I got to that point in 1999 when I got a belly full of all the unneccessary electronic horse shit being put in vehicles and I quit working on cars for a living permanently.
No joke, even though I love the big red Dodge, I have been seriously considering finding me a Ford truck between 1962 and 1975 and fixing it up to be the last fucking vehicle I own. I miss the days when a guy could change a fucking alternator in 20 miutes instead of 6 hours.
Funny thing, it took me 8 hours to change/fix my generator on my ’57 Chebbie, but then it was -35 and I was out in the open with snow blowing in my parking space. I had to come in every 5 minutes to thaw out for 25 minutes and I had to be super careful NOT to break any of the old wiring (this was back in ’75) because everything gets rather brittle after -20. Especially wiring insulation.
The problem? The brushes had worn out. $1.50 worth of brushes and I also growled the armature to check for shorts, cleaned and oiled everything, and put it back and everything was copacetic from that point on!
I can (and do) replace anything on a car, being an Electronics and Computer Engineer, as well as a wrench bender all my life.
Guess what? with the exception of EFI, I prefer to have the bare minimum of electronics on my cars. Yeah, I’ll put in a fancy stereo (upgrade the radio), and add A/C if it doesn’t have it (see: Vintage Air), but the older system could be easily fixed. Parts availability is a pain, I can’t easily find 1989 SHO parts, and as far as my ’85 Beaver Motor Coach it’s a case of build it myself. My ’03 Jeep Grand Cherokee is ALSO getting hard to find parts for, but are still available on Rock Auto.
Gimme a 1938 Willys any day.
When you gotta pay a subscription fee just so you can use a scan tool to release the electronic parking brake to change pads and rotor it’s time to go back to a horse and buggy. Or a 1969 buick.
My current vehicle is 14 years old with 78000 miles on the odometer and a complete maintenance record. it had 33000 on it when I bought it. It was three years old at the time. I don’t drive much any more, but still change the oil twice/year and have the rest of the maintenance items maintained when they come due. It still gets pretty good mileage for what it is, mid size SUV.
If I ever need to buy another vehicle before I’m gone, I’ll be looking for one with points and condenser.
There’s a guy in my neighborhood; wrench jockey, that finds, buys and rehabs old cars, mostly the wiring, that don’t have electronic anything. he has about a dozen various makes and models. I asked him what he does with them after he fixes them. All he’ll say is “I’m waiting”, with a wink.
The engineer’s who designed the shit on today’s cars should have to diagnose, fix, and pay for repairs on the crap they call new cars.
The local ford dealer now charges $190 an hour….fuck that shit !
I got to that point in 1999 when I got a belly full of all the unneccessary electronic horse shit being put in vehicles and I quit working on cars for a living permanently.
No joke, even though I love the big red Dodge, I have been seriously considering finding me a Ford truck between 1962 and 1975 and fixing it up to be the last fucking vehicle I own. I miss the days when a guy could change a fucking alternator in 20 miutes instead of 6 hours.
Funny thing, it took me 8 hours to change/fix my generator on my ’57 Chebbie, but then it was -35 and I was out in the open with snow blowing in my parking space. I had to come in every 5 minutes to thaw out for 25 minutes and I had to be super careful NOT to break any of the old wiring (this was back in ’75) because everything gets rather brittle after -20. Especially wiring insulation.
The problem? The brushes had worn out. $1.50 worth of brushes and I also growled the armature to check for shorts, cleaned and oiled everything, and put it back and everything was copacetic from that point on!
I can (and do) replace anything on a car, being an Electronics and Computer Engineer, as well as a wrench bender all my life.
Guess what? with the exception of EFI, I prefer to have the bare minimum of electronics on my cars. Yeah, I’ll put in a fancy stereo (upgrade the radio), and add A/C if it doesn’t have it (see: Vintage Air), but the older system could be easily fixed. Parts availability is a pain, I can’t easily find 1989 SHO parts, and as far as my ’85 Beaver Motor Coach it’s a case of build it myself. My ’03 Jeep Grand Cherokee is ALSO getting hard to find parts for, but are still available on Rock Auto.
Gimme a 1938 Willys any day.
When you gotta pay a subscription fee just so you can use a scan tool to release the electronic parking brake to change pads and rotor it’s time to go back to a horse and buggy. Or a 1969 buick.
My current vehicle is 14 years old with 78000 miles on the odometer and a complete maintenance record. it had 33000 on it when I bought it. It was three years old at the time. I don’t drive much any more, but still change the oil twice/year and have the rest of the maintenance items maintained when they come due. It still gets pretty good mileage for what it is, mid size SUV.
If I ever need to buy another vehicle before I’m gone, I’ll be looking for one with points and condenser.
There’s a guy in my neighborhood; wrench jockey, that finds, buys and rehabs old cars, mostly the wiring, that don’t have electronic anything. he has about a dozen various makes and models. I asked him what he does with them after he fixes them. All he’ll say is “I’m waiting”, with a wink.
The engineer’s who designed the shit on today’s cars should have to diagnose, fix, and pay for repairs on the crap they call new cars.
The local ford dealer now charges $190 an hour….fuck that shit !