking gasket. Bought the fancy $40 Fel-Pro set and torqued everything to spec. Three days later I'm dumping coolant like a sieve and the temp gauge is pegged. Turns out the machine shop decked the heads wrong and the gasket couldn't seal. $300 in parts and my labor plus a cracked head from overheating. Anyone else had a simple job turn into a money pit like this?
I bought a high end kit from a shop down in Springfield for my 1971 Chevelle, figured spending the extra money would mean it was done right. Three weeks later it was leaking fuel all over the intake manifold, and the shop down there wouldn't take it back because I'd installed it myself. Has anyone else had bad luck with so called premium parts from local shops?
I spent last weekend under the hood of my old Ford pickup debating between a $150 rebuild of the original Autolite 2100 and a $350 Holley 600 cfm. I went with the Holley because I wanted a little more power for highway merging, but now I'm fighting a vacuum leak at the base. Has anyone else made a similar swap and had to mess with the adapter plate to get it to seal right?
I was dead set on taking my 85 F150's carb to a shop in Phoenix, they quoted me $450 to rebuild it. Watched some random dude's 20 minute video on a Sunday afternoon, figured I had nothing to lose, and got it running better than ever with just a $35 kit from Napa. Has anyone else had a DIY repair work out way better than you expected, or did you mess something up first?
He was showing off doing a brake stand in the lot and just lost it completely, bent the front bumper and cracked the grille. The crowd went dead silent for like 10 seconds before anyone even moved. What do you even say to someone after they do that to their own ride?