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Posted by: Aussie XAXB

I've been working on cars for 24 years, ever since I was 17 years old. I started out doing oil changes and tune-ups on Mom's car and then when I turned 18 I bought a 1968 Dodge Charger with the money I earned washing dishes. I changed the engine in this car before I ever even changed an alternator. I even converted it from a point ignition system to electronic by following a schematic I copied out of a repair manual. Since then I have also been through a tech school and worked as an Auto Tech for a while but family matters demanded more income sooner so I had to seek a better paying job before I could work my way up through the ranks. I've always done all the work on my own cars as well as for friends and family. I've rebuilt much of my wife's 1966 Mustang and am doing a frame off restoration and conversion on a car for my Mad Max Interceptor project.

That being said...

I've done a LOT of work on cars. I don't claim to be an expert, just someone that's "been there, done that" on a lot of things, and some of them many times over. Mostly I have not paid to have work done because I can't give someone money to do something I can do myself....if I can do it.

If I didn't know how to do something, like rebuilding the carburetor on my 1979 F-150 with a 351M 2bbl, I copied the pages out of a manual at the library to have handy for reference. After all it is pretty much like building a model.

Before I bought my Charger I read many car magazines since I didn't know anything about cars. I read mostly Car Craft and Popular Hotrodding. There were many "how-to" articles in them as well as articles on general automotive theory. It was my "class" for cars. It was my "homework" and the way I got educated on how an engine worked and why one engine made more power than another though it was the same size. I learned about rear axles and gear ratios. I also learned about clutches and exhaust. There were even simple articles on the various physics aspects that apply to automotive design, all in words that were easy to understand. The articles were written for the do-it-your-selfer.

In reading many of the inquiries here about car problems I see many people asking questions without having a basic understanding of how their car works. My Tech school instructor made a very accurate point.....

"A person who wouldn't think twice about calling out the repairman for their $400 washing machine will try to fix their $20,000 car."

For you to be able to understand the answer to your question you have to know what the responder is talking about. For you to ask the question in a manner that people can pinpoint a problem you need to be very specific and that involves understanding what factors are important.

A car cannot be diagnosed or a recommendation cannot be made on the following questions....

1. I got a 95 Mustang with a 5.0L! What heads should I get?
2. I want to make my car faster, what cam should I get?
3. My car smokes, what do you think it is?
4. Why doesn't my cold air package add 30 HP? Isn't that why everyone is putting them on?

In my experience there are at least 5 possible causes for every problem, especially with post-1980 cars. That is why more details need to be given, so that those choices can be narrowed down. However, if you are not up to speed on cars you will not know what factors are significant to include, and if you did you may know where to start looking for the problem in the first place.

In making performance recommendations the answers to those questions will depend mostly on what you want the car to do, specifically, and what your budget is. Engines only operate at maximum performance within a specific RPM range. You need to decide where that range is at for the kind of driving you want to do and what you are willing to sacrifice in fuel mileage and money.

Do you want to build a strip car? Do you want low RPM torque? Do you want just a pretty fast car or a world beater? Are you driving it daily or mostly on weekends? All of these circumstance dictate a different engine building philosophy.

.....and then the engine needs to be matched to the rest of the car, or visa-vera depending on where you are in your build. If you have an automatic transmission and are going to build an engine with a long duration cam for high RPM horsepower then you need to replace your stock torque coverter with a higher stalling one so that the engine can rev to where it starts to make power before engaging the engine to the trans. Steeper rear gears will give you a great launch, but then you are turning 3,500 RPM at 60 MPH on the highway and your car just drinks gas.

My recommendation is to read car magazines. Looking through the plethora of advertisements for shiney things in Mustangs and Fast Fords does not count. Some of those magazines are short on real info but long on things to spend more money on. Some of the old mainstays that have been around forever still have quality articles that can give an education.

If something comes up that you do not know about look it up in a repair manual or go to the library and look through the Mitchell's manuals. There are also plenty of sources online. My point is to read the information about the thing you need to find out about. There is a reason that classes in school are not conducted by the teacher only fielding any questions that the students have. You need a full, comprehensive understanding on the thing you want to know about and manuals and magazine articles will give you that.

Don't be afraid to try something new. Gather as much info about it as you can and copy the page out of the repair manual that explains how to do it. That way you have all your answers right next to you while you do the work. We all started out not knowing a thing about cars.

I come from a day when you bought a car that already made 350 HP or more and you built it up from there. I realize it is a different time now and that I am the old fart here, but one thing remains the same. You have to know about a car to work on a car.

