Do you maintain your own car?

kriscamaro68 wrote: »

I hate changing spark plugs on the wrx. They are in such an awkward place. For me I love turbo's too much to ever go back unless I get another muscle car. Even then though I would probably do a turbo or roots style supercharger. I love the sound of a turbo spooling and the bov. Also roots superchargers sound awesome when you hear the whine.

I'm not sure if it's the wonderful song a nice turbo setup produces, or the shear amounts of enjoyment one can have driving around but I gotta say the whine of the turbo squishing in air at some 100-130k rpm's while traveling wide open throttle with an open **** on the wastegate is pretty hard to beat!

I got bit hard by the car bug after knowing squat about tearing apart an engine and learning my way through trial and error piece by piece on my first project with the one off turbo build. Was certainly a money pit, partly from having to do a lot of it custom and just goofing things up as I went and learned some valuable lessons. The car spent a great deal of time sitting around like this courtesy of always pushing it to the next limit:

Brings back memories, kinda miss the car despite seeming like I spent way too much time under the hood.

A pic from back ago after I first mounted everything up after all the fab work was finished up, wondering if it was going to fall apart, wondering if I calculated fuel requirements correctly and just a bit rich at first before I could tune it so I wouldn't blow the engine but not rich enough to wash out the pistons/rings. I was a total noob back then, so not much in the way to monitor engine conditions at first - certainly no wideband O2 after I grew more wise but at least started with a EGT gauge to estimate things somewhat

Yea, think I just convinced myself that I won't be selling that drivetrain

Came about it by chance, partly someone not fully knowing what they had, partly them owing me, and a little bit of them just needing cash and taking what I had to offer at the time despite me telling them they could make a bundle more on ebay or one of the WRX/STI forums.

Yea... it's a sickness...

Chris:/*

Yes including serious modifications. Current toy is a 2003 Cobra Supercharged. She is awaiting my return to the states.

N2IT

pitviper wrote: »

I used to do all of my own maintenance (Isuzu Vehicross) - but then I learned that it was way more fun to drink beer on a Saturday afternoon at my buddies shop while he did the work in 1/2 the time

+1

I've done breaks, oil, the little stuff. Never swapped out trannys or engines, however I did partake in assisting. It was fun in my teen years.

One of my first cars I had was a 66 Chevelle with a 396 in it. I had a 4 speed and 383 rear end. Man that was a beast. Way to much car for me at the time.

Now I drive a 98 Accord lol

Psoasman

Plantwiz wrote: »

Otherwise, the only thing that beats working on a car is chopping wood! Dang that's a rush

I split 10-15 cords a year. The physical exercise is great after spending 60+ hours a week at work/school.

tpatt100

Main reason I want to learn how to work on cars is not to always fix them but to know when its minor that I can do or major and I need an actual mechanic. If I take it in for all the minor stuff your chances of getting ripped off greatly increases.

I've never paid for the services of a mechanic, ever. I swapped an sr20det into my 240sx when I was 16 then a drunk driver took that away a few weeks later. After my next 240sx I kept my first '91 MR2 running to 500,000 miles before it was too busted to keep going. After that I got another '91 MR2 turbo and kept it going for a while. Timing belt, turbo upgrade, new injectors, etc. Working on those cars was a mother. Alternator jobs are like 10 hours if you have big hands

I currently maintain a 300zx TT. The engine has 42k documented miles so maintenance hasn't really been that bad. I recently replaced 5/6 of the injectors (PO was cheap and only replaced the one bad one vs doing them all). If you've never worked on a Z then you have no idea how frustrating it is to have to disassemble the upper portion of your engine just to do menial work like gaskets / injectors. The plenum pull is ridiculous.

That's not even counting unplanned maintenance, like replacing the blown head gasket on my 2nd 240sx on the side of the freeway at 9:00pm with a few friends' cellphones for flashlights.

Chris:/* wrote: »

Yes including serious modifications. Current toy is a 2003 Cobra Supercharged. She is awaiting my return to the states.

