Sooo... Long story short, my daughter and her boyfriend had an encounter with a neighbor at their apartment that scared even me, so they now live with us.
Tonight they are finishing up things there, so I felt like cranking some tunes and having a few beers.
Made a CARtoons collage today for a buddy. I couldn't wait to get a copy of this mag back when I was a kid. Still have some of my old copies. I've had a subscription for the past few years. Great mag for car guys! Any other fans?
As someone who has spent countless hours under hoods and oil pans and differentials and transmissions, I have come to the conclusion my time is way too valuable to perform routine maintenance on my vehicles. My Sorento requires a brake job, and the time was I would set up on a weekend and git 'er done. Nowadays, I might change a serpentine belt. I also air up my own tires, it seems gas stations air is always jacked up when you need it the most.
I like working on my cars. I'll do everything but tires and the oil changes, which is just a hassle. I like to hit the time or miles window for the oil changes or I get stresses out. Based on what my last oil changed costs I may want to rethink this.
Same here . I do everything myself except tires. I don't trust any of those 30 minute oil shops to touch my vehicles. I use the Wix/Napa gold filters and Mobile 1 fully synthetic. Brake pads are always the best ceramic I can buy.
I don't enjoy working on cars as much as I use to but I'm not at the point yet where I'll just pay a shop for sonething that I can totally DIY. And sometimes do a better job because it's my family relying on that car/van and I'm not getting paid by how many jobs I can complete in a day.
I still mow my own yard too. Only takes me one hour and I need the exercise (push mower).
I work on my own cars, mostly because I want to know that maintenance and repairs are done correctly. And if there are issues, at least I know exactly what they are.
I would change my own oil, but Subaru has a free 150pt inspection with every change. I don't like doing brakes, but have. I could do plugs and wires if access was easy, but apparently that gets sketchy in aluminum threads. I pump up my own tires. More than that and a hand wash, I don't do much of.
After watching my family get bent over every time they had work done on vehicles. I begrudgingly do all my own auto repairs. I'm not paying out the nose for someone else to do a worse job than I can with basic hand tools out in the heat or cold.
Anyone have much experience with HDPE? I'm making an adapter to attach a router to a router table plate. Using 3/4" thick HDPE. Attaching the plates together with nuts from the underside may not work out due to interferance with the router base. Any idea if threading the plastic is likely to hold up over time?
@DrewsBrews said:
After watching my family get bent over every time they had work done on vehicles. I begrudgingly do all my own auto repairs. I'm not paying out the nose for someone else to do a worse job than I can with basic hand tools out in the heat or cold.
Yep. A girl friend I had about 20 years ago swore by a certain shop that she and her whole family used for everything. The shop owner was supposedly "a family friend". I saw his shop's work and the invoices... $1800 for a clutch change on one of the easiest cars in the world to work on? I found a high quality new clutch, pressure plate, and throw out bearing for that car for $250ish.
I get it though. If you don't own the proper tools, you don't have the proper skills, or you live in an apartment where you don't have the space to do the job then there isn't much else you can do.
I've been using the group of guys for tires and other misc vehicle maintenance for 35 years. Grew up with one of the owners. I'm ok, but sorry for people who have yet to find a mechanic they don't believe isn't ripping somebody off.
Other things like fan motors, wipers, lights, thermostats, gear shift pulleys, etc; little stuff; I've done quite a bit of. It's the clutch, transmission, timing chain, diff, drivetrain, etc that I have no business doing for lack of instruction, space, tools, or time. I'm definitely not touching the AC.
I do everything on my cars, doesn't matter, engine trans, rear end, whatever, it's just parts bolted together. I actually had 2 of my vehicles have the A/C compressors fail last year and the Hyundai one was expensive. If I remember correctly I paid about $600 for the compressor and it didn't even come with oil.
I had a 1983 Toyota Starlet for years and years. It had 324,000+ miles on it when I pulled into the Nissan dealer and traded it off for my current Nissan Versa (2010). Engine still ran good, did not burn oil, but the car body was totally rusted out along the wheel wells and was in real danger of structural collapse.
Changed oil/filter once per year. Pulled the transmission out myself two or three times, replaced input shaft, front main bearing, and seal. Replaced clutch, throw out bearing, and pressure plate once. Replaced alternator two or three times. Replaced thermostat several times. Replaced drive shaft U-joints two or three times (this was rear wheel drive). Replaced front and rear brake pads several times, replaced front rotors once. Replaced entire exhaust system several times. Car was alot of work to keep on the road, but very dependable, one of the best cars I have ever had. Got 44mpg on the highway. Very small car, easy to park and see out the huge rear window when backing up (unlike cars today, which have very small rear windows and therefore need rear cameras to see what is behind you).
