DIY car maintenance

[Daniel]

Anyone else on here do any work on their own car?

I change the front discs and pads on the 500 today :D Quite satisfying and the ~£80 extra the dealer wanted to charge for the job was more than made up for the hour and a bit that it took me to do it :)

and yes it does actually stop :D

[airshifter]

For the past couple decades at least, the only time the shop works on our vehicles is if I am too short on time. I prefer to do things myself and know it's done right while saving money.

[SGWilko]

For the past couple decades at least, the only time the shop works on our vehicles is if I am too short on time. I prefer to do things myself and know it's done right while saving money.

I've changed head gaskets on a Rover 216 (with the K-Series engine), Fiesta's (Mk II & III) and MK II Escort (which had more carbon deposits on it than a chain smokers lungs).

Driveshaft (split/telescopic type) on 2CV, rear break pipe on 2CV (tough one that, as the pipe coils inside the rear axle and has to be fed out through a very small aperture in the middle). Replaced cylinder heads on a 2CV - no gasket - so requires much honing with valve paste to get an air tight seal.

Wheel bearings, disks. pads, drums and shoes on more cars than I can remember.

Oh, yes, crankshaft oil seals on my MK III Fiesta. Cleaned up the entire exteria of the engine in the process, then, when I was refilling with oil got an air lock and spilled oil everywhere - Grrrrrrrrrr!

Clutches on various Fiestas.

I've done front Disks and pads on the Astra (MK 3), replaced a dead lock sensor (fiddly feckers they are) and general servicing.

I am keen to do the cambelt on the Astra, but I think I am getting too old and I've lost my bottle!!!!

[Gregor-y]

Did you bleed the brake lines as well? As long as you're in there you may as well do that. I spent a few nightmare hours with a rubber mallet banging the discs off my old Subaru this time last year.

[Daniel]

Did you bleed the brake lines as well? As long as you're in there you may as well do that. I spent a few nightmare hours with a rubber mallet banging the discs off my old Subaru this time last year.

Nah, the fluid got done a couple of months ago, I do need to walk down the to the pharmacy and get a syringe though as the fluid level is above the max and I really should remove some fluid.

It did take a few whacks to get the discs off but to be fair I was using a teensy weensy hammer as I didn't fancy doing damage to myself :p , I put a little dab of copper grease on all the surfaces the disc contacts the hub so it should come off much easier next time. Copper grease has to be one of the best inventions, a light smear over on the face of the disc where the wheel goes on and your wheels don't stick to the discs, discs don't stick to hubs etc etc.

Speaking of Subaru's, I have a set of 4 pot front calipers and 2 pot rear calipers coming tomorrow and I'm going to refurbish them as per this guide -> Scoobypedia | Trusted knowledge for everything Subaru | Knowledge / Subaru 4 Pot Caliper Rebuild (http://www.scoobypedia.co.uk/index.php/Knowledge/BrakeRebuild) Definitelyhelps to have a guide if like me you're a bit of a beginner. Going to get them sandblasted or bead blasted or whatever and then repaint them as they're a rather gawdy red at the moment. Our Subaru has terrible brakes as standard and these should pull it up nice and quick! Will be an increase from 276mm front discs to 295mm and from 266mm rears to 290mm rears. So it should stop rather well!

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Anyone else on here do any work on their own car?



Sometimes I fill up a bucket of water, get a sponge and a leather shammy and actually wash my own car.

[Daniel]

All you're doing with a sponge is scratching your car :p

[Brown, Jon Brow]

All you're doing with a sponge is scratching your car :p

Scratching it clean! :p

[Rollo]

I do all of the minor maintenance and most of the major maintenance on cars I own.

What I want to know is why it took me less than an hour to replace the timing chain on the 206, but more than 90mins to replace the H4 headlights at the front? What's that about?

[J4MIE]

I don't have a car to maintain :bounce:

I did watch my dad changing brake pads on his car about 15 years or so ago, and I managed to change a puncture in the dark once - does that count? :\

Wish I knew more but don't really have the enthusiasm and nothing to practice on.

