The part that pisses me off the most is when you break the nut/bolt loose and the back-tension isn't enough to get the ratchet to work, requiring one to drag a finger on the socket to provide enough back-tension for the stupid thing to work. That and the coarse dogs in the mechanism that click like once per 360 degrees of rotation (okay, so I'm exaggerating here)
Interesting thought about Sears wanting them to break so you have to come back in the store, except my local Sears store employees cringe when I come in, because I loudly berate the quality of their tools so everyone can hear. That's what they get for screwing-over Roebuck :^) -WG

 

It's *so* tempting when you're standing there at the customer service counter getting your ratchet heads replaced, and they have that pin of punches and chisels for $1 each... $1 can't hurt... and I really do need a certain punch for the halfshaft roll pins on the Subaru... but I don't know which size exactly so I'll get three or four. Three or four bucks can't hurt...

 

In my car, the "nut behind the wheel" is the hardest to get out

And I agree with Sorrow, you should use the "right tool for the job" for any job you do.

 

Am I the only one here who didn't have a problem with those? Jack the front end up and get them from the bottom, it took me maybe 5 mins (including jacking up) to get those two off. Maybe it was just my lucky day.

 

Are you guys talking about the cars equipped with the funky oil/water coolers (heaters?)
I don't have any experience with those, but the other kind is simple to remove, so I'm assuming so.

 

Well, I assumed he was refferring to the pedastal on the 79-82 and SE's. But the beehive oil heater is almost as easy to get off, one more bolt and a line to remove, but its basically just as easy to remove. Remove the line, jack up car, remove the two 10mm on the bottom, then remove the 10mm on the top (its on the side of the cooler, hooks it to the engine) and its off. Its an easy job, but very very messy, most of those coolers leak like mad (mine are no exception) so oil was all over the place and a bunch of coolant spilled on me but its all good.

 

82transam, haha... let's be honest, hacking the beehive setup off a parts car is much easier than having to worry about actually removing and replacing it all proper with new o-rings. All that oil and water everywhere along with those difficult nut positions makes it pretty tricky job. Wouldn't you agree?

 

You must know some one who is Thai

 

Right tool for the right job is always good advice. And pratch, it was the exhaust studs that stripped. Denny wins the prize for the most PITA bolt on the first gen. Theres no easy way to get that off.GRRRRR, but props to revhead (the front cover line/fitting sux) . The carb nut was a bitch till I made a special tool for it. I have trouble replacing e-shaft bearings. I've ruined 3 or 4 of em. Time to pry open my wallet and buy the RIGHT tool for the job eh?

Some of my own homemade tools can be seen on my cardomain page.

http://www.cardomain.com/id/rx7carl

 

No I wouldn't. you remove two fittings, one on each side of the line and remove 3 10mm nuts. oooooooooooooooooooo hard man, real real hard. They aren't even hard to get to. Obvioulsy I'll be more careful when doing this on the S but still its not hard. As for the oil and coolant, its not my problem if you don't wanna get your hands dirty