| Motoring Discussion > How did you find out stuff about cars? | Car Deals |
| Thread Author: No FM2R | Replies: 32 |
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New Mon 9 Apr 18 19:53
How did you find out stuff about cars? - No FM2R
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I was never going to be able to pay people to fix or maintain stuff for me, so I simply had to have a go. Dismantling cars in scrapyards to get the spares I wanted was like practice, Haynes Manuals (the Bible in those days)(reassembly is the reverse of disassembly) and trial & [frequent] error. That together with the fact that I owned such a never ending stream of s*** I had plenty of opportunity to learn. A history of frozen hands, skinned knuckles, wet or snow roads to lie in, not having the right spanner, never mind "special tool no 1234, working by a table lamp balance on the engine, and trying to substitute brute force and heat for thought and knowledge and special tools. Especially ball joint splitters. Until companies started giving me cars, every vehicle I had was repaired and maintained by me. I'm quite proud of that. |
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New Mon 9 Apr 18 20:18
How did you find out stuff about cars? - sooty123
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All sorts of ways, from friends and family, I had a background in spanner twirling so I transferred some of that to cars, haynes, more recently very helpful forums that would give detailed, with pictures, how tos. Can't say I did absolutely everything for every fault on every car but still a fair bit. |
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New Mon 9 Apr 18 20:33
How did you find out stuff about cars? - Robin O'Reliant
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| Same as FM2R, I bought third and fourth hand cars in the days when even new ones broke down frequently. I quite enjoyed tinkering with cars back then, I was young and enthusiastic and most jobs on them were fairly straightforward to do. |
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New Mon 9 Apr 18 21:25
How did you find out stuff about cars? - Bromptonaut
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Guess I was lucky in that I had a dependable salary from age 18. By time I got a car at 22 in 1982 my 'flexible friend' would cope with unexpected bills albeit breaking the 'pay in full' mantra my Dad had dinned into me. Alright for him as a higher rate tax payer with a mortgage payment based on borrowing £10k in 1969..... I was though keen do do stuff I could. Maternal Uncle taught had me a lot as a kid in sixties/seventies watching him restoring an old Mini for his girlfriend and showing me how the caburettor in his Triumph 1300 worked while sorting out a leaking float with epoxy. Watched him repair lots of other stuff too. particularly electric kit like vacuums and TVs - he was an AMIEE. Was was very methodical about fault finding too. He got a shock once off an old TV once which gave me a huge respect for volts..... Otherwise it was the Haynes manual (or Lindsey Porter's for the Mini). Biggest job I ever did was head gasket on the Mini and it all worked when I put it back together. These days I limit myself to electrics and obvious stuff like leaking pipes. Helpful though to understand suck, squeeze, bang blow and how things like valves work. Not so easily taken for a mug. While on the subject I'm trying to get The Lad to understand how his Pug 107 works and how to do basic maintenance. Can anybody suggest a book that bridges gap from 'How it Works' to the Haynes manual? He's never going to be a mechanic - my Dad's habit of holding a screwdriver like a hammer has jumped a generation to him - I'd just like him to understand what things are and which noises he should bother about. Oh and to check his oil instead of 'forgetting' until the level light glows. Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Mon 9 Apr 18 at 21:28
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New Mon 9 Apr 18 21:26
How did you find out stuff about cars? - PeterS
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I think it’s interesting just how reliable cars become in a relatively short space of time. I’m not that much younger than No FM2R I don’t think - I passed my driving test in 1988 and bought my first car in 1990. That was a 1984 FIAT Uno, which cost me, from memory, £1,100. But I never needed to repair it. I serviced it shortly after buying it. I say ‘I’; it had the same 1116 cc engine as the Fiat 128 my Mum used to own, so my Dad showed me what to do (did most of it...). I had a Haynes manual, which was invaluable for helping install the rear speakers and ‘upgraded’ stereo ;) It also helped me change the brake pads. Nothing else was needed. It did give me an understanding that has been useful to this day in knowing just enough about cars to not get the wool pulled over my eyes by garages...! I then had a succession of well worn warm/hot hatches - 205 GTi (C reg) XR3i (A reg) RS1600i Y reg) Golf GTi (H reg big bumper) but again, none of which ever actually broke. Servicing by then was mainly done by friends of friends in return for drinks or whatever...if it was done at all... I did buy a pre reg Fiat Uno in 1992 (K reg) for £4,500 which was serviced at the Fiat garage on Shirley Road in Southampton. But by 1994 I had a company Ford Escort (LX, with tinted glass and spoiler, and the nastiest 1.4 engine known to man :p) and from then until 2005,when