Project Austin street gasser.

[1946Austin]

The Fiat, the side panels will be welded down, but everything near a bolt that fastens the motor, transmission, and bellhousing into place have removeable panels.... I'd hate to be that guy who learns after just one go-around.

Good thing about avoiding Fords, it also helps to avoid walking

I wish I could learn AND remember from my mistakes! I can't make them again fast enough to still remember from the last one!

[SuperBuickGuy]

I wish I could learn AND remember from my mistakes! I can't make them again fast enough to still remember from the last one!

That's why we have a wives - they remember our mistakes for us, bonus, eh?

[1946Austin]

That's why we have a wives - they remember our mistakes for us, bonus, eh?

Oh boy do they ever! And the best part is they not only remember, but they remind us that they remember every so often!

[SuperBuickGuy]

tonight I had to tell my wife she was right about the noise she heard in the H3.... I'm sure it'll come back, however, having a wife that pays attention to stuff like that actually is a pretty good thing - so it's kind of a good news/bad news sort of deal around my house

[milner351]

Count your blessings....

My wife's inability to see a big red light on the dash that read "BRAKE" cost me countless hours and dollars of pain and suffering.

I blame her for the fact that I no longer own a manual trans diesel truck.

[1946Austin]

My wife is just the opposite milner. She notices everything on her car, and always lets me know if she thinks there's a weird noise or problem. She also has learnedd that she never lets the guys at Jiffy lube do anything beyond the basic lube, oil, filter. After they broke the rubber intake air hose on her car from twisting it up while checking the filter, she now tells them if they check the filter they'll be buying the next $85 inlet hose!
I do the maintenance on all MY cars, but I wont do it on her Mazda. I hate that car!

[milner351]

Sounds like my wife's Honda - she came with it - so i live with it - and honestly at 215,000 with only regular maintenance I really can't complain.

Be prepared for some PM's in the next couple months- looking at doing some serious re-wiring - place we're trying to buy has two old pushmatic panels that have to go - and I'm moving our back up generator with us.

[1946Austin]

Sounds like my wife's Honda - she came with it - so i live with it - and honestly at 215,000 with only regular maintenance I really can't complain.

Be prepared for some PM's in the next couple months- looking at doing some serious re-wiring - place we're trying to buy has two old pushmatic panels that have to go - and I'm moving our back up generator with us.

Old ITE Bulldog Pushmatics! Sure have changed a bunch of those out, especially when people found out what extra breakers cost to add circuits! A new panel is cheaper to purchase than a couple of those breakers!

My wife's Mazda gave us grief at 80,000 miles! The valves on her 4 cyl. went bad and we had to have the head completely rebuilt, and I wont touch it. It was spendy, but it's been reliable since then. I only have one Mazda dealer close by, and they're the worst dealership service department I've ever dealt with! We took it in one time for three items that needed replacing. Horn, defrost switch, and a window switch. I had troubleshot all, and knew they were bad, so told her to just take it in and tell them to replace those three items. Even wrote it all on a paper so they wouldn't start troubleshooting.
Of course we pick it up, and there 3 hours labor for troubleshooting the three items, plus more time to replace them! I argued with them until I gave up. Somehow they lost my note, and said there wasn't any note, and then added, "Even if there was we can't just replace parts without making sure that's the problem."
I called Mazda corporate to complain, and got the same BS, so that's the last time I'll ever take it to a dealer, or buy a Mazda. When this one is worn out I'm sending it to the crusher, and going along to watch it get crushed while I celebrate!

[milner351]

get all your foreign car hating buddies together and throw a party - $5 per sledge hammer hit - you'll get more for it thatway than in scrap metal!

I used to work for honda - and as much as I hate to admit it - they make a very reliable machine - can't beat the outboards or small engines either.

We will run this one into the ground - I keep trying to replace it - but it keeps not breaking and therefore not giving her a reason to sell.... it's still "her car" so you know how that goes.

For some reason she doesn't feel a vintage wagon with a modern powertrain transplant is an adequate substitute.... LOL

[1946Austin]

I like your thinking! Not only could we charge to beat it to the ground, but I could still sell it to the salvage yard after it was done!
When we were first married I found my wife a really nice 1970 Nova 2dr., and she loved the car. It got totalled out in front of our house by a drunk, and she wanted something different after that, which lead to foreign cars. The first was a Corolla that she liked, and I loved! I'm still not sure why she didn't replace it with another Corolla, as it was trouble free.
I'd love to talk her into a nice clean '67-'72 Nova, but she is against it as a daily, even though she's always pointing them out! I'd love to do one that was basically stock with 305/th350, and just some nice tire/wheel combo for her. She thinks she wants an SUV next, and I'm really against that! We've got my old '69 Suburban, so don't need anything that big or roomy.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Count your blessings....

My wife's inability to see a big red light on the dash that read "BRAKE" cost me countless hours and dollars of pain and suffering.

I blame her for the fact that I no longer own a manual trans diesel truck.

nice to know you're over it now and have moved on

wiring is easy, it's the hooking up that isn't so much fun.... I've done this twice, ran the wires, and let the electrician wire the panel.... saves huge dollars. The second time, I always leave the plugs or switches loose so they can be viewed by the electrician - but the second time he said button it up so he could wire the panel and call for an inspection the same day....

[1946Austin]

nice to know you're over it now and have moved on

wiring is easy, it's the hooking up that isn't so much fun.... I've done this twice, ran the wires, and let the electrician wire the panel.... saves huge dollars. The second time, I always leave the plugs or switches loose so they can be viewed by the electrician - but the second time he said button it up so he could wire the panel and call for an inspection the same day....

That's a good way to go, IF the owner knows how often to strap the wires, and how close to a box to strap, and how many wires he needs for 3 way and 4 way switches. If the owner doesn't know the correct circuiting, in both size and how many are required for certain rooms or appliance circuits, then it's all for naught. I've walked into situations before I retired where a guy wired it all, and by the time I made all the corrections to make it pass inspection it would have been cheaper for me to just do it all.

[SuperBuickGuy]

That's a good way to go, IF the owner knows how often to strap the wires, and how close to a box to strap, and how many wires he needs for 3 way and 4 way switches. If the owner doesn't know the correct circuiting, in both size and how many are required for certain rooms or appliance circuits, then it's all for naught. I've walked into situations before I retired where a guy wired it all, and by the time I made all the corrections to make it pass inspection it would have been cheaper for me to just do it all.

true true.... the electrician I work with and I have an agreement, and I paid him to walk me through all of those steps. I also took copious notes. Granted, for him, it was just gravy work because his "normal" job is an electrician for a government agency.

[milner351]

You're all assuming any of this will be inspected.... ;-)

[1946Austin]

You're all assuming any of this will be inspected.... ;-)

Inspections? We don't need no stinkin' inspections! ;)