A "cold air" (Marketing term) filter is is only going to give you about 3-6 more HP at maximum RPM. This means about 2-3 HP at your usual driving RPM.

Underdrive pulleys are only going to give you about 8 - 15 HP at maximum RPM. This means about 5 HP at your usual driving RPM.

A performance exhaust is only going to allow the changes to the engine that you made give you their optimal results. The exhaust does not make power, it is after the engine. It only lets those new heads work to their full potential.

A 5.0L engine cannot use a 3" dual exhaust. Few 429's can use a 3" dual exhaust. Too big of an exhaust kills the scavenging effect and causes a loss of power.

The things that give you significant power increases are cams, heads, stroker kits (no replacement for displacement), and the proper matching components to maximize these changes. Where I come from when we did engine changes we were adding 50 HP or more to an engine. Nobody dared mention a measily 8 HP.

Another thing from "back in the day" is what a stroker engine was. A stroker was an engine that was the largest displacement engine a manufacturer made that was bored and stroked out to an even larger engine. Anything below this was not stroked because you could buy an already larger engine. So a Ford stroker would be a 460 stroked larger. A Chevy would be a 454 stroked out. There are applications where room in the car is a concern and stroking a smaller sized engine is then a wise option, otherwise, in my opinon, just buy the next sized engine if you want something bigger. Bigger is bigger whether if you do it or if the manufacturer did it.

*Addendum*
Get and learn how to use a multimeter. It is your eyes into your electrical system. You can replace a hundred electrical components hoping to fix the car, or you can take a resistance reading to see if the part is good or bad. Also you can touch the leads to the component and see if it is getting electricity to it. If not you can check backwards to the source to find where the interruption is.

One last thing and this is a pet peeve of mine. If you want to be taken seriously, if you want to appear to be an intelligent person asking questions that the answers to will be used wisely, if you want to be perceived as someone capable and with pride in yourself, minimize mispellings and grammatical errors as much as possible. after reeding evrything i just wrote wood you felt the same way about wat i said if i wrote it this way? I hope not.

Good luck,
(Grandpa) Steve

Posted by: BIGJ

I am sticking this post. Very well written, and I personally appreciate everything you stated, because you are 100% accurate.
Thanks for bringing insight and info on this board, its appreciated.
Thanks!

Posted by: Aussie XAXB

I am glad I came across that way. I didn't want to belittle anyone or sound like a know-it-all. I just see a lot of people asking questions who are going to have a hard time understanding the answers. I also realize on most of these boards I am out of my age group and that will affect perceptions on both sides. Anyways, no matter who they are or what they want to get into they have to get a background understanding of what it is they're doing, or else they are lost.

My "compulsive hobbiest" trait has caused me to realize this many times.

Steve

Posted by: oldtimer

The old fart thing again! Well stated.

Posted by: langod

Great article Steve!

-- Jim (another "old guy" your age)

Posted by: Aussie XAXB

Come...come...let us all gather 'round.....ye of the gray hair.

We can have our own consortium, like the Elders in Logan's Run (the 1970's original).

Steve

Posted by: langod

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aussie XAXB

Come...come...let us all gather 'round.....ye of the gray hair.

We can have our own consortium, like the Elders in Logan's Run (the 1970's original).

Steve

LOL -- That would be funny -- A sub-forum for us "older" Stangers? We could call it "The Glue Factory"....

Logan's Run. Whew -- that's a blast from the past. As long as you don't make my crystal go black and make me ride the "Carousel"!
("Jessica 6" was smokin hot! ---> http://users.snowcrest.net/fox/logan...e/jen24new.jpg Way hotter than Farrah.....)

.

Posted by: Aussie XAXB

Oh my! Great picture.

Quote:

We could call it "The Glue Factory"....

We ain't THAT old!

A few terms you don't hear anymore.....Meats, 60's, 50's, fuelie heads, 3/4 race cam, Cam Dynamics, Midwest Auto Specialties, knurled valve guides, slotted mags, ....I'll see if I can think of some more.

Did you know that R.H.S. is back in business with new products?

Steve

Posted by: oldtimer

Flipper and moon hubcaps, reversed rims, fenderskirts, lakepipes, shaved hood and deck, column shift, radio/heater/turn signals as options, finned aluminum heads, dual Strombergs, and 3-speed with overdrive

Posted by: Jimbo_Jack

I Wanna join this old man group !!! im only 16 BUT IM IN i can dye my hair grey to!!!

