Jump to content

Smiling All The Way To The Bank?


Clairey Fairy
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 87
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

I'm with Kam on this. Trim and wheels I can do myself, well, ok, swapping rubber is a job for my tame mech, he's great :)

Anything else, that's why $deity invented mechanics. They train (we hope) to play with greasy oily bits of metal. Me, I trained to work with computers. I feel quite happy passing on the money I make from playing with computers so they can play with the messy greasy bits of my car. We both win.

Yes, i have a lot of respect for the people that do the work themselves, it's just not something I can do, so rather than make a complete hash up of it, I'd rather have a trained professional do it for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

being a mechanic is something anyone can be trained to do though, its not like being a world class sportsman or sportswoman or a nuclear physicist, all you got to do is read up and learn about how stuff works and then taking it apart becomes quite understandably simple...

Especially on VW's, they use 1 nut and 1 bolt if thats all it needs...

Unlike japanese cars which seem to use 15 nuts and bolts and 200 other pieces have to come off to get at those 15 nuts and bolts, and all you wanted to to was change a headlight!

Edited by treblet
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah thats to true. If your not a scene celebrity seems like no one gives a crap what you do!

This is one thing that really bugs me about "the scene".

No disrespect to the lad because I don't know him, but take Stanton of Ed38 as the perfect example. He can post a thread saying he's bought a new car and it'll end up 80 pages long without one decent picture. It's not his fault, but people desperate to bum him will post page after page of ****... he could put 3 spokes on a Golf with reverse rake and it would still end up with so much praise and end up in the stance legends thread.

It's quite disappointing how people who are well known or part of a scene club can build any old **** and win trophies and what not, when there are a lot of cars that go un-noticed simply because they don't whore themselves about.

Anyone else reckon they can mention the word scene more than that in one post? :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good thread!! Personally i enjoy working on my car and will try to do most things my self apart from body work. I'm glad i can still use my dads garage when ever i want, as my house and drive is on a hill which is not really ideal :lol:

If you've got the cash for some one else to build you a car then fair enough. But like most things in life respect can be bought as well as earned. Whether its a cheque book car or a self build it doesn't really bother me to be honest. its the cars I'm interested in, not the owners.

I also agree on the edition reader rides threads full of babbling crap and no substance. And i don't get the whole buy/build a show car one year and then sell it the next just to keep ahead of the game :wacko:

Is it a scene??......or a scene to be scene in :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I dunno, I think being mechanical enough to 'get by' is fairly easy to do. I can do enough to 'get by'. But to build an all round good car you need to have a certain mind set. Like some peoples minds just work in an engineering way and can just work things out without much bother. Where as other people are more sit in an office kind of people.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

being a mechanic is something anyone can be trained to do though, its not like being a world class sportsman or sportswoman or a nuclear physicist, all you got to do is read up and learn about how stuff works and then taking it apart becomes quite understandably simple...

Especially on VW's, they use 1 nut and 1 bolt if thats all it needs...

Unlike japanese cars which seem to use 15 nuts and bolts and 200 other pieces have to come off to get at those 15 nuts and bolts, and all you wanted to to was change a headlight!

I disagree, you can be a mechanic but it takes time, effort, patience and experience to become a good one. Its a trade afterall like plumbing, electricans or graphic deisgners.... all of them you can be trained to be, but you only really become good at it through experience.

I have an apprentice to look after, and hes useless.... hes been with us nearly a year, and i still cant trust him, an example that not everyone can be a mechanic...

Not sure if you have seen how many bolts hold on the driveshafts on the lupo..... mabe you will change your mind with the 1 bolt statement when you do!

John

Edited by CasperGTI
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good thread!! Personally i enjoy working on my car and will try to do most things my self apart from body work.

Yeah, theres something nice about starting out with one thing, pissing about and ending up with something different/better. Its that feeling of 'sweet! I did it!'.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I disagree, you can be a mechanic but it takes time, effort, patience and experience to become a good one. Its a trade afterall like plumbing, electricans or graphic deisgners.... all of them you can be trained to be, but you only really become good at it through experience.