I did my own repairs on my first cars, which were 1956 and 1959 Peugeot 403s (the Columbo model) but got sick of all the mess and oil, etc. I replaced bits like the clutch, radiator, water pump and head gasket but the cars were very simple and everything was accessible. No way would I try anything like that these days.
I even re-built an engine, but had a bolt left over after job done; luckily for me (but not the garage floor) it was just from the sump pan...
The most common DIY chore with both cars was the gradual build up of oil in the tubes which held the spark plug leads: the engine was a cross flow head design with the plugs on top of the engine. The plugs had a long spring shaped wire which connected to the leads and distributor through the rocker cover. Unfortunately, when the seals wore, oil would build up in those tubes to the point where it would drown the plug, so I had to carry a bendy straw with which to suck the oil out of the tube!
Luckily I always managed to stop before oil got too far up the straw.
Managed to keep this thing running for 31 years and just let it go 3 years ago to fund another project:
Rebuilt heads about 6 times, block once, installed cast iron dual exhaust headers and dual carbs, replaced 4:11 rear end with 3:42, replaced original shot manual tranny with 1982 Pontiac Sunbird 4 speed Saginaw manual tranny, replaced front clip with 1974 Chevy Nova to get disk brakes, spindles and rotors installed, redid interior.
After 31 years it needed more work again than I have energy to put into it - Only had about $35K invested over that time frame so the ownership was quite cost effective.
@GeoffMillar said:
I did my own repairs on my first cars, which were 1956 and 1959 Peugeot 403s (the Columbo model) but got sick of all the mess and oil, etc. I replaced bits like the clutch, radiator, water pump and head gasket but the cars were very simple and everything was accessible. No way would I try anything like that these days.
Geoff
My brother and I had one of those in high school. It was fun, pretty durable and pretty unique in NW Iowa in the late 60's. I assume yours had a crank to start it with?
Comments
Sooo... Long story short, my daughter and her boyfriend had an encounter with a neighbor at their apartment that scared even me, so they now live with us.
Tonight they are finishing up things there, so I felt like cranking some tunes and having a few beers.
As my family says, Slainte!
Slow progress on my deck roof but progress none the less.
The suction hose fitting on my utility pump broke this morning, so I had to make a replacement. The aluminum piece will most likely out last the pump.
Made a CARtoons collage today for a buddy. I couldn't wait to get a copy of this mag back when I was a kid. Still have some of my old copies. I've had a subscription for the past few years. Great mag for car guys! Any other fans?
As someone who has spent countless hours under hoods and oil pans and differentials and transmissions, I have come to the conclusion my time is way too valuable to perform routine maintenance on my vehicles. My Sorento requires a brake job, and the time was I would set up on a weekend and git 'er done. Nowadays, I might change a serpentine belt. I also air up my own tires, it seems gas stations air is always jacked up when you need it the most.
I like working on my cars. I'll do everything but tires and the oil changes, which is just a hassle. I like to hit the time or miles window for the oil changes or I get stresses out. Based on what my last oil changed costs I may want to rethink this.
I'm a sucker for Brad Penn/Penn Grade oil and OE or WIX/NAPA gold filters. I have zero trust in oil change places. I will always DIY my oil.
Same here . I do everything myself except tires. I don't trust any of those 30 minute oil shops to touch my vehicles. I use the Wix/Napa gold filters and Mobile 1 fully synthetic. Brake pads are always the best ceramic I can buy.
I don't enjoy working on cars as much as I use to but I'm not at the point yet where I'll just pay a shop for sonething that I can totally DIY. And sometimes do a better job because it's my family relying on that car/van and I'm not getting paid by how many jobs I can complete in a day.
I still mow my own yard too. Only takes me one hour and I need the exercise (push mower).
I work on my own cars, mostly because I want to know that maintenance and repairs are done correctly. And if there are issues, at least I know exactly what they are.
I would change my own oil, but Subaru has a free 150pt inspection with every change. I don't like doing brakes, but have. I could do plugs and wires if access was easy, but apparently that gets sketchy in aluminum threads. I pump up my own tires. More than that and a hand wash, I don't do much of.
InDIYana Event Website
Rat Fink
After watching my family get bent over every time they had work done on vehicles. I begrudgingly do all my own auto repairs. I'm not paying out the nose for someone else to do a worse job than I can with basic hand tools out in the heat or cold.