[Daniel]

I don't have a car to maintain :bounce:

I did watch my dad changing brake pads on his car about 15 years or so ago, and I managed to change a puncture in the dark once - does that count? :\

Wish I knew more but don't really have the enthusiasm and nothing to practice on.

J4mie, you can do the brakes on the Ka! They're exactly the same as on our 500 Brake Pad replacement, Fluid renewal and Rear Cylinder replacement. - The FIAT Forum (http://www.fiatforum.com/punto-guides/150515-brake-pad-replacement-fluid-renewal-rear-cylinder-replacement.html) it really is as simple as it looks.

Anyhoo, calipers arrived today and after much beating with a hammer and some nail punches, I got the rather rusty pins out, removed the pads and all the shims, made sure the bleed nipples were all free and cleaned them up a bit. Going to get them sandblasted and will give them a nice coat of paint (black silver or grey), replace all the seals, pistons if they're rusty, give it a new set of stainless steal pins as the ones that came with them were rusted to death, replace the bleed nipples and give them a set of stickers which will make them look like they've just come out of the factory.


http://oi56.tinypic.com/51yrz5.jpg

Only slight issue is making sure that the wheels will go over the calipers as they're a lot wider being fixed calipers rather than floating calipers. A minor detail though!

[CarlMetro]

In the past I spent many a weekend with a box of spaners and a Haynes manual but these days I just can't be arsed. The 500 (which is going in two weeks YAY!) is on a contract so I can't do anything on that even if I wanted to. The wife's Astra is 4 years old and the only thing it's had is a service once a year which is done at the same main dealer that we've brought the last four cars from.

I don't even wash our cars myself much these days, much rather pay the Albanians in the garage up the road to do in under 10 minutes what takes me an hour and they probably do a better job too. Add to the fact they provide me with a receipt and I claim tax relief on it :D

[Rollo]

J4mie, you can do the brakes on the Ka! They're exactly the same as on our 500 Brake Pad replacement, Fluid renewal and Rear Cylinder replacement. - The FIAT Forum (http://www.fiatforum.com/punto-guides/150515-brake-pad-replacement-fluid-renewal-rear-cylinder-replacement.html) it really is as simple as it looks.


Ka Mk.1 or Mk.2?

I was in a spot of bother with the Ka I had because the Ka shared brakes and rotors with the Mk.4 Fiesta and the Puma; neither of which were sold in Australia. This meant that the Ka had as far as the Australian market was concerned, unique brake rotors.

On the Ka Mk.1 the pads and rotors should be changed at the same time; I found that every so often with the Ka (as indeed every car I've owned) I need to occasionally pull the pads out and score them with razors because I tend to feather the brakes which polishes the pads.

[Daniel]

Ka Mk.1 or Mk.2?

I was in a spot of bother with the Ka I had because the Ka shared brakes and rotors with the Mk.4 Fiesta and the Puma; neither of which were sold in Australia. This meant that the Ka had as far as the Australian market was concerned, unique brake rotors.

On the Ka Mk.1 the pads and rotors should be changed at the same time; I found that every so often with the Ka (as indeed every car I've owned) I need to occasionally pull the pads out and score them with razors because I tend to feather the brakes which polishes the pads.

The Mk2 of course. On the 500 it seems to be a case of doing the discs and pads at the same time also.

[GridGirl]

This might be a daft question but why would the 500 need discs and pads already? Surely it shouldnt warrant them yet. :s

[Daniel]

This might be a daft question but why would the 500 need discs and pads already? Surely it shouldnt warrant them yet. :s

It could have gone a few thousand miles more I guess, being that most of the miles it does are done on fairly rural roads with a lot of muck on them, so basically there was a crapload of crap stuck in the left hand front caliper (the one that's always getting mud and poop flung up at it) so what litle lubrication there might have been was probably forced out by crap.

It took me about 50 minutes to do that side and only 20 minutes to do the other side purely because one side was absolutely cake in crap and the other side wasn't.

It had done 28,500 miles on those brakes and considering the parts were only a little over £40 it doesn't bother me.

[Mark]

My brakes lasted 50,000 but most of that milage was on motorways.

[A.F.F.]