I have an apprentice to look after, and hes useless.... hes been with us nearly a year, and i still cant trust him, an example that not everyone can be a mechanic...

Not sure if you have seen how many bolts hold on the driveshafts on the lupo..... mabe you will change your mind with the 1 bolt statement when you do!

John

I did say 1 bolt if it needs it, I'd be pretty worried if my driveshafts were only held in with 1 bolt to be honest!!

I'm not saying its a 5 minute process to become a mechanic by any means, what I mean is if someone wants to say fit their own coilovers or change their brake pads but doesnt know how, have a look in the haynes manual... if its not a lupo, or have a look on places like here and then crack on with it, all the common stuff is VERY well covered on how to do it.

I wouldnt advise someone who doesnt know a spanner from a screwdriver to go attempting timing belt changes or head gasket changes etc but theres plenty of stuff that people think must be a difficult job and that it'll have to go to a garage to get done because thats the way that we are educated about maintaining cars when that simply isnt the case

In the case of your apprentice yes there are some people who just shouldnt be allowed near anything mechanical, but is it possibly a lack of enthusiasm rather than a lack of skills, or that hes now in a vicious circle because he cant do things so no one wants to show him to in fear he'll cock it up anyway? I'm not saying that you arent attempting to teach him btw just in case thats how that came across.

Edited by treblet
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do what I can and am pretty confident, but if it something like brakes or suspension I usually get the VW Specialist to check my work over at the next service or MOT. Especally as I don't have a torque wrench anymore.

Never had any problems yet, but one thing I hate is changing brake fluid. More 'cause it's a 'piddly job' than anything else. I even bought a self bleeding kit, but just can't be buggered.

I think in the past I have done everything to one or other of my cars otr bikes.

Body work? No never.

The problem woth the Lupo//Arosa is lack of a Haynes type manual.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think taking that first leap of doing a big job on a car the first time is the main thing. When I had my first car I didn't want to touch it cause I needed to use it and if I ****ed up I was on my own with it. Then started meeting local VW people and just paying them to do it, going to meets and stuff. Eventually I just thought "**** it, if I **** up I can ring someone who can at least offer some advice on how to do it". Sometimes just ringing someone and saying "i've tried this, this and this, have you got any ideas" can help no end, cause they can suggest things you've not though of cause your a noob :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A lot of people say they modify there cars for themselves but look at how many threads there are of people basically saying "do you approve of this" it makes you wonder. If they like something and want to put it on there car why would they ask for opinions? Wouldn't you just go ahead and do it. Or photoshop it onto your car and do it. Not ask people if it looks good or not cause surely if your building it for yourself then screw what other people think and go with it.

Precicely. This is what we are in it for. We do it for ourselves, i hope to god i will never make a "what do you think" thread or "what colour shall i powdercoat my wheels so you like me" thread.

I know alot of people think im here to just spam, spread pink princess-ness and have the odd close encounter with the male members of the club :o ooooo-errrr (yeah, and look how that tunred out :lol:) but at the end of the day, i want to learn about my car. I cant do mechanics to save my life, dad says im like a duck with a musket when i get a screwdriver in my hand but the point is, i want to learn. I dont have a pot to piss in, and i wouldn't want to pay someone to scene-ify my car for me. Granted, if i was to make a show car - id have to work the street corners and make myself bankrupt. But im not in it for that...

My car (whilst in my ownership) will never run a charger, will never kick out loads of ponies and lets face it will never be "properly" lowered - but its a car that i actually give two hoots about and i value peoples technical advice.

Whether you like my Kawazaki Ninja green wheels which you will see in the new year or not, it wont phase me. Fact of the matter is, im doing it myself and i'll learn from my mistakes.

Who needs acceptance eh?

