[gtorich]

Originally Posted by Bob Dillon

I am utterly defeated.


I ordered synthetic oil and a filter for my wife's Fusion last week from Amazon.



It was 102 here Sunday, and I just couldn't handle getting out the ramps, the drain pan, and a jug for the used oil, and crawling under the car.


I sent her to Oil Changers to get it done. $47 if you provide them with the oil and filter.



It's a witch to admit you're getting too old for routine maintenance.

I hear you there Bob, just turned 70 a few months ago, i still do the oil on the 66, but just getting it up on the rhino"s is getting to be a job lately..........on the new stuff i dont waste my time, no idea where the oil plug is even on those cars.

Take it easy and have a good holiday

Rich

[dataway]

It's all about quality of life. I'm only 63 and still do a ton of labor in most any conditions for the time being ... however .... the daily drivers, specially those still under warranty .. off the oil change place. I have neither the time nor inclination to spend my time on some vehicle I will trade away in four years.

My 10 year old truck still gets personal attention. The wife who buys and new car every four years ... she can take it to the Jiffy Lube. Actually I think her new BMW had free oil changes for 3 years.

Pick your battles ... and, pick your battlefield. About three years ago I started saying "I just don't want to do that job anymore and I'm not going to feel bad about paying someone to do it" ... I mean what the heck do you work your whole life for anyway, so you can take it easy a bit in the best years of your life ... 60+.

Take it easy brother, walk the downhill road for a while, don't risk the rest of your life, listen to that voice that says "I really don't want to do that today", you've proved yourself to the people you care about already

[vertigto]

I don:t have an issue with paying anyone to do a job...as long as they do it correctly. My issue comes when they fail and I'm left with the nagging regret that I should have done it myself.

[carcrazy]

I feel pretty lucky. At nearly 70 I still feel pretty damn good. Knees, back, appendages...no issues. Sold my business this year but still work as an employee.... however to a lesser degree. Plan to slow down a little more next year to devote more time to other things. That said, what has decreased is my drive and desire to do the work on cars...find myself procrastinating...when I don't really have the time to do so! Have 2 cars to finish (one pretty major) and it's not looking so good! May have to send one to 400 4 speed!

[Tom Vaught]

I had a lot of the custom fabrication work done on my 64 GTO last year.
It was done by the Fabrication shop (who I worked with for 39 years).
They had the lifts, they had the welders, they had the skilled machinists, and a first class Shop Boss. THEY ALSO HAD A VERY LONG TIME PONTIAC GUY WHO HAS WORKED FOR THEM DOING ASSEMBLY ON PROTOTYPE VEHICLES. So He swapped the bumpers on the car for the new chrome ones I had on the shelf, did the installation/removal of the driveline part: DNE Trans, driveshaft, stainless exhaust system, 4 wheel disc brake set-up, and a lot of other things.

Really helps to have a Pontiac Guy around in a shop like that. best money I ever spent on a Pontiac vehicle project. Still need to have the hydraboost stuff installed down the road.

PAY THE MONEY and live a lot longer.

Tom V.

[fyrffytr1]

I still change the oil in my 67 GTO but my 2018 GMC goes to the dealer. $69.95 for an oil change includes synthetic oil and a GM filter. They also check everything else and rotate and balance the tires. I take the wife's 2019 Honda CRV to the dealer as well. As long as we have them do the routine maintenance they warranty the drive train. About the same price as he GMC.
On another note I started building a new 8' X 10' swing enclosure about 3 months ago. About 1 month back I fell off my 8ft. stepladder and landed on my left side between two floor joists. I missed hitting my head by inches. I haven't been back out to work on it since.It will cool down around November and I'll get back on it then.

[dataway]

I first major job I paid someone to do at my house in 30 years, which my wife and I built with our own two hands .. was the gutters, freakin best $700 I ever spent, they did it in 3 hours. About three years ago it was and they still look and work great.

[Sirrotica]

Originally Posted by Jonsie

You'll find the lift will be the best tool in your toolbox

Yes, I'm fully aware of the fact after twisting wrenches for 50 years as my profession. I've had my own garage and gas station, but of course it was leased from the oil company. It had a Weaver twin post on one bay and a Joyce single post lift in the next bay.

I worked at many dealerships, and had many combination of lifts, but they of course belonged to the dealerships. I've also had a grease pit at one of my homes that I had the garage built after I bought the house. The grease pit was almost as good as a lift, and much cheaper at the time, as it was the mid seventies and above ground lifts were quite rare, an inground at the time was a major expense that wouldn't have worked in a garage with 8 foot walls.