I opted out of company cars, I never worried about servicing. My partner learned to drive in 1998, and Citroen offered free insurance on Saxos at the time, so a VTR was a sensible purchase :p. That was serviced at Caledonian Citroen on Rose Kiln Lane in Reading. I’ve dabbled with some of the old bangers I’ve bought since I started frittering money on them rather than changing our ‘proper’ cars. But again, none of them have ver actually left anyone stranded. That covers everything from a 1984 BMW 318i to a 1996 Audi A8 Quattro. The only significant problem was the blown heater matrix on the 1994 Audi Convertible. But I didn’t attempt to fix that - well, I bodged it by by-passing the heater matrix (after a suggestion by someone on here) then sold it, declaring the bodge in full! I have bought a cheap code reader to let me read and reset codes on my current folly, a 2000 (X) Audi A2 in Jaipur red (orange)... Last edited by: PeterS on Mon 9 Apr 18 at 21:28
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New Mon 9 Apr 18 21:47
How did you find out stuff about cars? - legacylad
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| Night school classes in car maintenance for me. I maintained my early cars myself...Mini, Marina, Avenger, Volvo 240, Mk1 Golf. Probably a few others I’ve forgotten about. I had two good friends, trainee accountant and architect, whose hobby was ‘messing around’ with cars. They rebuilt engines, suspension etc and I paid them in beer when they helped me with home DIY beyond my capabilities Or when I needed another pair of hands to fit new Bilstein suspension on my Mk1 Golf Gti. |
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New Mon 9 Apr 18 22:57
How did you find out stuff about cars? - bathtub tom
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As a fifteen-year-old mad about motorbikes, I was fortunate to have a part-time job in a shop where one of the other staff was an ex-motorcyclist looking for an excuse to buy another. He taught me a lot, along with the RAC/ACU training scheme. I rode my first motorbike to school on my sixteenth birthday. There was no way I could afford to pay anyone else to maintain it, so I learned fast. When I was seventeen I discovered girls and they preferred transport with a roof. My shopkeeper friend continued to mentor me as we helped each other with jobs. Scrapyards were like a classroom. It grieves me that for the past four years I've felt it necessary to have the Yaris serviced at a main dealer (and pay a hundred and fifty quid for an oil change to maintain the warranty). But now....................... |
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New Tue 10 Apr 18 00:28
How did you find out stuff about cars? - Stuartli
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Again, same as FM2R, ranging from the first used car buy in 1964 (Morris 1000), through a Ford Anglia 105E, Vauxhall Magnum 1800 (super car), FSO Polonez, Fiat Miafiorii (1.4), Fiat Regata (1.6), VW Jetta 1.3 (bought with 66,500 miles on the clock), Jetta 1.6 TX (big bumper), VW Bora (1.6 eight valve) and VW Jetta 1.4 TSi (still going strong after eight years, but first registered in May 2007). Remarkably the "troublesome" models from FSO and Fiat proved very reliable although the Polonez was a bit agricultural and I've enjoyed servicing and driving the majority of them, plus the kids' Triumph Accord, Dolomite and one or two others. Of all of them the VW models have proved the best for reliability and quality of ownership and not one of them has leaked even a drop of oil nor failed to pass an MOT with other than a "wash and brush up"...:-) |
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New Tue 10 Apr 18 00:57
How did you find out stuff about cars? - rtj70
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>> ranging from the first used car buy in 1964 (Morris 1000) I wasn't born until 1970 and was an university for 6 years so I didn't start learning until 18 months before I left.... no money and I didn't need a car. So that puts Stuartli around the age I imagined if he got his first car in 1964.... early 70s? |
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New Tue 10 Apr 18 01:47
How did you find out stuff about cars? - VxFan
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I once watched someone change a set of points on my old Yamaha FS1E (Fizzy) and thought that looks easy enough to do. So I then started doing things for myself, either with help and guidance from RTFM or through mates passing on their knowledge. I was always pulling things apart indoors anyway, so I already had plenty of mechanical experience. |
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New Tue 10 Apr 18 04:33
How did you find out stuff about cars? - Pat
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For me, it was always DIY as there wasn't another option. It started with a BSA Bantam that couldn't complete a journey without stopping and by the time I got the Tiger Cub I had mastered the basics. Then followed a succession of bangers which always needed at the very least, points re-setting, plug leads changing and coils replacing to get them to start. The first maintenance job I tackled was removing and getting the head skimmed on a Hillman Imp, which if I remember correctly was an aluminium head and prone to warping? Brake shoes became a job I loved doing on any car and then I had to tackle an engine rebuild on my beloved Capri. Engine removal, decoke, re-ring the pistons, skim the crankshaft, new clutch and spigot bearing all with the help of a Haynes manual. I always believed if I could read I could follow a manual and repair or replace anything......much like my cooking (or lack of) with a recipe book. Pat |
