who works on their own car?

[MakotoS13]

i guess it's more of a rant than anything but...

i'm just curious to see how many of us works on their own vehicle. my car has been in a constant state of flux since i bought it and all of it's been done by me with very little outside help.

my main reason for asking is the surplus amount of RETARDED questions that i find every day in this forum. the most recent has been "how do you remove a hubcap?". you gotta be freakin kidding me...

so who here actually enjoys every aspect of this hobby rather than being another bandwagon hippie hoping for some kind of refuge from their pathetic life?

[ronny5]

i love working on my own car, except the time i had to change every single bushing. =D

[ThatGuy]

I have done done most of the work on my car. Which is reflected by my pimpin paint job. LOL. On very rare occaisions I'll leave things up to a shop, usually allignments and such. Other then that I take care of routine maint. and small upgrades.

Ummmm, did you mean to post this twice??

[240Driver39]

yeah..i do...cause its fun and cheaper...just have to remember a few rules...dont break somehting that wasnt broken..and dont end up with extra parts...haha

[Salty_X]

I love busted knuckles. :D

I do all the work on my car. In fact, I just changed the tie rods and tc rods yesterday. Those inner tie rods were a bitch to get off... :Ownedd:

[Yoshi]

this being an enthusiast site, I'm pretty sure a good 90% of people here do the majority of their own work :)

[OptionZero]

well i try, but there was the time my friends and I put Q45 calipers on the wrong sides and fucked up my brake system...

other than that....body work goes to a shop, major repairs go to a shop....

i'd *like* to do everything myself if i could, but time, experience, and ability are limited. Oh, and money

[jonnnny23]

I love busted knuckles. :D
I do all the work on my car. In fact, I just changed the tie rods

I do al of my work. Once I changed a tie rod in the parking lot while it was snowing :hahano:

Jon

[TachyonS14]

I hate doing work on my car because frankly, it's not fun bashing my knuckles and getting cuts all the time and twisting into positions to get to pesky bolts. But, I do it anyway only because I feel most mechanics are incompetent.

[zero.counter]

Since I have the 2, and the accord beater, I work on them since maintenance on them plus my wife's camry is a PITA and could be expensive. Imagine taking them to the mechanics for every little thing including but not limited to; oil changes, tranny fluid change, A/C recharging, radiator flushing, belts/hoses/spark plugs/plug wires/timing, etc.

[jonnnny23]

I hate doing work on my car because frankly, it's not fun bashing my knuckles and getting cuts all the time and twisting into positions to get to pesky bolts. But, I do it anyway only because I feel most mechanics are incompetent.


i found out if you have the right tools it makes the job 100000x easier.

[The ROMAN]

I love working on my car...when it goes smoothly anyway. I do all the work, fixing stuff, mods, paint. If I had to take it to a mechanic everytime I needed some work, I'd be soooooo broke. I'm wondering if I should do the SR install myself though, cause I've never done a complete swap before.

[russian]

time is very important. i only have one car, so in order for me to do anything i need to have plenty of room for error or stuck bolts. lately i only have 1 day off which is sunday, so sometimes its a bitch to go and do work. but most things dont cost much if you have hook ups at the shops. id say time is more important in this case then money. so, i do when i can. only thing that has being done by shop on my car is the clutch and shocks.

[95Blue240sx]

i love working on my car! i use to help all my friends in highschool with upgrades and all sorts of crap with their cars. after getting yelled at several times by my dad, i stick to working on 240s only.

its fun to work on other peoples car, but it is just a hassle when you have to go somewhere and you are in middle of a job. love me car and 240s in general, working on them is fun i have no idea why.

[s0ldats]

i work on my own car because i don't have a lot of money to spend on labor.

[West]

No one touch's my car unless its me or Irena. Of course there are always things we cant do, but if we have the tools, we do the job.

[SimpleS14]

I work on my car...but I do ask some newbish questions if its something I've never done before. It saves me money, but there are times I have to take it to a shop (paint job, alignment, etc.).