No, I got that kind of cash :)

[Daniel]

No, I got that kind of cash :)

I can afford to get someone else to do my brakes, but it's more fun to do it yourself :D

[Allyc85]

I did a NVQ in Motor Vehicle Service and Repair and while I didnt go on to become a mechanic it taught me enough to save loads of money on some of the crap cars ive had over the years!

As long as ive got the space and tools, I generally do the servicing and do small jobs like changing the discs and pads. The other day I changed the rocker cover gasket on my Focus, which while not leaking badly, was enough to give me a nice smell of mobile 1 burning off the fanimold every so often.

And I agree it is fun to do your own repairs and quite satisfying too!

[Gregor-y]

Only slight issue is making sure that the wheels will go over the calipers as they're a lot wider being fixed calipers rather than floating calipers. A minor detail though!
Oddly enough I'll bet they fit. The pistons on the sliding caliper are on the outside so they're not going to be wider in that area, and of course they fit over the same rotor so any width increase will be on the inside of the disc. The front calipers on my car are made so that a fifteen inch Subaru wheel won't fit over them, but they will fit over those opposed piston designs, even though the rotor and bracket is the same. Unless I buy expensive rally wheels with lots of clearance I'm stuck at sixteen inches or more.

Those calipers look rough, and is that even the original red paint or someone's earlier attempt at coloring? Either way I'm envious. I've developed a grind from the rear left that happens on right turns over 30 mph so I've got to take it apart this weekend and determine where the actual rubbing is. There are reports of rust from the dust shield scraping the inside of the brake rotor but I would think it's a symptom of play in the setup that could be anything from worn bushings or loose bolts to a bad wheel bearing. Since the problem only happens when turning right I'm hoping it's not the bearing. That's something I can't do myself in my building.

[Daniel]

I did a NVQ in Motor Vehicle Service and Repair and while I didnt go on to become a mechanic it taught me enough to save loads of money on some of the crap cars ive had over the years!

As long as ive got the space and tools, I generally do the servicing and do small jobs like changing the discs and pads. The other day I changed the rocker cover gasket on my Focus, which while not leaking badly, was enough to give me a nice smell of mobile 1 burning off the fanimold every so often.

The Subaru did that, but that's one job I wouldn't dream of attempting to do as access is so crap! The Subaru can lose an alarming amount of oil through the rocker cover gasket too.

[Daniel]

Oddly enough I'll bet they fit. The pistons on the sliding caliper are on the outside so they're not going to be wider in that area, and of course they fit over the same rotor so any width increase will be on the inside of the disc. The front calipers on my car are made so that a fifteen inch Subaru wheel won't fit over them, but they will fit over those opposed piston designs, even though the rotor and bracket is the same. Unless I buy expensive rally wheels with lots of clearance I'm stuck at sixteen inches or more.

Those calipers look rough, and is that even the original red paint or someone's earlier attempt at coloring? Either way I'm envious. I've developed a grind from the rear left that happens on right turns over 30 mph so I've got to take it apart this weekend and determine where the actual rubbing is. There are reports of rust from the dust shield scraping the inside of the brake rotor but I would think it's a symptom of play in the setup that could be anything from worn bushings or loose bolts to a bad wheel bearing. Since the problem only happens when turning right I'm hoping it's not the bearing. That's something I can't do myself in my building.

Yeah the red is not the original colour of the calipers, they were originally black. I think they will look pretty good after I get them sandblasted and painted up. I'm going to be replacing all the seals and pins so they'll be as good as new. I'm hoping the pistons aren't rusted too badly as they'll be a bit costly to replace but if they have to be replaced they'll have to be replaced.

The problem I'll run into is that the standard calipers have the the pistons on the inside and obviously having another set of pistons inbetween the disc and the inner face of the wheel can create clearance issues. The wheels on the car at the moment (Speedline 2118's) will fit over the calipers I'm pretty sure and I have some other wheels (Speedline 2109's) which I've been told will fit too, but I really want to put the standard wheels on. If I can do it simply by putting some small spacers on then that would be fantastic as the car would just look better on the standard wheels.

What sort of brakes has your Subaru got? If they won't fit under 15" wheels they sound like 4 pots. I wouldn't imagine a bush could cause a scraping noise as the disc obviously attaches to the hub and the stone guard attaches to the spindle so it's more likely to be a bearing or a stuck pad or something.

