Unbefreakingleavable
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Elder User
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 520
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Unbefreakingleavable
No no no no noooo. Greywolf, I'm totally not bashing. I'm just saying that this little car doesn't have the best engine design in the world, not that all Ford's do, at all! And I'm sure as a mechanic who has worked on all makes and models, you have negative and positive comments about al brands. I just said how no matter what I drive, I am still Ford for life, there is no substitute for me, just money problems! Hehe. Now the thing is, do Ford's make sidemounted engines as GM's do? because I see the problems with space with that particular alignment. It takes up the whole engine bay. Do any Ford's use a side engine mount design? And yes, a car is a car is a car. But a truck...hehehe, we all know who rules the road!
Ryan
1986 F-250 HD 4x4
4.10 gears, C6 trany
351W, Edelbrock 351 Performer intake
Edelbrock Performer 600cfm 4bbl carb
Edelbrock Pro-Flo air cleaner
Extreme 4x4 camshaft
Flowmaster 30 series dual exhaust
Custom headers
3" Warn body lift
Ryan
1986 F-250 HD 4x4
4.10 gears, C6 trany
351W, Edelbrock 351 Performer intake
Edelbrock Performer 600cfm 4bbl carb
Edelbrock Pro-Flo air cleaner
Extreme 4x4 camshaft
Flowmaster 30 series dual exhaust
Custom headers
3" Warn body lift
Senior User
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 146
Likes: 0
From: Adrian, Mi U.S.A.
Unbefreakingleavable
Ryan, as an employee of Ford Motor Co. I can say we use only metric bolts and nuts on the Ford Focus. Most of the vehicles now use metric on everything. Being that I was a mechanic for ten years prior to this job I can say all brands (manufacturers) had this problem of using both metric and sae sizes.
Just for kicks get yourself a Dodge Strattus and take 10 minutes to try and locate the battery. Chrysler hid it in the left front wheelwell, not very acessable, but used space wisely.
Just for kicks get yourself a Dodge Strattus and take 10 minutes to try and locate the battery. Chrysler hid it in the left front wheelwell, not very acessable, but used space wisely.
Cargo Master
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,931
Likes: 12
From: SW Michigan
Unbefreakingleavable
Ryan, enough already about the cars and nuts and bolts. I want to know when are you going to ask this woman friend of yours to marry you ?! She sounds like a wonderful one. DF
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Elder User
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Unbefreakingleavable
Hehe, I know what you mean...but seeing as how I'm 22, I don't hear any bells ringing right now! We are seeing each other, though, she is great, one of a kind, the best...and it doesn't hurt that she's a knockout either!!!
As for Fucus's and such, that doesn't really mean too much, considering they are a NEW car. If you have any examples of a domestic Ford car from 1990 using all metric, maybe that would be different. The bolts don't even matter anymore, I was just frusterated, but am over it. My beef was with the side mounted cramped up engine, which I am also over. I have just always been used to being able to get my hands on a bolt, and being able to actually see some ground looking down on the engine...but everything is A-OK, and the girl is the best!!! Hehe, later fellas
Ryan
1986 F-250 HD 4x4
4.10 gears, C6 trany
351W, Edelbrock 351 Performer intake
Edelbrock Performer 600cfm 4bbl carb
Edelbrock Pro-Flo air cleaner
Extreme 4x4 camshaft
Flowmaster 30 series dual exhaust
Custom headers
3" Warn body lift
As for Fucus's and such, that doesn't really mean too much, considering they are a NEW car. If you have any examples of a domestic Ford car from 1990 using all metric, maybe that would be different. The bolts don't even matter anymore, I was just frusterated, but am over it. My beef was with the side mounted cramped up engine, which I am also over. I have just always been used to being able to get my hands on a bolt, and being able to actually see some ground looking down on the engine...but everything is A-OK, and the girl is the best!!! Hehe, later fellas
Ryan
1986 F-250 HD 4x4
4.10 gears, C6 trany
351W, Edelbrock 351 Performer intake
Edelbrock Performer 600cfm 4bbl carb
Edelbrock Pro-Flo air cleaner
Extreme 4x4 camshaft
Flowmaster 30 series dual exhaust
Custom headers
3" Warn body lift
Post Fiend
Joined: Jan 2000
Posts: 5,330
Likes: 17
From: Dryden, ON, Canada
Unbefreakingleavable
Hehe, Ryan, your nice American made F250 is probably Canadian built..... The standard/metric thing isn't that bad. 13=½ 14=9/16 etc... I'm very used to it, my 82 has a nice mix.... All the bolts that hold the box together are metric, along with stuff you'd never think would be metric, like the nuts on the rear shock bolts, they're something like 16mm, which doesn't come in many metric socket sets....
Evan MacDonald
82 F100 FlareSide 4wd
HD 300-6 9.5:1 CR
Clifford 270H cam
Hedman Hedder
SBC valved 66 240 head
Headlight Relays - Delanty Style
NP435(6.69 low)
NP 205
3.55 Geared ARB'd 9" & Trac-Locked TTB
31x10.50/15 Cooper Discoverer LT's
Evan MacDonald
82 F100 FlareSide 4wd
HD 300-6 9.5:1 CR
Clifford 270H cam
Hedman Hedder
SBC valved 66 240 head
Headlight Relays - Delanty Style
NP435(6.69 low)
NP 205
3.55 Geared ARB'd 9" & Trac-Locked TTB
31x10.50/15 Cooper Discoverer LT's
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Elder User
Joined: Nov 2000
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Unbefreakingleavable
You're absolutely right, it was made in Canada, according to the sticker on the door. Am I mute? I am saying I am not THAT upset by this, ok? I was simply stating how at the time, I had no idea it was metric, and the fact that it was so crammed and the fact that every component under the hood I worked on on my 86 351W engine used SAE bolts..from the carb to the starter to the fuel pump to the radiator mounts to the valve covers to the bolts for the elbow covering the thermostat. Point being, every single part on that engine I touched used SAE. Perhaps the shocks may have used metric, as well as other comonents, But everything I touched on that truck used SAE, even the front and rear bumper bolts and brackets, as well as all the bolts that hold the panels and doors on. And I'm out...