I've always wanted a lift, but all of my homes the garage was too low, except one that I had a pole barn built that was high enough, but before I got a lift installed, I ended up in a divorce.

This time I'm getting one no matter what.........

The most recent purchase has a pole barn, but it's only got 10 foot walls, The trusses over the lift will need to be reworked for clearance. It's not for lack of trying to get a lift, just seems circumstances were never in my favor........

[dataway]

Sirrotica .... what would you think about a "modern" great pit ... for most things I'd do where I'd need a lift a grease pit would work. For most things that need the wheels off the ground I'd be sitting on the floor anyway. Don't want to do suspension or wheel work standing up, don't want to lift wheels chest high. Other than lifting a tranny out of a grease pit I can't think of much of a downside. Plus ... I'm 6'4" I can't fit under most lifts anyway and working with your head cocked to one side really blows.

[The Champ]

I used to only change oil on my old cars and took the daily drivers in to have the oil changed because years ago I found that many of the oil filters were put in weird places that made them difficult to access without a lift.

Then 3 years ago I purchased a QuickJack 5000. The prime motivator was to be able to polish rims without having to get down on my knees (even with a high quality foam pad called The Kneeler). My problem wasn't with my knees (using The Kneeler), it was my body due to 4 major surgeries which would cause me significant pain.

The QJ 5000 made polishing rims a breeze sitting down (photo #1)

I helped justify the purchase of the QJ by deciding to do the oil changes on my daily drivers also. The first one I did was my Chevy Equinox. And to my surprise, the GM engineers have put the oil filters back in easily accessible locations.

When I changed oil on my Caddy, it too had an easy to access oil filter. But just for ****s and giggles, I tried using my old car ramps first and learned that the ramps didn't get the ATS high enough for me to get underneath it. The QJ lifts it high enough that I can easily move around underneath even it.

Oil change costs using Dexos certified, full synthetic oil (5.XX quarts) and an ACDelco oil filter is about $19.00.

It may take me a few years to pay for my QJ with these savings, but I still enjoy doing it myself (age 67). Just did the ATS in June and the Equinox a couple of weeks ago. I traded in my ATS for a new CT4 Sport in late July. I get a free oil change and tire rotation on the new CT4 so I won't get to do that vehicle until 2022 some time.

The Equinox and the ATS used the same PF64 filter, so when I bought the QJ I bought a case of PF64's which helped reduce the filter cost to a little over $3.00 each. But the new CT4 uses a PF66 (even though both Caddy's use the same 2.0L Turbo), so I'll probably have a higher cost for my oil filter (a case for just one vehicle would last longer than I'll own the car). The filters aren't interchangeable as the thread sizes are different....

[Sirrotica]

Originally Posted by dataway

Sirrotica .... what would you think about a "modern" great pit ... for most things I'd do where I'd need a lift a grease pit would work. For most things that need the wheels off the ground I'd be sitting on the floor anyway. Don't want to do suspension or wheel work standing up, don't want to lift wheels chest high. Other than lifting a tranny out of a grease pit I can't think of much of a downside. Plus ... I'm 6'4" I can't fit under most lifts anyway and working with your head cocked to one side really blows.

Transmissions were slid under the car on a piece of 3/4 plywood after elevating the car with either floor j acks, or a chain fall. Sitting it on a few wooden blocks on top of the plywood, you simply bring the car down to the level of the transmission and install the bolts. Remove the blocks and plywood and it's about the same as working on a lift. Mine was 36 inches from wall to wall, 5ft 6 inches deep, and 20 feet from end to end, if I remember the length correctly, it was 42 years ago when I had the garage built. I was actually going to have another one built in the house I had built in 1992, but when we dug the pit it filled with water within 24 hours, so it was just filled back in, and a solid floor was poured. Water table was really high on that property

If i did brake work and had to remove wheels I used a floor jack on the edge of the lift. No it's not ideal for pulling wheels, but I was in my 30s when things changed in my life as far as renting a building for my business, and having a hobby shop at the house for my own stuff, as was the original intention

I worked from my home for about 2 1/2 years exclusively from a 2 car garage (24 X 30) with a flat stall, and the pit on the other bay. I installed a bunch of automatics and replaced a few clutches using the pit as described. I't wasn't as easy as having a lift, but I could afford a hole in the ground better than I could an inground lift. If I needed a lift, I had the business with 2 lifts, until my lease was terminated in 1982.