[Gregor-y]

Ah yes I'm getting old and my memory is shot to hell. Thank goodness for the internet. The pistons are on the inside for the floating brakes, and the four pots will probably rub if you use wheels like those that came stock with American WRXs from 02-05. For some reason they chose to fit 16x6.5 wheels rather than the 16x7 wheels that were common on turbos (and the US sport version which had a non turbo 2.5) in the past.

The larger 7 inch wheels at the top were on the American 2.5RS from 98-01 (2001 was the last 'model' year for the first generation car in the States) and various Turbos in the rest of the world. The 6.5 inch wheels at the bottom were on all US WRX models and RS models from 02-05. There is a slew of other 16x6.5 wheels that were available with the Legacy and Forester as well.
http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/8153/wheelsa.jpg
I'm pretty sure I have a picture of four pots under some stock fifteen inch Subaru wheels somewhere. It's an old Turbo from the late 90s I saw somewhere in the highlands back when I had to travel a lot. I didn't even own a car at the time and was just starting to think about getting something other than the Hondas everyone in my family owned.

[Daniel]

Yeah they do fit under 15" wheels

The wheel on the left is on the car now and will definitely fit over and the wheel on the right should probably fit over.

http://oi49.tinypic.com/123s4r4.jpg

But it would probably look a bit better with these wheels on

http://oi55.tinypic.com/voxsec.jpg

[Gregor-y]

Lovely wheels but everywhere I look in the states they're expensive, even after a few years of rallying. That said I like the stock wheels on that Legacy as well; if I could get them to fit I'd have those for my snow tires. Early 90s turbo Legacies were 2.2L in the US and for a while the blocks were very desirable for the serious do-it-yourselfers. It's a nice looking car and in great shape.

[Daniel]

I got them for an absolute steal off ebay. They were about half the price you'd normally pay for them and they'd never been on a car and all but one of the boxes was factory sealed :D I figure when I take them off I won't have any trouble getting more or less what i paid for them.

The Legacy sadly isn't quite as tidy as it looks there, there's a bit of rust, 2 of the doors on the other side are gone, both front arches are gone too and there's a bit of rust that needs to be seen to on the drivers side rear arch asap! I've got a couple of doors but only one of them is really perfect so I may need to get another door and I'll definitely need 2 front arches but you can get pattern arches so it's not too bad.

[Allyc85]

Well the saying goes Ford, Fixed Once Repaired Daily and I think mines nearly the same at the moment!

Did the rocker cover gasket at the weekend, Monday the n/s dipped beam bulb went and now the reverse light isnt working! Bulb is fine, as is the fuse so I guess its either the reverse switch or a bad earth?

And to think I give my work mate so much stick for driving a Punto :p

[Daniel]

Well the saying goes Ford, Fixed Once Repaired Daily and I think mines nearly the same at the moment!

Did the rocker cover gasket at the weekend, Monday the n/s dipped beam bulb went and now the reverse light isnt working! Bulb is fine, as is the fuse so I guess its either the reverse switch or a bad earth?

And to think I give my work mate so much stick for driving a Punto :p

Fiat's these days are actually quite reliable :p Just about everything prior to the Panda has issues of some sort and everything after is generally fairly good.

[Gregor-y]

It's because of all the money FIAT got from the aborted merger with GM; very well spent, indeed.

[555-04Q2]

Anyone else on here do any work on their own car?

I change the front discs and pads on the 500 today :D Quite satisfying and the ~£80 extra the dealer wanted to charge for the job was more than made up for the hour and a bit that it took me to do it :)

and yes it does actually stop :D

As soon as one of my cars comes out of warranty, I do all my own work.

Problem though is newer cars are getting harder and harder to work on without the right tools and computer software. My Scoobies are the only ones I can't work on unless its a simple oil and filters change etc. The days of the mechanic are numbered as "technicians" take over.

[Eki]

I just changed spark plugs on my car. Recently I have also fixed a vacuum tube and changed a lambda sensor, light bulb and the air filter. I only do things that are easily accessible and don't require expensive special tools.

