Engineuity

[Captain Virgil Hilts]

LOL. The H body wasn't nearly as problematic as people claimed. And they made pretty good hot rods if you knew how to work on them. Yeah, they were mid seventies ECONOMY cars, if you tried to run them hard, you had to do some upgrades. But a properly set up V-8 Spyder was a nasty little beast, quick in a straight line, and agile in the corners. I never had one rub the balancer on the sway bar.

And honestly, the V-6 stick shift cars were a good balance of decent performance, for an economy car, with reasonable economy. They were not miserable slugs to drive like most.

[icepac]

I can find at least 10 more references to this.   

I discovered it in 1980 on a 1975 monza. 

Just because you’ve never seen it doesn’t mean it wasn’t an issue.   

I have seen and fixed it plenty of times since 1980 but I likely have much more experience.

[fuzeman]

An interesting swap almost completed.

I’ve got 2 older Chrysler minivans and this interested me a little. Doubt I’d ever get that into modding them though.  I’ve seen some made into shorty vans, pickups, etc.  There’s one south of me that is two fronts put together.

[Eagler]

Seems to be getting harder to find full size pickup trucks with a v8..

Turbo 6 cylinders seem to be the way they are going...

Eagler

[Shuffler]

I had a 75 Vega Station Wagon Estate that we built into a 4WD. The unibody Vega was sitting on a 75 GMC Jimmy frame with a built 350, 203 transfer case, 373 gears. All running on 38.5 Monster Mudders.

[Captain Virgil Hilts]

I can find at least 10 more references to this.   

I discovered it in 1980 on a 1975 monza. 

Just because you’ve never seen it doesn’t mean it wasn’t an issue.   

I have seen and fixed it plenty of times since 1980 but I likely have much more experience.

I never said it didn't happen.


I've been doing this since 1978. I have worked at independent shops (managed a couple), dealerships, tier 1-4 suppliers, and for a major international OE. I have an NHRA National Event win, several track championships, several track records, and been part of a few national records. I still own my own shop, despite working for someone else.

[Animl-AW]

Seems to be getting harder to find full size pickup trucks with a v8..

Turbo 6 cylinders seem to be the way they are going...

Eagler

I know with Ford, a friend owns a new 150, he had to special order the V8.

[Captain Virgil Hilts]

I’ve got 2 older Chrysler minivans and this interested me a little. Doubt I’d ever get that into modding them though.  I’ve seen some made into shorty vans, pickups, etc.  There’s one south of me that is two fronts put together.

I knew a guy named Bill Howell, he raced NHRA Stock for years. At one point he had one of the turbo minivans he raced, the index was stupid soft, so he ran it off and on for years, he'd literally scavenge engines and transmissions from salvage yards, and run them until they were too tired, and start over. He had a 68 428 Mustang, his daughter would get so pissed over him buying stuff for that mini van.

[Captain Virgil Hilts]

Seems to be getting harder to find full size pickup trucks with a v8..

Turbo 6 cylinders seem to be the way they are going...

Eagler

That's the way the idiots are all going with 1/2 ton pick up trucks. Even turbo 4 cylinders. They only look at certain output numbers, they ignore the stress on components required to reach those numbers. The insane fuel economy standards have driven that. They've also driven the ridiculous 8 and 10 speed transmissions. If you're not talking about a Class 8 truck, you don't need more than 6 speeds. If you do, it's because your engine has no torque and a lousy power band. It's a numbers game now, though, if you don't have 8 or 10 speeds, idiots won't buy your new truck, and that's who buys a new truck. And that's why a new 3/4 ton truck is $80,000, and a new 1 ton is even higher. I have two 20 year old trucks, a 3/4 ton, and a 1 ton. Not for sale at any price. Even my wife's mid size truck is 20+ years old.

Those stupid little engines and 8 speed transmissions are somewhat useful, if you haul garbage, or $500 worth of groceries. If you have an actual load, and you actually use your truck, they'll be useless, and worn out quickly. And when you do actually use them, as a truck, not a passenger car, they don't get any fuel economy, and they break stuff. Most of them drive like crap, they're miserable. The average customer now is entirely too stupid to know they spend $1,000 a month on junk.

[icepac]

My experience level matches yours in regards to time spent but in different areas of automotive experience.

Maybe that’s why I noticed the monza engine mounts issue before the chevy dealerships.

I started rebuilding McCullough go-kart engines and two stroke boat engines at the age of 11.    One year after winning my elementary school science fair with a working steam turbine. 

I’ve been a general manager for Blue Streak in addition to designing test equipment profiles and taking on problem computers like the problematic 16159278 corvette ECUs. 

My last automotive employment was as a Toyota “Field Technical Specialist” traveling to dealerships to fix the cars that the master techs.  at the dealership could not……..without alienating them.

Somewhere along the way, I suffered through organic chemistry and actually grew to like it once I realized my interests were more suited for molecular biology.

During that time, I got my private pilot (5 weeks) and an “airframe and powerplant”  certificate but I then had to fulfill the documented employment history by working in miami international airport’s corrosion corner on planes that were barely airworthy owned by guys who cut corners. 

One of the constellations later crashed when they thought flying out on 3 engines to save the money it would have cost to ship or repair the dead engine.

I bailed and found myself driving a “j-ported” RX-2 in miami attending classes in the “eastern airlines pilot entry program”.    I had gotten employed at eastern as a helper because the owners of the constellations and C46s would not sign me off after because I told them “you guys don’t deserve to own a constellation”. 

Eastern went on strike and that killed the program so I ended working at “Z-shop of miami” and on their IMSA GTU 280z.   

My designs are all over the place on the current fastest street legal and driven car on the planet which had me designing a gear position sensor for use with the ams1000 made of only two moving parts which kept our car fastest for 9 years even though it was designed for a single event.   
I can share the design because they moved to completely new engine management scheme.

[Animl-AW]

That's the way the idiots are all going with 1/2 ton pick up trucks. Even turbo 4 cylinders. They only look at certain output numbers, they ignore the stress on components required to reach those numbers. The insane fuel economy standards have driven that. They've also driven the ridiculous 8 and 10 speed transmissions. If you're not talking about a Class 8 truck, you don't need more than 6 speeds. If you do, it's because your engine has no torque and a lousy power band. It's a numbers game now, though, if you don't have 8 or 10 speeds, idiots won't buy your new truck, and that's who buys a new truck. And that's why a new 3/4 ton truck is $80,000, and a new 1 ton is even higher. I have two 20 year old trucks, a 3/4 ton, and a 1 ton. Not for sale at any price. Even my wife's mid size truck is 20+ years old.

Those stupid little engines and 8 speed transmissions are somewhat useful, if you haul garbage, or $500 worth of groceries. If you have an actual load, and you actually use your truck, they'll be useless, and worn out quickly. And when you do actually use them, as a truck, not a passenger car, they don't get any fuel economy, and they break stuff. Most of them drive like crap, they're miserable. The average customer now is entirely too stupid to know they spend $1,000 a month on junk.

All true.
That said, 80-90% of pickups aren’t sold to do work. They aren’t on farms or even off road, many have never seen a load. Hey are sold to suburbia as a status symbol more than anything else. So ya, in old skewl use of a pickup, sure this applies. But if you’re just going down the road as a status symbol not so much.

If I were to buy a pickup to work hard it would be 8 cylinder or diesel.

So it comes down to what is a $50k-80k pickup used for.

Side note
Knew a guy who dumped a 427 L88 into a 70s Opel. That car fell apart around that beast. Fast as hell, dangerous as sin, didn’t last long.