Cars you like working on

My old '94 Lima 2.3 Ranger was a PITA to work on under the hood. I have a permanent injury in my right palm from swapping the power steering pump pulley. My '95 Metro was super easy to work on, as were my old '80 Toyota 4x4 and '78 B210.

crankwalk wrote:

PseudoSport wrote: Working on my 280z has been great. Everything has come apart and has been easy to get to. I installed new rings with the engine still in the car in the middle of winter. Pistons were still warm when they came out. Only annoying thing is every wire in the fuel injection system is white!!! Harness going to the computer has maybe 2 blue wires and the rest are solid white.

Yep so imagine with no fuel injection and 2 SU toilet bowls on the side of the intake. Makes for easy wrenching.

You just explained why I pulled the w24 intake off to swap it out for carbs.

The_Jed wrote: My Subaru.

Same here. Legacy/Forester/Impreza - doesn't matter.
They're all easy for me and I actually enjoy working on them. Even the rusty SOB's...

Honestly I enjoy the mechanical aspects of the v6 sho in the taurus, but the electrical/fuel side is enough for me to part out/scrap an otherwise perfectly good car.....

I am enjoying the '77 320 though verses the clusterberkeley that is the e36.

I've really come to enjoy working on my wife's '04 Jeep Liberty (V6). With the radiator fan and shroud out, the engine bay is surprisingly roomy. I cursed that shroud and it's sharp edges until I learned how easy it was to remove.

I miss my old '81 Fiat Spider. I never got too far into it, but even with L-Jetronic injection, it was a pretty simple and accessible car.

Any old Ford with the 300 I6. I have had 2 cars and 3 trucks with that engine and they all have been easy to work on.

Pre-90s Mercedes are always a pleasure to wrench on. I was also impressed by the 05 Neon SRT4 I just finished parting.

All rotary's so far

Anything with an I6 so far

Miss the simplicity of my old B2200 truck too

82-92 S-10 trucks. (w/2.8 v6) the only tough thing was the rearmost valve cover bolt on the left side. It had a stud sticking out to hold the spark plug wire loom. Too tall for a deep well socket to fit over, no room for an open end wrench, and it was crammed under the wiper motor. Everything else was cake...

As a counterpoint, i've found that i absolutely berkeleying HATE working on Miatas.

Or maybe i've decided to tackle the two worst jobs on the car as my introduction to the car.

Did diff mounts on Sunday. That E36 M3 was berkeleying awful.

Attempted to do motor mounts yesterday. After spending 3 hours trying to remove the passenger side mount (THE EASY ONE!!!!), i bolted it back on and decided i'm going to pay a shop for the next round of work. (As a reference, i replaced all FOUR motor mounts in the MX6 in 1.5 hours. The first time i tried, so it's not like i had practice.)

This car sucks unbelievably bad. Someone PLEASE buy it from me.

JeffHarbert wrote: My old '94 Lima 2.3 Ranger was a PITA to work on under the hood.

Changing the 8 spark plugs on the 2.3L in the Rangers isn't a very fun task either.

anything with a longitudinal engine before emissions took effect.

My experience:

FWD Cadillacs: not as horrible as one might think.

Subaru Impreza: pretty easy so far. The starter certainly looks easy to get at. I've mostly only worked on the brakes, so there could be trouble in the offing.

2.3L "Fox" Mustang: really easy, especially after I got rid of "thick film ignition" and the feedback carb.

'77 Cutlass: too damned flimsy to really call "easy."

GM 3.8L: easy enough, but a bit flimsy.

Nissan Altimas (2nd and 3rd generation): suitable only for really tenacious dwarves/midgets.

1995 5.0L Mustang: very easy.

So far the Wife's Liberty is pretty easy. Access to everything is a breeze. Plugs took less than an hour. Oil changes don't require ramps. Front pads were a breeze. I even repaired the speed sensor wiring without any trouble. It's amazing how much room there is around the mechanics.

By comparison,I figure the plugs on the Super Coupe should take most of a day by comparison. I've had the plugs and wires for it for months, sitting on a shelf, because I'm dreading that project.

So far, I would say the 80s Corolla . . . Moving really SLOW, I dropped the rear axle, fuel tank and the front suspension with plain ole hand tools in about 2 hours. For a tall skinny dude, I could push it around the driveway by myself . . .

It has been a joy to work on . At this point the most expensive item has been the $86 battery

t25torx wrote:

JeffHarbert wrote: My old '94 Lima 2.3 Ranger was a PITA to work on under the hood.

Changing the 8 spark plugs on the 2.3L in the Rangers isn't a very fun task either.

I just can't wrap my head around that... My 96 2.3 Ranger was stupid easy to work on. My dad's 90 was the same way. I don't get the hate.

My SAAB 96 was the easiest car ever to change the clutch. My wife went through them quite regularly.
An ac Beetle would be close

My Dodge K car, I could change the oil and filter without jacking it up.

Toyman01 wrote: So far the Wife's Liberty is pretty easy. Access to everything is a breeze. Oil changes don't require ramps.

And there is a nifty little slide that diverts oil from the filter down to a drain pan. I did like that once I realized it was there.

Oh, my 4.3L Chevy Pickup was pretty ridiculously simple to work on as well, especially coming from all FWD 4-cylinder stuff.

BAMF wrote:

Toyman01 wrote: So far the Wife's Liberty is pretty easy. Access to everything is a breeze. Oil changes don't require ramps.

And there is a nifty little slide that diverts oil from the filter down to a drain pan. I did like that once I realized it was there.

That's pretty stinkin' cool.

I definitely the prefer working on the Miata suspension to the E30 suspension.

I don't like the oil changes on the NA though.

Gearheadotaku wrote: 82-92 S-10 trucks. (w/2.8 v6) the only tough thing was the rearmost valve cover bolt on the left side. It had a stud sticking out to hold the spark plug wire loom. Too tall for a deep well socket to fit over, no room for an open end wrench, and it was crammed under the wiper motor. Everything else was cake...

You gotta be kidding me. I'd rather change plugs on an Aerostar.

iceracer wrote: My SAAB 96 was the easiest car ever to change the clutch. My wife went through them quite regularly. An ac Beetle would be close

I could get the engine and trans out of a SAAB 96 just as fast as taking just the engine out of an ac Beetle. Of course, I had the use of a lift and engine hoist.

my Eclipse

Streetwiseguy wrote:

Gearheadotaku wrote: 82-92 S-10 trucks. (w/2.8 v6) the only tough thing was the rearmost valve cover bolt on the left side. It had a stud sticking out to hold the spark plug wire loom. Too tall for a deep well socket to fit over, no room for an open end wrench, and it was crammed under the wiper motor. Everything else was cake...

You gotta be kidding me. I'd rather change plugs on an Aerostar.

oh god, Aerostar's... (has shivering flashback) The 4.3 S-10's were a pain, but I found the 2.8 easy as can be. To each their own I guess.