"Smitty's Garage"

You are correct. That is a '55 Bel-Air 4 door. It had a 6 cyl., 3 on the tree, a little over 50,000 miles, and rode very quietly. It had no rattles! One of the ones I should have kept. It was all original, but had lots of surface rust and faded paint. The photo was taken around 1989.

Wow! I'm honored! My very own virtual garage!Thanks PC-12!


Nothing pisses me off more than salt. Some say it's a necessary evil .... I say, with all the damn treehuggers out there these days doing backflips because I choose to drive a V8, you'd think with today's technology, someone could come up with a NON-CORROSIVE solution! Just the fact that it hasn't happened yet, in light of the recent green craze, tells me that this is done on purpose -- to keep the economy rolling at our expense.

Anyway, just hours ago I helped my neighbor repair rust damage to his Jeep. Chrysler designed this abortion of a hydraulic clutch system that goes from the master cylinder to slave cylinder: metal fitting-to- plastic line-to-metal line. So when you go out & spend $80 on a new line, & the stupid quik-connect fitting leaks like a sieve because it's missing parts (that were supposed to come off the old line - but were butchered to uselessness due to this moronic design) you're left scratching your head trying to figure out how the hell your going to join plastic to metal .... and have it withstand around 800 psi.

Well, 3 weeks ago he ordered a different fitting for the master -- it's held in place by a pin, & seals with an o-ring at the base, just like the stock one .... only the top is a compression fitting. This allows us redneck engineers to install a METAL line ... and throw that damn plastic in the fire, where all plastics belong.

So I went over there to offer suggestions - he did all the work. When we got it all together, the minute I touched the clutch pedal, it started spraying out of the original metal line from the slave cylinder ... and the only way to replace that is to drop the tranny. The hell with that! So, he cut off that bad section of line just past this flare in the line. Then he goes to slide the compression fitting & ferrule on ... and the damn line has a larger O.D. in that spot!! Abortion ..... no other word for it.

So I had the crazy idea of drilling out the fitting & ferrule, which was met with laughter at first. With nothing to lose, he decided to give it a shot. The fitting was the easy part. Now drilling a delicate brass ferrule is nothing short of a royal pain in the ass. He got the bit halfway thru the first half, but then it just spins ... and you can't put it in a vise, or hog on it with pliers, because you'll crush it .... like my dreams of being a dentist ..... but I digress .....

Out came a round file ... so while he sanded down the line from the slave, I filed away at the ferrule. Then came the moment of truth -- the dry run. Everything fit in place! But we had another problem -- now the line is still too big to fit in the threaded part of the fitting. A lot more sanding ensued, & finally he was able to force it in there & tighten down the compression fitting.

After a few minutes of bleeding, (literally ... and bleeding air out of the lines) .... I'll be damned -- it worked!! Held up to 3 gears of rubber too.

So for you mechanics, how long before somebody gets electrocuted by a hybrid or an all-electric car?

And what's with the price projections on the all-electrics? The manufacturer gets to leave out the IC engine, starter, cooling system, fuel system and gas tank, exhaust system, cat converter, and most of the transmission, replace them with a simple electric motor and battery -- and still they project $33 to $40 grand for a basic car? Hobbyists have been doing electric vehicle conversions for years, for $6 or $8 thousand per car, and that's without the cost benefits of mass production.

Hambden Bob wrote:The battery acid that they've been using in Ohio has made these pictures come alive for us. And we sure 'aint by the Ocean. It's a brine/emulsifier mix as close as I can tell. They'll pre-coat road surfaces ahead of a forecast snow/ice episode. Seems to like to rot the living daylights out of anything unprotected......Smitty's Garage...I couldn't think of a finer gearhead to name it after. His avatar says it all !

PA sing the same crap on the roads in winter cars and trucks rust away no matter what brand they are Oh and don't forget all the overpasses / bridges that are rotting away in PA that *censored* goes into the concrete and eats all the steel and re bar away And the State wonders why there are over 5000 bridges that need repair or replaced

Wood'nCoal wrote:My '96 F-250, purchased in December, 2008, has had most of the brake lines replaced, I replaced the line to the LF wheel after it sprung a leak during a stop, so the corrosion isn't limited to GM products.
I have hot and cold water plumbed to the hose bib on the driveway side of the house, during the winter I'm constantly hosing the salt and other corrosives off my vehicles. In Sussex county the road dept. adds grit to the mix, so whatever the salt doesn't get the gravel will.

