Why motorcycles are better than cars

jimcos3 · Post by **jimcos3** » Wed May 16, 2007 12:45 pm

I picked up a cheap GTI that needed a new clutch.

No problem, I've changed 20 clutches in bikes. It's a piece of cake. Just pull the clutch cover off, remove a few bolts, slap in a new set of plates and Bob's your uncle. O.K., so where is that clutch cover?

Two days later I think I found the clutch cover (plus I found this big chunk of metal that doesn't seem to be doing anything - I think I can toss it and save 80 lbs.!). Now to just slap in the new clutch and I'm off to the races.

By the way, my garage and motor is just as clean as the guy who did Tim's motor. I came in looking that way.

Post by **FZRDude** » Wed May 16, 2007 12:50 pm

YZFRob · Post by **YZFRob** » Wed May 16, 2007 12:55 pm

I HATE doing fwd clutches. More of a PITA than anything.

haunter · Post by **haunter** » Wed May 16, 2007 4:21 pm

no kidding FWD clutch jobs are a PITA

barneyfzr600 · Post by **barneyfzr600** » Sat May 19, 2007 2:39 am

Not if u know how 2 do it rite!!!!!!!!!!!! Just checkin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ExupElvis · Post by **ExupElvis** » Sun May 20, 2007 10:13 am

I had to work on a newer Golf last week..........I'm still swearing. Yuk.
What pig's those things have turned into since I had my '80 Jetta.

owdamer · Post by **owdamer** » Sun May 20, 2007 4:12 pm

Think yourself lucky it wasn't a ford mondeo (think you call them contours over there).
That ones an engine out job. great design....not.

Post by **Hooligan** » Sun May 20, 2007 9:38 pm

owdamer, you're right, we used to get it as a contour. then mercury borrowed the platform to create the cougar. my sister has one with the v6. the engineers that put that car together should be lined up and shot. you damn near have to pull the engine to do an alternator change.

horrible. i absolutely hate working on her car.

orionburn · Post by **orionburn** » Tue May 22, 2007 5:23 pm

I think they've been putting crack in the vending machines at the Ford factory for the past couple of years. Why not put an oil filter right above the starter so that when you do an oil change it pours out all over it??

Brilliant!

Post by **jjs777** » Thu May 31, 2007 5:37 am

BadAzzFZR93 · Post by **BadAzzFZR93** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:26 pm

you guys bitch too much...lol. I'm an auto tech by trade and 99% of cars are fwd and i have to agree with Barney, its not hard if you know what your doin :Rolling

ExupElvis · Post by **ExupElvis** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 3:13 am

BadAzzFZR93 wrote:you guys bitch too much...lol. I'm an auto tech by trade and 99% of cars are fwd and i have to agree with Barney, its not hard if you know what your doin :Rolling

So am I baz, I'm just sick of watching stuff get worse every year, and flat rate times get cut to the bone.
I've done had enough..........................somewhere on the planet a programmers getting 3 times what I got paid to fix cars.
It's just time for something new

haunter · Post by **haunter** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 9:12 am

BadAzzFZR93 wrote:you guys bitch too much...lol. I'm an auto tech by trade and 99% of cars are fwd and i have to agree with Barney, its not hard if you know what your doin :Rolling

and have a lift, engine hoist, and a host of air tools, 3-4 grand more in hand tools etc etc etc

orionburn · Post by **orionburn** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 10:48 am

BadAzzFZR93 wrote:you guys bitch too much...lol. I'm an auto tech by trade and 99% of cars are fwd and i have to agree with Barney, its not hard if you know what your doin :Rolling

If you aren't doing it by trade I understand, but today's cars are making it harder for us shade-tree guys to do simple work. That's why we're bitching...lol.

sickle44 · Post by **sickle44** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 6:26 pm

I wouldn't go so far as to say no-one knows what they are doing.

But, the question of, "what the Hell was some engineer thinking" is fair. Especially, when I had to release a motor mount, to release a waterpump(which only had a mere 1 1/2" of play on that side of the engine), just soes I could replace the timing belt on my 91 Escort GT.

As has been suggested, the procedure may not be that difficult, it's just that all to often nowadays, about 12 more book hours need to take place, half the engine is apart and out, all for a friggen oil filter change. Opposed to the good old days(RWD) which allowed ten different mechanics under the hood at the same time havin' coffee and smokes, one or two turns of the wrench here or there and the job is done.

Let's face it, that's the way the auto manufacturers want it so we are forced to give them our dough.

dragracer1951 · Post by **dragracer1951** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 6:41 am

Let's face it, that's the way the auto manufacturers want it so we are forced to give them our dough.

Not quite. We are th eones that asked, No, DEMANDED that we get better fuel economy, handle better, last longer, be more comfortable....That mandated lighter, more compact modular assembled vehicles.
We asked for it...

orionburn · Post by **orionburn** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 7:54 am

That's why I miss my Camaro. Didn't have the most room ever under a hood, but damn it was better than any FWD car I've had. Now looking at the 67 Camaros my dad and his friend are restoring...you could park my Taurus in the engine compartment and still have room to work...lol

RUFtech · Post by **RUFtech** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 7:40 pm

This is why I work on Porsches. I can put a clutch in a newer 911 in an hour. I can change oil on one in 10 minutes. And I can charge pretty much what I want becuase the owners have a lot of money and nowhere else to go. Not saying I rip peopleoff, because I don't. It is just easier to make good money. And on top of that I get to drive some damn fast cars all of the time.

I've never put a clutch in a FWD, no will I ever. I'll quit working on cars before it happens.

Post by **Hooligan** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 10:41 pm

haunter wrote:
BadAzzFZR93 wrote:you guys bitch too much...lol. I'm an auto tech by trade and 99% of cars are fwd and i have to agree with Barney, its not hard if you know what your doin :Rolling
and have a lift, engine hoist, and a host of air tools, 3-4 grand more in hand tools etc etc etc

exactly. for a competent do-it-yourselfer to do much of anything these days, you damn near need a service department full of every available tool.

besides, most "trained techs" i have run into lately don't know much about anything other than how to chase parts that a scanner tells them to replace. then they still frig that up.

i think the engineers only worry about how to assemble a car that is built in four large "segments" in different parts of the plant in order to cram it all together and roll it off the line. forget about taking it apart a few thousand miles later when something breaks.

sickle44 · Post by **sickle44** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 1:50 am

well said Hooli, Well said