His Point of View

I hate aluminum engine blocks…Yeah they are lighter, but how often do you have to take one out without using an engine lift??? Can you say never…  Why do I hate aluminum engine blocks?   If you were to ask me I would say because you have to use a torque wrench on everything, unless you want to risk stripping out the threads in the block.  And that means you need 2 or 3 different torque wrenches (you need 2 different sized wrences  that measures in foot/pounds  & another that measures in inch/pounds)  to do simple repairs or engine mods, and that’s in addition to all the other regular wrenches and sockets that you will use…and that is a pain.  On top of that you have to be careful to not use the wrong type of engine coolant, or you are in for a not so fun future.  Did I also mention how harmful the process of refining aluminum is to the environment??? 

On another note… what happened to the time when men worked on cars in the driveway/in the garage?  I had to replace my water pump yesterday and I was distrubed on 3 ocassions by grown men stopping by to ask what I was doing.  Two of the three went on to say how they have no idea of what’s under their car’s hood, and they would never attempt to do any work on their cars.  What is the world coming to???

Oh yeah and to any Chevrolet designers/engineers… since when did ya’ll start using metric nuts and bolts?  In the past I have had a 1962 Bel-Aire, and a 1969 Impala, now I have a 2004 model and for the first time I have had to break out the metric tool set, what is really going on????  Pick a side either go all metric or all standard please… If I wanted to use metric and standard tools in the same day I would have stuck with Chrysler vehicles.

Updated 07/22/2009:  

Let me clarify, as I have gotten a lot of response regarding the use of torque wrenches… first this post was made half jokingly. Secondly I am aware that you should use a torque wrench on all engines, but the fact is that unless you are working with an aluminum block you can get away with tightening a lot of nuts and bolts that are not connecting sensitive components without a torque wrench without worry about damaging the block.  That’s all I meant.   So, to all the folks who are determined to use a torque wrench on every single nut and bolt… I apologize for offending you… LoL