what is taught on tv

[BEEK]

i am sitting here watching tv this fine saturday morning, just finished the f1 qualifying. a new show came on. on this show these "mechanics" are rebuilding an engine. this engine has a bent push rod. much to my horror they show the "mechanic" straightening a bent pushrod in a vice and finishing with a rubber mallet. wow thats proper! i want those guys fixing my car. one time back many years ago, i watched a "mechanic" fix a bent valve using a hammer. he just put it back in the head and hammered the valve until he could get the seat to seal. yes on a fiat 124 engine! these are the people you want building your performance motor! NOT!

[narfire]

But I thought all mechanics used various sized hammers and "cresent" wrenches to fix things
I know what you mean though. I was a logger/faller here in BC for 25 years and when I watch those "logger" programs on the tube,I have to turn them off. To me all they were was an accident waiting for a place to happen. A logging accident is not a nice thing.

[BEEK]

finding lefthanded metric cresent wrenches was the hardest task

[So Cal Mark]

I always had more trouble finding left-handed hammers

[Foster48x]

If a Hammer and Duct Tape can't fix it... then it's not broken!

[maytag]

I don;t know what show you're watching, but did they really suggest that this was the "right" way? Or was it more of a "if you gots no money, this'll do" sort of thing? 'cuz I can assure you: it'll do. for awhile.

Back in the day when I was putting my wife through college on carpenters' wages, I had a Nissan pickup that was my tool-hauler. When it punched the rod through the block in the same month I'd paid tuition, I couldn't afford a new motor. So I built a patch for the block with 2 pieces of angle iron scavenged from the scrap on the jobsite, a bolt and lots of silicone. I cut the rocker arms off for that cylinder, and pulled the busted metal out of the pan..... and drove it as a 3-cylinder for almost a YEAR!

We do what we gotta do. and if the budget doesn't call for new con-rods.... and there's no real chance that it will get finished if you MUST have 'em, then I say get out that hammer and bang-away.

But you're right: they should NEVER be saying it's the "right way".

[manoa matt]

Have you ever seen "there I fixed it" ? http://thereifixedit.com/page/2/

[Foster48x]

Have you ever seen "there I fixed it" ? http://thereifixedit.com/page/2/

Yup! That's where I get most of my restoration ideas from.

[maytag]

Have you ever seen "there I fixed it" ? http://thereifixedit.com/page/2/

SWEET! I LOVE it!

My Dad would be proud of some of those.