Pet Peeve

My pet peeves involve my A-Body.

The absolute WORST thing about my car is the stupid way the factory designed the dash as regards "maintenance."

They put this thing together like it was never, EVER going to have a dash light burn out, a speedometer cable need to be replaced, or that idiotic 5-volt instrument voltage regulator wear out.

I can change a camshaft quicker than I can work on any of the items on the back-side of my instrument cluster. I am not a small man (that's being, er, "chairitable,") and getting my hands and arms into the requisite position to work on the rear of the instrument cluster requires me to remove the front bench seat, lie down on my back, get into my "contortionist" mode, and HOPE my arm and hand can be removed from that area when I'm done. So far, I've made it out with all 4 fingers and a thumb on each hand, but next time may be the one....:angry7: My gas gauge won't work, and the sending unit ohms check out... No question as to what's wrong.

All this, when, all they had to do was to make the top of the dash removeable, or at least put it on some sort of an articulated hinge, so it would be capable of rising up, then move forward, with a prop-rod to hold it high enough so that you could see behind the cluster and make the necessary repairs FROM THE TOP!!! DUH..........

If I were a little younger, I'd build such a dash and sell them to disgruntled A-Body owners... of which there are probably multitudes!

I'm surprised Schumacher hasn't already done it!!! LOL!

Pet peeve #2 is that moronic, Rube Goldberg steering coupler! WHAT was the guy smoking who dreamed up THAT engineering nightmare? Probably the same thing the engine-designer was smoking when he figured out that they could get away with leaving the "poly" angle on the L-A lifter bores, even though it resulted in some truly crazy pushrod geometry. Jeesh... Guess he was still smokin' when they re-did the block for the Magnum motor; an excellent time to change that geometric mess.... But, Noooooooooooooooooo.....:angry7:

Replacing the EXCELLENT L-A rocker arm shafts with these gimpy ball-stud rocker arms on my 360- Magnum gets honorable mention...

I get to thinking about those several engineering debacles, and it makes me forget all about people who post "alot" when the mean "a lot;" "their" when they mean "they're;" and "aloud" when they mean "allowed."

It's the REAL nuisances, such as the POINTED things sticking through the floor in the bell housing area that tear up the back of your hand when you're trying to work on the attachment bolts that go through the bell housing and into the back of the engine block, that REALLY get my attention!!!

I took a 2" hole saw and cut access holes in the floorboard behind 4 of them so I can get a socket/extension/ratchet assembly on them from inside the car. Unibody? What "unibody?" :read2:

But, on it's worst day, I wouldn't trade it for 10 Chebbys and a Furd....

Believe it!!! 8)


Bill, in Conway, Arkansas