Drain plug removal

Canadian Ponchos had the same problem. You must be about my age, because I installed a lot of those check cables in my early years too!!! I was a "mopar man" in those years. Since then I've shifted to Toyota, then I owned 4 fords and a Poncho, with a few quasi-mopars fitted in between (they had Mitsu-S***ty engines in them) Currently intermittently fixing/driving a 1994 Pontiac Trans Sport 3.8 and a 1996 Mystique 2.5. ANd fixing the daughter's '98 Neon.

Between them I have not been suffering any withdrawal pains from leavoing the automotive repair business almost 19 years ago.

On Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:31:06 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, clare at snyder.on.ca quickly quoth:

I'm of 1953 vintage. You? I still don't find anything but messicans and rain gear when I google "poncho". Got a link?

Condolences. ;)

I'm becoming a Toyota man, too. I love this Tundra. With 1040 miles, it's still only getting 14.3mpg. I trust it'll do better on the way to NorCal this summer. The 14.3 is all town driving with the smaller V-8, the 4.7L.

GM? Feh! Take a peek at the last few decades of GMs in the Consumer Reports. Hondas and Toyotas are all top notch, while GMs are in the bottom of the league -every- year. Ford, Lexus, and Mercenary Bends aren't bad.

I had fun in the '90 F-150 until last December. I retired from the automotive repair business in late '85 with an upper back injury.

Hey, I actually got some metalworking done today. I have to get that damned mill out of the Ford so I'm building a stand for it. (Yes, Gunner, it's the li'l horizontal I put there from your house a year and a half ago. That tarp was just about gone but still waterproof.) I had a chance to finally test the welds on the HF crane and they held for the 400+ pounds of the little mill. Bueno.

Anywho, before the incoming storm got blowing so bad I couldn't weld, I got the top cut, welded together, and drilled for the mill base. I'm using some beefy 2x1/4" angle. I forgot to buy the 1" angle for the leg stabilizers, darnit. Maybe Monday.

-- An idealist believes the short run doesn't count. A cynic believes the long run doesn't matter. A realist believes that what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run. -- Sydney J. Harris

Did it take the dent out of the pan?

Many newer steel pans are made with laminated metal for sound reduction, two very thin layers of steel with a mastic like material in between. (AKA Quiet metal) Can be welded, but takes a very light touch with the TIG, and can make a mess if you are not very careful. Where I work, we dyno new engines, and often the pans must be fitted with bungs for oil temp, supply return etc. Often we find it easier to use a bulkhead type fitting with sealing washers or O rings to get a seal, rather tthan welding on a fitting. If you tap an empty oil pan with a hammer, and it sounds totally "dead", it's probably pressed out of quiet metal. I believe the GM Duramax Diesel uses quiet metal. Don't know about the GM gas engines.