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Car DIY Thread.

stevec67 said:
All these blokey dreams are normal but in the real world of you wanted to do this you'd already be doing this, lift or no. In the real world pulling LRs to bits is dirty and unpleasant however you cut it. These days I pick and choose. If it's easy enough, like James 's rocker gasket, great. If it's a solid mass of corrosion, someone else can have it.

If I needed to look at You Tube to work out how to slap discs and pads on a car then I'd leave it alone. Especially a Porsche.
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Used to love messing with the Land Rovers, they were pretty easy to dismantle. Even stripped a gearbox whilst stuck in a remote Yugoslav village once.

Having replaced discs in countless cars in the past, although basically the same (with a few exceptions) you get to learn they're all different in the way they come apart, torque settings etc., so you'd be pretty daft not to look on the likes of uTube to make your life easier, wouldn't you? As it happens, the Macan, like other Porsches, is put together so well that it's really straightforward if you've got Torq drivers. Jacking it up, removing 21" road wheels, and grovelling on the floor's not so easy when you've got advanced rheumatoid arthritis.
 
PaulMB said:
That's a fantastic name! "Hillman Avenger." You didn't make it up did you? If not, I can imagine the meeting of Hillman directors sitting around and someone coming up with "How about 'Avenger'?" and everyone collapsing in hysterical laughter.
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No, but it could have been called Hillman's Revenge as far as I was concerned. To be fair the engine kept going** but everything attached to it failed. Thinking back I actually replaced the alternator twice in 3 years. The saving grace was that there was lots of room around the engine to get at it all.
The mention of drum brakes reminded me that I did them too, FRONT and REAR. The guy at the spares place said 'I don't think that car has drum brakes on the front' in that condescending voice reserved for young folk and women...fortunately he was overheard by the other older and wiser guy, who said 'oh you have one of those..only 3000 made you know' and went off to get the shoes.
** kept going but gutless...I was a learner driver and I nearly killed me and the girl friend (she had a license) trying to overtake a bus on a slight incline. The bus was accelerating as fast as I was. I had to brake and duck back in behind it when a big truck came the other way. I had been riding motorcycles for 5 years, my bike was a Z650 Kawasaki. I never even had to think before over taking a bus on that ;)
 
Trouble with car DIY is laying your hand on the right size spanner.

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Suffolk Tony said:
Used to love messing with the Land Rovers, they were pretty easy to dismantle. Even stripped a gearbox whilst stuck in a remote Yugoslav village once.

Having replaced discs in countless cars in the past, although basically the same (with a few exceptions) you get to learn they're all different in the way they come apart, torque settings etc., so you'd be pretty daft not to look on the likes of uTube to make your life easier, wouldn't you? As it happens, the Macan, like other Porsches, is put together so well that it's really straightforward if you've got Torq drivers. Jacking it up, removing 21" road wheels, and grovelling on the floor's not so easy when you've got advanced rheumatoid arthritis.
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I did say "needs" to look at videos . Clearly someone who has dismantled a gearbox at the roadside and has "replaced discs in countless cars " hardly falls into the group of people who needs to watch a video to know what to do with something as straightforward as discs and pads. We all know there are mnior differences, and the odd one may have a "watch out for" but checking for that's hardly the same as needing to see a video.
 
stevec67 said:
I did say "needs" to look at videos . Clearly someone who has dismantled a gearbox at the roadside and has "replaced discs in countless cars " hardly falls into the group of people who needs to watch a video to know what to do with something as straightforward as discs and pads. We all know there are mnior differences, and the odd one may have a "watch out for" but checking for that's hardly the same as needing to see a video.
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It's what's known as "Making things easier for yourself". Always a good strategy I find. Still, you're more of a car expert than myself...
 
James said:
Nothing less than ventilated discs front and back will do for me. I'm still on the original rotors and pads at 135,000km, and I think they will be good for another 50,000km at the rate they are wearing (with mostly motorway driving).
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Using brakes in the way you do James, a pair of rubber brake blocks on the side of the rim sound like they'd be plenty :)
 
Those of us who remember motoring in the 1970s - we spent a lot of time at the local Lucas outlet - exchanging alternators was a common thing then. In recent years I don't think any of our cars has even touched an alternator. And .... when was the last time any of us went to get an exhaust system replaced - must be more than 30 years for me.
 
JensenHealey said:
Those of us who remember motoring in the 1970s - we spent a lot of time at the local Lucas outlet - exchanging alternators was a common thing then. In recent years I don't think any of our cars has even touched an alternator. And .... when was the last time any of us went to get an exhaust system replaced - must be more than 30 years for me.
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What's an alternator? Is that, like, a dynamo?
 
-alan- said:
Using brakes in the way you do James, a pair of rubber brake blocks on the side of the rim sound like they'd be plenty :)
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I'd still like to be able to stop in a hurry, even if rarely. But because my stoppers generate an awful lot of brake dust, I drive with far more anticipation of what the traffic ahead is doing. Oh, and a six-speed manual transmission means I don't have to fight torque-converter creep.
 
PaulMB said:
...have a good independent mechanic and then hanging about and discussing what they are doing. I think they love-hate me.
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Servicing fees:

$75/h normal servicing
$150/h if owner insists on watching / discussing
$300/h if owner wants to help

Unless they are a friend, it's usually a hate relationship if you bother them while they are on the job.
 
James said:
That's my plan too, or at least one with a dug-out pit that I can drive the car over and work on underneath standing up.
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gintonic said:
we have one, and it is now a storage location
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Many years ago, an uncle of mine, an inveterate car botherer, decided to put an inspection pit in his garage. First time it rained it became a plunge pool. Not sure it ever dried out.
 
NB there are good reasons that 'pits' for small vehicles are no longer built over and above such an unintended baptism: including danger of falls, and also the unfortunate fact that a lot of the gaseous/off-gassing 'light fractions from petrol etc .. are in fact heavier than air: so a measure of positive ventilation, and certainly , spark-safe lighting / safe for use in such an atmosphere are reqd as a minimum - or at least, worth remembering if you have one. Just a thought.
 
James said:
I'd still like to be able to stop in a hurry, even if rarely. But because my stoppers generate an awful lot of brake dust, I drive with far more anticipation of what the traffic ahead is doing. Oh, and a six-speed manual transmission means I don't have to fight torque-converter creep.
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I'm the same :)

I use the brakes a lot less than most on the road. One thing I discovered though is that if you underuse them, you tend to get the calipers seizing up, and end up with only a partially swept disc, and reduced braking capability. Nowadays I tend to take a point of making a couple of proper disk-scrubbing stops every week or so, get some heat and movement into the callipers and clean the gunge and oxidation off the disks properly. Keeps the system in good shape in case you ever do need to drop the anchors in an emergency.
 
Just be careful. Advanced drivers use brake lights as an early signal to following drivers. You don’t want a two ton suv planting itself in your back seats because you were being ‘clever’ with the brakes.
 
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