Worst thing to change on your car (besides the heater core).

Topic: Worst thing to change on your car (besides the heater core). (Read 3592 times) previous topic - next topic

Worst thing to change on your car (besides the heater core).

Reply #15 – June 14, 2007, 11:34:38 PM

I would have to say fuel pump on an 87', right after you filled the tank up! Trying to get the tank down, while your car's on the ground sucks!

Worst thing to change on your car (besides the heater core).

Reply #16 – June 15, 2007, 12:01:44 AM

i did empty tank that was easy!

Worst thing to change on your car (besides the heater core).

Reply #17 – June 15, 2007, 12:20:38 AM

Quote from: 32VFoxBird;154310

front coil springs

i always have to fight and fight to get those things in. even 4cyl stang ones!

Using a spring compressor or the remove control arm method?

Worst thing to change on your car (besides the heater core).

Reply #18 – June 15, 2007, 12:24:31 AM

spring compressor.

compressing the spring wasnt the hard part. it was getting the f'n tool out after you have the spring set in the arm! i used the auto zone loaner one, that uses a fork and really long bolt. i havent tried the removing the control arm procedure.

Worst thing to change on your car (besides the heater core).

Reply #19 – June 15, 2007, 12:42:26 AM

Quote from: 32VFoxBird;154374

spring compressor.

compressing the spring wasnt the hard part. it was getting the f'n tool out after you have the spring set in the arm! i used the auto zone loaner one, that uses a fork and really long bolt. i havent tried the removing the control arm procedure.

Supposedly you can put the spring into it's two 'perches' where it rests up inside the K-member and the lower control arm (with the CA separated from the car) and jack the CA up into place with the spring already loaded in there. It sounds too risky to me, plus it was a bitch to get the new CA's up into place without any extra force on 'em. so I"ll be doing the compressor thing... or maybe I'll try and get them banded by a local place that does it. I think that'd be the easiest solution all around.

Worst thing to change on your car (besides the heater core).

Reply #20 – June 15, 2007, 03:44:37 AM

You guys are scaring me w/this oil pan and oil pump. My car is sitting waiting for me to get time to do. http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?t=14009

Worst thing to change on your car (besides the heater core).

Reply #21 – June 15, 2007, 09:35:49 AM

Quote

Supposedly you can put the spring into it's two 'perches' where it rests up inside the K-member and the lower control arm (with the CA separated from the car) and jack the CA up into place with the spring already loaded in there. It sounds too risky to me, plus it was a bitch to get the new CA's up into place without any extra force on 'em.

I've done that. It IS scary. The spring compressor would not fit in the aftermarket springs this dude had on his POS '90 Mustang. The car was a disater.

Worst thing to change on your car (besides the heater core).

Reply #22 – June 15, 2007, 09:51:28 AM

I didn't think springs were that bad on my car, although I did put lowering springs in the front. Now, if I woulda had to get the stockers back in...yeah, I woulda been hating life. The lowering springs were surprisingly easy though.

On mine, so far the hardest thing to change...hmmm.

I'd say it's a tie between swapping out my ABS master for a vacuum booster...wasn't really HARD, but getting those locknuts off under the dash sucks!

Or...pulling the center section out of my turbo (leaving the manifold and turbine housing in the car) and reinstalling it. Taking it out is pretty easy, reinstalling it is a TOTAL BITCH! It's a huge pain in the ass to get the two bottommost bolts in like that, especially because you have to do it by feel from the top, and there's not enough room to do it from the bottom. I've already done that on my car about 6 times this year.

Worst thing to change on your car (besides the heater core).

Reply #23 – June 15, 2007, 11:07:36 AM

Working on a stock TC after having Layla for so long :(

Things I've done to make working on my car EASIER:
No intercooler bracket
No turbo brace
Cut the top half of the outer timing cover off
T-Bolt clamps on silicone IC hoses
Removed ENTIRE A/C setup
Replaced all the stupid 1/2 studs in the exhaust manifold for plain-jane bolts
Chuck W motor mounts
Custom CAI instead of the airbox and charcoal can
Single exhaust that goes straight back to a dump istead of criss-crossing under the driveshaft
Regular bolts for the valve cover instead of the stupid 1/2 studs
"Quick release" hardware on the alternator (I can take the alt off in under 30 seconds with 1 tool, makes distributor adjustments sooo much easier)
Chucking the ENTIRE PCV system and going to a catch-can setup

There's probably a thousand other little things but I realize just how much I miss them everytime I have to work on someone else's TC.

Hardest swap I've ever done is a simple battery change in a late 90's/early 00's Chrysler FWD. When I find the bean counting little prick who decide to stick it in the driver's front wheelwell with sideposts and a flimsy bracket for support I will gouge his eyeballs out with a plastic spork. That has got to be the most retarded place for a battery on earth.

Worst thing to change on your car (besides the heater core).

Reply #24 – June 15, 2007, 11:19:17 AM

I would have to say pulling the bushings out of the Front control arms. The second would have to be finding a good 2.3t head.

Worst thing to change on your car (besides the heater core).

Reply #25 – June 15, 2007, 04:09:34 PM

I'm suprised nobody mentioned this one but I think swapping out an AOD is hands down the hardest thing I've had to do. That sucked so bad that the 2nd time it needed doing I had a transmission shop do it since the R&R part only added $150 to the price... Money well spent!

Worst thing to change on your car (besides the heater core).

Reply #26 – June 15, 2007, 05:28:37 PM

Clutch pedal assembly.

Worst thing to change on your car (besides the heater core).

Reply #27 – June 15, 2007, 06:06:23 PM

Quote from: Red_LX;154418

I'd say it's a tie between swapping out my ABS master for a vacuum booster...wasn't really HARD, but getting those locknuts off under the dash sucks!

x2

I don't plan on doing that again any time soon. I changed mine out at the same time I did the heater core (with the dash out) and it still was a PITA to get to that last bolt. Ugh!!!

I can understand the springs. My buddy put some progressive springs in (I think H&R, came with the Bilstein kit) and they were taller than the springs we took out. We couldn't slide them in because the front control arms had to be pointing almost perpendicular to the ground. Even with a compressor it was pain because of the progressive rates the tool would get stuck between the coils once it was on the car. If he ever takes those springs out it better be to install coil overs.

I hate changing the timing on a 2.3t. It is a simple task made excruciatingly painful by the horrible size of a hold down bolt.

Worst thing to change on your car (besides the heater core).

Reply #28 – June 15, 2007, 07:31:37 PM

Quote from: Ether947;154511

I hate changing the timing on a 2.3t. It is a simple task made excruciatingly painful by the horrible size of a hold down bolt.

Here is a simple trick

Take a cheap 11/16th socket (shallow well) and put it on the bolt head it will stay on there come hell or high water (ive done every 2.3 ive had this way) and it makes timing changes a snap! since all you wqill need is a extension and ratchet to change it;)

Worst thing to change on your car (besides the heater core).

Reply #29 – June 16, 2007, 12:06:50 PM

Quote from: EricCoolCats;154256

Oil pan on a 5.0, with the oil pump a close second. I'd change 5 heater cores before I'd change another oil pan again.

I second that one... The 5.0 oil pan is a real bitch, just as easy to pull the engine...

Quote from: Dogcharmer;154488

I'm suprised nobody mentioned this one but I think swapping out an AOD is hands down the hardest thing I've had to do. That sucked so bad that the 2nd time it needed doing I had a transmission shop do it since the R&R part only added $150 to the price... Money well spent!

Duck soup compared to the pan, in fact Ford shop manual say to pull the tranny when pulling the pan... Had the tranny out of mine three four times, easy compared to the oil pan...