[mike13]

my brother is in school right now getting ASE certified, so while he actually does the work, I'm right there assisting in any way possible, or doing one side while he does the other.
He works for my landlord, who owns a shop right next to my house, so we can work on the car at night and on weekends. Its good experience for him, and easy/ cheap for me. everyone wins :bigok:

[MakotoS13]

russian- you better get that mod done before steal your car and do it myself!

yeah, the right tools and approach make ALL the difference in the world.

work smart not hard.

later gang

[AceInHole]

i hate working on my own car. so much easier to just have a garage do it. then in the end when it blows up you can blame it on someone else, too. it's also a lot easier to just buy name brand parts. making your own parts sucks ass. :smash:

it really sucks to be poor and do your own work (since all $$ goes directly to parts) and fill your apartment with car parts untill you can't see the floor which is greased up anyways :mad:

[zero.counter]

i hate working on my own car. so much easier to just have a garage do it. then in the end when it blows up you can blame it on someone else, too. it's also a lot easier to just buy name brand parts. making your own parts sucks ass. :smash:

it really sucks to be poor and do your own work (since all $$ goes directly to parts) and fill your apartment with car parts untill you can't see the floor which is greased up anyways :mad:
It does suck, but because someone wants to save money working on their cars may not make them poor, especially when they can do it, and do it well. Most of the time, garages do no take care of your ride and much as you would. They may forget to do certain things, wipe oil on the seats, track mud on your carpet, risk of getting stuff stolen from your car...you can get my point.

Making your own parts is fun, especially if you have the right tools as stated above. A welder, air compressor, pipe bender, sheet metal bender, are all excellent when it comes to building good parts. If you look around in your city or town, you may find really good deals on this stuff.

[mjjstang]

I do all my own work simply because I dont have the money to have someone else do it, kind of ironic seeing I just bought an air compressor tool chest parts washer and a full set of tools just for the damn sr project, I guess it is pretty fun though.

[NismoSilvia270R]

mechanical is easy, its the electrical side that kills me. always get a helper for those jobs

[fastpace]

I love working on my car. I also work on friends and my car together. I love every aspect about it. It good thing is that it is pretty cheap, because I do all of the work and have the piece of mind that I installed the part correctly. After my last paint job I don't trust mechanics for anything. I am also going to learn how to paint so I can do my own job and do some custom stuff to the car after I get out of college. But regardless I love working on my car.

[G_Fish240]

im too broke to pay someone

[thelinja]

Sometimes it's a pain in the ass, I really get tired of taking wheels off. But it pays off when I hear one of my friends say "man I just paid $500 for a new alternator."

[smellslikecurry]

the first 240 i bought was modded heavily by the previous owner, although the car was amazing and fun to drive, it felt different because i didnt do any of the mods, so i sold it and bought a 600 s13 and started from scratch, im still learning and it takes time, broken parts, money and patience, but i guess in the end its all worth it

[soulDistortion]

I do as much of my own work as possible given my resources (be it money or tools). Barring that, if I need to have other people do work on my car, I'm going to be right there watching them, asking questions, and learning what they're doing.

Besides, it's more fun knowing that you do your own work on your car; it makes driving that much more enjoyable.

[nismo skyline]

the only people that touch my car mechanically are me or my dad. i do everything from putting on an exhaust, to coilovers, tie rods, regular maint., we even did the s13 conversion which required some major modification to the fiberglass fenders. and we didnt know anything about body work. the only thing we dont do is alignments, since i have the hookup on that.

[Bbandit]

Me and my buddies work on our cars.. we dont trust shops

[240Stilo]

Working on the car is the worst. But, it's the price I pay to maintain it and install everything I feel needs improving.

[thatsmekid]

does it count if i work on my car in a full mechanic shop??? i know i'm spoiled...


but i love working on my car when i get a chance with my 70 hours work schedule....

[qoute]I do al of my work. Once I changed a tie rod in the parking lot while it was snowing[qoute]

one time my oil filter relocator line busted, so i had to remove the filter plate and replce it with a regular filter out in the snow with a little key chain flashlight...talk about fun... :bigok:

[M.Piedlourde]

I would, except for 2 things.

1) I don't have a car that I want to work on. I'm going 240SX shopping in August, after over 2 years of Sentra-only misery. I don't have any desire to work on my Sentra. :hsdance:

2) I don't have any place to work. I live in an apartment complex where working on your car out in the parking lot gets you evicted. Still not sure what I'm going to do about that when I get a car I want to mess with. One of my fondest dreams is to have a house with a GARAGE.

[RBS14]

I'm with you Archangelprez. I personally have done ALL of the work on my car that has been done. suspension, diff, cams, fender rolling, and not my kat. What i can't stand more than people who are retards is people who claim to be all that and are hardcore racers/drifters whatever and don't do all the work on their cars. I know people who 90% of the people on here swing from their nuts and they don't even do all their work. changing tie rods and stuff but when it come to more complicated stuff they just puss out. It's wack.

