[Closed] Do you trust your own workmanship? (Car content)

When i 19 and a skint warehouse party goer, we'd often roll the minis on thier sides to weld up failing exhausts, drop front subrames on the drive to change engines (couldnt afford engine cranes and lifting the shell over the engine and subframe like a wheelbarrow was easier then humping an engine and box over the slam panel )
Changed tyres by dropping the car on to the bead and barring them off..

I shudder to think when i look back...

Yes...how can you get a battery wrong?!

I did go over my work several times before connecting up my camper split charge system, 330ahr of batteries shorting out through 35mm sq cable would be very spectacular 🙂

Aye- I remembered to take anything metal off and my watch!!!!!!

A battery? You're more likely to make an error re-fueling. I do basic servicing, brakes, towbars and stuff without any issues.

Yup, do most of my own servicing and maintenance. Quite satisfying really.

I have done a bit, including:

Shocks/springs
Wheels
Steering rack
Cam belts
Injectors
Brake calipers and pipes
Belts and pulleys
Plugs

and probably some other stuff.

Yep, don't often let other people work on my car.
Engine changes, brake caliper rebuilds, clutch, flywheel, wheel bearings etc. etc.
Only thing I've paid someone else for recently was a CV joint on a Landcruiser as it's a pig of a job.

I didn't do my brakes as I'm not a confident mechanic and they're quite important. Everything else I'll have a go at myself.

As for a Battery, whats the worse that can happen? It doesn't work? (or it destroys the whole car in a ball of ill fitted fire and fury)

I own a 32 year old MGB GT....................'nuff said 8)

It's only a battery

why ........back in the day we had to take the battery off every evening in the Winter & put it on charge & put it back on the next day

I did however once see an enormous 1 ton fork lift battery explode when the chains that were being used to lift it were dropped on the terminals

Aye, over 99% of other people TBH. But I do have a bit of experience and training.

[i]I didn't do my brakes as I'm not a confident mechanic and they're quite important. Everything else I'll have a go at myself.[/i]

Not knocking your logic (its sound) but brakes are *really* easy. Bout the easiest thing after oil/filter change!

Nope, I trust my "skills" enough for a bike but wouldn't risk bodging a car up.

I remember watching my old man changing some coil springs as a kid. He had them in a door way with a bottle jack. Compress 1", wrap steel wire around to hold in slightly compressed state. Compress some more & wrap more wire around.
Then onto the car, hide behind peice of plywood, reach around board & snip wires.

Have done a couple of clutches. Dont think I could be arsed these days, unless skint. 😕

Workmanship?

It's a battery. Unless you have accidentally hooked up a nuclear fission reactor I reckon its pretty idiot-proof.

For U31 - borrowed engine cranes make life so much easier

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its pretty idiot-proof.

With the horror stories on Pistonheads you'd think it was!

I'm learning all the time on car mechanics. Oil change next 😀

Hora, I honestly don't know how you got this far in life? I really don't...

But you make me laugh. Carry on....

I remember watching my old man changing some coil springs as a kid.

My dad's colleage made some spring compressors in the workshop. They failed, and shot the spring all around the shop at high speed, braking a lot of things. Very dangerous!

To be fair, my previous fixes were on old cheap cars. I had to my first job on nice new many-thousands of £ cars the other day 😕 Plus, one of those cars needs its cambelt doing...

Zedsdead. When I first built my own bike was a proud moment. This is the same. Since I've owned a subaru I've started replacing everything. Oil is the one thing I've 'avoided' out of ultimate fear even though its relatively easy.

My perspective new house has a huge garage so its suspension etc next 😀

you are right though, the fear of mucking up stops Joe-normal/office worker from doing anything on a car. Its sooo bloody easy. I'm halfway there though as I routinely use a claw hammer on my bike builds..

I changed the coil springs on this. They uncompressed are about three feet long. The method is to use two lengths of 5/16ths UNF threaded rod and some nuts on the 'strut top'. Its more like a dustbin lid. They say never to use the same rod twice as they stretch. I was so relieved when they were both replaced and bolted back down.

The Rolls Royce guy told me afterwards that some one who rushed then job, lost half his jaw when a spring escaped.

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I do all my own maintenance; bikes, cars, house, plumbing, wiring etc.

But I always turn my back when switching on a lightbulb I've just changed.

lost half his jaw when a spring escaped.

Changing a battery- standard thing... Someone received 3rd degree burns when his watch welded into his skin.

Oil changes are so easy, don't be afraid.
Subarus are really easy to work on, compared to some other makes cars. Everything just comes off and goes back on again with the minimum of fuss. I miss my Impreza.

Subarus are really easy to work on, compared to some other makes cars

The first thing I ever did to a mechanically to a car was replace the loose* coolant hose on a Forester, refill and burp the system (properly).

*It blew off under pressure after a cambelt change- the garage hadn't bothered to retighten the tension screw on the hose leading into the top of the radiator.

WHATS YOUR POINT HORA?

Yes I feel soo chuffed and pleased with myself- I just want to tell someone how ace it is to open your eyes and do your own mechanics!

I do most things on the car DIY. Brakes, services, resprays (they're rather longwinded though!), electrics etc.

I let the garage do things like cambelts on the car that's needed for A to B travel though. You don't want to spend all weekend desperately trying to get something done so you can get to work, and rushing between motor factors on a Sunday afternoon.

