Thread: The Old Fart Won............

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Originally Posted by Whiplash23T

Hey Don is the Northstar what you replaced the old burnt out jappa Honda with???? If so aleast the '23 wasn't sold for another JAPPA.

Yeah, I actually looked at a lot of Hondas and other cars, but this Cad came up and one drive convinced me. Of course, the 1268.00 tune up that I took it to the local Cad dealer a few days later was kind of a shock , but their waiting room is nice and they have coffee and doughnuts and call me Sir.

Don

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

Yeah, I actually looked at a lot of Hondas and other cars, but this Cad came up and one drive convinced me. Of course, the 1268.00 tune up that I took it to the local Cad dealer a few days later was kind of a shock , but their waiting room is nice and they have coffee and doughnuts and call me Sir.

Don

Don, for just shy of $1300 bucks, they better give you all the donuts you can eat, and a little bowing and scraping with the SIR wouldn't hurt either......

Hehe, did I mention the coffee was REALLY good?

Don

Don,

When the dealer told me the tune up on the Charger was $400, (check the vitals + change the plugs), I did the same for $37. When we bought the Charger we also bought the $399 life time oil change, (includes checking the vitals). In a year and 1/2 we have put just under 9000 on the car and have had 5 oil changes. They don't count on people keeping their vehicles till they are dead. We have owned the 95 Dakota for 16 years, (180,00 mi. and going), and the 96 Intrepid for 11 years,( 205,000 mi and going).

Jack.

I considered doing it myself at first, then I opened the hood. Computers and fuel injection and me do not get along at all, and this engine is sideways. Like most cars owned by older people down here, mine has low miles but sat a lot, so things deteriorate and gum up. It had a slight roughness at idle. They actually did a lot of work for the $ 1200.......plugs, wires, cleaned injectors and rails, and one motor mount was going away. It was the best money I spent as it now runs like it should and they were able to tell me everything else looks fine under there.

I bought a set of shop manuals for it on Ebay,so in the future I may be able to do some things myself. But the older I get the less I like working on cars I have to drive every day............had enough of that when I was younger.

Don

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

But the older I get the less I like working on cars I have to drive every day............had enough of that when I was younger.

Don

I know what you mean. It's one thing to piddle on the rod, or work on somthing when that's what you want to do. But Murphy will dictate that the daily driver needs work when you least feel like working on one. And the newer one can be great to drive, but with all that stuff jamed under the hood, checking the oil can be a pain.

I've had a set of plugs for my F350 with a V10 for over a year - and just looking under the hood and the fact that I need a step ladder to do more then change the air filter makes my knees weak - and I'm 6'4". Then the fact that half of the engine is buried in the firewall even worse then my '31....... Those plugs are also $12 each and the required COP boots are $4 each at net prices makes for an expensive tune up. Then my wife's Escape - you actually have to pull the upper intake to change them - but those plugs were cheap - the intake gaskets weren't.

Originally Posted by IC2

I've had a set of plugs for my F350 with a V10 for over a year - and just looking under the hood and the fact that I need a step ladder to do more then change the air filter makes my knees weak - and I'm 6'4". Then the fact that half of the engine is buried in the firewall even worse then my '31....... Those plugs are also $12 each and the required COP boots are $4 each at net prices makes for an expensive tune up. Then my wife's Escape - you actually have to pull the upper intake to change them - but those plugs were cheap - the intake gaskets weren't.

Thats what I like about the hot rod. I can change plugs sitting on a roll around stool......... Now don't ask about getting under that dash.....

I know what you mean when you talk about working on the daily driver. I remember many weekends (seemed to always be winter) replacing water pumps, radiators, and doing complete brake jobs. The kids were little and money always short.

Yep, I remember many days working late at night to get my daily running so I could go to work the next day........usually on my back in the snow. Back then it was just what you had to do because you had a wife and a couple of kids expecting dinner that night.

To change the plugs in the Northstar, the front 4 aren't bad, they are up front. But the back ones sit under coil packs that are under a crossbar that runs from shock tower to shock tower. That did it for me......I don't bend that way these days.

Don

Don,

I see now why you bit the bullet. In fact, just paid $2600 TO AMMCO to rebuild the tranny in the intrepid. Thought about doing it myself, I rebuilt the 727 in my I H Scout, but decided not this time, I've got too many other irons in the fire. I guess I am getting old.

Jack.

[QUOTE=Jack F;405088]Don,

I guess I am getting old.

Or smarter.......

Don

Hey guys you all had me smiling at your little stories and Don I can relate to you on the opening the hood/bonnet, looking at the confusion of stuff that some designer thought the car needs under there and slamming it down again and putting it in the "too hard basket". That happens to me every time I lift the bonnet on my BMW daily driver,and here in NZ., because it is what "they" call an exotic European automobile,one pays four times the normal amount to have it serviced.