$900 Spark Plugs

[pdub]

Yep, I did it. We took Red to the Ford dealership and checked him in. $900 to replace the spark plugs. While they were at it, I asked if they could replace the positive terminal cover on the battery. Exhibit A:



I can squish that thing down on the terminal but it doesn't last. It looks like this the next time I open the hood. Scarier, I tore all of the sound insulation off of the underside of the hood because it was just hanging down from the hood. So, now naked metal versus battery terminal.

The Ford folks said it's an impossible piece to get anymore, the positive battery terminal protector. Red's battery is very well secured, but the inspectors at tracks.....this does not look good at all, nossir.

I'm showing now what an idiot I really am, I'm thinking a bicycle inner tube, cut it up, stretch it around the battery terminal....attach that somewhere.....

[DanStokes]

Did they kiss you and take you out to dinner - and tell you they love you? That's a pot full of money and one of the reasons the dealership is the LAST place I'll take a vehicle, assuming I don't want to do whatever myself. And they couldn't be bothered to find you a + battery cover. Try the interwebs - some one must offer them.

Dan

[SuperBuickGuy]

Ummm, pdub, unless the service bill was $7,200; you got a deal on spark plugs - $112.50 per plug.

[Barry Donovan]

the terminals.
Found a great answer for us non-gm screw types

it was in the big bass radio kicker clubs:
ebay search

my subaru years was known to short out on the tin can hood, had to get the high end terminals.

Glad you got the expensive chore done. Given the cost, any owner to be will appreciate the caring.

this one caught my eye, get many angles.


I use something similar.

[corvettedad]

Now the big question did it revive Red's performance?

[pdub]

Now the big question did it revive Red's performance?

Won't really know until the real long straightaway on a race track. Cars and pedestrians get in the way on the street. Cars and pedestrians kinda suck that way. Gimme a race track......

[Dan Barlow]

Not going to give you a hard time on the money .You made your choise with your eyes wide open . Done with that . But if you can't find something suitable on the Internet, then if you want it to look pretty you could have a machine shop mill you one out of a block of your favorite plastic .......since you paid 900 for a plug swap ...... Not giving you a hard time , just using the same reasoning . To answer your question though , yes the inter tube will work .

[Loren]

Gail reported that the Cherokee trans was slipping sometimes up hills...WHAT, I just had that rebuilt (I did R&R and paid a guy to bench-build it)...I added fluid, sometimes that helps. Works good one day, not the next day according to reports, and after going two-quarts over, that crap was blowing out everywhere. Half-an-hour cleaning trans fluid spots off of the driveway. I pulled the pan to have a look at the filter (a total pain, why can't they just have made the pan slightly smaller than the space it has to drop through instead of just slightly bigger???), and did you know trans fluid if you buy it by the quart is six-bucks-and-twenty-cents now? The gallon-bottle is only slightly cheaper. After a third-of-a-day dealing with that to find a few break-in chips and discoloration I test drove and no, there is no trans problem, it's the ignition stumbling. Let's have a look at what the internet says...ignition coil, or TPS with a bum spot worn into it. Hey, I've got a coil from another engine sitting around...no, it doesn't look the same. I buy a coil for $30-some bucks, get it home and realize it's the same as what I had, there's a bracket stuck to my used one that fooled me so I could've saved the money...the old coil in-place had some serious corrosion and arcing so maybe this will help and it did. All good now, but boy am I pissed about the $100 I just spent, mostly for no reason.

OK, so it goes but if I were PeeWee and just spent what he did for what he got, I'm afraid I'd have to kill myself...

[Big Dave]

I've only had one Ford (Mercury actually) in my life, 1970 Cyclone 429. Quality of the car was crap but had no problem changing the plugs. I'm wondering if changing the plugs in the new Camaro are as difficult? Boy I'm just not a fan of these newer cars. Seems they are designed to keep the DIYers out from under the hood and that's ashamed. Young people aren't going to know how to fix anything before long.

[Deaf Bob]

What's wrong with your cover? Ripped?
I wanna know before I take one off the cop cars...