When I think of roots supercharger and the whine from it the 03-04 cobra always comes to mind. Almost bought one awhile back in place of my 67 nova but in the long run I liked the nova more cause it took me back to the good old days of high school and all the muscle cars I had back then. Plus when I was done with the nova it was putting down 549hp and 490 ft lbs of torque to the wheels. I stripped it for weight and put a roll-cage in and did a tub and put in 12" semi slicks. That car ripped all the way to 7500rpm. Had forged internals solid cam and full roller motor. Ford 9" with 4.56gears. I could get the front end off the ground about 10"-12" depending on traction. Its a pretty scary feeling the first time you pull the front tires off the ground. I ran flowmaster 2 chambers on it and man that thing would wake up the neighborhood when I drove around. I really miss all the excitement that muscle cars brought me. One day I hope to get another 68 firebird and do a full build resto-mod on it. I'll either do an ls3 with a twin-turbo setup or an ls9 with the blower on it. Either way I need to save about 50grand before that happens.

msteinhilber wrote: »

I'm not sure if it's the wonderful song a nice turbo setup produces, or the shear amounts of enjoyment one can have driving around but I gotta say the whine of the turbo squishing in air at some 100-130k rpm's while traveling wide open throttle with an open **** on the wastegate is pretty hard to beat!

I got bit hard by the car bug after knowing squat about tearing apart an engine and learning my way through trial and error piece by piece on my first project with the one off turbo build. Was certainly a money pit, partly from having to do a lot of it custom and just goofing things up as I went and learned some valuable lessons. The car spent a great deal of time sitting around like this courtesy of always pushing it to the next limit:

Brings back memories, kinda miss the car despite seeming like I spent way too much time under the hood.

A pic from back ago after I first mounted everything up after all the fab work was finished up, wondering if it was going to fall apart, wondering if I calculated fuel requirements correctly and just a bit rich at first before I could tune it so I wouldn't blow the engine but not rich enough to wash out the pistons/rings. I was a total noob back then, so not much in the way to monitor engine conditions at first - certainly no wideband O2 after I grew more wise but at least started with a EGT gauge to estimate things somewhat

Yea, think I just convinced myself that I won't be selling that drivetrain Came about it by chance, partly someone not fully knowing what they had, partly them owing me, and a little bit of them just needing cash and taking what I had to offer at the time despite me telling them they could make a bundle more on ebay or one of the WRX/STI forums.

Yea... it's a sickness...

The tat is awesome man. What turbo did is that on the saturn? Thats cool that you just went for it and start to learn it all yourself. When you can work on your car and see that what you did made it go faster and really feel it, its the best feeling ever. You feel like you could go out and race anything and just kick ass.

Paul Boz wrote: »

I've never paid for the services of a mechanic, ever. I swapped an sr20det into my 240sx when I was 16 then a drunk driver took that away a few weeks later. After my next 240sx I kept my first '91 MR2 running to 500,000 miles before it was too busted to keep going. After that I got another '91 MR2 turbo and kept it going for a while. Timing belt, turbo upgrade, new injectors, etc. Working on those cars was a mother. Alternator jobs are like 10 hours if you have big hands

I currently maintain a 300zx TT. The engine has 42k documented miles so maintenance hasn't really been that bad. I recently replaced 5/6 of the injectors (PO was cheap and only replaced the one bad one vs doing them all). If you've never worked on a Z then you have no idea how frustrating it is to have to disassemble the upper portion of your engine just to do menial work like gaskets / injectors. The plenum pull is ridiculous.

That's not even counting unplanned maintenance, like replacing the blown head gasket on my 2nd 240sx on the side of the freeway at 9:00pm with a few friends' cellphones for flashlights.

My brother had a 240 that we did a sr20det swap in. It was a fun car. He then wanted to swap it into one of the old school sentra se-r's and since they where just an sr20. He ended up selling it though and got a civic hatch that we did a type-r swap on. Is the 300z still stock or have you modded it yet? Those cars are slick. I love nissan. The Silvia and the true jdm skylines are probably my favorite imports but they are just so damn expensive and getting them legal for the U.S. is a pain that I don't want to deal with.

Mishra

It all depends. If I have time I will do my own car work. Or if I'm interested and it's not too big of a job I will learn it on my own. I've definitely done my share of work on cars

Clutch, throwout bearing, suspension rebuild, regular work (like alternators), heater core replacement, flushings, and so on.

Basically I judge, based on the cost/skill ratio, on whether or not I want a shop to do it. Like I let Honda adjust my valves instead of doing it myself for the skill/tools that I don't have/own. But I will do my own brake job because 150 dollars (basically paying for their insurance) is just too much.

I let a shop do my oil changes because it's just too regular to do myself.

