Carburetor was just an example. I would not be happy if I needed to do ANY repairs on a regular basis.
If itās 4cyl, I believe you. V6 - not a chance.
That Millenial anti-theft device is making the C7 a very good deal! I hope you find one in a color you like as your retirement present.
Yes, you have a good memory, the wifeās little old "85 Toyota Corolla LE is still alive and wellā¦
No, the carburator has never been off the engineā¦ Back in mid '90s, I wanted the dealer to rebuild tha carburator and he plainly told me he had no one he trusted to do it and had no intention to buy me new one if they messed upā¦
The car still run āGoodā but I believe the needle valve is shot (I wonder why, it only has 230.000 mile on it?). I bought one of the rebuild kits and it had four different sets if instructions for rebuilding it and they were all the same but differentā¦ My fear, it that there will be a check vlalve ball that will fall out of some spot and not when I am lookingā¦ and the instructins might not show itā¦
Decades ago, I remember rebuilding a carb and it had two check valve balls, one on top of the other and it was factory spec, not some mistakeā¦
Call me chicken, call me a wuss, but I do not want to mess up Eleanorā¦ I know it took the dealer several attempts ot replace th starter and the A/C compressorā¦ And if the dealer has so many problems with those items, what chance do I have on a carburatorā¦
Iām not picky on color. I donāt like White or Black Interiors or exteriors. Anything else is fine with me.
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The caption on this photo saidā¦
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Love it. Where can I get one? 
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There seem to be dozens of different variations of the same basic carb. For the same model year! I expect it is b/c the same carb is used on dozens of different engine configurations, and they may not even be the same car manufacturer. The rebuild instructions for my truckās carb are similar, many of the drawings donāt match the carb, many of the instructions donāt apply b/c those parts or adjustment donāt exist, and for the adjustments possible, thereās a large table of specs to choose the settings from, indexed by manufacturer, model year, transmission type, the state the vehicle was originally sold in, etc.
lol ā¦ thatās certainly possible. When I take a carb apart, first I only do this on the bench, not when the carb is installed on the engine. Even on the bench I do it over a soft, white towel so whatever unexpectedly falls out stays on the towel and remains visible, rather than rolling away to the netherworld. Stuff falling out by accident even happens to car repair experts. Just recently the writer of a classic car restoration magazine was fiddling w/their carb, still installed on the engine, and some unnoticed parts fell out and into the intake manifold. Oops! ā¦ the upside, it gave the opportunity to write another article on how to install a replacement engine ā¦ lol ā¦
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In addition to Georgeās helpful hints: I have found an empty egg carton and a white sheet of paper (or two) on a clipboard to be helpful!
That is great advice and I hope everyone who sees this takes noticeā¦ I already do this, I have a whole pile of old towelsā¦ My Grandfather taught me this. And when I am disassembling something under spring tension, I might also cover the item while disassemblingā¦ This was a hard learned lesson. I was disassembling my Harleyās front brake master cylinder and the piston did not slide out, even under spring pressure, that is until my back was turned and I hear it pop and various parts went flying, never di find the spring, it probably shot straight out the shed door and landed in the yard. Had to buy a used master cylinder to get that springā¦
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I think that may have been the only part of my Citation thst was trouble free.
While my Citation did have its problems, it was still far more reliable (and cost far less to maintain/repair) than my absolutely-awful '74 Volvo.
Dirt.
Why donāt you just buy a rebuilt carb. Or an aftermarket replacement carb. Years ago I replace a carb on a friends Dodge with a carb built by Edelbrock. Direct bolt on. Had to rework the fuel line and one little thing on the throttle linkageā¦but it worked great.
And i find it totally fascinating that many folks are still of the opinion that Volvos are more reliable, durable, and safer than other cars. Ah, the wonderful power of marketing.
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Itās entirely possible that the newer ones are reasonably reliable, even though they do tend to be expensive to repair when they break down.
But, automotive ālegendsā can be baffling. Several years ago, an older lady came to this forum to complain about her car (I donāt recall the make/model), and stated that she was going to replace it with a Range Rover because āthey last foreverā.
Go figure!
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Maybe she was thinking of a Land Rover? Classics at least have a reputation of being pretty robust.
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Yes cars that spend most of their time in the shop are safer.
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I think that the older Land Rovers were pretty much indestructible. The newer ones with the luxury features are likely to only ones that have constant failures.
Well, Range Rover/Land Rover have had reliability problems for decades. Friend 25 years ago had his repurchased by the dealer because they couldnāt get it to work.
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The older Land Rovers were not any more reliable then any other vehicle like it on the road. Their biggest advantage, was parts were completely interchangeable over many many years.
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