Service Manuals and a Special Limited Time Offer From Bentley Publishers
The late Mark Donohue was an American racecar driver whose accolades include several SCCA National championships, 1968, 1969 and 1971 SCCA Trans Am, 1973 Can-Am, and the inaugural IROC series. He also tamed the 1500-horsepower “Can-Am Killer” Porsche 917-30 and won the 1972 Indianapolis 500. But what many say set him apart from the rest of his contemporaries was his uncanny ability to set up his own race car, and drive it consistently on the absolute limit. Knowing his car and how it worked more intimately arguably made Donohue a better driver, and across the board there are many racing drivers who work on their own cars for many of the same reasons today.
Back in Donohue’s time, it wasn’t terribly uncommon for regular folks to know about their cars. Perhaps not intimately like the racer, but at least with some passing knowledge to at least potentially diagnose, if not temporarily fix, any problems that might have come up during day-to-day driving. That is a far cry from today, because now we admittedly have a large swath of the populace who couldn’t change a tire if they had to. Heck, they might not be able to change the time on their car’s clock.
Now, If something doesn’t work, or there is an odd noise or vibration, this new generation usually takes their cars in to the nearest dealership or mechanic. Or worse, they just let the problem fester. These new drivers don’t know much about their cars and don’t really seem to care either — they just get in and drive.
So, how can you learn about your car? Well, if you’re a member of Rennlist, you’ve already made an excellent start towards that goal. The Rennlist technical forums are positively brimming with knowledge. Another way to learn about your car is by purchasing a repair guide for your particular model. You could buy the factory service manuals, but they are expensive, and often not easy to understand. For the rest of us, companies like Bentley Publishers manufacture simplified service repair books geared toward the more “hobbyist” mechanic.
Everything is task-based, from start to finish, and the necessary tools for every job are mentioned every step of the way, so you are never unprepared. The factory wiring diagrams are very well integrated, with wiring tracks coded with letters to allow for easy tracing of an individual wire from one page to another. Removing and installing trim pieces, changing the oil in the transmission, troubleshooting electrical issues – a service manual like this will prepare you to take on any number of DIY projects. The majority of readers won’t be rebuilding an entire engine by the end of the book, but they might just garner the confidence to tackle some jobs themselves.
The 993 repair manual pictured up top is good, real good. It was a Gold Award winner for Book Writing: Technical, How-To at the 23rd International Automotive Media Competition. Other Bentley manuals for differing models follow the same format, so they should also be considered essential purchases if you have one of the models they cover.
Like they say on G.I. Joe, “knowing is half the battle.”
Bentley Publishing has graciously provided members of Rennlist with a LIMITED TIME only promotional discount from April 18 – May 6, 2016 that will give readers a 30% discount off the list price of select service manuals.
Promo code: Rennlist2016