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10-01-2007, 01:12 PM | #1 |
Junior Member
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Who maintains themselves?
Their cars I mean
Anyways, I'm contemplating doing some of the minor work on the SP20 myself for a bit of fun and save some $$s. The plan being to take the car to a real mechanic less often. What kinda of things can be safely done in the garage? I'm thinking things like oil and filter changes etc. Does this sound like an alright plan for a novice or am I being a little ambitious? Cheers Jon |
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10-01-2007, 01:24 PM | #2 |
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I do my own oil and oil filter changes, tyre rotation, spark plugs and so forth.
In your garage, with minimal amount of tools and some initial direction from someone who's done it before/knows what they are doing, you should be able to do: Tyre Rotation Oil and oil filter change Air filter change / recharge Spark plugs Always remember, whenever you are working under your car, use jack stands... even a good trolley jack is no insurance against it falling over and crushing you... go get jack stands - cheap as chips... best insurance you could ever have. Last edited by LordWorm; 10-01-2007 at 01:29 PM. |
10-01-2007, 01:58 PM | #3 |
Senior Member
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Like what lordworm said,
oil changes, change of oil and air filter, plugs, light bulbs, spark plugs, coil packs. I installed my AWR header myself!!TOTAL PITA as clearance is minimal!!!!!! |
10-01-2007, 02:33 PM | #4 | |
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10-01-2007, 02:44 PM | #5 |
Senior Member
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I changed my throttle body assembly, valve cover gasket, air flow meter,dashboard lights, fuel pump..etc in my garage. you can even do brake pads and fluid at home....
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10-01-2007, 02:45 PM | #6 |
Junior Member
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I've got a friend who offered to assist with the oil change at least, though having seen the location of the oil filter have realised the jack stands are a must!
I've only recently swapped the stock air filter out for a K&N panel jobby and feel pretty confident that I should cock anything up too much. For spark plug replacements (and other parts) do you just follow the schedule as written in the manual? And how often would you actually take the car to a professional, once a year too little of wait for something to start showing problems? Last edited by spedwards; 10-01-2007 at 03:34 PM. |
10-01-2007, 02:55 PM | #7 | |
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Quote:
The only alterations I make the to shedule is more frequent oil / oil filter changes (I burn through a bit of oil on the way to the new 7000rpm redline and it fouls alot sooner so i do that every 5000kms), And sparkplugs, theres a guide floating around that tells you what temperature plugs you should use based on the appearence of the last lot of plugs. The schedule will also tell you what you need to inspect as well as replace...carry out a thorough inspection as you may need to replace some things early when approaching major service intervals. |
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10-01-2007, 03:03 PM | #8 |
Senior Member
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dammit... i'm too gutless to do my plugs in case i screw it up/strip the thread.
I part unscrewed one a while back and thought 'damn, how an i gunna get the replacements in and know its in right', also a bit wary on taking off the ignition coil thingy from the top of them. You think i should just have a go at it? what if i stuff it up?
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10-01-2007, 03:05 PM | #9 | |
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better them stuff it up and pay you for your troubles, then you stuff it up and have no recourse. |
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10-01-2007, 03:37 PM | #10 |
Junior Member
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Thanks guys, again you've been a tonne of help! Coming up to 80K now so will see what's a head of me tonight...
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10-01-2007, 04:43 PM | #11 |
Resident Dissident
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To be classified as a man, or car loving woman you must be able to atleast do the following,
oil and filter changes, Air filter changes or cleaning, Tyre rotation (Jack stands needed so just buy em) Check and if needed fill up all those containers under the bonnent (water, power steering fuild,coolant etc) Change leads, Change side indicators, (I have done all of these and I am renowned for breaking things but didn't) Spark plugs are easy as but as someone said you need to be careful as a stripped thread on an Alloy head (not sure about sp20s) is not hard to do, but I was careful and with guidence all was sweet) Do your oil for sure, and then you can swagger around John Wayne style all day saying "yeah little lady I was just out fixing me car dis morning" No, I did no such thing. |
10-01-2007, 05:46 PM | #12 |
Junior Member
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The swagger is definating something that I've been missing ;P
I've got a few friends in with my now so I will have plenty of hand on deck! |
10-01-2007, 08:32 PM | #13 |
Senior Member
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if your gonna start servicing, get in the habit of checking all your steering and suspension. Its something the mechanic will probably do if hes doing his job properly and is pretty easy when the wheels are off, look for anything bent or broken or cracked.
I do most things myself, although now I work with mechanics I often pay very little and have the guys at work do it for me. Rob
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10-01-2007, 10:43 PM | #14 |
living in the past man
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and then there are still the adventurous out there!
as far as i'm concerened cars are v. easy to do v. involved maintenance... BUT you need patience and a good guide. for example head work is a PITA but only because it involves a v. long process to merely remove the head (and hence it costs so much in labour!) if your doing something and you need professional equipment, then get a professional to do it!! (unless the gear is cheap!!)
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11-01-2007, 01:59 AM | #15 |
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yeah depends on the car some cars are very labour intensive
like SSSand SP20's and BP cars easy as piss aut or manual. any of the K -series pain the inarse due to room I find. V6 in general except for the bigger cars painfull. I can do everything if I couldn't would make sense as my job involves doing alot of similar things a merchanic does yet on industrial machines and the like. But the main thing is not to go too far - like platypus pointed out head. Push rod motor Head easy even doing roller cam lobes easy etc. OHC 2 valve easy enough not hard but easier the more cam's and valves the more pain. rocker arm activated valves are easiler I find then finger or bucket acted valves. but even at this stage it's easier and less stress to just say if blow a head gasket due to over heating and using a iron block and if it's not bad. take head off send it to head place they do work and it's not much more then you woudl end up paying doing it yourself. They machine flat. If you picky you true or deck it your block, but I've found most ot have not damge and light stone does it. all this I've done in well the street ! Tha'ts how far you can go to even a tear down. but in general I recommend you can save heaps doing oil- filters fluids and the main items I find big help. Right sockets open/end ring spanners Torque wrench if you dont' do tightening nuts daily. RAMPS - must have so much easier sometimes on suspension you will need stands if you go this far decent hydrolic jack trolly is best cost nothing Me and the boys got ****ter for changing tyres at the track even. One thing that helps alot workshop manual - even the crappy greagorys or hyanes ones if it covers enough of your engine and body type it will do. The factory one is great but alot of useless suff on some things. |
11-01-2007, 08:18 AM | #16 | |
living in the past man
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Quote:
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11-01-2007, 09:39 AM | #17 |
Junior Member
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Where can the Haynes and Gregorys manuals be picked up from? And what do they normally go for?
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11-01-2007, 09:59 AM | #18 | |
Senior Member
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go check out http://protege5.ugly.net Its mazdas workshop manual for our car. go on a mass printout. hahah. it will easily fill up one big a4 binder folder |
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11-01-2007, 10:07 AM | #19 |
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protege5.ugly.net is a good resource
lacks the electrical system suppliment though...which I have a copy of if anyone needs it (US electrical schematic, it is slightly different, mainly in the colour of wires and pinout from the ecu...but its largely accurate) |
11-01-2007, 10:15 AM | #20 |
Junior Member
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I might have to "work late" tonight, lol!
I've browsed the protege5.ugly.net shop manual before, but as platypus mentioned it definitely expects a certain level of knowledge and experience. If the other manuals have pretty pictures and are more detailed I'd feel more confident to try some of the more involved work. |
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