"Grease Monkey" is what my wife calls me Does that qualify as a mechanic as I do my own work

 

lol! that's a scary picture! The last transmission I built I could count the parts using my fingers and toes...so I'll take the same approch the rest of you are I think. I couldn't agree more with the cost savings working on your own car though. Labor costs for the rod bearing job I did would have been well over $1000, which is a whole lot more then the cost of the parts I bought for it, including the tools I needed.

 

Reminds me of the '70 F-100 I drove a few years ago as an undergrad. It was my grandad's and he died 7 years earlier. The truck had pretty much been sitting since 1990 or 91. Started a couple of times in the '90s. And it sat through most of the late '80s too, probably because of grandpa's health problems. It took a little work to straighten a few things out, but once that was taken care of it was pretty reliable. Just had the voltage regulator go out and a cheap belt snap - none of these problems took more than 15 minutes to fix.

Oh yeah, on the picture of the transmission. I saw that and thought "looks like fun... as long as a good set of instructions come along with it!"

 

installation is reverse of removal

 

I have done just about everthing including engine rebuild.

Only thing I have NOT done was a tranny rebuild.

BTW... I do my own timming belt tension by "feel" method.

Only outside work on my race car was corner balance and aligment since I do not have scales or a flat floor. I also had my roll cage fabricated by someone.

 

The only things I don't do are alignments, transmissions and painting. Almost everything else I've done on one of my cars.

 

Hey scuba steve...And Bhj0887. How about listing your car in your signature? It helps for tech questions.

Sorry for off topic.....

 

Except for right after I bought my 951 and the clutch went out (and I had a t-belt & waterpump done about the same time), I have done all of my own repair work with no previous experience besides changing oil. The big stuff includes:

Rod bearings/oil pan gasket/motormounts
new front and rear suspension/brakes
replace blown head gasket (I had a machine shop rebuild the head for me)
timing/bs belts
rebuild ECU
and everything that comes in contact with all of those parts

Every big job I did would have been impossible if it wasn't for the collective knowledge of this message board. When I started, I didn't know my elbow from my ******* when it came to doing mechanic work, but now I have no fear and would tackle any job on my car short of rebuilding a transmission.

 

All my own work ( and some for quite a few local guys) including several motor and trans rebuilds.

 

No problem. I'm still in the 'looking to buy one from a friend if things work out' category (see: trailer thread). Should know if that's going to happen within a few weeks. If it's not that car in particular then I'll scare up a similar project car somewhere around here.

 

I do all of my own work on both Porsches' and my Gen 1 Q45. I don't do it because I'm a good mechanic...it's all economics Watson. So far the Porsches have been kind to me with nothing more serious than clutch master, slave, brakes, calipers, endless electrical troubleshooting, and minor upholstery/dent-paint work. I have torn down my spare N/A motor twice just to practice while on a stand...should make that first belt job easier.
I rebuilt my son's Acura tranny once and will never do something that stupid again...worked out fine but way too many things to go wrong. I've taken my Q45 down to the block...any 4-cam, 32-valve motor will humble someone of my limited abilities very quickly. The best thing about wrenching on cars is passing on all my bad habits to my two sons.

Steve

 

Have done all my own work on all of my cars.

First in class, graduating with a bs degree in automotive technology from a local JC. It was a Ford Factory Sponsored ASSET program and all the dealership mechanics took this program. Have all ASE certificates and CA Smog licence.

Mechanics is only my hobby though, as I make my living in construction. I took the classes at night. Four year program, just to learn how to do it correctly. One of the instructors was a genius, that came from a GM dealership. He regularly got calls from GM engineers to discuss issues. He did the trouble shooting program that is on the Snap On scanner. He has a repair column in the local newspaper. Learned a lot from this guy.

One other benefit beside the knowledge, was that Snap On sold complete tool kits to the students at cost. The local Snap On trucks did not like this, but Snap On told them to bite it. I think we got this perk because of the relationship of our instructor had with Snap On.

 

Everything except engine teardowns and transmission work....Im scared to doa na engine rebuild just yet..

 

I do everything myself, including alignment (using threads, levels, and a calculator, :-).
But I'm really slow, so my car is in the garage at least 30% of the time.

 

Tranny work looks like fun, except that it would be very helpful to have a shop press and a few of the special tools to press and remvoe various parts. Hey I used to tear down Model 28 Teletype printers and put them back together when I was in the Navy, and they worked too! Alot more complex than what that tranny looks like, and alot more idy bitty parts at that.
would give one a shot some day. Have done a Muncie M-22 in the past.

Bill