How do I fix the engine oil leakage to spark plugs?
There are three possible causes:1) rings. If the oil control rings are shot, or the cylinder bore is excessive, you'll get oil from the pan up past the piston into the combustion chamber, oiling the plugs. Diagnosis: leak-down test. If you pressurize the cylinder, and can hear air hissing into the crankcase, it's rings.Repair: complete engine rebuild, which these days just about always means "replacement".2) valve guides. If the seals on the valve guides have failed, or the valve guides have exceeded wear limit, or the valve stems have exceeded wear limit, oil may run down the valves into the combustion chamber, oiling the plugs.Diagnosis: leak-down test. If you pressurize the cylinder, and hear air hissing into the valve cover, it's valves and/or guides.Repair: valve job. Much less expensive than rebuild. But be cautious - you could be putting a lot of money into an engine with other issues. You need to establish the baseline health and remaining life of the rest of the engine before doing this (unless you do it yourself, in which case the out-of-pocket costs are low enough that it's no big deal, just annoying, if the engine fails a couple of months later)3) crack in engine. If there's a crack, causing oil to bypass the oil control measures at the piston sidewall and valves, oil will leak into the combustion chamber, oiling the plugs.Diagnosis: leak down test. No air leaking, anywhere, and you're still getting oiled plugs.Repair: replace engine. Me, personally, I'd strip it myself, just to see where it failed, but you're going to need a new block, or head, or whatever failed.
What was driving a car like without power steering and air conditioning?
Question: “What was driving a car like without power steering and air conditioning?”Actually kind of nice.The breeze through a hardtop convertible with the windows down and the vent windows angled towards youwas pleasant and refreshing. The air flow was nice, you heard the burble of your big V-8 and kids playing in the yards, and you breathed in the pleasant scent of the new mown grass or hay in the fields. Really it was much nicer than being inclosed in a sealed metal box breathing what little air comes through those little plastic dash vents.Of course I learned how to drive in the Upper Midwest. No one in their right mind moved south of the Mason-Dixon Line before car air conditiong became ubiquitous! Those benighted souls tricked into doing so bought Swamp Coolers. These were evaporative coolers that attached to the outside of the car through a partially opened front passenger side window. They were most effective in dry desert climates.Steering without power steering was no problem. The big steering wheels and high (numerical) ratio steering boxes made parallel parking even big cars reasonable for most people. Teenage kids drove those cars. My great aunts drove a big Buick Super.And the feel of the wheel in your hands and the resistance felt in your arms when cornering and driving on the highways was satisfying. You felt like you were driving a real car, not playing a child’s video game.Yeah it was different. But in many ways those cars were more sensually and physically satisfying to drive than the generic transportation modules we have become used to.
In your opinion, what's the best of the best American-made muscle cars? I had an idea for a story, and I need a main-character vehicle without a computer. I have some ideas of my own, but I would love any idea that I might not be considering.
There are a few on my list but one tops them all, although it doesn’t fit your category of needs.The Dodge Challenger, the General Lee, it’s one of the most toughest built like a brick car I have ever seen and drove, although it does have a few problems, we won’t bring those up. It does sing, you know when you get close to your muffler, you can just tell.The Corvette Stingray, it’s a classy sporty muscle car look. It’s got the elegance and needed power to weight ratio and while it doesn’t sing, it plays an awfully fine tune, they are prone to other faults too, I will get into these: number 1 it warps ever so slightly at the head, and the transmission leaks like a Broken car, do not put sawdust in the tranny please.The Shelby Cobra, now this does not fit your category since it was made in England, technically, but I think Mr Shelby, God reat his soul, deserves a fine shoutout st one of the baddest most brutal car ever made, if you got it with the 302 Boss engine you would be a winner, I thought about buying a kit car like this, and dropping a 488 Rousch NASCAR engine in there, since they said it could accept them. This dream is still alive…. They have massive torque, they have massive liftoff too, you could wheel spin in 3rd gear.Well, those are my favorites.
