DIY mechanics success stories
Discussion
The Crack Fox said:
BigBen said:
A colleague and I just replaced the clutch on his Boxster. Took us ages but it all works and saved £600 odd.
Wow ! I thought that was a 'specialist only' job on the Boxster. How long did it take ?I suspect with a proper transmission jack it would have been 7 hours. With prior knowledge of how to remove the rear spoiler / bumper 6 hours. With non stuck gear selector cables 5 hours and so on.
Nothing about the job was difficult for anyone with a modicum of mechanical skill, just a lot to get through.
Ben
The Crack Fox said:
Relax. The car will never be sold. It's a tatty weekend plaything. 
To the others - the cost of welding and/or a new wing would outweigh the value of the whole car. It's not like I couldn't afford to have it done, actually, it was a bit of Sunday fun to find a home-made cheapo bodge.
To the others - the cost of welding and/or a new wing would outweigh the value of the whole car. It's not like I couldn't afford to have it done, actually, it was a bit of Sunday fun to find a home-made cheapo bodge.
Excellent. It does the job, non-structural. If Lotus and McLaren can bond their cars together I can't see why you can't! God only knows how people feel about my plastic chassis!I've done virtually all of the day-to-day maintenance on my Honda S2000 myself. It's incredibly enjoyable to do the work and feel the benefits, plus the cost of diy is pennies in comparison with main dealer stamps.
If you then factor in the quantity of times work has been 'inconsistently' finished by main dealers, I find it difficult to find value in those stamps you find in the books.
The other aspect is care. They perform their tasks within a very tight budget and a very tight time frame. I take great pride in learning as I go and being aware of the condition of everything too so I can plan around potential surprises.
If you then factor in the quantity of times work has been 'inconsistently' finished by main dealers, I find it difficult to find value in those stamps you find in the books.
The other aspect is care. They perform their tasks within a very tight budget and a very tight time frame. I take great pride in learning as I go and being aware of the condition of everything too so I can plan around potential surprises.
Mr2Mike said:
Ferg said:
Excellent. It does the job, non-structural. If Lotus and McLaren can bond their cars together I can't see why you can't! God only knows how people feel about my plastic chassis!My most laughable failure was when I tried to change one of the headlamp bulbs on the Ibiza. 40 minutes later and with some cut and bruised fingers, I still hadn't changed it. Neither could a friend of mine.
Took it to a local indy and asked if they could change it for some beer money. The mechanic came over, and with a piece of chocolate Swiss roll in one hand, changed the bulb with the other hand in less than 2 minutes. I still don't understand how!
Took it to a local indy and asked if they could change it for some beer money. The mechanic came over, and with a piece of chocolate Swiss roll in one hand, changed the bulb with the other hand in less than 2 minutes. I still don't understand how!
Partial success story here. Spent the last 2 days removing the EGR valve from my Pug 206 HDI GTI to give it a clean as I'd read that this can be a cure for the dreaded "Unblock Diesel Filter" warning. Bit of a fiddly job to do as the valve is between the engine and the bulkhead with minimal room for hands and tools. Got through a can of Wynn's Diesel EGR 3 cleaning fluid and cleared out loads of soot, and eventually got everything back together. Took the car out for a spin, it felt a little bit more responsive at low revs, but after about 20 minutes it went 'ping' and the warning message came up again. Bit gutted as I'd really hoped this would solve the problem and I'd save myself a few hundred quid, but it looks like professional help will be needed. Still felt quite satisfying to be doing a good bit of manual work rather than being sat at a desk all day though.
I had a fun Sunday morning with the spanners:
This was replacing the nasty old rad with a shiny new one, and doing a coolant flush and change and fitting new hoses whilst at it.
I've been doing quite bit of work on this truck recently, cambelt and tensioner, hub rebuild with new CV joints on both sides, fixed two broken electric windows, service etc etc. I'm rather pleased with it at the moment.
This was replacing the nasty old rad with a shiny new one, and doing a coolant flush and change and fitting new hoses whilst at it.
I've been doing quite bit of work on this truck recently, cambelt and tensioner, hub rebuild with new CV joints on both sides, fixed two broken electric windows, service etc etc. I'm rather pleased with it at the moment.
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