Yesterday I was installing new brake lines into my 1954 Willys CJ-3B, and while it was quite a simple job, there is one section of the car that’s just a massive pain in the butt, and it got me thinking about all the engineering packaging decisions that have compromised serviceability and thus lost me hours of my time.
Specifically, where the brake master cylinder bolts to the frame is a bit of a shitshow on an old Willys Jeep. The master cylinder is sandwiched between a bracket and the frame via two bolts that thread into — often brake inside of (after rusting) — the frame. Since my Jeep is from California, I narrowly managed to thread those two bolts out, but once the master cylinder was in, routing new brake lines was rough.
The thing about new brake lines is that they’re rarely perfect, meaning you have to fine-tune some of the bends to get them to meet the fittings. My issue was that the brake line has to go through a small hole in my frame before immediately mating up to the master cylinder. Here you can see it from up top”
Here’s a side view:
And here’s a little closer look:
Trying to bend the line, then thread it through that small hole (which already has a hose going through it) took me forever, especially since the fitting was right there after the bend, and especially since I had to do this while on my back.
Another classic example of a packaging decision that has ruined a few of my afternoons is the oil filter housing location on post-~1992 Jeep Cherokee XJs. These things leak like a sieve, and to fix them one has to remove the oil filter adapter from the engine block; it’s held on by a single torx bolt, whose head is so ridiculously close to the unibody rail that you have to either buy a special tool (shown below) or custom-make your own tool to remove it.
I myself had to buy a torx socket, cut it down with an angle grinder, then use a box wrench to just barely fit between that rail and the oil filter adapter.
Don’t even get me started on the upper shock bolts on the Jeep Cherokee XJ, which tend to break in the weld nuts captured in the unibody. The result? You have to use an air chisel to break the weld nut and then you have to fish the nut and broken bolt out from behind. Then you have to fish a new bolt in through the top and hold it in place while you thread a nut on — it’s rough, as YouTuber D&E In The Garage shows below:
And then there was my multi-day nightmare with my Chevy HHR control arms!
As with many wrenching endeavors, if you have the right tools is key, and once you’ve figured out how to do it the first time subsequent fixes are usually much easier.
Still, this is a thread for us to complain about tight packaging making repair jobs a bear, so have at it in the comments!
If you are still having nightmares about the control are bushings on that HHR i raise you a PT crusier. Those are traped in the frame rail of the unibody and are held together with a clip that rusts and breaks. The only way to get to the nut is cutting the frame rail open and claping the nut with vise grips. Also the hell that is a water pump and timing belt job.
I had a first gen Audi 5000 (circa 1979) and the parking brake cable went diagonally through the gas tank
I mean, at least 70% of every repair I’ve ever done on a 21st century VW product was in some way hampered by an irritating engineering decision.
Soooo… my 1963 Chrysler 300J.
Let’s just make the engine, SOLID LIFTER and long ram manifold. Take the entire intake system off (8-12 hours) to set the valves. Granted, back in the day ( and lots today) definitely performance focused, but sheesh!!