POTD- PROJECT OF THE DAY: What Did You Make In Your Shop Today?

In the days before unit body construction, the body was added after the engine and drive train were added to the frame. This made for some interesting repair situations. I recall separating a Buick transmission from the engine and using a half a dozen short extensions plus a universal joint to snake a socket up between the firewall and the upper mounting bolts. The thought had entered my mind to cut holes through the firewall.

On a Dodge minivan, the ABS unit was located inside the unibody frame with flared fittings which were virtually impossible to access. Their solution was to use flexible hose with a ss braiding for protection. The braiding was clamped to the steel lines which, along with road salt formed great corrosion couple. The line ruptured on a e -stop; fortunately it was a rabbit and not a kid on a bike. The end of the steel line had a perfect chamfer from the corrosion. Apparently the mechanical engineers in the auto industry don't talk to chemical engineers.

I learned how to swear waiting for a school bus in -20ºF weather but my vocabulary increased greatly working on cars. Not that they are the only issue. In order to work on the brakes on our Nortrac tractor, I have to pull the fuel tank. To remove the fuel tank, I have to pull the rear wheel off. To access the fitting for the fuel return, I have to pull the fuel tank. To adjust the clutch, which the manual says should be done on a regular basis, I have to pull the front end loader frame which means pulling the front end loader off. which means disconnecting the hydraulics.

Clearly, design engineers should have to run through all repair procedures before the design is accepted.
 
RJSakowski said:
In the days before unit body construction, the body was added after the engine and drive train were added to the frame. This made for some interesting repair situations. I recall separating a Buick transmission from the engine and using a half a dozen short extensions plus a universal joint to snake a socket up between the firewall and the upper mounting bolts. The thought had entered my mind to cut holes through the firewall.

On a Dodge minivan, the ABS unit was located inside the unibody frame with flared fittings which were virtually impossible to access. Their solution was to use flexible hose with a ss braiding for protection. The braiding was clamped to the steel lines which, along with road salt formed great corrosion couple. The line ruptured on a e -stop; fortunately it was a rabbit and not a kid on a bike. The end of the steel line had a perfect chamfer from the corrosion. Apparently the mechanical engineers in the auto industry don't talk to chemical engineers.

I learned how to swear waiting for a school bus in -20ºF weather but my vocabulary increased greatly working on cars. Not that they are the only issue. In order to work on the brakes on our Nortrac tractor, I have to pull the fuel tank. To remove the fuel tank, I have to pull the rear wheel off. To access the fitting for the fuel return, I have to pull the fuel tank. To adjust the clutch, which the manual says should be done on a regular basis, I have to pull the front end loader frame which means pulling the front end loader off. which means disconnecting the hydraulics.

Clearly, design engineers should have to run through all repair procedures before the design is accepted.
Click to expand...
Sounds like the same engineer that designed the Buick Transmission mount was involved with the design on Jeep Cherokees, I remember going through the same thing to get to the last bolt to drop the bell housing, of all of the bolts holding the bell housing only the very top bolt was the only one that faced the front of the truck, it was also the only one that was a reverse torx bolt. This is SUPER fun to figure out when it is absolutely impossible to see the bolt without pulling the entire engine and transmission. I am pretty sure there were 2 universal joints and three different extensions involved in removing that bolt.
 
Last edited:
I'm pretty sure French are worse than any others, they do staff like run the throttle pedal rod thru the exhaust header, hydraulic suspension, brakes, steering all on one circuit, one of the 250 oil seals fails and nothing is working. In accessible parts, every fastener different size, that is the norm.
 
Navy Chief said:
Yep, no joke. I am currently working on one that the rear brake line rusted through above the rear axle. I am not removing the body but I have dropped the exhaust to access the heat shields that the brake line is behind so I can find a good spot to cut the existing line and patch a new line onto.
Click to expand...
OK, forgot about yesterday's CAR FUBAR... My wife's Toy Rav 4 2017 threw errors saying it could not activate all wheel drive, reverting to 2 WD 2 weeks ago, but she was up at my son's helping with a Colicky grand daughter. She set up an apt for Monday. I get a call that the problem is it needs a new gas cap, that's why it won't go into AWD. I'm like do I look stupid to you.. ? He says no really the pre-check pressurizes the system and it's failing. So why does it turn off the AWD... He says no idea, it is stupid. How much... $135... For a gas cap? No $35 for the gas cap, and $100 to read the diagnostics. Are you Fing ****ting me?

WTF are they thinking? It's like disabling the headlights because you have a canopy light out. Arsehats design cars these days. Anything to make a buck.
 
Subaru will disable the cruise control if you have an active code.
 
This is not today's project ... not enen this month's. But it' something I've worked on for about the past 5 or 6 months, and finished in early January. I have a friend who owns a pet door company in Surprise, AZ ... about an hour's drive away. He had askedme to build an animated demo, for display at his booth at home shows.

Designing and building the demo involved lots of CAD work, metalworking, woodworking, electronics and Arduio programming.A friend, Rick Sparber (also a forum member) suggested I add a couple of safety features. So I then addeda magnetic breakaway couplingto thethe in-and-out, just in case a potential customer(or his kid) were to put his hand inthe way of the mechanism.

When I took the video, I hadn't yet had time to make the final version on the dog house. What you see is a cardboard mock-up. The final version included a painted plywood dog house.

My friend told me that the demo attracted a goodly amount of interest from show goers.
 
This is not today's project ... not enen this month's. But it' somethingI've worked on for about the past 5 or 6 months, and finished in early January. I have a friend who owns a pet door company in Surprise, AZ ... about an hour's drive away. He had askedme to build an animated demo, for display at his booth at home shows. https://www.jgmpetdoors.com





Designing and building the demo involved lots of CAD work, metalworking, woodworking, electronics and Arduio programming.A friend, Rick Sparber (also a forum member) suggested I add a couple of safety features. So the in-and-out motion includes a magnetic breakaway coupling, just in case a potential customer(or his kid) were to put his hand inthe way of the mechanism.

When I took the video, I hadn't had time to make the final version on the dog house. What you see is a cardboard mock-up. The final version included a painted plywood dog house.

My friend told me that the demo attracted a goodly amount of interest from show goers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top