Just had to post....

[andyrew]

I have to say I cant believe how easy these cars are to work on and take apart...

Today I went to the junkjard and pulled a couple mirrors, some fuses, and contemplated a muffler (while noting what was available, aka about 20 cars to pull from).

Came home and installed the new mirror in 3 minutes. Then I went about cleaning the car (Its my GF's new 97 SL2. She's currently in chico and will be taking delivery of it over mothers day, Im going through it and trying to make it perfect...) and noticed that it was extremely difficult to open the pass rear door from the inside, so I knew that the wire came off. Attempting it blind didnt work so I proceeded to take off the outer door skin in about 5 minutes! (after watching the video). Fixed the issue in a second and took the panel inside to lay on a layer of wax and reattached it then realigned the door jamb strike as it was binding a little.


I was baffled that I could take the door panel off. It looks to me that its possible to take off every painted part of the car except the roof. Is this a correct statement or is the roof removable?

Also my automotive background is Porsche's and Audi's, so this ease of work is just blowing me over..

[WingsOfSaturn]

Yes, the roof can be removed too. Not an easy task as the front and rear glass has to be removed first. After that a few fasteners and it will come off.

[off-track]

Originally Posted by andyrew

Also my automotive background is Porsche's and Audi's, so this ease of work is just blowing me over..

That says a mouthful.. I agree completely! After years of avoiding the DIY repair work, these cars make it kind of fun again. Too bad GM didn't keep true to the original concept (of course that goes against the Ferengi mantra).

[Kaervak]

Yep, they are dead simple to work on. Just did a 120,000 service on mine today. Had a bit of a scare taking out the spark plug from cylinder three. That thing was gorilla torqued in there, when I finally got it loose I thought I broke the plug in half from the sound it made. Aside from that, everything was pretty standard issue.

[andyrew]

Ya we enjoy working on our cars, I love fabrication work personally (73 914 with a 350 sbc and every other modification under the book).

I put it on the lift (we have a lift..) to check all the bushings and such and just admired how easy and readily available everything was. There was a bunch of cheap stuff that I wanted to change for better metal stuff suspension related but figured I'd leave it alone...

[off-track]

Originally Posted by andyrew

73 914 with a 350 sbc

That sure sounds like fun!