Since I've owned my 2000 Honda Civic, my car work has decreased exponentially.

shon541

DevilWAH wrote: »

LOL that reminds me of the first time I did my brakes, I forgot to pump them to tighten them up on the disks after I had finished. Went to pull out of my drive, and ended up rolling out across a busy road pumping furiously at the peddle to stop as cars where bearing down on my at 50mph! Ended up blocking the lane of traffic and sheepishly reversing out of every ones way with a rather red face.

LOL Been there, done that!! My first brake job I forgot to bleed the system. Took the car out for a test drive, and had to stand on the pedal to get it to stop. Took it real slow back home and finish the job right.

I've done engine rebuilds, regular maintenance, oil changes, etc. For the most part, I would rather have someone else do the work at this point. They have the tools, and they can clean up the mess when they are done.

Paul Boz wrote: »

II currently maintain a 300zx TT. The engine has 42k documented miles so maintenance hasn't really been that bad. I recently replaced 5/6 of the injectors (PO was cheap and only replaced the one bad one vs doing them all). If you've never worked on a Z then you have no idea how frustrating it is to have to disassemble the upper portion of your engine just to do menial work like gaskets / injectors. The plenum pull is ridiculous.

Have to love the Z cars too

I had a 300zx turbo for a while too, fun car though mine was a Z31 and I love the look of a Z32 a lot better but yea they are a royal pain to work on. They can be an awful lot of fun though, so at least that makes up for the hassles

kriscamaro68 wrote: »

What turbo did is that on the saturn? Thats cool that you just went for it and start to learn it all yourself. When you can work on your car and see that what you did made it go faster and really feel it, its the best feeling ever. You feel like you could go out and race anything and just kick ass.

Pictured is a Garrett T3 with a 60 trim compressor with a .48 A/R turbine housing which did well but spooled way too fast which caused problems as I upped the boost. Turned out though after maybe 12k miles the turbo started to show signs of failing bearings or seals (so much for being a "fresh rebuilt turbo" on ebay. Rebuilt the turbo (and in no way was it rebuilt by the ebay seller, the bearings were ridiculously worn for 12k miles) and swapped the turbine housing with a .63 A/R to help increase the spool time and shift the power band into a more suitable RPM range.

You're right about the go fast feeling though, first time I took the car out and slowly edged into boost really brought on a giant ear to ear grin once I was confident I could go wide open - despite only being gated for ~3.5psi of boost. A swap to a .70 bar spring and boost controller to hit 1.2bar and the grin's only grew bigger

I miss the feel of a turbo car though and I'm really looking forward to being able to have a project car again. I used to get my fix now and again when I was still married since we got the wife a 04 WRX with some bolt-on's but now I miss out on the fun since we split so I've been fighting the urge again

Chris:/*

@kriscamaro68 Sounds like she was a beauty. Yeah I love my car I do more road racing and autocrossing then anything else in it. When I am in the states it is my daily driver, but when I move back I will be buying a 4 cylinder POS that I do not have to worry about at the Metro.

kriscamaro68 wrote: »

My brother had a 240 that we did a sr20det swap in. It was a fun car. He then wanted to swap it into one of the old school sentra se-r's and since they where just an sr20. He ended up selling it though and got a civic hatch that we did a type-r swap on. Is the 300z still stock or have you modded it yet? Those cars are slick. I love nissan. The Silvia and the true jdm skylines are probably my favorite imports but they are just so damn expensive and getting them legal for the U.S. is a pain that I don't want to deal with.

Far from stock. Blitz FMIC and BOV's, Apexi intake, 3" HKS exhaust, boost upped to 14.5 PSI (1 bar), 550cc injectors, Jim Wolf ECU, HICAS deleted, 10lb fizanza flywheel, six puck clutch (with no vac assist, woot), and some chassis stiffening. The last dyno was 402 hp to the wheels with water injection over the intercooler. The only thing I really have left is to upgrade from the stock turbos but I need to do some suspension work, get new wheels/tires, and fix a few odds and ends first.

L0gicB0mb508

I've actually always done my own mechanic and body work on my vehicles. I started off pretty young working on my dirt bikes and just moved over to cars when I got that age. I still have two project cars I need to finish up, but I'm lazy.

JapFreak786

I've got a Nissan Skyline R33 GTR,and i carry out most of the work myself on it.
I've so far replaced coilovers,taken off the manifolds/turbos/pipework etc to replace gaskets,serviced several times and done alot of other stuff. Do most of the work on my car's myself,done alot over the past 6 years,ICE installations,suspension work,brake work,exhaust fittings,manifolds etc etc

Here are some photos of my more recent cars I never took any of my old muscle cars cause I didn't care to in high school.

