30 replies to this topic

[Mr. Drifter]

Those pineapples..

I pretty much do whatever i can be bothered to do/ have the time to do.. give me a workshop and the tools, and i'll fix anything.

Basically, things i've done myself on the green civic:
-Head gasket (had to rip the motor apart a few times due to errors.. ie washer from carby falling into cylinders :s)
-Timing belt (one bastard of a thing to reach)
-Water pump
-Popping dents (this thing is made of tinfoil xD i put a few dents in it at some stage from crap parking.. i got out and reached under the wheel arch, and popped it out skills.

If it's paint, i'll leave it to the experts.. i don't trust myself..
It it's wheels, suspension or steering, i won't touch it without proper help.. cause i have a tendancy to make something else break/ want to be fixed when i fix something :| and those three are the main parts to ride on.. any of those fail, and boom, into the creek.
If it's engine related, if i can be bothered and have the time, i'll give it a crack.. else, off to mechanics

and by wheels i mean like hubs, bearings, crap like that.. not the actual wheels.. i'll put them on myself ;D

[burgsy]

I give everything a shot.

[Captn_Awesome]

50 x 50 steel can be plenty strong enough to pull 6T - I'd bet my balls on in it being poorly engineered. Bet some dumb ass welded perpendicular to the draw bar across the frame - bound to snap at some stage, be it a 6T trailer or a 600kg trailer.

Handy men are forever coming into work with shagged trailers because of this - some other wise good workmanship has gone into them in many cases just no understanding of load.
I'll weld them up when im quiet but for the most part i send them to a trailer manufacturer. Not worth the hassle. Especially the handy men who think they are it and a bit with a welder cause they have a $300 CIG ARC unit from bunnings. Yeah mate when you're regularly FSBW 25mm flanges together and buttwelding 800WBs then you can start telling me how good you are. Fact is your here with a busted arse trailer because your welding looks more like cocky s**t than a fillet with good penetration.

We had a bloke a few weeks back wanted us to reinforce the back of his ex-ambulance tow car for towing his 45ft racing boat. This is a $200,000 boat and he is trying to tow it with a $5,000 POS clapped out ambo. I told him to get on his bike I wanted nothing of it. We ended up doing it after no one else wanted to touch it either but I told him I never saw it never touched it and I want nothing of it if it snaps.
Some guys with bucks are as tight as a nuns nasty. Does my head in.

6T is only a baby trailer We only pull light loads in my game and we're pulling about 36T gross trailer weight on average. The bridge beam guys, and precast panel guys pull some HUGE loads. Wouldnt want one of them to come unstuck!

Few years back we had a driver come in and hook up our semi. But he didnt chain down. We had a couple of chains on just for safety but he hadnt restrained the load. Sure as eggs within 20 minutes of him leavig our yard we get a call, he'd hit the brakes wet steel slides real well - straight through the head board and through the back of his prime mover on nepean hwy in brighton. Cops, worksafe the lot. What a d**khead... Could easily have sliced him in half, continued through and killed someone in a car in front or anything. Lucky steel is tough though! hooked up another prime mover and sent it to site. Truck was funny to see though - could see the perfect inprint of the beams - looked as if someone laser cut it. He is just lucky that the chains my boys threw over as a safety precaution in the factory to stop steel falling whilst hooking up held and grabbed a cleat which stopped it travelling further. Bet his undies were brown after that.

[hsvmonarogen3]

yep. i might send you a photo. you will augh your ass off and shake your head. it might be only 6t, but it is half a mil worth.

and i did the upgrade at westcon to allow them to build beams out at melton.

[ubernoob]

I am still really suprised the average handyman is allowed to do such involved work on vehicles and it is seen to be OK, I really thought insurance companies would be asking for maintanence records when cars are involved in incidents.

I know there are bad mechanics out there and there are a lot of people that can do a quality repair at home and a lot of home mechs are better than the real thing as they aren't usually rushing and they want to do a good job on their car.
I must admit I do hate that as a mechanic I can't(legally) get a decent manual for my car and am expected to have all work done by a dealership who has VADIS and other Volvo diagnostic tools, I bought a Gregorys manual and it is poop and normal Scanners won't read Vlovo codes, grrrr!

[Captn_Awesome]

Are you sure there isnt a scangauge equivilant for volvos?

Yeah pretty sure westcon are doing the bridge beams on Peninsula Link for Abi group. I know they aren't coming from the valley

[ubernoob]

Yeah there are scan tools for my car but they don't all seem to work 100% from what I have read, when I get my flash tune I can pay an extra $100 to get a fult reader ability for the hand control.

[sidecar44]

Good thread Sparkles,
Im in the same boat as you Uber,for me Ive always had a passion for anything motorized so that shaped what I do.
Also agree brakes and suspension(aswell) should not be tackled by a "backyarder" as such but as it is too hard to regulate it will never happen.

Personally I get all giggly when the tool catalouges get delivered!!!

[sean]

I can't do everything but I'll give most jobs on cars a shot. Done brakes,timing belts pumps, diff changes and engine changes. Like everything once you've done it once or twice it gets easier. Best place to try stuff is at the wreckers - if you stuff up you can just walk away and pretend you had second thoughts about purchasing the item/s you were mucking around on

[Captn_Awesome]

Haha at getting giggly at tool catalogues

Blackwoods bible, BJ Bearings bible, Total Tools catalogues and TradeQuip catalogues are ALWAYS on my desk. I can waste HOURS reading them

[Captn_Awesome]

Any one got advice on rebuilding brake calipers?

Doing a slotted rotor conversion and greenstuff pads with braided lines and DOT4 and figured I'd do an overhaul kit on the calipers at the same time.
Seems every cloud (like loosing a wheel and smashing up a brake rotor) has a silver lining.

[Dylby1]

I'll have a go at basically anything

Panel beating i leave to the experts, but i will be going to tafe to learn all that because the last one who painted my car messed it up big time

I've replaced driveshafts and things on my BA

I will never touch a diff, and ill never open an engine. Just oil changes and spark plugs, basic service really

[Captn_Awesome]

Gunna give a diff a go soon. Want to learn how to set backlash

[low_end]

Yep, I also give everything a shot.

[Dylby1]

Captn_Awesome, on 16 May 2012 - 05:13 PM, said:

Gunna give a diff a go soon. Want to learn how to set backlash

I would but to do a BA diff is a huge job and I'm just no interested in doing it. Don't have the tools or the time.

Plus I don't enjoy working on cars lol. I enjoy car audio more, hence why I'm here lol