Originally I had the garage and gas station when I built my home garage, the pit wasn't meant to be used as an auto repair facility when first constructed. When the oil company terminated my lease in 1982 to tear down the existing building and convert the property to self serve station, it became my place of business, but that wasn't the plan. I lived on the west side of Erie PA, and the gas station was on the east side. I didn't want to have to travel 10 miles through town just to do some minor work on my personal cars, so the pit was included when the garage was constructed. It was originally planned to house my classic cars, and give me a shop at the house, but things sometimes don't go as planned.

If you look at the last picture in my signature (69 GP stock car) you'll see the garage and gas station in the background. The front of the building is in this picture of my J4000 Jeep wrecker/snowplow, with a 455 Pontiac transplanted into it.

[David Jones]

That same age gave you the brains to know when to hand off. Well done.

[dataway]

I can picture the fan belts hung way up on the wall, with a stick and hook to get them down I love old school gas stations and garages ... a lot of thought went into their design.

If I went with a pit I could probably get away with 10' ceilings instead of 12'. Which would look nicer in the vicinity of a one story house.

[Will]

I did maintenance on my cars over the years because I had to in order to be able to afford to own cars, not because I enjoyed it. I hate doing oil changes and brakes, and now that I'm reasonably successful, I'm happy to pay someone else to do the routine maintenance if it involves more than a half hour of work.

I still like working on my hobby cars, but that isn't maintenance. That's creating something cool. I'll also still do some of the bigger jobs on my old cars because paying a shop to do it is just too expensive. My truck needs a new transmission. I have a freshly rebuilt one in a crate and that truck is easy to work on so as soon as I get a free weekend I'll tackle that as I can have it done in about a day and a half of only working 5-6 hours a day. If it was a newer car and hard to work on I'd bite the bullet and pay a shop to do it.

Recently the plastic tank on the radiator in my daily beater cracked on the way to work. My girlfriend knows how busy I am right now so she actually took care of getting it fixed for me. All I had to do was drop it off at the shop and then pick it up when it was done. It would've only taken a day to fix it, but it was really nice not to have to deal with it right now.

[Bill H]

I have two reason not to do my own oil change on my 67 GTO any more.

1. I am older and to lazy.

2. I have a new 6 month old concrete driveway and if I spill oil all over it I am screwed.

I have a good local mom and pop place just down the street that do excellent "correct" work on old and classic cars.

[Sirrotica]

As a matter of fact, yes, the north wall was devoted to fan belts and radiator hoses, all of which I ended up taking to my garage at the house, and yes we had a stick with a hook to retrieve them. I stocked Gates Rubber products.

FWIW, it was a Pennzoil branded station (Yost Pennzoil, you can see the Pennzoil logo on the front fender of the race car, and the door of the wrecker). Pennzoil branded gas stations were mostly seen in, and around the west end of NY, the NW corner of PA, and a few stations in NE OH. They were in close proximity to the Pennzoil refinery in the Oil City (Rouseville PA) area of PA. When Shell Oil purchased the Pennzoil brand the Rouseville PA facility was closed.

[fyrffytr1]

This thread reminds me of something my father used to say. "Don't let your brain write a check your butt can't cash!"

[Terry M. Hunt]

I’ve been working on my 66 GTO convertible since April 2019. This is my 4th restoration and at 73, it will be my last. 3 other restored cars and a 71 GTO that I bought new also generate a surprising amount of upkeep and maintainence to preserve them in the condition I prefer. Motivation is still there and I can still do whatever I need to do physically, but I find that I no longer sentence myself to all day marathons. I break up projects into smaller pieces and give myself plenty of breaks. It hurts a lot more than it used to, but I keep at it because every task I give up is like a self fulfilling prophesy that means I become unable to do things at all.

[59safaricat]

Both of my grandfathers were still changing their own oil into their mid 80's, hopefully I can pull that off in the future.

[Drag Star Le Mans]

Originally Posted by Bill H

I have two reason not to do my own oil change on my 67 GTO any more.

1. I am older and to lazy.

2. I have a new 6 month old concrete driveway and if I spill oil all over it I am screwed.

I have a good local mom and pop place just down the street that do excellent "correct" work on old and classic cars.

Double check the work. Years ago I borrowed my brothers truck, he said the valve cover was leaking. I checked the oil level and looked at the valve cover, didn't appear to be leaking. The oil filter was loose and leaking. I have no idea how it wasn't blowing oil all over? Stopped by and ripped on those guys and told my bro to never have his oil change done there ever again. Here is another one for you. My brother in-law bought a 2019 Challenger and first 2 year oil changes were free. Those dip chips didn't tighten the filter and it leaked. I don't trust people working on my cars!