Car Maintenance

[Skosh]

Hey guys,

First off, apologies if this is in the wrong forum but didn't really know where to put it.

Basically, I want to learn how to maintain and also tune cars. At the moment I have a lot of theoretical knowledge about engines, tuning etc but having never really worked on cars I've no practical experience of doing so.

I have some spare cash just now so I am planning to buy a car to practice on. The advice I'm looking for is which car would be best? I'd obviously prefer it was something cheap to buy and with readily available parts as this is my first time.

I have heard that mini's and beetles are good cars to learn on as they are very easy to work on. I love Mk1 Golfs but I'm not sure what they are like to work on.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

[Jimbo.]

Mk1 Golf will be fine

[PH lurker]

Some quick suggestions from what I have read:

Morris Minor
MGB (GT)
MG Midget
Triumph Herald
Land Rover Series 1,2, 2a and 3.



ETA consider looking into:

MG Metro
Hillman Imp
Mini
Citroen 2CV?
Saw this but might cost a lot to sort: http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3306773.htm

+
BMC 1100 and 1300
Austin A40
Ford 'Popular'

Edited by PH lurker on Wednesday 12th October 18:28

Edited by PH lurker on Wednesday 12th October 18:30

[Rickyy]

I rebuilt the top end of a 1.3 MK2 Golf at 16, was very easy to work on. Minimal electrics, carburetor, distributor and single cam.

I say go for it if you have the money and space. I wouldn't bother with a Beetle, I don't enjoy working on mine.

[Matt UK]

Mk1 MX5 is very simple to work on.

You could buy a mechanically solid car with MOT-failed rusty rear sills for a few hundered quid if you keep you eyes peeled.

[Skosh]

Cool.

Thanks for the replies guys

Yeah I just saw that Clubman actually. I have a soft spot for them so could be an option but like you said it looks like a lot of work.

[PH lurker]

Matt UK said:

Mk1 MX5 is very simple to work on.

You could buy a mechanically solid car with MOT-failed rusty rear sills for a few hundered quid if you keep you eyes peeled.

+1

Also found this but not sure on condition and price or how sensible it is: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1968-MORRIS-OXFORD-GREEN...

[AlpineWhite]

Be careful when you choose a car, that you won't spend most of your time fighting rusty nuts and bolts, instead of actually making progress!

Of course, for some, that's half the fun. Me, I'm not so sure.

[GAjon]

You don't mention what your budget is, but the TVR S series cars are cheap as chips at the moment, simple to work on, and I reckon any time and money invested has a good chance of a return (or maybe keeping even) at the end.

[RobCrezz]

Nissan 200sx s13. You can get experience tuning efi and turbocharging, which will be quite useful as more and more cars will be turbocharged going forward.

Get the nistune software and you can learn to remap the ecu.

[kambites]

Generally speaking, cars with longitudinal in-line engines are easiest to get at; transverse engines and Vs tend to be more tightly packaged and hence more awkward. I'd get something with carbs rather than fuel injection, since they're inherently understandable mechanical devices.

Of course knowledge of fuel injection is more useful these days.

[eltax91]

Old landy. Easy to work on, a variety of common faults to keep you occupied and you will have to learn to weld too.

[Sump Scraper]

E30-E36 BMWs . very easy to work on,loads of parts available and fairly cheap as well.

[kambites]

Sump Scraper said:

E30-E36 BMWs . very easy to work on,loads of parts available and fairly cheap as well.

If you're going to go that way, I'd make sure it's a four-pot.

[Lanby]

kambites said:

If you're going to go that way, I'd make sure it's a four-pot.

Genuine question, Why's that then instead of a six, cost? ease to work on?

[theironduke]

kambites said:

Sump Scraper said:

E30-E36 BMWs . very easy to work on,loads of parts available and fairly cheap as well.

If you're going to go that way, I'd make sure it's a four-pot.

And decent E30's are getting very rare, you can't pick them up for pennies like you used to be able too.

[Sump Scraper]

Lanby said:

kambites said:

If you're going to go that way, I'd make sure it's a four-pot.

Genuine question, Why's that then instead of a six, cost? ease to work on?

The 4 pots would be cheaper to service but the cars are exactly the same apart from the engines and diffs,exhausts,few wee other bits n bobs.
I love the sound of the straight 6 though.....

I run an 1999 E36 318is coupe,(would love an E30 318is as well though) great car in my opinion,very reliable and easy to work on and very easy to get parts for.
great car for practising your diy skills on,everything is straight forward when doing the maintenance,brakes,coolant system,oil filter easy to get at,timing chain so no timing belt worry s,just a pleasure to work on and there is great on-line community to asks question to if your having problems.

Early 90-00's VWs are a good car to spanner as well, most late 80's-early 00's cars are easy to work on, well apart from some french cars!! talk about over complicating simple things....lol.

[Skosh]

Thanks very much for all the help guys.

I understand the principle behind getting something with a more simple engine to practice on but like was mentioned before, an s13 200sx would give me knowledge of fuel injection and turbocharging. Now, I don't want to run before I can walk so to speak but obviously the cars I will be owning in future will most likely have EFI and some sort of forced induction.

Would it be easy enough to work on an engine such as this with the limited skills I have or it would be easier to start on a basic engine first and work my way up?

To give you a bit of background. I have some engineering experience and I am a very fast learner therefore I pick things up quickly and find complicated problems to be quite challenging and fun (maybe I'm sad).

What do you think?

I just don't want to spend time on say a carb'd engine only to then have to start all over again when I look into working on more modern cars.

[Matt UK]

I'd start with a simple fuel injected 4-pot.

[Classic Grad 98]

Doesn't matter what car you're working on, the basic assembly principles holding it all together are pretty much universal. What you do need to consider is:
-is there working clearance around the major assemblies
-how many jobs are there that you wouldn't be comfortable to tackle
-are parts readily available and are they affordable
-is there an enthusiasts club which can help if you get stuck
...and it goes on. My advice- get whatever floats your boat that fits the above criteria (or at least most of them!) You'll learn!
As I say, I started with the Caterham which is essentially a mechano set, and there is no job which I couldn't tackle. No special tools required, no tricky bits, barely any electrics etc etc.
Your suggestions range from a Morris to a Nissan 200sx- you must know roughly what interests/excites you?