Man against machine

When I went through my version of your ordeal, I started the project with the prophetic words:



"How hard can it be?"


I was apparently daring the gods. They took the dare.

Hang in.
 
Been there, done that, got the t-shirt and wear it backwards. You haven't lived until you've had a '57 Ford that you tried to hotrod all the time.:p ;) :D

I hate to work on cars! I can't believe that at one time I loved every minute of getting dirty grease under my fingernails and dirt in my hair from being underneath a damned car.
Finally they got too complicated for me and it didn't take me long to forget all I ever knew, Not! I'll bet if I were 25 again I could still pull the engine and tranny outta my old Ford in 2 hours by myself from the time I pulled it under the hoist until it was on the ground and that was taking my time!!!!!!!!! :D

I really don't miss it. The summer days were not so bad but changing the dirty brakes on a '48 Plymouth Coupe in 25* weather with sleet was the drizzlin sh*tz even if I was partially in the barn.:grumpy:
 
Kismet said:
When I went through my version of your ordeal, I started the project with the prophetic words:



"How hard can it be?"


I was apparently daring the gods. They took the dare.

Hang in.
Click to expand...

LMAO! That was quality! Thanks for the chuckle.
 
Kismet, no kidding huh? I didn't approach this lightly, but you're right, I never expected half of the difficulty I've encountered. Hell I figured it would be a two day job!
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That's UPS on the right and me on the left BTW. What kills me is that getting a $2 washer through the mail, or needing it in the first place for that matter, isn't supposed to be the hard part! Everything in the engine bay was cake compared to getting my hands on a 1/2 ounce scrap of metal. Guess that's the way it goes sometimes.
 
I once had an oil change escalate into removing the intake manifold. Lesson: do not allow previous owners to skip the oil-on-the-gasket thing and also torque the filter on at 100 ft-lbs.
 
It runs.
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The belts squeal like banshees and the ignition timing is off, but it runs. I put everything back together on Friday, and turned the key 20 mins before the shop closed. Nothing. The engine would crank but wouldn't run. So I went back today. Checked everything over twice and got a mechanic to look at it. Still nothing. I pouted, I kicked things, I nearly smashed in the windshield with a tire iron. Then I calmed down and pushed it outside to await a tow truck on Monday morning, when the auto shops downtown open. Spent the rest of the day helping a friend move into his new house and tried to forget that I own a Civic. Then I got back home this evening and decided to do a little research. Found a diagram that shows the proper placement of the spark plug wires on the distributor cap and realized that I had done it wrong (the Haynes manual is very misleading on that point. In fact Haynes manuals suck period). I got so excited that I drove back to the auto shop from my apartment about an hour ago and changed the wire placement then turned the key. And it runs. :D Not quite sure what the heck is up with the drive belts squealing so bad, but that I can handle. The important thing is... it runs. And tomorrow I'll drive it home for real. After putting a tank of gas through it joyriding of course. I may go to North Carolina just for the hell of it. Hollowdweller, want to meet for lunch? ;)
 
from someone who's owned/worked on a whole slew of beater cars. It feels good. Alomost worth the grey hairs and years you lost off your natural lifespan. ;)

Frank
 
After you run it a bit, you might want to check the torque settings on the head bolts.
 
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