[schmenke]

Same here, I'll do what I can with the tools that I have, including brakes. Sometimes I'll solicit the help of a buddy of mine who's somewhat of a hobby mechanic (he's recently done an entire engine swap on his '05 Mustang).

Recently my POS has been idling poorlly upon startup and I've had a bugger of a time trying to diagnose the root problem. I've spend several hundred $'s in sensors alone :s .

[Retro Formula 1]

Cars and Bikes. Fix them,modify them,build them from scratch and make custom parts for people.

Got a cheap Super 7 on the drive at the moment if anyone's interested :D

[Daniel]

Same here, I'll do what I can with the tools that I have, including brakes. Sometimes I'll solicit the help of a buddy of mine who's somewhat of a hobby mechanic (he's recently done an entire engine swap on his '05 Mustang).

Recently my POS has been idling poorlly upon startup and I've had a bugger of a time trying to diagnose the root problem. I've spend several hundred $'s in sensors alone :s .

Not so fun. You got an OBD2 reader yet? Caroline's car's speedo isn't working.

Could be a few things.
Speedo cluster (tried a 2nd hand one which didn't sort it)
Wiring (auto electrician has checked that and he says it's fine)
ECU unlikely to be the problem tbh
VSS (vehicle speed sensor) we've tried a second hand one with a cordless driver turning it which hasn't sorted it but we don't know if it's actually working.
Speedo drive in the gearbox. Sadly the sensor has rusted itself in nicely so you'd have to break the sensor (~£150 new!!!!) to see if the speedo drive is turning

It's a really annoying fault! It could be something as simple as wiring or it could be something as difficult to sort as the speedo drive which is a gearbox out job. Might have to PM a guy around the corner who has the same car and see if we can try the sensor in his car.

[Kneeslider]

I seem to do rather less these days in terms of maintenance. Im lucky, in that I have my daily driver, play car, and two motorcycles to choose from, all in working order, or can be with no more than a little fettling.

The daily driver is serviced by a local marque specialist, the main dealer charges are eye watering, and the car has way too much to lose in depreciation if I start to try any DIY. There isn't a Haynes manual available for it, and even a dearth of info on the internet.

The Boxster I had until recently was such a PITA to work on, that I got fed up with battling with it to do even simple things. When I was selling it on Ebay, the hood mechanism broke, and while there are no real access issues to fix it, you first have to understand the thing, and you can't just pop round the corner for parts, so there's the inevitable delay while they arrive.

The TR6 play car had a comprehensive rebuild not too long ago, and it doesn't do enough miles to wear out the consumables very fast, but irritation tends to arise from poor reproduction parts, which aren't up to the job, or don't fit, so you end up modifying them to make them better, and it takes a whole lot of time.

My Laverda is just out of a 2.5 year rebuild process, so no maintenance issues there either, but because the manufacturer has been defunct for nearly 30 years, spares are hard to come by. Recently the electronic rev counter failed, and there are no new ones available. Its in an instrument pod for an early '80s Autobianchi, so I had to improvise! I bought a cheap electronic rev counter from ebay, degutted it, then transplanted the guts into the Laverda binacle. Then, because the Laverda is a 3 cylinder, with the ignition pick ups on the crankshaft, it needed calibrating. I used a 12v AC source to provice 50Hz, and fed it into the rev counter, and rotated the calibration screw till the needle read 3,000 rpm. Its stuff like that which is strangely satisfying, because you are involved in a problem solving process and a test of your skill, rather than merely wrench twiddling to replace worn out parts.

The Ducati probably gets the most attention in the garage, even though I have probably ridden it the least miles of all my vehicles this year. This is probably because its such a joy to work on, I can have the engine out in about 30 minutes, or the cambelts changed in 20minutes, everything is easily accessable, and beautifully made, though paradoxically swapping carburettor jets is the most taxing job, due to the carbs being hidden under the fuel tank and airbox.

[Retro Formula 1]

That old Duke still going Knee? 888 isn't it?

When did you get the TR6. Was it your dad or Fizz's that had the TR7?

