The Grease Monkey
Posted by mike on April 13th, 2009
I’ve never been the most mechanically inclined person. Sure, with my grandpa looking over my shoulder and “instructing” me on what to do, I did some things back in the days on the farm. But I haven’t done much on the farm in several years, and any “skills” I had are rustier than that car they unburied in Oklahoma. So naturally, when I bought my truck with the proclamation that I intended to work on it myself as much as possible, I raised a few eyebrows.
Well, to anyone who doubted me, this post is to let you know that while I’ll probably never be mistaken as the prodigy of the Car-Talk brothers, I have made progress! With some late-night study sessions and a very helpful message board, I completed a complete tune-up last Thursday and Saturday! This included:
* replacement of old mechanical “points” ignition with Pertronix Ignitor II electronic ignition
* replacement of old ignition coil with Pertronix Flamethrower II 45,000v coil (low resistance)
* splicing and running new wire from ignition to coil to bypass stock ballast resistor wire
* gapping and installing new platinum spark plugs
* replacement of old spark plug wires with new Pertronix Flamethrower “stock look” wires
* replacement of distributer cap and rotor
* oil change
Let me tell you… after all of this, the truck fired right up and runs like a top!! No doubt, I learned some lessons. I still have some learning to do, and still need to get a grease gun and other tools to do this more effectively, but I did it all myself, in the confines of my own garage! A far cry from when I got the ‘ol truck in 2007 and paid a dude $50 to replace my spark plugs!
After all, one man’s molehill is another man’s mountain! =)
April 13th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
I am proud of you. I had my ???? weather you could handle this.
April 13th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
LOL! Thanks! I can’t say that I didn’t doubt myself for a long time, too. I’ve been “planning” to do this for a year now, but the necessity of it finally forced my hand. I don’t think the truck could’ve run much longer on the old stuff. The plug wires were in bad shape, and the points were pretty worn down. I just couldn’t bring myself to pay someone to do it. So I just studied… my grandpa never really worked on his own trucks (mainly just the tractors), so I didn’t learn much there.
Like I said… I still need some tools, and DEFINITELY need to improve/change my processes on the next oil change to make it go more smoothly, but it feels good to have done it myself and not be out $200 in labor. =)
June 4th, 2009 at 1:12 am
Great work. I love that can do spirit.