Buried vital engine parts

[tom4bren]

Here's the secret that dealers use for changing the starter, from the Planet-

How to replace the starter on a Trooper, Rodeo, Amigo, VX
The secret.... Remove the 4, 14mm engine mount bolts, 2 on each side just below the exhaust manifold. Easily accessible but putting them back can be a challenge, just be patient. Anyways, once removed jack up the car, actually jack up the engine. With the engine lifted about 1" or so it will give you enough room to remove the starter out the rear of the truck with a little wiggleing to line it up through the opening. I actually slid out the old and slid in the new one under @ 3 minutes total after lifting the engine.

Mark

Good call. I remeber having to do a very similar trick on my ol 79 Dodge P'up. Of course, my woes in that case were self imposed by headers (thankfully I never got around to installing a crossover pipe - that would've been a real nightmare).

[circmand]

for changing the timing change in an Isuzu I-Mark. This is really not a conspiracy but a result of change to designing cars by a computer engineer rather than a mechanical engineer. For those of you who watch Mythbusters you are probably already aware of this because it is a pet peeve of Jamie. It got TV play on a car myth where they have to take off the front drivers side tire to change the battery. On my Spectrum (Chevy versionof the Imark) I could not find my oil filter and neither could 2 oil change places. I had to call the dealer to let me know you had to go in from the bottom and over the front axle to find it in its recessed space.

[TheGanzman]

You want some cheese with that whine? Us "old timers" can remember working on '60's Shelby big block Mustangs (spark plug change=7 hours) and big block Stingrays from the same and later era. Bottom line - "10 pounds of ****e in a 5 pound bag" - same as it EVER was! Gotta go back to the early '60's and back to have it "easy"; trouble is, you had to work on THOSE cars 3 times as OFTEN!

[nfpgasmask]

I dunno, I think the VX is pretty easy to work on. I've done my timing belt, and while it's a slightly complex process, it can be done by a non-professional mechanic. Cars are complex machines and I really don't expect them to be simple to fix. That said, I have seen under the hood of my brother's 350Z and I have seen the 911's engine bay and I want nothing to do with either!!!

Bart

[pbkid]

ya, im gonna have to agree that this is a fairly easy motor to work on for a japanese car...my integra is at least twice as bad.... there are SO MANY damn wires and hoses in that motor that it could drive a man crazy. (its not as bad as CR's 300zx)

on all three of those pics...

[Y33TREKker]

While some buried components on the VX are definitely worthy of a head-scratch or two, things could be worse. I've heard the same joke from workers on a couple of different vehicle assembly lines that goes something like this.

"At the end of the line, if we pour a bucket of water on top of the engine and any of it hits the floor, we know we've forgotten to install something."