I'm always searching for more car related knowledge and the best way i have found yet is to do stuff yourself.

[HaLo]

Whatever I can do on my car, I will do... :)

[TheSparo]

i do all of the work myself, the only things i dont do are things you need specialized equipment to do, ie alignments, mounting tires, a/c retrofitting... but ive done everything to my car, sr swap, fmic, too many things

[TheTimanator]

My uncle and I do all the work on my car. He works at a body shop, so I have full use of lifts and air tools after hours. It's great.

[element240]

Whatever I can do on my car, I will do... :)

same here..

on monday i took out my ka24de engine/tranny all by myself (with the help of my uncle when i was nearly done to pump the engine hoist)
and i feel good about it :D

[Wei240]

car never broke down, so i haven't exactly 'worked' on my car, did all the easy stuff, like suspension, diff, minor/major regular tune ups
i find it therapeutic, something to do on spare time but nothing i want to do full time...
what's hindering me on the more tougher stuff is i don't have power tools, engine hoist, yadda, yada, yada...

also some ppl can't work on their cars because of the place they live in, i.e like living in cold weather in apts w/o parking cover

[Replicant_S14]

I do when I have time. I like it because I have a garage and it's some of the only quiet time I have. None of my cars are a lot of trouble so it's mostly maintenance or fun stuff and I mostly do it from 10pm on.

I think it's one of those things that you have to have a mentality for. I haven't always had it. It probably started with me when I had motorcycles. I would take them apart and put them back together etc.....of course, I also smoked a lot of weed back then so...... :confused:

[the head]

the only thing i am bringing in outside assistance on is hooking up my standalone ECU other than that i have done all my own work

[Ghettokracker71]

While always loving to work on cars I've never known it without majorly horrible back pain and neckpain. After a recent accident I can't even wash my S13 anymore:(

If it were my choice:I would.

I used to do alot of work myself and just bear the pain,but its too much these days:(

[whateverjames]

I do most of the work on my car but I paid someone to do the swap. Say it's easy and what not, but you just don't know my bad luck. Also, I didn't have any room to do it, so I had it done for $1,000 by someone who's done quite a few swaps. But other than that, I do everything myself including working on the SR, not that it's needed anything major yet. Just adjustments/mantainence.

Do I like working on my car? No, not always. I'd rather be relaxing rather than getting frustrated wondering "How in the hell did other people do this?". But damn, when it all works out and you're putting all of the tools away and cleaning up, it's a good feeling knowing you just saved money, even if it took a little longer than it should have.

[phrozen]

cant afford to pay a shop so i do it myself or figure it out

[Demik]

all work done by me..PERIOD dont trust fooooollls after a incident of some shop tryin to jack some things form my car.....

[Jimmyg41]

I work on my own car. I've never taken my car to a mechanic actually. But then again I've never had any major problems. So far the 240 installs I have under my belt are springs/shocks, F/R Strut Tower Brace, B&M SS, and some other crap. All relatively easy installs. I'm dreading doing the F&R sway bars but it'll get done. The only thing in the near future that I"m paying someone to do is my intercooler piping (McKinney Motorsports is gonna do it).

[VEX240]

Me and my roomate do everything. There are no shops around here to take them to anyway. Engine swap, body work, paint, suspension, we do it all except mount tires, alignment and tuning cause we dont have the stuff to do it. I love that i have done everything. Started bone stock. :rawk:

[Vatche]

i love working on my own car, i learn new things, i save money, i do a good job and i know whats wrong with it when something breaks. or what the possibilities of what broke haha

[AlligatorBling]

just tonight i installed new break pads, bled the lines with the help of my dad... and installed a new o2 sensor... i love to work on my car... tomorrow im going to flush the radiator and change my oil. i actually try to think of things all the time that i can do maintenance wise... workin on ya own ride :rawk:

[Turbozx]

Just spent the last 2 days pulling the turbo and log manifold off to repair a crack in the manifold after last week's track event. Had to get it done as I am leaving for another track event tomorrow (Willow Spring on Friday with Speed Ventures). I do all the work on my car, but to tell you the truth, there are times, when I just get sick of it. What I really want to do is just to drive it at track events for the rest of the year and just do routine maintenance.

