DIY mechanics success stories
Discussion
Just A tip to diy servicers, I just bought an oil pump to make life cleaner and easier. Pele pump I think It's called.
Very simple to use, get engine hot with a short drive. Remove dip stick and insert the fine tube on the pump into the dip stick tube till it hits the bottom. Operate the pump to create vacuum and it sucks the oil from the sump. No more spills, mess or threaded sump bolts, easy!
Sorry if this is old hat, It's new to me and bloody brilliant!
Very simple to use, get engine hot with a short drive. Remove dip stick and insert the fine tube on the pump into the dip stick tube till it hits the bottom. Operate the pump to create vacuum and it sucks the oil from the sump. No more spills, mess or threaded sump bolts, easy!
Sorry if this is old hat, It's new to me and bloody brilliant!
With zero mechanical skills or knowledge, a year ago, i started to fulfill a childhood dream of building a kit car so bought this MX5....
...which then looked like this a few weeks later....
...which now looks like this (not got a pic of mine but virtually identical to the one in the pic)...
Its been a massive learning curve and now confident on repairing pretty much anything which may go wrong with it.
...which then looked like this a few weeks later....
...which now looks like this (not got a pic of mine but virtually identical to the one in the pic)...
Its been a massive learning curve and now confident on repairing pretty much anything which may go wrong with it.
spikeyhead said:
DuncanM said:
TheInternet said:
DuncanM said:
I found the job quite therapeutic and relatively easy as long as you have a half decent set of tools and can read a manual.
Haven't done much car fixing in a long time. A brake light switch on the Boxster was probably the last time I did something.
You should also read Sennett's "The Craftsman"
I had the low oil warning light illuminate intermittently on my BMW 330i despite the oil level being full, after not having it for long. Upon closer inspection of various invoices etc within the service history, were a couple of bills totalling a few hundred quid for investigation and repair work the previous owner had done regarding this. I bought an oil level sensor from ebay for £14 inc delivery, 6L of oil and filter for £25 and me and a mate (neither of us mechanics)fitted the sensor and replaced the oil and filter in under an hour. All fixed, light extinguished 
Today I put my instrument panel back in after stripping it down and cleaning the connections on the circuit board as the temperature gauge refused to work I also changed the gauge for a nos one off eBay for a tenner as it looked like someone had played around with it previous also I put bigger washers on so it would earth better.
I would hate to think what audi would have charged for a new instrument panel.
Also my main beam didn't work so rather than stripping down and replacing the light stalks I sprayed them with contact cleaner and hey presto it's all working as good as new.
So I spent £13 on a gauge and some contact cleaner rather than taking the car in to audi for a new dash and a new set of indicator and light stalks, I just love it when it works out like that.
I would hate to think what audi would have charged for a new instrument panel.
Also my main beam didn't work so rather than stripping down and replacing the light stalks I sprayed them with contact cleaner and hey presto it's all working as good as new.
So I spent £13 on a gauge and some contact cleaner rather than taking the car in to audi for a new dash and a new set of indicator and light stalks, I just love it when it works out like that.
I swapped the rears to the fronts and vice versa on my old Astra sporthatch...all went well until I realised that I hadn't tightened one if the rear wheels 200 tards down the road...
When new tyre time came I also realised that all wheels were rather over tightened...next time I'll buy a proper torque wrench and not rely on the one that comes with the spare wheel
When new tyre time came I also realised that all wheels were rather over tightened...next time I'll buy a proper torque wrench and not rely on the one that comes with the spare wheel
ezi said:
evoivboy said:
refurbed my brembos when i had the evo
from this
to this
[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/6xpTku6R.jpg[/ig]
[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/e4vfDLDN.jpg[/ig]
Good effort!from this
to this
[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/6xpTku6R.jpg[/ig]
[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/e4vfDLDN.jpg[/ig]
I'm going to be refurbing some new (But used) calipers for my car soon, any tips? Was thinking of just stripping then down as much as I can and wire brushing then using a de-ironiser to remove leftover rust then priming and spray painting?
I used to do all my own maintenance and repairs on my cars. 2x cam belts on my Capris, head rebuilds on my XR3i's and loads of other stuff like tracing electrical faults.