Cambelts are easy though if you can access everything. Really. Just get the right tools off ebay, lock everything in place and swap it over. It's only risky if you don't have the right tools and can't keep everything in alignment.

Even then, once you understand what you're doing you can mix everything up completely and still get it back to the right position cos it's all marked anyway. If you can play 'Downfall' you can do a cambelt 🙂

It blew off under pressure after a cambelt change- the garage hadn't bothered to retighten the tension screw on the hose leading into the top of the radiator.

not sure why they undone it, i have never undone the top hose or bottom hose to change a cambelt... and ive been changing them everyday for 6 years 😉 sounds like they were lost!

im a tech, but i just cant be arsed sometimes do sort my own car out, busmans holidays and all that.

i took my banger to kwick fit for its last oil/filter change for a measly £35 inc desposal charge and oil and materials!

its only costs then £10 if you think about it after you pay out for the materials!

mind i check it all after 😉

will say though.

people like to think cars are easy and oil and filters are easy to change BUT the amount of cross threaded sumps i have had to tap or replace as someone messes up.

best one ever. was a battery!!! welded a spanner from the block to the battery!!! so i will never ever say again its a easy job 😉

I do pretty much everything myself, when i can be arsed that is... 😆

if its our car, it goes to my dad, and he sorts it.....need to learn at some point though, not bugger off indoors and eat my parents out os house and home..

When I was young and had crappy cars, I'd do it all myself. Mini's were a great introduction to car maintenance because they were so easy to work on. I did pretty much all the maintenance on my 1275, it was a lot of fun.

Then I had a fiesta and did the same again, apart from an engine blueprint. Actually that car makes me angry, I was ripped off big style, that taught me a thing or two abd out people who sell cars for a living.

After my XR2 things started to get too complicated to do myself and I realised I could earn the money required to pay someone else, faster than I could do the work so from that point on I just got other people to fix things for me.

After my XR2 things started to get too complicated to do myself

They really haven't got any more complex, they just have more electronics on them, and if you're as geeky as me it's just as much fun playing with those as it is playing with the mechanics of it 🙂

It's weird actually, I'm a qualified electronic engineer but as soon as things stopped being mechanical I lost interest. Bizarre really, considering I work in IT now.

Another perspective on this- I've grown up with the attitude that if someone else can do this then why can't I do it? So I've done my best- and over the years I reckon that the money I've spent having professionals sorting my errors is less than the prices they would have charged overall to do the original job(s). And now I'm passing on that attitude to my 18 yr old son. He has replaced the clutch and brakes of the car that I am going to drive to be MOT'd tommorrow... Cripes!

I was particularly proud of my last diy fix. Persistent airbag fault light ('fixed' twice by the dealer who sold us the car, but he is too far away for more visits)

Bought a £10 diagnostic lead on ebay, resoldered one of the pins to suit the Fiat Punto. Reset lights, drove for a couple of days until lights came back on. Disconnected battery, then spent 1 hour trying to remove glove box to access known dodgy connector on the wiring loom, then realised I could pop out the passenger airbag switch and access the plug there. Two minutes rubbing down the pins with an emery nail file, reconnect everything, reset light, one month later its looking good 🙂 Seems strange after having put up with the lights for 9 months.

[i]Another perspective on this- I've grown up with the attitude that if someone else can do this then why can't I do it? [/i]] Exactly! I say the same thing.

[i]Another perspective on this- I've grown up with the attitude that if someone else can do this then why can't I do it?[/i]

Agree totally. In addition if your stuck at the side of the road you are more likely to get your head under the bonnet to sort OR it won't happen in the first place if you know your car....

I'm also considering the belts next (not cambelt).

Ive worked on a few cars in my time. I guess being in the business for 20+ years helps... 😯

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I bet there was no dealing with ancient rusted on fasteners on those cars 😆

[i]But I always turn my back when switching on a lightbulb I've just changed.[/i]

We've got an electric race car at work, ~160V @ 400-1000A. I had to remove the energy monitor (which is connected in the the main HV circuit) in front of a race scrutineers a couple of weeks back. I'm not 100% (more like 50%) familiar with the wiring, so although being 99% certain I'd isolated the battery, the joy of not being electrocuted when I first touched the spanner on the HV feed was immense 🙂

[i]not sure why they undone it, i have never undone the top hose or bottom hose to change a cambelt... and ive been changing them everyday for 6 years sounds like they were lost![/i]

Coolant hoses came off for my Iveco Dailys cambelt, I know cos they split the hose and it was pissing everywhere when I drove home. Luckily I was able to slice off 30mm of hose and reclamp it. Daily engine is longitudinal rather than transverse which means the rad is in front of the cambelt.

Nice Rolls mcmoonte!

Yes I trust myself from experience in electronics and engineering building cars with the old man etc but now life is hectic not sure I would to get my hands dirty except on the bike.

Did my timing belt 60K ago and it took a few hrs but would rather pay to have it done unless I was 'skint stoodant innit'
Problem solving is fun and you see the engineering logic to designs and solve issues or improve it.

To save money on short simple tasks yes but changing engines or new head etc done that and wasted a week of my life but I was skint at the time.
I still do my own servicing as some local garages don't even use the correct oil as they buy in bulk one does all...

Won't let LBS touch my bike though!

Just don't do something beyond your skill and break something and kick yourself! unless you have time/spare car and some decent mates!