Round 2 Frank vs. the mechanics

[Frank B]

*sigh*.. I'm feeling deflated and lost.
The only Mechanic that I trust at work offered to repack my C.V. joints today. I should be happy.. well, I was, until he put my 86 up in the air and started making obnoxious faces at my car.

He told me I should just sell it, and not bother doing the C.V. joints, also, he said it runs like **** and "what's with the vibration at 800 rpm?" I just bit my tongue, thanked him for his opinion and went about my business. The reason he couldn't do the c.v. joints is because he doesn't have the correct tool to take them apart. he also said if I decide to fix it, I should just get a new axle assembly.

Other points of "disintrest" that he brought to my attention were
1....a new Rack.. yeah I know
2....an axle assembly... O.K. not a big deal to me..
3....and "pfft what is with this shifter?.... o.k. it needs a newbushing.. anything else?
4....Yeah and you need all of that belt bull***** done.. .. o.k. $400.00 is reasonable to me..
5......why would you throw 10 grand at this thing?.... wha?.. who's spending $10,000.00? you?.. I'm certainly not either?

So, I bit my tongue and pulled my car back out into the lot right next to his Black primer 72 Nova with a 350 small block.. (no interior exceptfor 2 $400.00 seats and a racing seering wheel).. I got out of my car looked at his and smiled. then looked back again and laughed..

Frank B

[todwic]

Frankie Felonious Ford Fencing Fellow, don't take your Porsche to a Ford mechanic. Would you take your El Camino to a Dodge dealer? Would you take your woman to a proctologist? He ain't got the right tool because he spent all his money buying those stipid Ford specific bull$hit tools so he can to transaxle relplacement on the Merc Topaz (like the special dowel {read: round piece of wood, ie a stick] so the gear won't fall into the bottom of the transmission). Do yourself a favour, don't let anyone else at your shop even look at your car for more than 3 min. at a time. The special tool he was talking about is a 8mm cheesehead socket, you get 4 of em in a package at Kragen's for less than $8. Get that, a screwdriver to pry out the circlip and a rock to bang he cv joint out with. there's your special tool list, fer cripes sakes. Ford people know Fords. My stepdad owned an Automatic Transmission shop, and one of his employees could rebuild Ford trannies, AND NOTHING ELSE! He was fun to drink beer with, but he got real surly if someone joked about him tackling a Powerglyde for a change.

Do the cv job yourself, man. You'll enjoy it, you can do it, and you'll walk around your shop dropping hints about how you should become a Porsche mechanic instead of listening to ASE cert. techs start to cry when they see something that somneone put a little thought into.

Dude! I've tore down the shortblock I bought, yanked out the motor from my car, (and after someone told me I'd have to take out the exhaust manifold and the elect. fans to get the motor out. I did neither and she came out like a greased up baby. I love proving the pundits wrong), found out why the old motor went bad, putting new $hit into the shortblock, and I really expect it to run when I'm done. I'[ve never had anything apart farther than the head before. Just get the Haynes manual and follow what it sez, and you can whip that cv's arse.

Go Frank!

[divezic]

Asking a Nova guy to work on a Porsche is like asking a jackhammer operator to put some facets on a diamond. Just because he can cut concrete doesn't mean he can cut diamond.

PelicanParts has a complete new CV and axle assembly for $215. Just unbolt your old one and bolt in the new one. If you want to save yourself a few bucks Foreign Intrigue has just the CV joint for $77. Then you have to buy the boots, bolts, and grease. Then you do the work yourself. Total is about $190 per axle.

[Frank B]

Thanks guys. Yeah, I wanna do it myself, but it's friggin cold outside, and I hate workin on cars in the cold. Also, I'm leery of driving with the clunking, even thought it's intermittent, it hasn't clunked in 4 days. seems to only Start clunking if aggrevated by a bump or something similar. Yes, I can do it myself, I'm naturally Mechanically inclined, oneof those kids that took the doors off of the Cadillac when I was 8 ( adnd dropped em on the ground, because they weigh.. oh maybe 185 lbs a piece!) and got grounded.
Frank B

[SoCal Driver]

As long as the bolts are tight on the cv joints you can get away with driving it. Had axles clunk for months before I could aford to replace them.

A "good" mechanic is not partial to any car. While specialized he can still figure out and do repairs on any thing. I wouldn't trust a mechanic that lets his ego get in the way.

[overkill]

FRANK, if you don't live in a neighborhod like mine throw a huge tarp over the car like I did. It works great. If you do live in a neighborhood like mine just get a good thick pair a coveralls, hat, and gloves. You'll be sweatin your balls off before you freeze them off.

[Frank B]

I'll keep my chin up, Thanks SoCal.. I'll tackle it in the spring. Should I just purchase the entire axle assembly? is that the Smartest thing to do? rather than replace pieces?.. also it would make some sense to me. Also I would guess that it may be easier to do the repair this way..

Frank B

[SoCal Driver]

Getting the CV's separate or as a rebuilt assembly depends on your checking account balance and your perseverance in doing mechanical repair. Once you get past the socket head cap screws (six or twelve points) the rest is easy.

Last time I just bought the rebuilt axles as I got a really good deal on them with out a core charge.