Remember when you could actually rebuild a carburetor in the parking lot?

I pulled an old Quadrajet off a '78 Chevy last week and had it rebuilt in about an hour. Meanwhile, the shop next door has been chasing a driveability code on a 2015 Silverado for three days. Has anyone else noticed how much simpler things were before every sensor needed a laptop?

2 comments

2 Comments

simon_coleman19d ago

Honestly my last carb rebuild was on a greasy tarp in the driveway of a buddy's place and I still had it running better than factory in like 45 minutes. Ngl though the best part was when I dropped a tiny spring in the gravel and just grabbed a random one from a coffee can full of old parts and it worked perfectly. Meanwhile I watched a kid at the local parts store spend two hours trying to update the firmware on a throttle position sensor for a modern truck. Tbh I think the real joke is that I trust my half blind guesswork more than a computer that needs a three day diagnostic course just to tell you it's got a loose gas cap.

miles79819d ago

The coffee can spring trick is basically mechanical chaos magic at that point. Reminds me of the time I used a paperclip to replace a cotter pin on a lawnmower carb and it ran fine for three more years. Meanwhile my buddy's new pickup threw a check engine light because the gas cap was 1/8th of a turn loose. Modern cars are just overly dramatic lawn ornaments with Bluetooth.