This is Why I Don't Change My Oil

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Grubby

... the other wasn't able to change a starter on a '60s Fairlane.

You're absolutely right, but working on cars that we grew up with is not as easy for some as we are accustomed to. I was at a car show just recently looking at a decent FE engine in a Fairlane and the owner, who was clearly much younger than I, started up a chat with me. The car was new to him an he was lamenting that he thought he had broken the end of a plug wire off that morning and it was now missing a bit. He said he was going to stop off at AutoZone that afternoon and buy a set of plug wires for a '65 Ford Fairlane and he hoped they had them in stock. Seeing that he had an MSD box on the fender and what looked like a 8594 distributor, I mentioned that he should make sure the parts guy didn't give him solid core wires and tell the guy the aftermarket distributor cap has male prongs coming out the top. He didn't know what any of that meant. I also mentioned that with his heads and headers that 135 degree boots looked like they would fit way better. He didn't know what that was either. I ended up writing a recommendation for Moroso 8mm Blue Max 135 degree wires "universal fit" but told him that he was going to have to cut them and crimp them but they came with a little tool and there were videos on youtube on how you did it. I'm sure I saved that guy a boatload of headaches by pointing out something that most of us would just take for granted. I even told him about dielectric grease.