Any job on a Ford Escort -hated those things.
Clutch on a 180B, gearbox always jams on the tunnel.
Clutch on Nissan Patrols / Ford Mavericks because you can't split the transfer case from the gearbox and need about three big jacks to balance it on the right angles.
Wiper pivot on a HJ - up through the bottom of the dash and no room to move a spanner.
Power steering box on a XC Ford V8 with extractors

Pommy and Italian cars feature highly on my 3-2-1 countdown list.

3/ Maserati Merak SS Timing chain. All available manuals in Italian and French, so many things to wrap it around, and so many bad things to happen when you get it wrong. And $800 head gaskets.

2/ Anything under the bonnet of a 420G Daimler or the Jag equivalent on the induction side. No room and so many sharp edges to cut you and cable ends to poke you.

1/ Fiat X1/9 master cylinder. Mounted inside the car high up under the dash. Several hours of back breaking fun standing on your head with legs poking out of the sunroof.

Keeping it all GMH.... and the cars that I know well

- Dropping the sump on a VB-VS Commodore. PITA dropping all the K-frame & steering.
- Fitting extractors to any V8 Commodore....
- Trying to get a motor & box (combined) into a VL with its much smaller tunnel. Likewise trying to undo bellhousing bolts when the whole lot is still in the car.
- Changing # 1 plug on a VK-VL V8 with aircon & the factory compressor bracket. I almost always break the top off the plug trying to undo it.
- Pressing out front balljoints on VB-VP. Sometimes you get lucky, but most times they're a real pig.
- VB-VK clutch cable...
- Bolt from the steering column into the pedal frame in VB-VL (without pulling half the dash out to get access).
- Changing the heater core in a VK-VL (which requires pulling pretty much all the dash out)

And the # 1 for me is not dirty, just bloody difficult (and almost never gets refitted - resulting in rattles).
Undoing the LH one of the 3x 10mm nuts that secure the crash pad into a VC or VH with Air-international aircon, without removing almost the entire A/C system first.
Thankfully you only need to crack it & spin it a few turns, as the bracket is slotted, but it's almost impossible to get a socket up in there. 1/2" drive are too big. 1/4" drive extension bars will fit, but the 10mm socket is too shallow for the protruding stud. Years ago I bought a 3/8" set, and I've kept the extension bar & 10mm socket, along with a 1/2 to 3/8 drive adapter, just for this job.

Welsh plug in the back of the head on an XP Falcon. No room between the head and firewall.
Last one I did I cut a hole about 50mm in the firewall with a holesaw from inside the car and hammered the new welsh plug in from under the dash. Behind the LH kick panel is a rubber bung pushed into the frame that was a perfect fit to use to plug the holesaw cut in the firewall. Owner was a mate who didn't mind!

Maybe the best uni join is the ones without the grease nipple, so no one does over grease them, I think that's the main problem and to be able to hear it coming before the click is the trick, once you over do it then the seal is buggered, water and muck can get in and that makes it a must do grease job constantly and it's roo ted before you know it.

As an apprentice I got all the crap jobs but I think that it made me a better tradesman for it . That said , I think that one of the worst jobs I was given at the time was a total rebuild od a automatic transmission on a BMC six cylinder Marina . I had only just started my fourth year as an apprentice and it was an all Holden dealership . it was let us say a challenge .

Just one plug was a bit of a bother but you come at it by turning the steering wheel hard right and come at it from their.

But anyroad the car I now have just to be able to see the water pump belt is hard let alone be buggered if I can get me hands in their.

sounds difficult but tried heater core on a SAAB 9000T....
NOT done from inside the car but from the engine bay!

first you remove the turbo exhaust system (yup inc its own separate oil supply setup) followed by the entire FI system -lines, hoses etc
then cam timing system (two special tools required.. special order from factory spares dept overseas, thankfully I know before) inc cogs and belts
then separate engine from auto trans a frag, and undo one engine mount

why this?... silly me, of course to then remove the cylinder head which is done by tilting engine block about 15deg forward
all done so far?... right!

then you remove PART OF THE FIREWALL from inside the engine bay and ... oh lordy, look! finlly, the heater core and HVAC case
Remove both thru hole in firewall and R&R the heater core .. and go into reverse to install/replace .

Factory service book says allow 18 hours from start to finish.. took me a week

Edited by user Thursday, 19 August 2021 4:34:18 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Sometimes it's not about the type of work you have, but the way your boss treats you. For as long as I can remember, I hated one of my college jobs; I mean the jobs when I was still young when I had to cut metal on my own. It is not the worst thing I have ever done, but how my director treated me was awful. I remember how I later came up across https://swindens.co.uk/h...e-5-essential-elements/, and suddenly I felt a smell of displeasure because of all of the memories that a bench vice can bring me. The way my boss treated me made me hate the work I was doing, even though I liked it initially. Yeah, that was my worst professional experience!

I can explain why Ford's automatic transmissions often break down. Initially, automatic transmissions used conventional motor oils, which had to be changed frequently. In this case, the quality of shifting gears was extremely low.
In 1949, General Motors developed a special liquid for automatic transmissions, ATF-A, which was used in all automatic transmissions produced in the world.
In 1957, the specification was revised and named Type A Suffix A (ATF TASA). One of the components (namely viscosity modifier) in producing these fluids was whale oil. By the way, some ATF still smells like fish, like Mercon. Good thing it doesn't apply to https://www.heming-engineering.co.uk/tractors-and-machinery/siromer-small-tractors.

Edited by user Monday, 11 April 2022 7:25:09 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified