Let’s get the basic questions out of the way now. That is a three-foot-long steel spike that is bashed through the piston of a Chrysler 400. If you go back to the Raven Imperial build, around May 2015 I purchased a “slightly used and well-stored” big-block with the hopes of putting a B-engine where a small-block usually sits. I’ve had experience swapping a big-block into an FJM Mopar before…just not on my own car. As I started to tear down the engine, the initial signs looked promising. It was coming apart easily enough, the valvetrain had some old coated oil but nothing that wouldn’t clean up. But then…the pistons. Crusted, coated, damn near welded in place, and in one cylinder a dead slug, like some effed-up cherry on top. I ended up bashing out all but two pistons with that spike, three of them in chunks. It’s a miracle that I only chipped the bottom of one cylinder in the violence that ensued in that wasp-infested barn. The end to that story only happened recently, when I sold the block…the only useable part left…to a guy down the road for a few bucks. If he has success, it will go into a clean-looking mid-1970s Chrysler two-door barge. If not…well, it’ll make a pretty flowerpot.
It isn’t too often that I find myself staring down a stone wall when it comes to a car. I might need an answer, sure, we all can use some advice. But what do you do when you’ve exhausted options and the only remaining option is destruction? Case in point: the Great Pumpkin’s control arms. When converting a Fox Body to run SN-95 equipment, it’s a great idea to swap the whole K-frame over just to be safe. Everything is right there. Me, I didn’t, because the K-frame on my donor car was butchered. So I’m needing to swap SN-95 control arms to get the front end to line up so that I might be able to drive the elder Fox Mustang in the fleet for the first time in at least two years. The control arms themselves should be simple to remove: spindle, strut, sway bar end link, and the two mounting bolts to the K-frame. Everything else has come loose. Those bolts? Even my impact wrench isn’t doing the trick. My last effort is to break out the propane torch and heat up the nut to see if that’ll help, and if that doesn’t do it, I’ll be buying a grinder.
What do you do?
like momma used to say, “when all else fails,
use a bigger hammer–and beat on it like it owes you money.”
People rarely run out of talent, as talent is an acquired trait.
What often happens is that the individual runs out of the patience or the will required for gaining further knowledge or experience.
Lack of resources also contributes to the question of talent, not so much for parts and supplies to advance a project, but for the tools and equipment necessary to cultivate further talent.
Tenacity is the key to overcoming these limitations. It all comes down to how badly an individual wants to succeed and how much they are willing to give, or give up, in the pursuit of achieving the goal in question.
You really can do anything you set your mind to.
patience is an acquired trait….
MOAR LEVERAGE! Is this nut rusted to the bolt? i got one trick for bustin a nut (Serious face). Douche it down with wd40 and use a pipe wrench on the nut side. As you hang off the wrench like a monkey you are also squeezing the nut and distorting the thread surface which breaks away that barrier of whatever has fused the nut and bolt together. Plus the pipe wrench does works on those weird SAE and Metric round nuts.
Gallon of fuel & a match
Had a Volkswagen Rabbit LS 5 speed sunroof. Got a little rough with it once downshifting hard in second gear while turning into a hairpin turn and broke off a rack and pinion mounting stud which also secured the shifter linkage. Impossible fix unless you wanted to cut out and replace the firewall.