Anyone have much experience with HDPE? I'm making an adapter to attach a router to a router table plate. Using 3/4" thick HDPE. Attaching the plates together with nuts from the underside may not work out due to interferance with the router base. Any idea if threading the plastic is likely to hold up over time?
Yep. A girl friend I had about 20 years ago swore by a certain shop that she and her whole family used for everything. The shop owner was supposedly "a family friend". I saw his shop's work and the invoices... $1800 for a clutch change on one of the easiest cars in the world to work on? I found a high quality new clutch, pressure plate, and throw out bearing for that car for $250ish.
I get it though. If you don't own the proper tools, you don't have the proper skills, or you live in an apartment where you don't have the space to do the job then there isn't much else you can do.
Geeze - should have kept some of my old models from when I was a kid
Getting rid of oil is a pain.
I've been using the group of guys for tires and other misc vehicle maintenance for 35 years. Grew up with one of the owners. I'm ok, but sorry for people who have yet to find a mechanic they don't believe isn't ripping somebody off.
Other things like fan motors, wipers, lights, thermostats, gear shift pulleys, etc; little stuff; I've done quite a bit of. It's the clutch, transmission, timing chain, diff, drivetrain, etc that I have no business doing for lack of instruction, space, tools, or time. I'm definitely not touching the AC.
Yes, oil is hard to get rid of.
InDIYana Event Website
My old man has an extensive collection of still in the plastic Revell, Monogram, AMT, and Ertl model kits. Some of which are fairly valuable.
I used to build a lot of scale model rockets and aircraft in the 60's while sniffing a lot of glue.
Kept me out of trouble.
I do everything on my cars, doesn't matter, engine trans, rear end, whatever, it's just parts bolted together. I actually had 2 of my vehicles have the A/C compressors fail last year and the Hyundai one was expensive. If I remember correctly I paid about $600 for the compressor and it didn't even come with oil.
I pump my own gas. That's about it. I'm not sure where the lever is to pop my hood but I'm sure I can find it in an emergency.
I had a 1983 Toyota Starlet for years and years. It had 324,000+ miles on it when I pulled into the Nissan dealer and traded it off for my current Nissan Versa (2010). Engine still ran good, did not burn oil, but the car body was totally rusted out along the wheel wells and was in real danger of structural collapse.
Changed oil/filter once per year. Pulled the transmission out myself two or three times, replaced input shaft, front main bearing, and seal. Replaced clutch, throw out bearing, and pressure plate once. Replaced alternator two or three times. Replaced thermostat several times. Replaced drive shaft U-joints two or three times (this was rear wheel drive). Replaced front and rear brake pads several times, replaced front rotors once. Replaced entire exhaust system several times. Car was alot of work to keep on the road, but very dependable, one of the best cars I have ever had. Got 44mpg on the highway. Very small car, easy to park and see out the huge rear window when backing up (unlike cars today, which have very small rear windows and therefore need rear cameras to see what is behind you).
There are places around here begging for my used oil. They get paid for that shit.
Still gotta haul it. That's what makes it a PITA.
I did my own repairs on my first cars, which were 1956 and 1959 Peugeot 403s (the Columbo model) but got sick of all the mess and oil, etc. I replaced bits like the clutch, radiator, water pump and head gasket but the cars were very simple and everything was accessible. No way would I try anything like that these days.
I even re-built an engine, but had a bolt left over after job done; luckily for me (but not the garage floor) it was just from the sump pan...
The most common DIY chore with both cars was the gradual build up of oil in the tubes which held the spark plug leads: the engine was a cross flow head design with the plugs on top of the engine. The plugs had a long spring shaped wire which connected to the leads and distributor through the rocker cover. Unfortunately, when the seals wore, oil would build up in those tubes to the point where it would drown the plug, so I had to carry a bendy straw with which to suck the oil out of the tube!
Luckily I always managed to stop before oil got too far up the straw.
Geoff
Managed to keep this thing running for 31 years and just let it go 3 years ago to fund another project:
Rebuilt heads about 6 times, block once, installed cast iron dual exhaust headers and dual carbs, replaced 4:11 rear end with 3:42, replaced original shot manual tranny with 1982 Pontiac Sunbird 4 speed Saginaw manual tranny, replaced front clip with 1974 Chevy Nova to get disk brakes, spindles and rotors installed, redid interior.
After 31 years it needed more work again than I have energy to put into it - Only had about $35K invested over that time frame so the ownership was quite cost effective.
sharp truck
My brother and I had one of those in high school. It was fun, pretty durable and pretty unique in NW Iowa in the late 60's. I assume yours had a crank to start it with?