Jsdirt

The S10's are easy compared to this thing. 1/2" rivets they used, WTF. Spent a couple hours today, and managed to get the bottom of ONE out. 5 broken drill bits. Just broke my 1/2" bit. I'm f#@*ing done! New control arm, or it gets towed out of here. Guess it's time to retire my GM shirt after this one - that didn't make it either.

Yep - big ones too. My air chisel knocked the heads off no problem, but won't even touch them as far as forcing them out. Guess I'd better get the Drill Doctor out ...

Really GM??? REALLY?!?!?!? You #@#%! SUCK!!!

On second thought ...

That IS a steal. Can't touch any around here for less than $25-LARGE. Saw a low mile '05 going for $15k. Yep- done with new too. Never again. Biggest waste of money in my life. I have the ability to fix them, so I should've never gone new to begin with. This state doesn't exactly give you much incentive to buy new anyway. Annual excise, and the out-the-door sales tax will give you a stroke. Not to mention insurance. BIG premiums there. So much easier to go to the store in a beater that you can park anywhere, and not give a crap about it.

Should've kept that '86! Had more fun yesterday. A '95 S10 pickup with 230k miles or so. Door pins so bad the door wouldn't even shut. Someone had welded a nut to the top of one of the pins to hold it in place. Holes were the size of quarters! Door would drop 4". Had to cut the pins out (was only half of one bushing left out of the 4), then weld 3 of holes smaller, and drilled them to size. Then had to install a door latch, and weld the strike pin, since the body was all split where it mounted, and I basically just tore it off with pliers. I should've got a pic of that. I was stressing out thinking I'd never get the damn thing line up again- only had one shot! Thankfully it worked. To add to the fun, it was 76° with a 75° dew point. I was SOAKED! Get to weld the exhaust back together today, and replace a lower ball joint in that C1500 rust bucket.

I was more talking about MA state government. MA is well known as the welfare capitol of the world. Everyone who doesn't feel like working comes here to live for free. All you have to do is have a few kids. They'll pay for your car, rent, heat, food, electricity, cell phones, and health care. All you have to do is keep having kids. Who said anything about "making it"? I've got it damn good where I'm at. Worked my entire life to get here, at some of the toughest jobs there are. And we sit and wonder where all our tax money goes, as our roads go to hell and destroy our vehicles ...

If it was gonna fall off, I'd have taken it down. Some people aren't born with money trees in their backyards, ya know ... Guy busted his balls his entire life as a mason, and now has asthma and COPD, and is on disability. Don't forget, he lives in MA too - one of THE most expensive places on the PLANET to live. Guess if he was an illegal, the government would just make payments for him on a new one ...

In the eyes of the law maybe. I ain't the law. I keep things running that people couldn't otherwise afford to. This truck keeps his bills paid. He wants to get one more winter out of it & stays in town 99% of the time. He's got another vehicle to run, so not a big deal.

Yeah, the 2 crossmembers toward the rear from the main one that supports the tranny tailshaft are TOTALLY gone. Rotted right in half. Waiting for the spare tire to come crashing down in traffic ...

I see this alot around here - spotty rust. Some sections look great, others are totally blown out. Same with brake and fuel lines - some sections look brand new, other's crumble into 30 pieces just brushing up against them. Could be GM's suppliers using chinese metallurgy. Who knows. I don't know the history of that truck. More than likely it came from CT or downstate NY. Anything that's driven year round up here is finished by year 14 if you're lucky.

I said the exact same thing the first time I crawled under that.

Yep - I do. I'm sure he'd sell it to you for $5k.

I don't think that truck will last long enough to plug the filter anyway. It goes without saying, when this truck comes in, things get fixed whatever way is easiest and cheapest. Might not make it another 50 miles.