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New Tue 10 Apr 18 07:38
How did you find out stuff about cars? - Cliff Pope
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It was a gradual progression from fiddling and fixing other stuff. My father was very practical, although knowing nothing about cars. I grew up with a family motor cruiser so learned the basics of how an engine worked from that. I was fascinated by cars and bought my first as soon as I'd saved up my pocket money (1954 Triumph Mayflower, £10) in 1966 before I'd passed my test. It ran well and was very reliable until I stupidly left a rag in the side chamber while checking tappets 9side valve) and it got into the sump and starved the oil pump. So I took the engine out, removed the crankshaft and got it reground. It was all self-taught. I just dismantled things slowly and made notes so I could put it back again. A friend at school was given a car by his brother, and we tinkered on it together at weekends. Then I got a Triumph Roadster 1800, 1947, for £45, and kept it for ten years. I used it at university, and later for work, driving around to the firm's clients. (I saw one at Milford Haven a few days ago and chatted to the owner) Over the years I dismantled and fixed just about everything. I took the engine out and got it rebored. Took the gearbox apart and canibalised chipped gears from a spare. I rebuilt and set up a rear axle crown wheel and pinion. There was never a workshop manual for that model, so I just learned as I went along. I've never had any interest in modern cars, always having cars that were at least twenty years old, preferably older. I seemed to have a knack for spotting would-be classics while still on their downward price slope. I've seen my Volvo 240s go from old "bricks" worth a few hundred pounds to classics where I keep meeting people who say "marvellous cars - I used to have one of them", the same as they do for the Triumph. I don't agree that old cars were unreliable. In good condition they have always served me just as well as people say modern ones do. It's only at the banger low-point if you are trying to keep it going on a shoestring that reliability suffers, but that's probably true of a modern car. Until quite recently I've always done my own serving and repairs, but I did draw the line at doing the Triumph clutch a few years ago and got a local classic specialist to do it. The engine and gearbox are enormously heavy, and I just couldn't face lying under it trying to manouvre two hunderweight of gearbox into alignment. I've done some high mileages - until quite recently I've done 30,000 miles a year, and the previous Volvo reached over 400,000 miles. If you've a practical bent and like exploring things and mechanisms, you just learn by experiment and tinkering, reading any manuals etc if available. But no instructions really help you over the snags. |
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New Tue 10 Apr 18 08:14
How did you find out stuff about cars? - tyrednemotional
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>> I once watched someone change a set of points on my old Yamaha FS1E (Fizzy).... >> ....good job it wasn't the original Mini, or you'd have been put off for life... :-) |
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New Tue 10 Apr 18 09:00
How did you find out stuff about cars? - Stuartli
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>>So that puts Stuartli around the age I imagined if he got his first car in 1964.... early 70s?>> Your imagination is not quite running riot enough....:-) In just over 22 years' time I'll get a telegram from the Queen (if she lives long enough...!!) |
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New Tue 10 Apr 18 09:24
How did you find out stuff about cars? - Duncan
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>> In just over 22 years' time I'll get a telegram from the Queen (if she >> lives long enough...!!) Sixty years wed, or hundred years old? |
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New Tue 10 Apr 18 09:32
How did you find out stuff about cars? - Runfer D'Hills
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It seems, like most of you above, that for me it was very definitely a case of necessity being the mother of invention. My dad taught me quite a lot and the rest came from trial, error ( lots of those in fact ) and Haynes manuals. |
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New Tue 10 Apr 18 09:45
How did you find out stuff about cars? - commerdriver
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As a long term company car driver I never had to understand how they worked. However, when I took over the Commer from F in Law in 1987/8 I very rapidly had to learn. 2 things helped, Firstly F in Law had very sensibly bought the proper workshop manual when he got the Commer (Don't think Haynes did manuals for these) and secondly got friendly, via wives/kids, with the guy who taught car maintenance at the local secondary school who not only had the knowledge but, at the school, had access to a fully equipped workshop including a 4 post lift. I learned a lot from him on mechanical & bodywork and how to look after an old vehicle, hard to do in those pre internet days. Sadly he died from motor neurone disease about 15 years ago. I guess like the other long term classic owners here, one of the nice things about them now is that you get to a stage where you have sorted everything that can go and has gone wrong with it over the years. |