:)

Clairey

x

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i know everything i know because i as clairey said " did not have a pot to piss in " as a youth, anyway i'm not a qualified mechanic nor am i qualified in bodywork but i have experianced the misshap of assuming the said specialists you hand your car too know what they are doing.

example my 1st ever foray into making a car individual was indeed all my idea's given to a body shop and handing over my paltry wages at the time, i had welded plates into the car where i wanted things deleted and modified things i wanted to fit ,to do this i did a night course at a local automotive college learning basic's , i carried all the work out on my drive that i could and gave the car to said bodyshop with the instructions that i wanted all plated areas leaded as it's a better job and less chance of problems with the repair in future, £1400 i paid for a full paint on my mk 1 golf cabrio the finish was amazing , within a week cracks appeared so i carted it back, job done again 3 months pass and as i'm washing it notice cracks again so i think **** this get the grinder out and go at the area with cracks in only to find no trace of lead at all just fibre glass and filler. £1400 wasted and the body shop was shut down because the area was developed upon , quayside.

so i learnt myself and thought i'll never let someone mess on with my car again unless i see what goes into it.

when i done the yellow lupo / grey i had never taken anything apart newer than a mk2 golf most of the work was done on my driveway as i only had one car so if i'd had it at the unit i'd be stumped, so late nights with a lamp were a main feature up until al the bodywork needed done.

i have no issue with cheque book car's other than the ones that are built and then the owners realise they have too much money in the car to warrant driving it for fear of breaking it.

i almost fell into that catergory hence the new white car, i simply realised that by the time i had built the car with the power i expect i'd be gutted if i broke it, so the white car will benifit from all the goodies but no smooth bay.

as for the scene thing , wtf is that about eh. i really like seeing some of the big money car's but as above how often are they used, to me a car that gets respect is a car that the owner can tell you about when asked instead of just looking blank and pointing you in the direction of a man who can answer.

and as for it's not what you know but who in the so called scene thats *******'s as well , i have been with some people who judge at shows when judging is done and i've also heard some people bigging up car's that belong to themselves to judges and magazine editors alike and it's cringeworthy to hear it.

example " my wheels must win the show they cost me 3k" so what ffs. lol

when i did the grey car i did'nt even think of entering it at ed38 until i was told to do so, i never washed it properly and i definately never spent the whole weekend pampering over it lol.

anyone with a nice car is cool in my book, but blowing your own trumpet about it is not, build threads are cool way's to guage if your thought's on your car are going in the direction that you'd like, wether you listen to others influence's in your build is your choice.

i have a magazine on my shelf next to me with a mk1 golf in from 1998 and theres a sticker in the rear window stating....

BUILT NOT BOUGHT.

LOL it's nothing new in the " SCENE "

until next time

take care of yourself, and each other.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

and as for it's not what you know but who in the so called scene thats *******'s as well , i have been with some people who judge at shows when judging is done and i've also heard some people bigging up car's that belong to themselves to judges and magazine editors alike and it's cringeworthy to hear it.

Good post Mitch... although this comment made me laugh.

I know one well known "scene player" who is terrible for this. Owned possibly the most over-rated Corrado going, still gets bummed and thinks he is god's gift to Ed38 to this day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i used to post on Edition all the time, the "scene" is exactly why I stopped, it is like top trumps everyone has to better everyone else and no one is happy unless their car cost more or his this limited edition bit or these wheels or that pro retrim, its not a forum anymore its a popularity contest, if your popular anything you do is amazing if your not popular and try something different your either classified as a chav, mad or not scene enough

for example and im picking from america here but yarrowsport's audi brick, to be honest anyone could take an angle grinder to an audi and then cover it in paint stripper and leave it out in the rain to rust, but because yarrow did it and he's so scene everyone worships the now rusty ground he walks on, if any of us non scene people tried it we'd get bitched about because we wrecked a perfectly good car!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i can't even remember my password for ed38 it's been so long, shame as once upon a time it was cool

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share


×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.