Posted by: Aussie XAXB

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldtimer

Flipper and moon hubcaps, reversed rims, fenderskirts, lakepipes, shaved hood and deck, column shift, radio/heater/turn signals as options, finned aluminum heads, dual Strombergs, and 3-speed with overdrive

Oh my, what a walk down memory lane!! Thanks for those.

3 on the tree....just to add one more.

Remember the automatic standards? By that I mean there were certain brands that you automatically got or aspired to get if you were making that change to your car. You had to have..

Holley carb, preferrably double pumper; dual quads if you were a maniac.
Hooker headers, perhaps Headmen's
Fuelie heads if you had a smallblock Chevy
Thrush mufflers or Cherry bombs
Holley, Weiand, or Edelbrock intake manifold. If you built the car with Dad it would be an Offy intake.
Crane Cam
Black laquer paint
Mallory dual point
Accel sparkplug wires

Roller rockers? Oh, those are for race cars.

Remember when B&M introduced their 4-71 mini-supercharger that put us where many of the SC cars are now?

Maybe we can get a "Grey oval" section? Hhmm, that would be cool.

Jimbo, you've got a lot of wrenching to do before you can apply, and you will have to know how to rebuild a carburetor, spell carburetor (MANY people can't), recurve and install a distributor, set gap on points, set dwell on timing, and be able to take a front suspension apart before dinner and put it back together after dinner so you can drive to work in the monring for the test you have to take in order to be a part of this group.

But ask any questions and we will tell you the knuckle buster story about it.....unless you want to talk MAF, reflashing an ECM, or identifying how much volume a fuel injector can flow by the color code it is.

There are a few of us that have ventured into that territory though.

Steve

Posted by: OldFart

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aussie XAXB

There are a few of us that have ventured into that territory though.

Steve

Lord this has been a flashback.

Here's one the rest of the Grey Oval can relate to:

I grew up in a very small town (I went to high school with Dave Shultz for those of you who know him - he was into muscle cars for many years before he got into drag bikes, and we twisted a few wrenches together over the years.)

Worked in a full service gas station (we did engine and transmission rebuilds)after school for three years. Saved my money and senior year I bought a used Dodge Dart Swinger 273 cu/in V8 and a wrecked 63 Chrysler 300. Worked on it all summer and shoehorned the 432 engine and drive train into the Dart. Made a few of the usual changes to the engine (carb, ignition, headers, exhaust, etc.) but other than shortening the rear-end and drive shaft, the transmission and rear-end were left pretty much stock. Had to cut out the transmission hump and pop-rivet in more sheetmetal to get the tranny to fit but after it was all over you couldn't tell it. I was even able to keep the original console shifter after fooling with the linkage for a while.

It was great fun cruising the Jerry's drive-in (in the cosest "big" city) on Saturday night for a pick-up race. The car looked completly stock with it's cute little "273 V8" fender badges. But most guys knew they might have bitten off more than they could chew when I pulled the T-handle on the cut-outs. (and whatever happened to the old manual, in car T-handle cut-out system anyway - it worked most of the time and was a heck of lot cheaper than the new electric actuated systems out now that I understand don't work that well anyway. At least with the old manual system if the springs didn't close the cut-outs you could smack them closed with a tire iron.)

I haven't even thought about that car in years. That was my first, last and only Mopar. Played with euro imports (Lotus, BMW, Porche) and club racing for about 10 years and then went to Ford's about the time marriage, mortgage and kids took over my life.

So, I've been out of the game for about 35 years and find I'm having to learn a whole bunch of new stuff, along with trying to remember the old stuff.

Thanks for the memories.

OldFart

Posted by: Aussie XAXB

I love this kind of discussion. Thanks for the great story.

When it comes to having a car to hotrod and tinker on I still stick with the old stuff. As much as I love the new Mustang it is the only newer car I would care to have as a toy, and that is because of the retro design, but I would still rather have the older stuff for a toy. As a daily driver though I wouldn't mind a new Mustang!

I just love the older stuff much more when aerodynamics was not much of a concern and the car body was designed almost purely for it's looks. I am also a simple person so a simpler car works well for me.

You were more adventurous than I was. I was only feeling my way along with my first car. The 440 I dropped in my 86 Charger was a direct bolt in to replace the 400 lean burn (there's a label for the archives) that someone had put in there with 2 cylinders running on oil and no spark control computer for it.

I was almost a Ford Guy from the beginning. I looked at a brown 1973 Mustang for $700 but when I got back with the owner from our test drive his wife announced that the guy that was there earlier called and said he would take it. I ended up finding the Charger next so I became a Mopar Man.