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New Tue 10 Apr 18 10:02
How did you find out stuff about cars? - Zero
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I grew up with cars in bits. At 8 I was lapping in valves for my old man after another interminable "de coke" I knew what a valve spring compressor was before what a a slide rule did. We even had a ring gear in the oven and a flywheel out in the snow once prior to be it being fitted. All this was attempts to keep a pathetic array of pre and post war wheels moving. Cars of that era really were piles of crap. Had my own socket set (imperial of course) at 12. At 14 I had a bit of a reputation of a bike rebuilder, and most weekends had someones (normally another 14-18 year old*) Norton, Triumph, BSA, RE or AJS in bits for new rings, gaskets, carb strip downs Everything at home got taken to bits by me, sometimes it got put back together again and worked sometimes not. Even if it was working before. I modified the old family radiograme to work off my Dansette to create a faux "stereo." BEA then taught me basic toolmakers skills . along with welding, tinsmithing, sheet metal fabrication, pneumatics, hydraulics, electrics, electronics. Of course when my first cars arrived all modifications, servicing and repairs and bodywork was done by me right up to the time my first company car arrived. GF's and Wifes car became my mechanical playground. Then when I retired, the company car went west, the lancer arrived so it was back to doing it all myself, and what a smashing car that was to work on. Modern in ride, performance, facilities economy, remarkably old tech in mechanical design. Kept that going for 140k miles. And now, its the Beemer. Tyres get pumped up, petrol by the tanker load gets poured into it, bonnet only comes up to put screenwash in, and thats it. (well not quite, I have found the fusebox, online technical documentation, and replaced the rear mirror with a camera version) and am currently investigating the prospect of "coding it" for new features. *Essex in the 60's was a bit like the wild west. Not heavily populated, little in the way of plod, gangs of us used to find an old disused barn to stash lots of motorised two wheel transport and rush around the country roads, untaxed, uninsured, unlicensed. Last edited by: Zero on Tue 10 Apr 18 at 10:03
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New Tue 10 Apr 18 13:25
How did you find out stuff about cars? - Boxsterboy
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| There's a whole host of You Tube videos on car maintenance/repair which are a useful source these days. |
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New Tue 10 Apr 18 14:14
How did you find out stuff about cars? - Stuartli
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>>Sixty years wed, or hundred years old? >> We're talking about age...:-) |
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New Tue 10 Apr 18 14:24
How did you find out stuff about cars? - Stuartli
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Re my recollection of cars owned in the past, I can't fathom out just why I left out a 1966 Hillman Minx, the model that ended a particular era by featuring the then new 1725cc engine as a prelude/test bed for the forthcoming Hillman Hunter. It cost £345, had done 34k and was priced at £672 when originally bought new by the previous owner. Excellent car and chosen because my late father had had four of them in a row as company cars and who covered considerable distances over the four or five years he had them. The first one, a 1300cc model, did 67,000 miles in his first year - something he always pointed out was achieved in between appointments with companies and individuals...:-) None of them ever let him down either, quite a feat for the time. A Hunter and Super Minx followed in later years. |
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New Tue 10 Apr 18 14:47
How did you find out stuff about cars? - No FM2R
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We had a 1725cc Hunter. OGO276E. White with red plastic seats. The only registration number I remember of any car I've ever had, including the ones I own now. |
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New Tue 10 Apr 18 16:40
How did you find out stuff about cars? - Boxsterboy
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| I had a 1725cc Hunter OUR330L. Royal blue with black velour seats (I think it was an HL) and a Webasto sunroof(!) |
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New Thu 12 Apr 18 00:35
How did you find out stuff about cars? - Stuartli
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>>...plus the kids' Triumph Accord>> Doh! Acclaim (first properly built BL car, thanks to Honda). Rebadged Ballade just as the Concerto was the foundation for the Rover 200/400 models - shame that Honda didn't take up the opportunity to buy British Leyland at the time....:-( |
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New Tue 10 Apr 18 18:34
How did you find out stuff about cars? - hawkeye