Friend of mine is a tart with a 911 and he said changing the rear brake pipes was a nightmare. Told him to make up some aeroquip and thread it through but apparently still wasn't possible he said. Mind you, this was the same person that called me out on my bike one winter when his Lambretta wouldn't start. After fighting through the snow and ice for an hour, I discovered he had forgotten to turn the fuel on :(

[Daniel]

That old Duke still going Knee? 888 isn't it?

When did you get the TR6. Was it your dad or Fizz's that had the TR7?

Friend of mine is a tart with a 911 and he said changing the rear brake pipes was a nightmare.

That's the thing I like about the Subaru. Other than access to the plugs and the heads, it really is no harder to work on than any other car around :)

[555-04Q2]

That's the thing I like about the Subaru. Other than access to the plugs and the heads, it really is no harder to work on than any other car around :)

Yes and no. The plugs and heads are impossible to get too but the filters etc are pretty straight forward. But servicing things like the turbo, intercooler, software diagnostics et al gets tricky. About 3 years ago I tried to do a major service on my prized 02 Prodrive Scooby without doing the diagnostics check, turbo etc and the car ran kind of iffy afterwards and not pulling properly...took it to a specialist who found she was now only delivering 231 HP on the wheels. After some fine tuning she was back up to 287 HP. I leave my Scoobies to the specialist these days.

[Retro Formula 1]

That's the thing. Why worry about modern diagnostics?

Lob a mega-jolt or squirt on and set the diagnostics upon the computer or down a rolling road.

Ford Zetec with Ford Electronics and Injectors. 130BHP if you're lucky.

Ford Zetec with Jolt and ZX9 carbs. 160+ or with injectors 5 - 10 more.

You can even make a Megajolt for a few quid if you're too tight to buy one from someone like Trigger Wheels.

[Daniel]

Yes and no. The plugs and heads are impossible to get too but the filters etc are pretty straight forward. But servicing things like the turbo, intercooler, software diagnostics et al gets tricky. About 3 years ago I tried to do a major service on my prized 02 Prodrive Scooby without doing the diagnostics check, turbo etc and the car ran kind of iffy afterwards and not pulling properly...took it to a specialist who found she was now only delivering 231 HP on the wheels. After some fine tuning she was back up to 287 HP. I leave my Scoobies to the specialist these days.

Yes but your Subaru is newer than ours and has a different ECU. Ours will only go into safe mode if it's throwing a code which will be down to a dodgy sensor. The only way to remap it is to use a piggyback chip so there's not much to screw up thankfully :)

No need for modern diagnostics, all you need to do is connect two wires under the dash and it flashes the CEL to show the codes.

It's quite a good balance between modern enough to tell you when stuff is wrong, and old enough not to be too complicated.

[Kneeslider]

That old Duke still going Knee? 888 isn't it?

When did you get the TR6. Was it your dad or Fizz's that had the TR7?

Friend of mine is a tart with a 911 and he said changing the rear brake pipes was a nightmare. Told him to make up some aeroquip and thread it through but apparently still wasn't possible he said. Mind you, this was the same person that called me out on my bike one winter when his Lambretta wouldn't start. After fighting through the snow and ice for an hour, I discovered he had forgotten to turn the fuel on :(

The old Duke is still going strong, but Im not really sure if its the same bike I bought back in '97! It started life as a 750ss/sp, the homologation one with the dry clutch, but its now got a 904cc motor in, buit from new old stock bits I accumulated over the years, JE 11.5/1 pistons, balanced everything, vernier cam pulleys etc.etc. Ive probably got enough spares kicking about to build half another bike. I dusted it off in June, and took it to Cadwell for an Easytrack event. For a 20 year old bike this year, its not bad that it (and I!) can still run with the fast group without being disgraced. I had the oldest bike there by about 10 years!

I bought the TR6 in 2002, but took about 4 years to build it, Fizz's dad had one for a spell, his was a pre '73 red one, and mine is '74, and Sapphire blue, its pretty much stock, apart from a loud pipe.

