What is the most frustrating thing about your car?

[Kern Dog]

I've worked on Chevys, a few foreign cars, Mopars of course....
I'm curious about what you find the most frustrating about working on our cars. I spent several years dealing with the ease and low cost of Chevy parts when I owned a Camaro and a Chevy truck. My first episode of Mopar frustration was actually with my first car, a 69 Dart. THAT car had a strange problem with the charging system. It would eat alternators, regulators, starter relays and starters. I was 17 when I had the car and my Burger King salary wasn't enough to keep feeding that car.
The one thing that I'd have to say is the biggest pisser about these cars is how crowded the cars are underneath due to the torsion bar suspension. Sure, it is a fantastic design in stock form. Low weight, low in the chassis and behind axle centerline. Headers? Uhhhh... be ready to pay and spend the whole day installing them. Access to trans cooler lines will be tight, requiring about 1/64th of a turn with a wrench for the fittings. If you try to save a few bucks on headers, the tubes will often require you to choose between power steering or manual, floor shift or column.
I love these cars, but for me, the longitudinal torsion bars really make it frustrating. What about you?

 

[YY1]

I love torsion bars.
I just assume I'll have to work around them.
For me the benefits far outway the problems.

Removing the windshield to remove the dash on 66/67 sucks.
Parts that look identical, but are different side to side (or mounted different year to year) sucks.

I've never owned a GM that had working dash lights (4 GMs in 25 years).
I've never owned a Ford that didn't have crusted oil all over the engine no matter what (3 Fords in 25 years).
...and changing the water pump on a 351c can involve pulling the balancer if you're not careful.

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

This could be a great thread, I started as a kid building mustangs and cougars and the worst thing about those was you couldn't make any real power with the small blocks lol furd has the worst electrics. I have built Mopar 318's and have been able to get great ballsy 6k revving little monsters

Toughest thing about Mopars is I can't seem to make enough money fast enough to through into my RR lol frustrating.

 

[Cranky]

I find the Mopars are easier to work on in relation to the Fords and Chevys of the same period. I have a black thumb when it comes to GM products for some reason but I also find the 'A' body Mopars to be a bit harder to work on than the B's and E's. If you want to get frustrated, try pulling the door glass out of a 70 Challenger lol. On the other hand, I can get the door glass out of my 66 Belvedere 2dr post in about 15 minutes. And for some reason, I've never had electrical problems with any Mopar (knock on wood) but I've heard of so many others that have....but the most frustrating thing about my 66 is not getting the time to build it.

 

[flypaper]

the ever rising cost of parts and materials for restoration.
even cheap supplies you took for granted sting alot now..
for instance quality paint stripper has almost doubled in
price in the past 4 yrs or so..
have you priced quality paint lately?
i won't even touch on some very expensive repo parts that fit like garbage...
you can't just go out and buy what you need !
its a minefield and you need to do alot of research before dropping
a dime on anything or you take the chance of having to buy it twice!

 

[Big Bad Dad]

The fact that my 67 R/T wants premium fuel and gets about 8MPG keeps me from driving it much anymore.

 

[YY1]

The fact that my 67 R/T wants premium fuel and gets about 8MPG keeps me from driving it much anymore.

Send it down here- I can fix both (or all three) of those problems

x2 on "cheap" stuff not being cheap any more.

 

[WP29440SE]

torsion bars rule. if people have issues with paying 5 bucks a gallon to run their 10 mile per gallon cars, they are in the wrong hobby. there is not one thing i find frustrating about my cars. only the people who make this hobby frustrating.....outside of that, torsion bars rule..it has been the one thing that has deterred pretty much everyone from putting hydraulics on these cars....torsion bars allow instant height adjustment with the turn of a bolt

 

[MoparMitch]

Biggest frustration for me right now on the 68 Golden Rotisserie Chicken is getting doors adjusted with proper gaps , also quarter windows and door window alignment. I'm trying to make this car perfect , but I guess thats just not possible. I've readjusted each door at least four times now. at last resort , I may regress to the gorilla bending approach.