My 04 WRX that I have now:

My 03 WRX I had then some freakin idiot hit me and totaled it:

My 05 Civic SI:

My 92 Integra GSR:

My 67 Nova:

Here is the only video I ever took of my nova: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGzpglEMJFQ&feature=related

I've been wrenching almost all my life. Started with dirtbikes and go-carts, to mopeds and motorcycles, then to cars and trucks. I love wrenching and it helps me clear my head, kinda like mowing the yard and such. Maintenance, alarms/stereos, to lift kits and engine rebuilds and welding. It's always funny when people hear I have a "technical" back ground but can wrench on things.

I don't trust most dealerships, I worked 3 years in a Mercedes/BMW/Porsche shop as a teenager and then Toyota/Lexus on their TIS machines about 5 years ago. I ran into more "shady" mechanics at some local GM/Chevy dealerships and drive in/out lube places, so I trust no one to work on my stuff.

I buy/rebuild wrecked motorcycles, ride them for a bit and then sale them, so I can pretty much tear anything apart and put it back together. I think it all started with the plan to take a 175cc 2 stroker yamaha dirtbike engine and put it on my 5 hp Briggs n Stratton go cart when I was around 11 years old. Thank God I didn't go through with it, I probably would have killed myself. Racing dirtbikes and super sport motorcycles means that you have to learn how to get dirty and tinker anways.....

Since we're posting pics...

Paul Boz wrote: »

Since we're posting pics...

Very nice Paul, I like

So I guess it's safe to presume dynamik's mom wasn't really after you for a physical attraction, she clearly just likes nice cars

neocybe

I've maintained all of my cars up until my current one, brakes, tune ups, electronics etc. I also have a habit of tinting the windows on just about every car I've owned.

84' Renault
87' Nissan Sentra

83' Gutless Cutless (lol - I think this was Massachussetts thing at the time; there were at least 10-15 olds something or other in the parking lot of my high school.)

86 Subaru Legacy (this thing was a tank in New England winters; good times - ah those reverse dounuts in empty parking lots. )

87 Buick Grand national (miss this baby)

90 Hyundai accell (we called it the pregnant rollerskate)

03 mitsubishi Diamante (poor man's caddy for me anyways)

I dont maintain my current car because its a pile of junk (03 mazda 6) but my next toy will be a 1998-2005 Ford Expedition to tinker with.

geez, this brought back some great memories.

LOL, no msteinhilber, it's was because of his good boudin and etouffee.......

motogpman wrote: »

LOL, no msteinhilber, it's was because of his good boudin and etouffee.......

Boudin balls

EXACTLY.... When I lived in Beaumont, I worked right next to the Beaumont Boudin factory, I miss that place. I would have to go into Lousiana and stock up as much as possible when going to Lake Charles/Baton Rouge.

I'll be heading over there this month to see some family ( reunion ), so I'll be getting enough to last a bit. Thanksgiving is right around the corner too, so my deep fried turkey requests are piling up, 6 so far.

stangman

I do all of my own work. I worked professionaly for over 16 years as an Automotive Technician. I won't fill the pages with a laundry list of cars I've own. I will agree with some of the posts I've read on dealership techs. Since I have been out the only work I will allow them to perfom is warranty work and even then I'm a nervous wreck with them touching my stuff. I have had to make numerous trips back to have things re-done because it wasn't right.

motogpman wrote: »

EXACTLY.... When I lived in Beaumont, I worked right next to the Beaumont Boudin factory, I miss that place. I would have to go into Lousiana and stock up as much as possible when going to Lake Charles/Baton Rouge.

I'll be heading over there this month to see some family ( reunion ), so I'll be getting enough to last a bit. Thanksgiving is right around the corner too, so my deep fried turkey requests are piling up, 6 so far.

Dude if you're coming through Baton Rouge we have to hang out. Especially if you're a MotoGP fan. I don't know many other people who get up at 7:00am on Sundays to watch GPs on Speed Network

Sounds like a plan! I have family scattered all over the place in Cajun land. I'll PM ya when I head out there. I quit watching AMA after the DMC group bought the rights, and with my busy schedule, I have everything recorded. I met the Haydens when they were raing the local circuits ( mid/late) 90's ( good kids) and Colin Edwards lives right across the lake from me. I figured you were into MGP by the Ducati avatar, I am assuming it's Stoner's?