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Car DIY Thread.

Suffolk Tony

Suffolk Tony

Aim low, achieve your goals, avoid disappointment.
What with the cost of getting anything fixed by main dealers these days I really think that, with a bit of engineering flair and common sense, you can still fix most faults yourself.

I'm feeling pretty chuffed with myself, having just done a pretty neat job on my Porsche 911's front brakes. No more rip-off dealer's prices for me!

132127231_10221450775071572_2978470907115939023_n.jpg
 
I've got bad news though Tony, someone has stolen your 911s brakes and fitted some from a Fiesta. Unventilated single piston floating caliper discs have never AFAIK been a 911 fit.

it does look like a Fiesta. That part number on the casting looks familiar.
 
stevec67 said:
I've got bad news though Tony, someone has stolen your 911s brakes and fitted some from a Fiesta. Unventilated single piston floating caliper discs have never AFAIK been a 911 fit.

it does look like a Fiesta. That part number on the casting looks familiar.
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Well, the bloke who flogged it to me assured me it was a re-bodied 911 Turbo S, to make it less conspicuous to the police. I did wonder a bit when the performance seemed marginally less than optimal.
 
Suffolk Tony said:
What with the cost of getting anything fixed by main dealers these days I really think that, with a bit of engineering flair and common sense, you can still fix most faults yourself.

I'm feeling pretty chuffed with myself, having just done a pretty neat job on my Porsche 911's front brakes. No more rip-off dealer's prices for me!

132127231_10221450775071572_2978470907115939023_n.jpg
Click to expand...
Congratulations! I did the same job about 25 years ago, also on a 911, and while it was not difficult conceptually, it was filthy, unpleasant, awkward and exhausting. I think I probably ruined shoes and clothes for a value greater than I would have spent having it done. It took hours pumping and bleeding, pumping and bleeding, with puddles of fluid all over the floor. But I expect you were cleaner and more scientific about it. Well done!
 
Practice. Practice and more Practice is the only way. If you were a young driver in the 1970s and 1980s it was the only way to keep going. Even did a head gasket on my Imp in the driveway, without taking the engine out as the Haynes book recommended.

Now I just take the Volvo to a dealer once a year for a quick service and MOT, all delivered with a pleasant smile. I do top up the washer fluid and take it to a car wash from time to time.
 
JensenHealey said:
Practice. Practice and more Practice is the only way. If you were a young driver in the 1970s and 1980s it was the only way to keep going. Even did a head gasket on my Imp in the driveway, without taking the engine out as the Haynes book recommended.
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Ah yes. 'Happy' memories of helping an ex-GF's dad replace the head gasket in an A-series engine in freezing weather. I learned a lot from that; most notably, not to buy anything with an A-series engine in it.
 
Seeker_UK said:
Ah yes. 'Happy' memories of helping an ex-GF's dad replace the head gasket in an A-series engine in freezing weather. I learned a lot from that; most notably, not to buy anything with an A-series engine in it.
Click to expand...

Replaced clutch and head gasket on an A series engined Marina as a student. What a chore. Hard to believe we used to do stuff like that as the price of ownership.
 
Ha! that's not that hard part.

No, the hard part was that buggardly-awkward waterpump bypass hose on the original A (not A+) series - the one where the short 1/2" bore, 1-1/4" long hose had to be brutally compressed to under 3/4" long to get it in place over the two spigots it fitted-between , from a recess deep in the underside of cyl head, to the spigot atop said pump.

And - at the moment of your triumph -

- when you'd slipped the damn thing in place with detergent,
- the cheapo corrugated version was actually no help at all, although marketed as such, was rejected having skittered sideways, then split: replaced by the unwavering right Unipart,
- without either skewering your fingers, nor the hose, nor long-suffering pal/sister/girlfriend via the various greased flat-blade screwdrivers employed as inclined ramps like an industrial & sharp version of reverse- Ker-plunk



.. you realise you'd forgotten you had to thread the hoseclamps on before fitting it, and the thing has to be done-over - & thus the A-Series Gods attain their required blood-sacrifice after all.


Joy, joy....
 
As a student I replaced the rear subframe on my mini.six bolts rusted to buggery took from Thursday am to Monday am to loosen.
A year or two ago I was going to have a look at something on the Lexus LS400 I owned at the time.
Couldn’t even find a way to get the plastic engine cover off!
 
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