Do you work on your own car, or let the garage do things?

andycaca · Post by **andycaca** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 10:45 am

morning

reading the thread about the possible slipped tooth on cambelt, i started wondering how many of you do amateur spannering on your own cars? I imagine most people on here do oil and filter changes themselves, but what about other things - like changing brake pads/discs, fitting gauges/boost controllers etc.

when i bought my car, i didnt know which end of the spanner was for holding, and which end was for undoing, but over the last 3 years ive learnt how to do quite a few things.

where do you draw the line and get the professionals in?

RX7 · Post by **RX7** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 11:07 am

Lol I do pretty much everything on mine, easy stuff like fitting an induction kit and oil changes to hard nightmare stuff like the heater matrix and rats nest piping.

Although I draw the line at anything within the engine eg rotors/housings etc, plus gearboxes/driveshafts etc Plus tuning the engine isnt something I would consider. Fitting bodybits I would do myself but will get a professional to spray the bits after my headlight fiasco...check out the pics of my rex at the meet lol

Other than that I love having a play.

Ask Scott (sdminus) what he has done himself....its frightening lol

Basically it saves a lot of money doing it yourself and thats the only reason I do it plus the challenge. For example I was quoted over

mirage · Post by **mirage** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 11:09 am

i like to do as much as i can myself, but the big things i leave to the garage but boot controllers etc i like to do.

JC · Post by JC » Sat Nov 11, 2006 12:03 pm

I do everything myself

JC

gtst lad · Post by **gtst lad** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 12:06 pm

I try to do as much as i can myself, sometimes it's too easy to get over confident though and end up making mistakes and costing yourself money though.
Although as long as you learn from it, it's all good. 8)

boxy · Post by **boxy** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 12:27 pm

I like to do as much as I can myself, you get to know every inch of your car and spot things that go wrong easier. Would have to leave the mapping up to the professionals though.

ants13 · Post by **ants13** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 1:43 pm

I do a lot of the work myself from really simple stuff like changing the oil to fairly complex stuff like changing headgaskets.

Although I am not building my next engine and wont ever map my own car, Gary @ APT sorts those out for me.

duncan · Post by **duncan** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 4:16 pm

I would like to do most things but my limited knowledge holds me back at present - I ask millions of questions though when i get others to do it and next time I need to do stuff, i will have a go myself.

andycaca · Post by **andycaca** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 4:44 pm

great replies guys, i see theres quite a group of dedicated DIYers on here

myself, i do absolutely everything either by myself or with the help of a few friends when required.

just about the only thing i havent done to my car is rebuild the gearbox, i slung a shorter ratio gearbox in there instead.

having a decent set of tools and a workshop to use does make things a lot easier - we're thinking about getting a proper ramp soon

bazzagt4 · Post by **bazzagt4** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 5:53 pm

I also try to do it all myself......I find it a real escape from my day to day job of running a building site and love to take things apart and repair, gives a great deal of satisfaction when you turn the key and fire her up....Also it means I know the job has been completed correctly and with the parts I want.

I am lucky though as its not my daily runner so jobs can be left and finished when I have time.

Regards