Truer word’s were never spoken.
Amen, brother.
That brings back nightmares…Thanks a lot.
I couldn’t agree more
Do you know what vehicle is pictured?
I noticed the vacuum brake booster and master cylinder are on the passenger side
This might be a RHD vehicle . . .
If it is British, make it a 5 day job. If it is French make it two weeks waiting for parts.
I worked with a proud Frenchman who owned a bicycle shop in the 1970s who drove for the company I worked for part time.
When he bought a new car, it had to be French.
I was a Renault 1.8 liter, not only a Renault, but an Alpine (high performance model).
At 1000 miles he decided to change the oil. He pulled the plug to let it drain and rode his bike to get a filter. He then found out that he was going to be riding his bike a lot. The Alpine model took a special filter that had to be ordered form France. 6 weeks later he was back on the road.
That proud Frenchman wasn’t so smart, in my opinion
A smart guy wouldn’t drain the oil and remove the old filter unless he had the new parts on hand
I’ve seen a lot of guys get themselves in trouble like that . . .
I said he was proud, not smart. He was a fan of all things French. Being a fan of anything clouds your judgement. Fan is short for Fanatic.
I have been a fan of the Buffalo Bills since the 1940s. Yes I know the current franchise started in 1960 with the Founding of the AFL but there was an earlier team in the All American Football Conference. I have remained a fan all this time, does not mean they were a good team all that time.
This is a random photo I saw on facebook, so no info on the make of the car.
I recall dealing with the lady whose 318 Chrysler timing chain cost nearly 3 times my estimate. There are several small bolts holding the water pump on and every one of them broke on her car. It seems that some years prior to my seeing the car it had been operated without anti-freeze and the bolts rusted in place. After the first bolt broke I moved the car to a lift and felt sure I could deal with the problem with a torch but the bolts were rusted so badly that they broke even with heat.
Becoming a DIY mechanic in a state that salts the heck out of the roads in winter teaches you… how to deal with rusty bolts, seized bolts, pressed-in parts that have become one, and situations never imagined in no-salt states.
It also teaches you to invent strings of swear words never before heard in those combinations…
Removing a bolt from a bushing sleeve on a control arm comes to mind. The nut comes off after quarts of penetrating oil and the bolt won’t release from the sleeve. Massive pounding on the bolt totally buggers up the threads even after protecting them with a couple of nuts so there is NO going back. If you own a torch, you dare not use it because you didn’t really want to replace the bushing because THAT takes a press you don’t own AND more rusted-in parts…Sigh…
Or snapping ALL 3 exhaust manifold studs that can’t be fixed without removing the manifold and risking breaking of MORE bolts and studs…
It is any wonder why we move to sun-belt states in our later years? We are scarred by the experiences with rusted parts.
It gets really interesting in high sat states, when you are buying used cars that are barely above junk prices. The worst combination of bad metal and no thought of rustproofing around here was in the 70s. Much of the sheetmetal used then started coming from India and East of there that was made from rusted out ships that were being salvaged.
I think that’s known as “ship breaking” . . .
As a follow on, ship hulls are an excellent steel scrap that can be melted and used for any high quality steel products. When I worked in an integrated steel mill, we would have been thrilled to have high quality scrap like that. The rust goes away with rest of the material oxidized in the steel making process.
The main reason for rust through vehicles in the 70’s was the way the vehicle was designed. GM commissioned a professor at Syracuse University to study this. After years of research his conclusion was that vehicles have inherent design flaws that make them rust out prematurely. The main factor being shelves. Many vehicles had little shelves all over that would allow water and salt to just settle and eat through the metal. To fix this…allow water to drain…not just sit there.
The second reason for premature rusting in the 70’s (and even in the 60’s) is many manufacturers started to use thinner metals for body panels.
Starting in the last early 80’s manufacturers started galvanizing the vehicles body. Also factory applied rust proofing. We haven’t had any issues with premature rust since my wife’s 1980 Datsun 510. They just don’t rust like they use to.
As for rust from reused steel. While it can be a problem - if recycled properly it’s as good as raw steel ore.
If recycled properly it can be good. I think that i the key to my statement.
I am not a metallurgist, so have no expertise in this matter, but I had friends that worked in the Ford stamping plant in Woodlawn NY who complained bitterly about the quality of offshore steel they were getting in the early 70s.
That depends on who the offshore suppliers were. I doubt that they were Japanese or Western European suppliers. They provided quality products. Other Asian suppliers at the time had not been at it for long, and about all they could do right was make nail stock and rebar. I don’t know what products your friend was involved in, but auto body steel changed a lot in the early 1970s. By the end if the decade, it was a very high quality, sophisticated material. That’s the base metal. Then the auto companies wanted galvanized steel that could be formed into body panels. My pals in the sheet mills had trouble at first, but eventually were able to meet the demands of Ford and GM. Probably Chrysler too, but I never heard about them.
In my first reply I identified them as from India and East. I remember a TV documentary at the time showing barefoot workers dismantling ships that that had been sailed long distances and run aground in shallow bays and wading ashore with pieces of steel.
They made new water mains from steel from battleships. Those mains from the 50’s and on are the worst. Plotting out main breaks it looks like the ring of fire as the city expanded and the spin cast mains are failing at a great rate due to pitting and corrosion…Less main breaks from mains from the early 1900’s.
Another story a bud worked for AMC, The fenders were all stored in a warehouse with a leaking roof. The fenders would pool water and rust, a little spray paint and on to the assembly line they went.
I saw some documentaries on the shipbreakers, as well
Seems they were paid very little, and it was extremely likely that they’d literally get killed and/or maimed