One of my fondest memories was driving home from work late at night and a buddy of mine had a Chevy Nova with a 350 that he thought was pretty fast. I was behind him when we got to a clear straight-a-way, no traffic. He took off and caught me sleeping. I gave it the gas and took off after him. When I caught him I had to hit the brakes because even though he was still accelerating I was going to drive right through him! That was cool.

Did you know anybody that had bleach injectors for the rear tires? I think they were the predecessor of the Ricers.

Steve

Posted by: Jimbo_Jack

lol i can do everything but rebuild the carburetor and the front suspension. I STILL WANNA JOIN!

Posted by: Aussie XAXB

What have you done? Share some of your knuckle busting experiences.

Steve

Posted by: oldtimer

Old Fart, your right, a lot of things have changed. But so many resources to help solve problems and make choices, not like that copy of Rod & Custom you kept crammed in your math book(they were small enough to fit with out being detected). The basics are still the same. It's good to see so many young men and women interested. Is that Mr. Fart or can I just call you Old!

Posted by: Aussie XAXB

When I was into Mopars (from the beginning until 2003) I got tons of Mopar and Mopar Muscle magazines. They had lots of great articles on everything about all the cars. I got an incredible education that way.

Now when I look at magazines like MM&FF and the like I see 9-10 pages of advertising before I get to the contents page and I set it back on the news stand. The ratio of advertising to uselful info in some of the magazines is rediculous. The only Mustang related magazine I get is Mustang Monthly. It reminds me of the magazines of the old days and has a lot of stuff pertaining to the early Mustangs like my wife's.

Call me wierd but when I was a teenager I had car magazines stuffed under my bed rather than what a lot of other teenage boys had.

Steve

Posted by: Jimbo_Jack

well lets see for a 16 year old this is pretty good. When i first got the 68 stang I had to set the points on the distributor, cleaned the carb, replaced battery cables, had to set the timing on the car, replace the spark plugs(easy but its somethin to say ive done), changed the oil(there is more but memory is low. On the 2002 mustang i had to replace the differential plate. That is a pretty good list of things ive done. IM IN FOR THE OLD MAN CREW!

Posted by: speedingpenguin

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimbo_Jack

well lets see for a 16 year old this is pretty good. When i first got the 68 stang I had to set the points on the distributor, cleaned the carb, replaced battery cables, had to set the timing on the car, replace the spark plugs(easy but its somethin to say ive done), changed the oil(there is more but memory is low. On the 2002 mustang i had to replace the differential plate. That is a pretty good list of things ive done. IM IN FOR THE OLD MAN CREW!

lol i'm 18 and have a lot more experience and i wouldnt even say i'm remotely near "qualified" for the old man crew. and why would I wanna be?

I love the old-school stuff..... computers (in cars) turn me off (As far as wanting to work on them), which is why I built my Firebird the way I did....
No computer. No heat. No A/C. No radio. No fuel injection. No electric gauges. Just an 010 4 bolt main block 350 bored .030 over with mexican crate engine heads, performer intake (instead of the torker 2 i had origionally), holley 650 double pumper, hedman long tubes :-) such an easy car to work on, mechanicaly that is.....the electrical system was a whole 'nother story. God I miss that car in some ways.....
Over the last summer I pulled/swapped 6 (or was it 7) engines, and with the exception of my buddys Malibu, mine was the easiest cause there was so little stuff to worry about.
Heres a few pics of my 'Bird and an old pic of my dad and his car (Yeah yeah, my wiring was a mess...)

some of you "old folks" might enjoy this.... its a vid my uncle transfered from whatever old film format it was to the computer, its my dad and my uncles at the track when they were young..... dont mind the cheesy comments, i edited the video down to a more reasonable size a few years back and threw in the comments.... oh well
http://media.putfile.com/family53

Posted by: BIGJ

vintage....nice

Posted by: Aussie XAXB

Cool. Thanks for the video. That era was just before my time. Looks like the 60's when I was just a little kid. The film would have been 8mm. I miss sitting on the fender of my Charger with my feet in the engine compartment and leaning over the engine to work on it.

Hey, who was the babe in front of the red T-bird?

You know I didn't have a radio in my Australian Falcon last year either, and didn't miss it one bit!

Jimbo, congratulations on what you've done so far. Not a whole lot of people your age have set points or have even seen them for that matter, but you've got to lay in a puddle of transmission fluid while dropping a trans out of a car on your back, change a starter in the snow, do a few more engine swaps and rebuilds, do a cam swap while the block is still in the car (not an overhead cam), snap the bleeder screw off of a few wheel cylinders (aahhh....the memories), learn the benefit of bench bleeding a master cylinder before installing it the "hard way", and a myriad of other things I am sure the other gray headed old farts can add here.

