c/rebuilt-ride-club

My uncle's brake line advice from 1994 still holds up today

Back when I was 16 my uncle Mike told me to never trust a used brake line that looked too clean, and after 30 years of fixing rigs I finally saw why. Last spring I put a shiny replacement line on my '87 F150 and it blew out at a red light in Tulsa, three weeks later. He said the cheap coated lines hide rust under the paint, and he was right. Anyone else get handed a piece of wisdom that took decades to actually bite you?

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laura_ross•4d ago

Back when I'd just spray carb cleaner into the intake to start a cold engine

Used to do that on my '79 Plymouth Duster every morning in Wisconsin winters until a buddy told me I was just washing the oil off the cylinder walls. Now I actually check the choke plate and give the accelerator pump a couple of pumps first. Anyone else guilty of the old spray-and-pray method on a cold morning?

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blake_murray•5d ago

My buddy's dad called me out for using vice grips on every bolt

I was over at my friend Dave's place last Saturday helping him pull the transmission out of his 78 Ford F100 in his driveway. His dad came out and watched me reach for my worn out vice grips for the third time to get a stubborn bolt loose. He just laughed and said "son, you're making every job harder than it needs to be with those things." Then he handed me a $7 can of PB Blaster and a breaker bar and told me to stop being a caveman. I have to admit, he was right. I've been so cheap about buying basic tools that I was fighting every single bolt when I could have spent 20 bucks and saved myself hours of cussing. Has anyone else had an older mechanic call them out on something stupid they were doing and it totally changed how you work?

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troy_ross•7d ago

Rant: That moment my '79 F-150 lost brakes at a light in downtown Austin

I was coasting to a stop on Congress Ave when the pedal went straight to the floor - turned out a brake line rusted through right at the fitting. I ended up using the e-brake to stop and had to patch it with a compression fitting and some spare line from a junked Chevy. Has anyone else had to jury-rig brake lines on the side of a busy street, or was that just my dumb luck?

2 comments

skyler_white95•8d ago

That buddy who swore by brake cleaner as starting fluid nearly killed my F-150

My friend Dave from the fencing league kept telling me to just spray brake cleaner into the intake on my old 94 F-150 when it wouldn't fire up after sitting for 6 months. Said he did it all the time with his Chevy and it worked fine. Third time I tried it, the whole engine bay backfired so hard it blew the air filter housing clean off and melted some vacuum lines. Turns out brake cleaner has no lubricant properties and can actually ignite way hotter than ether. I got lucky nothing caught fire for real. Now I just use actual starting fluid like a normal person, or better yet, pull the fuel line and prime the carb right. Has anyone else had a bad experience with shortcuts like that?

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brooke484•8d ago

Saturday at the pick-n-pull in Denver changed my whole approach to rust repair

I was out at the pick-n-pull in Denver last Saturday, hunting for a clean fender for my 92 F-150, when I saw this guy just absolutely shredding a crusty bolt with a propane torch and a breaker bar. He saw me struggling with a seized fastener on a donor truck and came over, handed me a can of PB Blaster and said "you gotta soak it, walk away for ten minutes, then tap it with a hammer before you even touch the ratchet." I had been spending like thirty minutes cussing at each bolt, twisting until I stripped the head off. After following his tip I got three fender bolts out clean in under five minutes each. It sounds dumb but that little routine change saved me from having to drill out bolts on my actual truck later. Has anyone else had a random stranger at a junkyard totally change how you work on stuff?

1 comments

david_henderson6•15d ago

Why does nobody talk about checking junkyard VINs before you pull parts

I was at Pull-A-Part in Phoenix last Saturday grabbing a alternator for my 94 F-150. Got it home, bolted it up, and the thing was DOA because it came from a salvage title truck that was flooded. Now I ALWAYS check the VIN on the junkyard's app to see why the donor car ended up there before I even grab a wrench. Has anyone else gotten burned by parts from wrecked flood cars or am I just the unlucky guy?

2 comments

patel.daniel•16d ago

Unpopular opinion: carb cleaner beats starter fluid every time

My '86 F-150 wouldn't fire after sitting 4 months. Everyone said hit it with starting fluid. Tried carb cleaner straight into the intake instead. Fired right up on the first crank. Has anyone else had better luck with carb cleaner on a cold engine?

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patriciamoore•18d ago

Just changed my mind about using junkyard axles after seeing one crack

I was all set to grab a rear axle from a pick-n-pull for my '88 F-150 rebuild until I watched a guy at the yard yank one out and it had a hairline fracture running three inches down the tube. Found a video on a homesteader page that showed how stress cycles cause hidden cracks in old salvage axles, and now I'm wondering if I should save up for a reman unit instead. Anyone here gone with a junkyard axle long term without issues?

