NationStates Jolt Archive

So a friend of mine was talking to his neighbor about a 1974 Plymouth Duster that he had but never used. It belonged to the guy's father, and after his death, my friend's neighbor got it. Only problem is: it hasn't been started in 18 years.

Now he's moving and it's fallen into my friend's hands. The body is in great shape (been in a garage for those 18 years, so just a lot of dust), but the engine doesn't look so hot. It doesn't start, but I think it's the extremely dead battery.

So my friend asks me if I want to help him fix it up. Neither of us have any experience. Think we can do it?

-snip-
Hang on, if you're the Former Knights of Ni, what are you the Knights of now?

I'll go out on a limb and give you a reasonable odds of being able to change a dead battery. Cars don't just fall appart for no reason, especially when thier kept out of the rain.

If a car just sits there forever, it's not just the battery you need to worry about. You should get someone more experienced to at least take a look at it, if not drag it into a shop for a professional once-over.

If all of the fixing up involves fairly simple tasks I'm sure you can do it. Just think of a car as a much bigger and oilier computer and have at it.

Hang on, if you're the Former Knights of Ni, what are you the Knights of now?

Probably ekki-ekki-ekki-p!tang!p!tang!

I'll go out on a limb and give you a reasonable odds of being able to change a dead battery. Cars don't just fall apart for no reason, especially when thier kept out of the rain.

Yes they do. Especially cars that have been sitting. Any and all belts, rubber pieces, seals etc... they all dry out and become brittle/break. Things simply fall out of place from sitting in the same spot forever. Other pieces weaken. There is a reason why a Ferrari with 1k miles stays a museum piece and a Ferrari with 100k miles is stays a daily driver.

As far as the question, yes you can do it. Get the service manuals and put in work, effort cash and tools and it shouldn't be overly hard.

Probably ekki-ekki-ekki-p!tang!p!tang!
Nope. It's the Knights Who Say Neeow...Wum...Ping! According to the screenplay at least...

Anyone know any good car forums out there?

Nope. It's the Knights Who Say Neeow...Wum...Ping! According to the screenplay at least...


This would be hilarious if someone reading this hadn't seen the movie :p

I love it...

It's a MOPAR, so search for MOPAR fora. I unfortunately only know www.moparshop.de, but that is a German site, although some folks speak English there.