I second that fords are no better then GM as far as Rusting out goes my frame on the 87 chevy C10 is in better shape then My 97 ford 250

Salt and warm water do not mix. You're forcing warm salty water into nooks and crannies. I would not wash under the car in the winter, give it a spray(bug sprayer) with oil (used, or diesel fuel) in late November. Also heard of car washes whom recycle the water, it sits in a tank to let the dirt settle out, the salt concentration gets higher as the the winter gets longer.

coal berner wrote:

Hambden Bob wrote:The battery acid that they've been using in Ohio has made these pictures come alive for us. And we sure 'aint by the Ocean. It's a brine/emulsifier mix as close as I can tell. They'll pre-coat road surfaces ahead of a forecast snow/ice episode. Seems to like to rot the living daylights out of anything unprotected.

PA sing the same crap on the roads in winter cars and trucks rust away no matter what brand they are Oh and don't forget all the overpasses / bridges that are rotting away in PA that *censored* goes into the concrete and eats all the steel and re bar away And the State wonders why there are over 5000 bridges that need repair or replaced

For the last few decades new concrete road projects use epoxy coated re-bar. It's the light green color re-bar assemblies you see on road construction projects. Ideally dipped in epoxy in controlled factory conditions. When non epoxy coated re-bar is touched by winter road salt it rusts, expanding with great force to crack the concrete. The crack then allows more road salt water in making the failure even more certain. America's transporation infrastructure was just giving a "D" by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Here's a link to PA's grade.

http://www.pareportcard.org/

Similar details are available for each state.

Wouldn't it be nice if we spent all that borrowed federal money on DOT projects rather than questionable DoD wars in the Middle East?

Thats OK Yanche, tollgate Ed has finally discovered that Pa. has a few problems & hes on it, nothing a few high taxes won`t fix. Then a few raised fees & some taxes that aren`t even in exinstance yet, but he`ll get it done even if it drives out every tax payer & small business left. That seems to be the norm now, run whatever your running with blinders on until your ready to leave & suddenly see that there is a problem (for the next guy).

We have some fine bridges in MA ourselves! Even the brand new ones drop concrete on passing motorists. One dead so far (Boston, few yrs. ago)They have to use the crap concrete ... because the funds for the good stuff were squandered away by crooked politicians ...

Looks like I'll be doing a Duramax water pump in a couple weeks. My brother's '02 is at that age where things just self-destruct on a daily basis. Dash coating is peeling off, leather split wide open at the seat & cracked everywhere else, individual non-replaceable lights in the radio & climate control are burned out, door pins & bushings are smoked .. causing door to drop so far that water & wind leaks in the cab, door panel trim breaking & falling off, etc etc ... Sickening how they build stuff today. It does have close to 180K on it though.

SMITTY wrote:Looks like I'll be doing a Duramax water pump in a couple weeks. My brother's '02 is at that age where things just self-destruct on a daily basis. Dash coating is peeling off, leather split wide open at the seat & cracked everywhere else, individual non-replaceable lights in the radio & climate control are burned out, door pins & bushings are smoked .. causing door to drop so far that water & wind leaks in the cab, door panel trim breaking & falling off, etc etc ... Sickening how they build stuff today. It does have close to 180K on it though.

160K on my '02 VW Jetta TDI wagon and I have no such issues with it self-destructing. Actually, I'm amazed at how well it's holding up - it's still tight and rattle-free, and also rust-free despite having spent it's entire life in the "rust belt". Maybe I just take better care of it than the average Joe, but our '05 Liberty CRD was falling apart at an apocalyptic rate with only 80K on the clock.

Heck Smitty, there is a bridge over the parkway in Pittsburgh rt376 that besides being wrapped in netting they built another structure underneath just to catch the concrete from the higher bridge "what a fix", wish I had a picture of that. Its not too far from smokeycityteacher, maybe he knows more about it.

europachris wrote:160K on my '02 VW Jetta TDI wagon and I have no such issues with it self-destructing. Actually, I'm amazed at how well it's holding up - it's still tight and rattle-free, and also rust-free despite having spent it's entire life in the "rust belt".

Ditto for my Honda Civic at 224K. It's what keeps me buying Japanese brands (made mostly on this continent) even though I traditionally bought GM and Chrysler. But after being repeatedly shafted I have given up.

That goes both ways though.

My last truck, a '94 K1500 with the 5.7 had 266K when I sold it in '07. I had a few problems with it over the 3 years I owned it, but nothing that I couldn't deal with - - and I was working 60 hours a week at the time, plus 10 for commuting.