2 comments

spencerl32•19d ago

Tried swapping my breaker bar for a Harbor Freight impact wrench on rusty truck bolts

I spent 3 hours fighting a stuck leaf spring bolt on my '84 F150 last Saturday with a breaker bar and some PB Blaster. Finally borrowed a buddy's Chicago Electric impact wrench and that bolt came loose in under 10 seconds. Has anyone else had a cheap tool totally change how fast they can tear down a project?

2 comments

the_thomas•19d ago

Hit 100k miles on my rebuilt engine this morning

I rebuilt the 350 in my 88 Chevy truck about two years ago in my driveway with just a socket set and a haynes manual. This morning on the way to work the odometer ticked over 100,000 miles since that rebuild. I honestly didn't think it would make it that far with all the shortcuts I took like using a used cam and not decking the heads. Has anyone else had a budget rebuild surprise them with how long it lasted?

2 comments

wells.brooke•19d ago

Heard a guy at the junkyard say rust is just patina you haven't earned yet

I was pulling a taillight out of a 1992 F-150 at Pick-n-Pull over in Springfield last weekend, and this older fella next to me started talking about how he leaves surface rust alone on his daily driver. He said he's got 12 years on his truck and never had a panel rot out because he just oils it every fall. Made me rethink my whole habit of sanding every little spot down to bare metal. Anybody else leave light rust alone or am I asking for trouble down the road?

1 comments

ellis.victor•23d ago

Just hit 200,000 miles on my old F-150 and completely changed my mind about engine swaps

I had been saving for a year to drop a crate motor in my 1995 F-150. Then last Saturday I rolled over 200,000 miles on the original 5.0 V8, and the thing still had good compression. My buddy Tom said "why fix what ain't broke" and I realized he was right. Pulled the valve covers, replaced the gaskets, put in a new water pump and it runs smoother than ever for under $200. Anyone else hold off on a big job and just do the simple maintenance instead?

2 comments

abbyk10•28d ago

Rant: I spent ten years using the wrong spark plug gap on my old F-150 before my neighbor's kid pointed it out at a cookout.

He just casually mentioned the factory spec changed after 1986 and I had been running the gap too tight the whole time, which explained the rough idle and why I was burning through plugs every season, so has anyone else found one simple overlooked thing that made a huge difference?

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phoenixgonzalez•29d ago

Buddy at the junkyard talked me into trying used alternators

I've always been the guy who buys new parts for my '89 F-150, figured used stuff was just asking for trouble. But last Saturday at Pick-n-Pull, this older dude named Carl saw me staring at a row of alternators and said 'why not just grab one for $15 and test it at the counter?' He showed me how to spin it by hand and hook up a multimeter right there. I grabbed a Delco off a '92 Taurus, tested it at 14.2 volts, and slapped it in my truck yesterday. Saved myself $80 and it's been running perfect for two days now. Anyone else had good luck with junkyard electrical parts?

2 comments

noahclark•1mo ago

That guy who refused to use a torque wrench on his brake calipers

Met a dude at a junkyard last spring who was swapping brakes on a '92 Civic with just a crescent wrench and a screwdriver, and when I asked about torque specs he just laughed and said 'I just tighten em til they feel right.' Still wondering if his wheels fell off on the highway or what.

2 comments

ward.piper•1mo ago

Learning to set valve lash by feel instead of a torque wrench

Back when I first started messing with old Chevy small blocks in the early 2000s, I'd use a torque wrench on every rocker arm nut like the manual said. Then I talked to this old timer Bob at a junkyard near Tulsa who told me to just go by feel and listen for the tick. Now I do it all by hand on my '85 F150, saves me like 30 minutes and I haven't had a bent pushrod in ages. Anyone else ditch the torque wrench for stuff like that?

3 comments

leohart•1mo ago

That one Saturday when everything actually went right on my 84 F150

Had been fighting with a stuck brake bleeder valve for the better part of two weeks. PB Blaster, heat, even a breaker bar with a pipe extension. Nothing. Last Saturday morning I woke up early, grabbed a six pack of generic cola, and decided I was just going to pull the whole caliper off and replace it. Got the line off with a flare nut wrench in under five minutes, no stripped threads. Then the new caliper slid right on, no bleeding issues, pedal felt solid after two pumps. Even found a half-full can of rust converter behind my toolbox that I'd forgotten about. Whole job done by noon. That never happens. Has anyone else had a day where the car gods just smiled on you for once?

2 comments