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My dad owned the village garage in the late 1950s. Going home from primary school I would stop by to fetch and hold spaners for him and the mechanic. Mum would serve petrol, do the books, answer the phone and tell me not to get oil on my school clothes. Gender stereotyping was invented there. Even when Dad sold up he continued to service and tweak his cars. We fitted fitted bigger carbs. and overdrive to his Sunbeam Rapier convertible for instance. Later I was to be found servicing my stepmum-to-be's Mini. I've disliked Minis ever since. I was 17 when I took the starter motor off Mum's Morris Minor and took it in to an auto electrician's to be rewound, getting around by starting the car with the handle for a few days. At some point while I was living in a bedsit in Leeds I took the head off my Austin Cambridge and put it back together while it was snowing. To my surprise it started OK even with snow in the pots. In 1979 I took my Renault 16TX engine out to do the big ends and then four of us went to the south of France in it a few days after I'd put it all back together. I'd fitted an oil pressure gauge as part of the work; I didn't see much of the scenery when I handed over the driving, my eyes were glued to the gauge the whole time. Another big job was putting new (inboard) front brakes and a clutch in a Citroen DS23 Familiale. I have a memory of being seated on the front wheel (the wings and swivelling headlights came off as the first job) and braying a disk with a 2lb hammer until the sparks flew. At 90k miles the clutch was hardly worn, so nicely did the hydraulic engagement work. I should have left well alone. Still, my hindsight is 20/20 like everyone else's. So many pipes everywhere, all with little clingfilm bonnets to keep the dirt out, and dripping green fluid on the garage floor. Nowadays I just do odd jobs like brakes and servicing although a couple of weeks ago I had part of the dash out of the C8 searching for a squeak; eventually tracked down to a dry bearing on the main heater blower. I've always got by by reading the manual and asking questions and nowadays, as with the C8 dashboard, finding stuff on the Internet. A really interesting thread, I'm enjoying it. |
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New Thu 12 Apr 18 10:49
How did you find out stuff about cars? - Fenlander
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I guess we are all variations on a theme... On one side my grandfather was a chauffeur/mechanic/gardener for a large estate... on the other side was a master craftsman woodworker who could build a house or make a sideboard that would sit well in a high end furniture shop. So I guess "doing things" is in the blood. Dad never worked on his cars though for all of my formative, teen and early adult years as they were for business and any problems put them in the garage with a hire/loan to replace. But he did all the engine and timber work on his boats plus the usual lawn mower and chainsaw maintenance. So from my earliest childhood I grew up knowing things could be repaired at home rather than going to a man in the village. This encouraged me as a pre secondary school child so I was a devil at attempting repairs on things that weren't broken but might be by the time I'd finished! By secondary school age I improved and learned loads from several total restorations of vintage motorcycles that dad undertook. When I had my first car (Herald) at 18 things went backwards due to lack of funds so any repair that could last another week with things found in the garage was good enough... that car saw a lot of baler twine, insulation tape, gasket paste and odd fitting bolts. Then several factors aligned to change my way of working for good. Moved into a flat with the then girlfriend (now Mrs F) which had a single and double garage. Bought a Rover P6 V8 running on half power. Bought a genuine workshop manual. Girlfriend bought a massive Kamasa (still got it) socket/tool set and torque wrench for my birthday. For the first time I had my own place to work... a decent set of tools.... a torque wrench so I'd stop stripping threads... proper repair procedures... and most important the first car that truly inspired me to do a by the book job with quality new parts. And so it's gone onwards and upwards from there on. I did have a period where new company/lease cars meant I didn't have to work on them but soon scratched the itch with a series of Landrovers I restored. Then I had a period of 18yrs where I was somewhat involved with vehicles in a paid capacity. This saw a large variety of vehicles pass through my hands where the thing I experienced most was how people ruin cars with lack of or poor maintenance. Now in early retirement I maintain my old 525D, Mrs F's CLK, daughter 1's Polo and daughter 2's Jazz as well as all garden equipment and boating outboards. I have the diagnostic kit for all our 4 vehicles and having kept the tools from my business period (except an engine lift as I would farm out any work that needed one) can tackle pretty well anything. By chance a delivery of parts and special tool has just arrived and I'm off outside to replace some suspension bushes and rose joints on my 525's rear suspension. I genuinely enjoy it still... actually even more than I did years ago because now if we wished the cars could all go to the garage as cost isn't an issue... whereas being forced to do the work in my earliest years because funds were tight did add an element of stress. |
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New Thu 12 Apr 18 11:21
How did you find out stuff about cars? - Boxsterboy