You've gotta start somewhere and you have started. Now you just have to keep going.

Steve

Posted by: fern

Steve,

i own a '89 V8 mustang that has a great engine. I have had to fix the clutch once before among other things like a new transmission, a new starter, an oil leak and the fuel injectors. After i got it fixed it ran fine for a couple of months but again started having the same clutch problems as before. I noticed that when it is warm, the clutch works fine, but when it gets cold the clutch starts to become hard heavy and the stick will have a hard time getting into gear. The oil leak that I have before was an internal oil leak in the rear seal of the transmission and it is what caused me to replace my clutch the first time, and the starter. I'm not sure if the problem is with my clutch cable that may need to be replaced, or if there is still that oil leak that is causing all the problems again. Do you know what may be causing my clutch to go out again?

~Fern

Posted by: Aussie XAXB

Sorry to respond so late but I just noticed your post.

Post this problem as a new post in the tech forum.

When you say that the transmission is not crazy about shifting gears when the clutch starts to act up it certainly sounds like the clutch is not disengaging enough and the input shaft is spinning too quickly. What could be causing it? I assume that you changed the throw-out bearing when you replaced the clutch. It's possible that your clutch cable is stretched. Did you replace it when you did the clutch? It may also just need re-adjustment. Without driving it and checking it out that is about all I can suggest.

Steve

Posted by: NOS/MAN

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aussie XAXB

What have you done? Share some of your knuckle busting experiences.

Steve

well,, i fixed a 03 mach1 from a hurricane flood, to driving again ,in just 3 weeks time...

Posted by: Rick Sample

Just found this thread! Great info!

Posted by: BIGJ

just found it???? I made it sticky so EVERYONE would read it before posting ..... its one of my favorite reads!

Posted by: Rick Sample

Quote:

Originally Posted by BIGJ

just found it???? I made it sticky so EVERYONE would read it before posting ..... its one of my favorite reads!

Yeah, the general tech forum is one of the last ones I visit

Posted by: KartRacer39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aussie XAXB

Cool. Thanks for the video. That era was just before my time. Looks like the 60's when I was just a little kid. The film would have been 8mm. I miss sitting on the fender of my Charger with my feet in the engine compartment and leaning over the engine to work on it.

Hey, who was the babe in front of the red T-bird?

You know I didn't have a radio in my Australian Falcon last year either, and didn't miss it one bit!

Jimbo, congratulations on what you've done so far. Not a whole lot of people your age have set points or have even seen them for that matter, but you've got to lay in a puddle of transmission fluid while dropping a trans out of a car on your back, change a starter in the snow, do a few more engine swaps and rebuilds, do a cam swap while the block is still in the car (not an overhead cam), snap the bleeder screw off of a few wheel cylinders (aahhh....the memories), learn the benefit of bench bleeding a master cylinder before installing it the "hard way", and a myriad of other things I am sure the other gray headed old farts can add here.

You've gotta start somewhere and you have started. Now you just have to keep going.

Steve

I loved reading all this thread and Thanks steve for making me remember the day at the track when My lead sled Torino wiped a lobe off the cam and pulled it at the track and made the race after all.
The wife headed 25 miles to the parts store to get the cam I needed.
was a wild day but just making it to first round qualifying was the reward.
I didn't win the brackets that day but did make a few rounds. I can't count the times i said S%$# this Bi*&^ is Hot.

Posted by: Aussie XAXB

Nice story kartracer. And remember, don't look at premature camshaft lifter lobe wear as losing a lifter lobe, look at it as gaining a fuel pump eccentric.

(There are so few instances I can use that joke!)

That is quite a story, but it also clarifies just how simple it was to work on those cars. Not to say what you did was easy, especially with such a time constraint, but there certainly was room for a lot more possibilities back then compared to a car now.

I love taking a walk down memory lane to those days. Another memory I haven't metioned yet was dropping the 727 torque-flite tranny out of my 68 Charger while laying in a pool of burnt tranny fluid. I had pulled the yoke out of the tranny and since no fluid spilled out I figured I didn't need to worry about capping it off. When it tilted backwards a torrent of burnt fluid ran out, still one of the worst smells to this day, and I had to just lay in it, soaked back and soaked hair, until I could get the tranny completely out.

Ah......the good 'ol days.

Steve

Posted by: bigjstang

Loved it just plain loved it