I had a bit of a sideline going in the early 90's when lots of people I worked with had cvh engined Escorts and Orions. I bought myself a £3 valve spring compressor from the local motor factors and earned some decent beer money replacing stem seals and hydraulic tappets on these engines. I used to enjoy it until one day, I was working on a workmates Orion and I forgot to turn one of the pistons to tdc and dropped the valve into the bore.
My blood ran cold, and set about undoing the head, levered it up and got my hand in there to retrieve the valve. I just plonked the head back down again and retightened the head bolts, a bit of a hodge, but it was fine.
I told the girl who's car it was what had happened, but luckily, it ran fine afterwards, with no issues.
Then I bought a mk2 Golf Gti and did all the servicing on that, including new cam belt. Very easy to work on. I once changed an engine mount in my lunch hour on that. It literally took 10mins.
Re: the Halfords 'We will fit it' wiper comment above,
It seems that many people see cars as impossibly technical, mystical things. A friend of mine was restoring an old MG once and his sister in law said "But you're not a mechanic!", she couldn't get her head around it at all.
I had a bit of a sideline going in the early 90's when lots of people I worked with had cvh engined Escorts and Orions. I bought myself a £3 valve spring compressor from the local motor factors and earned some decent beer money replacing stem seals and hydraulic tappets on these engines. I used to enjoy it until one day, I was working on a workmates Orion and I forgot to turn one of the pistons to tdc and dropped the valve into the bore.
My blood ran cold, and set about undoing the head, levered it up and got my hand in there to retrieve the valve. I just plonked the head back down again and retightened the head bolts, a bit of a hodge, but it was fine
.I told the girl who's car it was what had happened, but luckily, it ran fine afterwards, with no issues.
Then I bought a mk2 Golf Gti and did all the servicing on that, including new cam belt. Very easy to work on. I once changed an engine mount in my lunch hour on that. It literally took 10mins.
Re: the Halfords 'We will fit it' wiper comment above,
It seems that many people see cars as impossibly technical, mystical things. A friend of mine was restoring an old MG once and his sister in law said "But you're not a mechanic!", she couldn't get her head around it at all.
Also, I remember working on this lasses X reg Metro. It had the old A series engine of course and was running really rough, hardly ticking over and missing like mad. It turned out that The distributor cap was loose, the points all pitted and badly adjusted and the HT leads were shot.
I sorted all these. The bits came to £17 i think (new dizzy cap included) and it ran sweet as a nut. I also had to turn the idle right down on the carb, as the 'mechanic' she had been taking it to had just turned it up to keep the engine ticking over.
I sorted all these. The bits came to £17 i think (new dizzy cap included) and it ran sweet as a nut. I also had to turn the idle right down on the carb, as the 'mechanic' she had been taking it to had just turned it up to keep the engine ticking over.
Had the 911 in quite a few bits...
Hybrid turbos...
Exhaust...
Intercoolers...
Various intake bits 'n' bobs
Bigger Brakes...
I've also replaced both air-con condensors, all three water radiators, fitted GT2 rear ARB, new droplinks, uprated engine and transmission mounts, exhaust manifolds, coils, plugs etc, etc, etc...
Lovin' it...at least I know it's done properly
Hybrid turbos...
Exhaust...
Intercoolers...
Various intake bits 'n' bobs
Bigger Brakes...
I've also replaced both air-con condensors, all three water radiators, fitted GT2 rear ARB, new droplinks, uprated engine and transmission mounts, exhaust manifolds, coils, plugs etc, etc, etc...
Lovin' it...at least I know it's done properly
DHE said:
Nadger, we all have to start somewhere. Got any mates who are into cars? Ask to assist when they are next servicing their own car. Good way to learn.
Sadly no! I do have a mate who used to be a mechanic, but now he's a builder (don't ask!) and as such never has time to do his servicing himself!I will learn one day. I have a 4 month old son and have a sort of idea in my head about restoring something together sometime in the future! Hopefully that'll happen and we can learn together!
Any suggestions of classics of the future to learn from?! ;-)
4key said:
I really am going to have to buy myself some pork at some point, they dont actually look that bad to work on
Not in the same league as above, but replacing the alternator on my Boxster was a bit of a pig of a job. Not much room at all! 
ETA: it was worth it though, as I took it for a spin afterwards with the engine covers and sound deadening removed. Sounded great!
Edited by Baz Tench on Saturday 6th October 21:37
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