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My Dad was ALWAYS in the garage at home (to the extent that he could almost be described as 'absent' these days). Only a single width garage but extended to be 3 car lengths long internally. He then lowered the floor and raised the door height to enable getting big cars up on ramps in the garage in the dry and warm(ish). He built a couple of Lotuses from kits for friends and in the 1970s was rebuilding a friends 1924 Aston Martin Le Mans. The only problem is that he liked things being done his way, and so I didn't learn that much from him when it came to spannering. Bodywork was more my specialty (as was needed in those days when cars had precious little rust-proofing). I have the mechanical interest but not the ability - and these days of course they are all way to complex! |
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New Thu 12 Apr 18 11:50
How did you find out stuff about cars? - Fenlander
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>>>and these days of course they are all way to complex! Well... yes and no. If you have old fashioned mechanical ability added to a brain with logical thought processes then as long as you have the diagnostic gear (which is pretty cheap these days) then in some ways fault finding is easier. For example Mrs F's CLK had an erratic problem with the parking sensors shutting the system down and as it's a bumper off job to replace sensors you really want to be sure what's what before you start. So with the hand held diagnostic on my lap in the comfort of the driver's seat I'm able to check the historical logged codes for each of the ten parking sensors and then test them in real time with the diagnostic readout showing sensor distances and confirming the two with logged codes were not outputting any readings. This meant I could order the parts needed then go straight to the faulty ones for replacement.... in the old days on this type of job I'd have been faced with taking both front and rear bumpers off and testing the 10 sensors individually with a meter before knowing which to replace. Similarly with my 525 I have some work to do on the rear airspring self-levelling suspension tomorrow. Not only will the diagnostic program show fault codes, again in the comfort of the seat, but you can operate the self levelling system from the laptop to assist in confirming a suspected issue. 20yrs ago I thought the increased complexity of modern cars would prevent home service/repairs. Now with the amount of systems in cars that have logged data in their ECUs... added to the availability of affordable diagnostic gear I think it's gone the other way and DIY work can be easier. Last edited by: Fenlander on Thu 12 Apr 18 at 11:51
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New Fri 13 Apr 18 08:37
How did you find out stuff about cars? - Cliff Pope
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| I'm sure what you say is true, but that ought to make car repairing appeal to a new generation of computer electronic geeks. That's surely essentially different from old-style tinkering, because that was mechanical, tactile and visual. Also aural if you like carburettors and exhausts. |
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New Fri 13 Apr 18 09:28
How did you find out stuff about cars? - Zero
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| Alas there is a big gap in the middle. Between the "computer says no" and the "I don't do computers" its a space for the natural electromechanical intuitive fixer who is happy with a 12v meter, a 5v probe a torque wrench, and a logic diagram. |
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New Fri 13 Apr 18 15:52
How did you find out stuff about cars? - Robin O'Reliant
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>> I'm sure what you say is true, but that ought to make car repairing appeal >> to a new generation of computer electronic geeks. That's surely essentially different from old-style tinkering, >> because that was mechanical, tactile and visual. Also aural if you like carburettors and exhausts. >> The younger generation now are happy and competent with a keyboard, but not with a spanner. Reliability has improved to the point where they do not get the regular practice on simple things like points and plugs, jobs most of us had to tackle within the first week of owning the old bangers we started out on. Even household plugs are sealed now and changing a fuse wire is a long forgotten art. |
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New Fri 13 Apr 18 16:05
How did you find out stuff about cars? - Lygonos
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Chucked out my old dwell-meter and Gunson strobe light a couple of years ago - last used around 1991 when I had an Austin Maxi. Still do brake work and servicing on the FRV since it is 117k miles and almost 9 yrs old. PELA pump is the daddy for oil changes but need to drain ATF the old-fashioned way. Similar to many, learned my mechanic's chops by running a variety of turdpiles in my formative years. |
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New Fri 13 Apr 18 16:49
How did you find out stuff about cars? - sooty123
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Even household plugs> are sealed now and changing a fuse wire is a long forgotten art. >> I wonder when the last thing was sold that had fuse wire ? Thirty years ago? |
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