[AceInHole]

Most of the time, garages do no take care of your ride and much as you would. They may forget to do certain things, wipe oil on the seats, track mud on your carpet, risk of getting stuff stolen from your car...you can get my point.
But, then there are the shops that take so much pride in their work they won't let you leave untill everything is more than perfect. But then again, I only trust that one shop (Performance Centers, East Hartford, CT) and only get welding/ machining done there that I can't do myself (with an arc or gasless welder).

[ledzeppelin240]

I do 95% of the work on my car. The 5% was a slight electrical problem that I did not even want to get involved in. Its nice having access to a lift for free, really speeds up stuff. The body work in the past has been done at an autobody shop that takes great pride in the cars that leave. My plans in the furture are to start testing the water of autobody work on my next car...

[mjjstang]

it killed my a month ago when my dad couldnt wait for the weekend so I could fix his taurus, 650 to swap a maf and an emissions sensor of sorts. I priced the parts at 50 bucks. I just dont see how they can get away w that shit. thats why I dont go to shops, they are scam artists.

[SR240DET]

i do all the work that my tools will let me...

iv swap my buddies 1jz-gte into his mk3 supra...with my 144 piece craftsmen set, breaker bar, and a 12pack....

[gonzoes14k]

I do my own work when i need help my boys lend a hand. If there is anything i cant do for any reason algiment/ect try to get the best.

[i-love-my-s14]

My friend and i do all the work on my car and his car. I trust my own work becuase i can check it and know that it is done right, plus it gives us something to do at like 2 in the morning.

[MakotoS13]

the reason i work on my own car is because i want to know everything about it. i'm restoring it from rubber to roof and i love ever second i spend hunting down rust, cleaning old parts up, and claiming victory over the kind of stuff that makes me give up like 5 times before i figure it out.

no one will treat your car as good as you will unless you pay them enough... and most of us don't have that kind of money. my car has no body panels on it and is sitting sans headlights, an interior awaiting the day when it's ready for paint.

a guy walked by and asked if i was restoring it... i should've told him "nah, i took all that stuff off lookin for the drain plug"

[WilloW]

the reason i work on my own car is because i want to know everything about it.

no one will treat your car as good as you will unless you pay them enough...

EXACTLY! I don't know about some of the new shops around my area, but the one I know about 6-7 years ago are a bunch of shady bastards. One of them chopped my friend's sleeve type coilover (Honda), lagging and damaging his car. I haven't took any of my cars to any shops for the last 6-7 years, I did everything on my own or with the help of my friends.

[mellojoe]

I do everything I can myself. Now, like this most recent job, I ran out of time (deadline is track-day), and I work full-time. So, I had to pay a friend to do it in his shop. I HATE my car being in somebody else's hands. Just a pet peeve. If I can't do it (ie. alignments, wheel mounting, blah blah blah), then I like to be there.

Its a comfort thing. I'm very much a hands-on person. I don't like other people touching my stuff that I don't know.

[v8blakdak]

do all the work myself or with some friends and a few beers. never trust any shop to butcher my ride.

[AlligatorBling]

you know whats funny / sad.... most people these days dont even wash their own car...

[Ghettokracker71]

Not everybody is able to...including yours truly.

[AceInHole]

you know whats funny / sad.... most people these days dont even wash their own car...

that's what girls are for. :newbie:

[AlligatorBling]

that's what girls are for. :newbie:

::Chuckles:: :)

[MakotoS13]

that's what girls are for. :newbie:

psh, let a girl touch a good paint job? hell no. i don't let DEALERSHIPS wash my cars (well, when they have good paint). yeah, let a chick wash a black sports car. you'll be buffing scratches out for WEEKS. most people don't know how to wash a nice car properly... it's kinda sad.

and i swear, if i see any of you washing your car at the car wash with those big brushes i will stop long enough to beat you with it. :bow:

[Rusker]

I couldn't imagine not doing the work myself. What's the point in spending all this F'ing money and not having the satisfaction of doing your own work. I'm always trying to talk friends into doing thier own work and not bringing thier car to a shop. It's retarded to pay someone when you can get a manual and with enough time do the work yourself.

[danmilo1310]

I've done all my own work including sr swap w/ all the goodies, microtech standalone ems, upgraded turbo, and i currently have my top end ripped apart while i am waiting for my apex'i headgasket, hks cams and valvesprings, and greddy ras. But when i'm done i drive to the car wash cause im not to concerned with what my car looks like, but i get it washed cause after sittin in my garage it gets to dirty for even me. :)