[pdub]

What's wrong with your cover? Ripped?
I wanna know before I take one off the cop cars...

It's not ripped. The guy I bought Red from, he'd put some any old new battery in to say it had a new battery. That battery was way too tall, and it was all mashed up against the sound-dampening stuff under the hood. That boogered up the sound dampening stuff and deformed the positive terminal cover permanently. I'd think about changing the whole connection except there's exactly within about 1/8" enough wires to reach the terminal as it is. And I mean wires, two bundles going to it.

That's the dumbest connector I've ever seen, it's got a funky wedge in it and you have to....well, it's weird. SM said he's never seen one like it, and I've never seen another one like it.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Gail reported that the Cherokee trans was slipping sometimes up hills...WHAT, I just had that rebuilt (I did R&R and paid a guy to bench-build it)...I added fluid, sometimes that helps. Works good one day, not the next day according to reports, and after going two-quarts over, that crap was blowing out everywhere. Half-an-hour cleaning trans fluid spots off of the driveway. I pulled the pan to have a look at the filter (a total pain, why can't they just have made the pan slightly smaller than the space it has to drop through instead of just slightly bigger???), and did you know trans fluid if you buy it by the quart is six-bucks-and-twenty-cents now? The gallon-bottle is only slightly cheaper. After a third-of-a-day dealing with that to find a few break-in chips and discoloration I test drove and no, there is no trans problem, it's the ignition stumbling. Let's have a look at what the internet says...ignition coil, or TPS with a bum spot worn into it. Hey, I've got a coil from another engine sitting around...no, it doesn't look the same. I buy a coil for $30-some bucks, get it home and realize it's the same as what I had, there's a bracket stuck to my used one that fooled me so I could've saved the money...the old coil in-place had some serious corrosion and arcing so maybe this will help and it did. All good now, but boy am I pissed about the $100 I just spent, mostly for no reason.

OK, so it goes but if I were PeeWee and just spent what he did for what he got, I'm afraid I'd have to kill myself...

No, you'd have to put Nitrous on it (without strapping down the bottle) then go have some fun with it.

Pdub, it could be worse - you could spend thousands on tools, hundreds of hours on training, buy yourself a lift and do it all yourself.... $900 is a lot of money, but it's not the most expensive option.

[pdub]

$900 is a lot of money, but it's not the most expensive option.

Good logic, sort of like mine but said better. I could have gone with Matt's friend in Ringgold, and sure gotten a better deal and better treatment, but that's a two hour round trip to take it and another 2 hours to get it back, convoying on the interstate. I'm working too danged much right now to figure something like that onto the fray. I just threw the hammer at it - pay 'em.

[DanStokes]

Pdub - I'm sorry if I was too snarky. It's just that it REALLY bugs me to have my friends (or anyone else) taken advantage of. My guess is that the dealer is used to having people by the short hairs and that they now think it's their right to screw people over. I can see your dilemma - the old time vs. money thing - but it still frosts my cookies that the dealer pushed his advantage. They could have charged you a fair price and called with a revised estimate in the event of some extenuating circumstances (say, a thread twisted out of the head) but instead they just charged you (and, we assume, everyone else getting this job done) AS IF there was a problem. At lest, I can't figure out any other way that they came up with that kind of a bill.

Still love ya, Buddy

Dan

[Barry Donovan]

It's not ripped. The guy I bought Red from, he'd put some any old new battery in to say it had a new battery. That battery was way too tall, and it was all mashed up against the sound-dampening stuff under the hood. That boogered up the sound dampening stuff and deformed the positive terminal cover permanently. I'd think about changing the whole connection except there's exactly within about 1/8" enough wires to reach the terminal as it is. And I mean wires, two bundles going to it.

That's the dumbest connector I've ever seen, it's got a funky wedge in it and you have to....well, it's weird. SM said he's never seen one like it, and I've never seen another one like it.

I took note of the crazy angles.

seems a challenge.

Being they are precise, I'd verify exact recommended CCA size and dimensions.
I even have my truck on 600cca.. all by factory.(that is tiny for v8 truck)