 

[Cranky]

torsion bars rule. if people have issues with paying 5 bucks a gallon to run their 10 mile per gallon cars, they are in the wrong hobby. there is not one thing i find frustrating about my cars. only the people who make this hobby frustrating.....outside of that, torsion bars rule..it has been the one thing that has deterred pretty much everyone from putting hydraulics on these cars....torsion bars allow instant height adjustment with the turn of a bolt

I'm glad these old Mopars don't lend themselves to hydraulics very easily!! But I've run them from all the way down to all the way up too just to see the effects lol. Had a 67 'Net once with the front end all the way down and the rear as high as I could get it with stock parts and using air shocks on the rear. That was pretty strange lol

I've readjusted each door at least four times now. at last resort , I may regress to the gorilla bending approach.

Sometimes that's what ya have to do. I've used floor jacks under the doors before and used the weight of the car for the adjustment more than a couple of times but you had better be careful and go at it very easy or you could end up with much more of a problem than you bargained for! Need to protect the door from the jack too. Other words, you need to know exactly what you're doing in order for that to work. An old body man showed me how to do it and it's only for very minor 'adjustments'......

 

[mrkinger]

The tranny leak

 

[marlabuck]

:lurk:...I get frustrated with how the doors close...I learned how to shut them but whenever another person closes them they seem to have to close them twice...the I guess thinness is the word I'm looking for prevents them from sealing sometimes...it's hard to explain unless someone else out there has had the same trouble with their 1973 Roadrunner...Marla

 

[Ron 73]

The about 6 inch scar/stitch making hood latch.

 

[Budnicks]

Not having the money to finish it or buy 10 more...LOL....

 

[70Fish]

For me the most frustrating part is FINDING PARTS, especially stuff you'd think would be pretty easy like a 1970 glove box door in good condition!! If you own something like a wing car or convertible, it's an absolute nightmare finding anything specific to those models. The brand X guys have it made, but then again, it's very rewarding to show up with a rare Mopar. Also find it a bit frustrating working out electrical bugs like new sending units that are inaccurate, dim lights at idle, or faulty grounds, etc.

Cranky, I feel your pain on the 70 Chally glass as I did it twice on my driver's side Cuda...I swear I was ready to torch the car!! LOL

 

[pabster]

I'm lucky that my Charger is in excellent shape, so I don't have to do much work on it, just drive it! It hasn't let me down yet, but Marla- my doors are a bit temperamental as well. They don't always shut right, I have to slam 'em a certain way to get them closed. Super77se has it right on gas prices... if you don't like paying to fill the tank, then find another hobby.

Most frustrating thing I've come across is prices for Mopar parts. Example would be Year One selling a pair of plastic rear lights for my '74 at $500. That to me is price gouging... and it pisses me off when these companies go off about how much they support the community of collectors. :angryfire:

But hey, it's not a big deal compared to how much enjoyment I get out of my Green Monster!

 

[Budnicks]

The price of parts from some people, who seem to think the their rusty or old parts are worth their weight in gold... Then they won't pay anything for parts that they need or want... The parts market especially in repops are way, way better than they ever were in the past, at least they are becoming available somewhat, but they have a long, long way to be on the level of the Brand-X stuff, that you can get absolutely every were, for resonable pricing....

 

[Kern Dog]

MarlaBuck.... I LOVE your red beauty!
That car looks fantastic. The wheels look great on it as well.

 

[kb67mopar]

I've got two I think tie.

Nobody supports putting Mopar engines from late model cars into our older cars, it costs 1/2 as much to put an LS based 6.0 in a mopar as it does a 5.7 Hemi...Thats MORALLY wrong.

I also can't understand for the life of me why nobody reproduces grille surrounds for 67 Coronets!


(3rd would be just prices in general but that comes with the territory in restoration)

 

[Bruzilla]

I got a laugh when I read the comments about headers. I still remember the first time I walked into a performance shop with one of those "Headers From $29.95" signs in the window, and told them I needed headers for a 73 Roadrunner with a 440. I quickly learned that $29.95 deal was for small block Chevys only. On the other hand, I learned the reason the SB Chevy parts were so cheap was because so many people needed them. I like being more unique than to drive what everyone else has, so the extra money isn't a frustration for me.

My biggest frustration with my favorite cars, 73-74 Roadrunners, has been rusted out quarter panels. I've been fighting quarter panel rust since 1980, and I hate seeing so many of these cars with the bottom half of the panel rotted away while the rest of the car looks great.