Which is your favorite muscle car from the 60s/70s?
I have to agree with a lot of other answers here. Many list Chrysler corporation products. 1st & 2nd generation Dodge Chargers. Roadrunners. Satellites, Coronets, Belvideres, even the Lil Red Express truck, which was actually faster than the Corvette during the years the LRT was produced!Ii do cross brand lines, though. GM had some winners, as did Ford & AMC.Ford: Torino, Cougar. GM: Chevelle, GTO, GTO Judge, Monte Carlo, Grad Prix, Grand Am, GS, Skylark, Grand National. AMC: Hornet, Javelin, Gremlin X, AMX,Most of mine listed could qualify as “sleepers”, maybe not the “typical” or “mainstream” muscle cars. I have mostly avoided the “obvious” Mustang, Camaro, Trans Am, Cuda, Challenger genre. The Roadrunner was based on the Satellite platform. The Chargers were based on Coronets, etc. Most of the cars I listed were available as 4 doors or station wagons in the base platform. Satellite wagon, Coronet wagon, Chevelle wagon, Torino wagon, etc.Torino & Chevelle were also available in pickup form: Ranchero & El Camino. AMC played with this concept on the Corner platform & was going to call it the “Cowboy”. They made a few concept prototypes, but abandoned the idea.Most of these cars I listed were available as 2 door, 4 door & wagons. Available with economy 6 cylinder to the largest V8s.If asked which I'd get if money was not a concern? I'd definitely go with a Mopar. 69 Roadrunner or Charger. Or maybe the Lil Red Truck. It was Chrysler's middle finger to the government regulations that ended the muscle cars era. The emissions laws didn't apply to light trucks . So they created one last hot rod using a light duty truck . & Succeeded! The 78 LRT was quicker in the 1/4 mile than the Corvette of the same year!!
What are the best movie cars in the history of cinema and television?
I think the coolest cars in film and TV are the ones that do stuff, other than just look cool. In fact I love some of them so much I made this:Iconic Movie Cars - What's Under the Bonnet?It features some of the baddest cats in the TV and movie motor business. Check it out, it’s interactive and pretty fun to use :)In no particular order, here’s a peek at my faves:The Time MachineBack to the Future is one hell of a film and the starring vehicle evolved throughout the series to become more and more lovable (well maybe not in Part III, where it kinda turned into a dead weight).Time flies - and so does this car. That pretty much trumps anything anyone else’s car can do. Oh and the small matter of it being able to travel through time. Yeah, that seals the deal.The Tumbler (and Batpod)First time I saw Batman Begins, two things burned into my memory:When the Scarecrow gets a taste of his own gas and hallucinates the melting face of BatmanThat. Damn. Bat. Mobile.The Tumbler, a fictional military bridging vehicle, roars onto the screen in a drab desert camouflage, raging around in a warehouse. And from that point, you’re in love with a machine,By The Dark Knight, The Tumbler is no more. But in a final act of coolness, it poops out the second coolest vehicle in the series to date - The Batpod. It’s a fat-wheeled motorbike with guns that can breakdance up walls. It’s pretty serious.The HomerThe Simpsons is one of my favourite TV shows ever. I honestly believe that history will see it as one of the greatest works of all time (at least seasons 2 to 10, or thereabouts).The show has been going for… Well, forever (if you count the dawn of time as December 1989) and in that time, they’ve covered a lot of ground. Including Homer designing a car: The Homer.And of course, it was a monstrous failure. But it led to one of the (seldom) sweet moments between Homer and Bart:“Dad?”“What is it, boy?”“I thought your car was really cool.”“Thanks, boy. I was waiting for someone to say that.”Well, I thought it was pretty cool too, Mr S. So much so that I included it in this piece.If you’d like to see more, check it out!Iconic Movie Cars - What's Under the Bonnet?