Another fun one today. Rusted out '00 C1500 peeing gas everywhere right above the transmission linkage. All 3 lines so bad I couldn't tell which one it was. Truck ran ok, and didn't even have a light on for EVAP - couldn't believe that one! Had to hack the lines out with my tubing cutter, right behind the engine and right up against the firewall where there's absolutely no room to move. Cut the line and installed a hose. Truck isn't long for this world anyway. Double clamped the feed, single on the return. Good 'nuff. Of course, while I was doing that, laying on top of the engine on a piece of plywood, I elbowed the heater hose, and the entire thing snapped clean off the heater core. Unbelievable!! This has got to be one of THE DUMBEST things GM has ever engineered in it's long history! This takes the cake. PLASTIC! Serves no purpose but to create an unreliable connection that you won't be able to fix on the side of the road. Whoever designed this thing should be beaten to a bloody pulp!! Didn't have the stupid tool for it, so I just Dremeled it off with a cookie. Then, slipped the hose right onto the stub - no stupid plastic fitting needed! Why the hell do they do this crap??? You'd think they'd see this as a way to save a buck & eliminate a failure prone connector. Nope! Pretty much tells me GM doesn't give a s#$t about building a reliable truck. Have a look at this abortion ... FIXED!!! Grrrr ... Here's the fuel line mess. If he gets another couple years out of this thing, I'll be amazed. The hoses will outlast the truck, that I can guarantee. I should've listened to my momma and became a dentist ....

Yeah, K&N puts performance above filtration. If you can afford engine rebuilds, then I guess that's fine ... but if you want the vehicle to last a long time, they're not the way to go. I have a K&N CAI, but I only ran the filter for 20k miles before switching to Amsoil (which are now discontinued) filters. I do still have one on my '74 RD350, mainly because I don't feel like rejetting for a new one. Rebuilding that engine is about as easy & cheap as you can get. No coolant, no valves, no cams.

It's all how you build 'em. My cars had no problem running well into the triple digits. Wouldn't win a drag race, but were great daily drivers that kept me entertained. I would gladly trade everything I own to have my El Camino back. Wouldn't regret any part of it.

But that's just it - EVERYONE COULD do it back then. Today, you need a sizable chunk of cash, and lots of know-how to troubleshoot most problems without being a parts changer. Things were alot simpler then. I will GLADLY take the lack of HP and comfort to be able to troubleshoot ANY problem ... cheaply. Not to mention how easy it was to fix! Open hood, change part. Done. The best part about today is, you can buy the same car and put modern components on any system you want. Can't beat that!

Says the guy with the mobile computer .... You're killing me V-max!

It's Sunday, so ...

Your point? I think I just proved part of it ... and this is only diesels. I could go on all afternoon about gas engines. And your wrong, btw. Anything built after 1972 sucks. That's the truth too. Those were some of the last vehicles to be built with any semblance of quality from front to back. It could be argued that pre-WWII cars were the last good ones. The chrome bumpers on those can be seen still shining, even after spending 60 years buried in mud. Try that with your modern vehicle. I'll talk to you in 60 years. Hey, you do what you want. It's your money! I'll keep mine in my wallet, thank you very much.

Here's a good one - vacuum cleaner 6.7 LOLOL!!! Some more, in case you still think these engines are great off the showroom floor: Dodge is not immune either: And the new ecodiesel:

There's plenty of them that burn up as a direct result of emissions equipment. Search his site - I picked the wrong vid.

You sure about that regarding Ford? LOL ...

Yeah, it's a nice racket GM has created there. My dad is getting close to 80, so he drives pretty gentle and slow in his '09 Duramax. When the thing was new, he would be at the dealer every 2-300 miles for DPF problems at $200 a whack. Thing would go into limp mode at the worst possible time. One time we were towing his center-console boat down the Cape, in the middle of 495 traffic, and now couldn't maintain 55mph. What a joke! If you were to baby a diesel like this, you'd get 500k or more out of it. GM can't have that now! Drive them gently, and all the emissions crap goes haywire. It's even worse on the newer ones people tell me. If you don't work them hard day in and day out, everything screws up.