Lil_Vette_Chic

This makes it impossible for me to work on my car. I have to get my husband to break everything loose and I just end up being a gofer! I guess I’m going to have to start body building, so I can turn the wrench.

On a better note, the car has great breaks now, I/we replaced the calipers, pads and lines and now nothing leaks and the car doesn’t make a 90deg turn when you hit the breaks hard. I really do love driving that car. :steering:

I did manage to bleed the breaks by myself, without taking the wheels off and using a vacuum kit it only took about 3 hours!

'79ProwlerOrange

good to see your giving the effort. :thumbs: all i have to suggest is buying an electric impact wrench. very convient, and its not air powered so you dont need a compressor. i know ive taken the impact wrench to my vette more times than id like to admit :D

lbell101

Why can't all women be like this?
One of the few things I have my wife help with is bleeding the brakes. Of course I get biatched at the entire time. "Uhhgg, what? Pump it again?? You're kidding? Aren't we done? You mean we have to do ALL four wheels?".
I mean how hard is it to push a pedal and yell "holding"?

Larry

adamdinat

Sounds like the same guy who worked on my car! Use a longer wrench or breaker bar when possible. Since it is a performance application things need to be tight. There are specs for Torqing bolts based on their size. Service manuals also specify a torque on important items like brakes. Be careful when replacing bolts to use and using the torque chart. All bolts and screws are not created equal. There are markings on the heads which identify the rated strength of a fastener. You also may be running into lock tite, which is used to keep fasteners from backing off. A little heat will usually soften lock tite for removal of the bolt.

Kevin_73

You don't happen to have an unmarried twin sister do you??
:D :cheers:

terryrudy

Haha, good one Larry. I have the same moaning when I ask my wife to help me bleed brakes. :cuss
After a few minutes of "bleeding" and nothing coming out of the hoses, and me :confused: I look in and see she is pumping the gas pedal! :eek:

At least this was in my Eclipse and not the carbureted Vette! :eek:

"Oh, you wanted me to pump the brake pedal?" :bb

:mad
Oh well, what can you do...
-terry

Blankman

My girlfriend's brother just fixed the brakes on her car for her and she helped him bleed them, too. Did the same thing, pupmed the gas. I would think the term "bleeding the brakes" would automatically imply pumping the brake pedal, but what do I know?

rexx78

Good to see you showing the interestin working on your car.

I would suggest using as long of a ratchet or cheater bar as possible as well, better mechanical advantage. My finace helps me with my rebuild quite often, she cannot undo some bolts as well, but I usually loosen each bolt for her, then let her take over. If she was only my gopher, she wouldn't hang around in the garage very often.

There have even been a few times where I was unable to get a bolt undone, then it's time to break out the POWER TOOLS!!! :cool:

Cali,68,L-79

Before reading this post I never knew a woman to pick up a wrench. Good on ya! :seeya

LiveandLetDrive

Occasion one: taught girlfriend how disk brakes work, previously had absolutely no clue.

Result: Thinks I'd make an excellent teacher due to my patience :)

Occasion two: turned an empty Prestone bottle into a coolant resevior after overheating melted the ancient plastic of the original, thereby getting us from St. Louis back to KC in the last leg of our trip from Maryland.

Result: Thinks I am a genius and automotive god.


A little ingenuity goes a long way! I guess this wasn't so much "relevant", but we were sharing girl stories, so.... As was already said, cheater bars help, I have no experience with air tools, etc. but sounds like a good idea to me. Good luck and don't give up!

-Chris

Lil_Vette_Chic

Thanks for the info and the stories. I got my husband an air compressor for Christmas so maybe I should try that instead of weight lifting.

I must confess, before the Corvette, I had no interest in the inner workings of a car at all, in fact I didn't even know you had to put water in them (but that was on my first car when I was 17). Inorder to get the vette, I promised I would take care of it, so this started out by keeping my promise. Now it is a whole other story, it has turned into an obsession! :D

The_Dude

My wife has 5 old cars, the newest one being a '72. She does manage to do most of her own work, with me breaking loose bolts, and explaing what she needs to do. She is a fast learner, and very proud of herself when she completes a job. :cheers: :thumbs:

Brettmc

Congrats on your obsession!! Now, get him an air impact wrench for his birthday. Then you're all set!! Does he know what a lucky guy he is? My wife could not care any less at all about how vehicles work. However, she's a trooper and helped me bleed my brakes twice with no whimpers, smart-booboo cracks or other obnoxious caterwauling. When she pulled into the garage last night after work, I was adjusting the parking brake and I asked her to get in and pull the parking brake handle a few times. No back-talking, whining or moaning was heard. What a gal!!

Oh yeah, did I mention she doesn't care how much I spend on the vette? As long as I make the house payment every month all is well. Again, what a gal!!

Brett :thumbs:

Larry B.

Get a longer cheater bar and some air tools. Some of us MEN aren't that strong either. :smash:

RMVette

:thumbs: :iagree:

Crash Dummy

So.... post a pic of your vette. There's lots of projects going on here and it's enjoyable to see what everyone has... or is working with. Some of us even leave up a pic of what our vettes used to look like before we took'em apart for no good reason at all. :D

Big Fish

Wish I could get my wife to work on my cars, that way I would have a lot more time to post and read here on the forum. :lol:
I don't think she has ever had any kind of grease on her hands except that kind you use for cooking. Any time I ask her to help I get a lot of :cuss :cuss and then :nono:

Teuffelhunde

I'm not trying to be rude or anything but, did anyone else read the title to this thread then notice the creator was a female then nearly fell out of their chair from laughter?? Anyways, I hope my fiancee will help with my 'vette once we get married. My little tight bolt story was when I was in Kyrgystan. I was driving a Dodge truck that the Marine Corps had given me for transportation and the tire went flat. Being out in the middle of no where I had no impact gun to remove the lug nuts. I struggled for about 20 minutes with a breaker bar and only got a scrapped knee and torn cammies. I found a huge pole that I stuck on the end of the breaker bar for leverage. It was simple to turn those lugs with a 5' bar!!

Desertdawg

This reminds me of spring 2000, when we ( the wife and both teenage daughters) decided to do a little fast rebuild on the 79 CJ. We had to pull the 304 motor out to do the clutch,and replace all the gaskets. And we redid the interior, and slapped a new coat of paint on it too. Well, all three girls wanted to be involved.
So what I did was get out all the tools I could find. Hand each of them a wrench, or ratchet and as I went around the Jeep breaking loose all the bolts I could find, they followed behind, and very efficiently removed every thing they could.
When we got into the motor, it was a blast, as the three of them were crawling around all over it, arguing as to who got to take off what. :D

My arms were sore that night from having to break loose every nuts and bolt on that thing in one day...

It was a family experience that I will never forget.... :cool:

Here's the girls last summer, tooling around in it...

C3 Shark Tank

:thumbs: For taking an active interest in your Corvette. Any guy who has a woman like that is lucky.

:thumbs: To ANYONE who wrenches on their own car, even if you might not know what you are doing most of the time :D