[Knock-on]

The old Duke is still going strong, but Im not really sure if its the same bike I bought back in '97! It started life as a 750ss/sp, the homologation one with the dry clutch, but its now got a 904cc motor in, buit from new old stock bits I accumulated over the years, JE 11.5/1 pistons, balanced everything, vernier cam pulleys etc.etc. Ive probably got enough spares kicking about to build half another bike. I dusted it off in June, and took it to Cadwell for an Easytrack event. For a 20 year old bike this year, its not bad that it (and I!) can still run with the fast group without being disgraced. I had the oldest bike there by about 10 years!

I bought the TR6 in 2002, but took about 4 years to build it, Fizz's dad had one for a spell, his was a pre '73 red one, and mine is '74, and Sapphire blue, its pretty much stock, apart from a loud pipe.

Sorry if there was any confusion with user name.

Yep,was a 750ss.I remember now.

Like the idea of the 6. Nearly bought Fizz's dads but went the Super 7 route in the end. Now do quite a bit with them mainly at the weekend though. Still have the proper job to keep my head above water ;)

[SGWilko]

Sorry if there was any confusion with user name.

Rock on, Knock-on!!!! ;)

[Daniel]

Rock on, Knock-on!!!! ;)

Tbh it took me a while to remember the difference between Knock on and Kneeslider :p

[SGWilko]

Kneeslider :p

Isn't that a guitar? ;)

[Knock-on]

Rock on, Knock-on!!!! ;)

I was using Retro Formula 1 as a way of publicising a friends new business which is slowly taking off so I have put them and Mark in touch and resurrected Knock-on (or let him out of the cage ;) )

[Knock-on]

You confused us two???? I don't know how because Kneeslider is nice :p

[Eki]

Nearly bought Fizz's dads
How many dads does Fizz have?

[SGWilko]

How many dads does Fizz have?

Ba dum......... tissshhhhhhhh!

[Knock-on]

http://scrapbookprintables.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/tumbleweed_on_highway162.jpg?w=450&h=343

[52Paddy]

Did work on my own car a few months ago: timing belt/water pump, new brake pads all round, timing belt, water pump, fan/auxiliary belt, starter motor, knocked dent out of front bumper and aligned the headlights. Of course, all of this was done with the assistance of my Da who served his time as a mechanic in the 60s/70s.

At the moment, we're working on his car although a shoulder injury has put me out of action for the past two weeks: we're replacing lots of parts around the wishbone (all of the arms and bushings), cleaning the petrol tank, refitting the exhaust manifold, replacing the timing belt, replacing the broken wing mirrors, replacing all of the wheel bearings and fixing the driver-side electric window system. It's still, very much, work in progress but the wishbone section is almost ready to go back in.

I find the work itself enjoyable but the most difficult part is working in a tight space. As we don't have a garage, we have to make do with our small front garden and the car is usually hoisted up on cement blocks and wooden beams. These are strong enough to hold the car but don't provide an ideal height to work underneath the car. We get by though.

[Kneeslider]

You confused us two???? I don't know how because Kneeslider is nice :p

Have you lot been talking about me behind my back?

Dunno how Daniel can confuse me and Knockie...

Great to see you back Mr. On.


Anyhow, how did you guess that I had joined the ranks of the 911 t***ers?

Picked me up a 54 plate 997 C2 fully loaded, every option but headlamp washers. Its quite a difference in driving technique to the Boxster, it physically feels like a much bigger car, with the CofG much further back, but that makes it kinda fun, it feels more composed mid corner at the limit than the Boxster. I have had it for nearly 2 months now, and Im still getting my head around driving it properly.

Anyway, sorry for the thread hijack, its just like the old days!

[Daniel]

Have you lot been talking about me behind my back?

Dunno how Daniel can confuse me and Knockie...

Great to see you back Mr. On.


Anyhow, how did you guess that I had joined the ranks of the 911 t***ers?

Picked me up a 54 plate 997 C2 fully loaded, every option but headlamp washers. Its quite a difference in driving technique to the Boxster, it physically feels like a much bigger car, with the CofG much further back, but that makes it kinda fun, it feels more composed mid corner at the limit than the Boxster. I have had it for nearly 2 months now, and Im still getting my head around driving it properly.

Anyway, sorry for the thread hijack, its just like the old days!

Well I seem to remember you were both interested in bikes and your usernames started with kn :p