10 years ago I had an '86 Grand Marquis that I bought for $800 with 206K on it. Drove it in MA for 2 years, then towed a U-Haul all the way to Phoenix, AZ with my motorcycle, tools & everything else I owned. And this was a week after I had overheated it by not bleeding an air pocket from the t-stat during a coolant flush. Had milky oil from that one! Still made it ... only issue was a blown heater hose in AZ in the mountains near Flagstaff. I just grabbed a 7/16ths deep socket, cut the split in the hose, & clamped the socket in. Then left it there for 3 weeks in the hot AZ summer. Then it got stolen by mexicans, who had it for a year with the same oil & filter, then I got it back, drove it 400 miles north out of an impound yard in Bell, CA, cleaned it up & sold it for $1,200 ... which paid for my U-Haul rental & trip home in a '72 El Camino. 254K on the clock when I sold it ... still ran & looked mint.

Currently, my wife drives the same year Marquis that we've owned for 7.5 years now. We've put a little over 100K on it since we bought it with 69K original miles. Had very few issues with it. Most of the issues were caused by our geographic location: potholes, salt, moisture, etc. ( ball joints, wiring problems, etc. ). That car runs a minimum of 80 miles every single day in the summer. It's on the road right now as I type, as a matter of fact.

On the flip side, my mom had a '02 Toyota Corolla that broke down left & right ... and it was still new! She hardly drove the thing. I think she sold it with 60K on it. I recall interior parts breaking off, fuel pump failing, a/c issues, trim pieces falling off the exterior, ... and there were some others that I can't remember.

I think the main difference between jap & American cars is that Jap cars are more forgiving to lack of maintenance. I've always kept up with oil changes, greasing, differential oil, & tranny flushes. I've blown one engine & one tranny in all the GM's I've owned, & that was doing 100 mph with 4.56 gears in a '71 chevy C-20 with a crappy 305. Most people I know that drive jap cars never change the oil!

I always hear people (usually on the left) tell me how terrible America is at building stuff -- how superior their Toyota or BMW is in comparison to a Chevy, Ford or Dodge.

Well, have a look at this!

First up is a $186 Bridgestone Blizzak winter tire, 265/65-18, with about a 1/4" deep divit right on the bead of the tire -- the most critical part of keeping air IN the tire! The asian UPS driver delivered my set (I thought he came straight from Japan!), & I began mounting & balancing them on my winter wheels. 2 tires in, I get this one that the bead refused to seat on. Before I even mounted it, I noticed this divit in the bead & thought,*censored* - that can't be good .... . And sure enough, it wasn't. I fought with this bastard for at least an hour before finally throwing in the towel & calling Tire Rack. I tried every trick in the book: heat, tie-down straps, bead sealer & finally ether & a match. Once the ether exploded & seated the bead, it immediately went flat again ... and then the ether continued to burn, as it now had oxygen coming in! We wont mention that part to the ' Rack though. Either way, that divit is obviously a factory defect, as there are no injuries to the surface of the rubber at the divit.

I have to say though - Tire Rack has the *** B E S T *** customer service on the PLANET! I called them at 4:30PM yesterday, very pissed off & with a slight attitude, to tell them about the *censored* tire they sent. I got annoyed when the young woman on the line asked me if I drove on it .... How do you ... or better yet ... WHY would you drive on a tire that will not hold air???? Anyway, even with my 'tude, she assured me that I'd have a replacement in my hands Wednesday. Well today at 2PM UPS arrived with the replacement! It's already mounted & balanced, ready to rock for when the snow flies. KICK ASS customer service! Cheapest around as well. + 1 for the ' Rack ....

And -1 for Bilstein. Yes, the fine $80 German built & engineered shocks. I bought a set for the wifey's Marquis & one of them decided to puke every ounce of damping oil out of the seal after 2 weeks of dedicated service. Lifetime warranty though, you say? Yes, but they charged me $14 & change to ship a new one to me, then I had to cough up $10 & change to send it back! So I'm out $25.55 because Bilstein built a pile of *censored*, & I bought it. Nice. Now that is *censored* customer service. I have no pictures of the leaky shock because I was so pissed off ... swapping the shocks out at 9:30PM, laying on the dirt floor of my 46°F barn .. I know how my phone can be sluggish sending pix ... and I would have smashed it.

Lesson learned -- yes, even the Japanese AND the Germans (!) can make mistakes!

Blizzak tires are amazing - wish they would last longer. BUT>>>

I put a set on my Sunday car once.