Ryan
1986 F-250 HD 4x4
4.10 gears, C6 trany
351W, Edelbrock 351 Performer intake
Edelbrock Performer 600cfm 4bbl carb
Edelbrock Pro-Flo air cleaner
Extreme 4x4 camshaft
Flowmaster 30 series dual exhaust
Custom headers
3" Warn body lift
Ryan
1986 F-250 HD 4x4
4.10 gears, C6 trany
351W, Edelbrock 351 Performer intake
Edelbrock Performer 600cfm 4bbl carb
Edelbrock Pro-Flo air cleaner
Extreme 4x4 camshaft
Flowmaster 30 series dual exhaust
Custom headers
3" Warn body lift
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Elder User
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 520
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Unbefreakingleavable
Ok, just got a call from my mechanic. $550 for a new fuel pump?! What makes these things so dang expensive? Are they made of gold? Are they gauranteed to last forever into the next new millenium? Will this thing still be around even after the earth is completely gone in 3 million years? What is up with this? Is the $550 mostly labor? I have no idea what the cost is from, but I know him well, he is an honest guy, a friend. It's not that difficult to pull a tank and pull out the old pump, is it? Arrggggggg...
Ryan
1986 F-250 HD 4x4
4.10 gears, C6 trany
351W, Edelbrock 351 Performer intake
Edelbrock Performer 600cfm 4bbl carb
Edelbrock Pro-Flo air cleaner
Extreme 4x4 camshaft
Flowmaster 30 series dual exhaust
Custom headers
3" Warn body lift
Ryan
1986 F-250 HD 4x4
4.10 gears, C6 trany
351W, Edelbrock 351 Performer intake
Edelbrock Performer 600cfm 4bbl carb
Edelbrock Pro-Flo air cleaner
Extreme 4x4 camshaft
Flowmaster 30 series dual exhaust
Custom headers
3" Warn body lift
Postmaster
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,968
Likes: 3
From: So Cal
Unbefreakingleavable
I would guess the fuel pump is mostly labor. I read on this list about half a year ago, that some of the truck models require you to remove the bed of the truck since it was easier than pulling the tank. Geez.
Don't know if that is what is going on with yours but there might be a legit reason for the outrageous cost. Then again, the few times I dared to let the dealer work on my truck, it ALWAYS costs way more than I think. One of the big reasons I do as much of my own work as I can.
Jim Henderson
Don't know if that is what is going on with yours but there might be a legit reason for the outrageous cost. Then again, the few times I dared to let the dealer work on my truck, it ALWAYS costs way more than I think. One of the big reasons I do as much of my own work as I can.
Jim Henderson
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More Turbo
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 539
Likes: 1
From: San Mateo, CA
Unbefreakingleavable
My wife has an '89 Grand Am sitting in the carport(taking up valuable space). That thing has the engine so stuffed in there it's impossible to do almost any work on it. In fact this is the first vehicle that I didn't change the oil myself. Actually I did do it twice. But the oil filter was so hidden. I physically could not get my hand,or wrench, on the oil filter without jacking the car up about a foot off the ground. And when you did get it off a whole lot of oil got everywhere. After the second attempt the car went down to Jiffy Lube- or someplace like that for all future oil changes.
When she was driving that car I was driving a super clean '57 F100 with a 292 V8 and heads from a 312 out of a T-bird. I remember putting an engine in that thing and literally sitting inside the engine compartment when I was lining the engine up. Man was that a great truck to work on. But nowadays I'm the proud owner of an '01 f150 sc,sb,4x4 and I don't expect to do much other than change the oil.
Tim
When she was driving that car I was driving a super clean '57 F100 with a 292 V8 and heads from a 312 out of a T-bird. I remember putting an engine in that thing and literally sitting inside the engine compartment when I was lining the engine up. Man was that a great truck to work on. But nowadays I'm the proud owner of an '01 f150 sc,sb,4x4 and I don't expect to do much other than change the oil.
Tim
Freshman User
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 37
Likes: 0
Unbefreakingleavable
The smart thing for designers to do would be to use sizes that are close enough that *both* Imperial and metric wrenches will work on them, like 1/2" = 13mm, 11/16" = 17mm.
For a really miserable car to work on, try the Volkswagen/Porsche 914. The mid-engine "hood" only opens up about 8" wide. It's a solid lifter design that requires precise valve adjustments, and you can't even see the rocker arms. You have to make a special ultra-stubby screwdriver for the valves, and work by feel alone. And it has to be adjusted dead cold or you'll burn yourself on the heat exchangers that block access to the valve covers. I think it has to be the all time worst car for ease of maintenance.
-- J.S.
For a really miserable car to work on, try the Volkswagen/Porsche 914. The mid-engine "hood" only opens up about 8" wide. It's a solid lifter design that requires precise valve adjustments, and you can't even see the rocker arms. You have to make a special ultra-stubby screwdriver for the valves, and work by feel alone. And it has to be adjusted dead cold or you'll burn yourself on the heat exchangers that block access to the valve covers. I think it has to be the all time worst car for ease of maintenance.
-- J.S.
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Nov 26, 2002 05:55 PM
