Any job under the bonnet of a mini once you have gouged a slot into the back of your head with the bonnet catch! After that I just wanted to smash the car up! Happened more than once too!
Exhaust manifold on said same mini.
Rover SD1 heater matrix replacement
Anything in the engine bay of a Lancia integrale ;-) Especially water pump change, 'cos if the engine's not been out, and one belt cover hasn't been modified by someone in the know ready for next time, you cannot get the sod ding thing out. One hole changed to a slot so you can get the cover off the M6X50 long screw that only has 30mm clearance behind it, and it becomes easier.
Had to change the output bearing of the ZF power take off drop box used in an Alfa 159 Q4 to get drive to the rear diff - 40 quids worth of two bearings and three seals - but 2 days of getting whole front of car off, V6 engine and box out, subframe out, a few hours to do it, then three days to get the thing back together. ZF say non-serviceable, wouldn't give build info for pre-load of pinion bearing assembly - make an educated guess, set up rolling torque, and so far, fingers crossed . . .
I'm a design engineer, so I do tend to try to design access in, with minimal number of bolt sizes to avoid carrying large numbers of tools, as I will be the one at some point in some factory somewhere in the world either doing it, or explaining to someone how to do it . . . ;-)
Some great examples of totally mind bending jobs guys...modern day cars are totally crud in my opinion. Some look nice. Why can't they make stuff like it used to be years ago. Mk2 granada. Mk5 cortina . They had problems yes.but everything was metal.
Core plug on the back of a Perkins 4236 fitted in a Range Rover - engine out or heater out and cut an access panel in the bulkhead.
Yer.. a friend of mine runs his own garage. Said to me that some of the new range rovers have to have the body lifted off the chassis to replace the turbo..I reckon it's all down to modular design/construction. Sub-assemblies are put together, then slung underneath the shell or other sub-assemblies.
You almost have to reverse the factory assembly line to reach some components, where that's intentional or not is another matter.......
Yer.. a friend of mine runs his own garage. Said to me that some of the new range rovers have to have the body lifted off the chassis to replace the turbo..
It's absolutely ridiculous ain't it.I believe it's the same for gearbox repairs.