Which of us are mechanic-types?

[xain]

Hi guys, I''ve been avidly reading this forum for a while, and I''m curious to know what level of mechanical expertise/experience people feel they have. I''ve been used to tinkering/rebuilding clapped out old bangers (1987 mostly) before getting the Chimp, so I''m used to diving in and giving it a go. However, I''m no expert. But it seems many people are more cautious out there. I was particularly interested in how people treat their engines. I saw the thread on labouring, many people never let their engines get below 2K rpm (which I think is excessive), yet thrash the daylights out of them (I used to think this was bad, but cars that I''ve driven hard have been brilliant, and pampered ones have died horribly) Just curious.

[steveab]

Xain, Yep, know the feeling. I've rebuilt a few Minis when I was a student so I know the basics. But I find the Chim a bit daunting at times. I really must get the TVR manual (Steve Heath book) as I understand that Chims and Griffs as quite basic in terms of what can go wrong. I think another factor that worries me is taking it to for a service and the garage giving me grief that I dared to tinker myself. I'm by no means a mechanic or engineer but like everyone else I can follow instructions and proceed with caution. I would love to be more 'literate' when it comes to mechanics since I think thats really part of the whole TVR ownership (or indeed any 'real' sports car , Lotus, Morgan, Marcos, Caterham etc). If you want a 'hands-off' car just to drive when both of us would have bought something like a Boxter or Z3 (yuck!) Steve

[Dave_H]

I run an IT dept by day, and have found "tinkering" with old cars a good way to forget work, and I find it a challenge to understand how somthing works and to be able to repair it, plus the savings are great!! Trouble is you need to be honest with yourself and know your limits, if a job needs specialist tools/skills to do correctly, you cant be too proud to farm that work out. Otherwise you end up with a pile of badly screwed together and off tuned junk, put together by a "mechanic" Edited by Dave_H on Friday 13th July 07:37

[Saturn 5]

Im an engineer by trade and love to tinker with mechanical things. I know my limits on my TVR and feel I treat it with suitable care. I have done little jobs on my Griff but feel major things are best left to experts, mainly because of the guarantee and it sounds better when I come to re sell. I have had heads off and clutch changes etc on less specialist cars.

[fordy]

Im an electronics engineer, and have generally always serviced my own cars til recently (had MX5 before Chim), and now only go to garages so i can get the service book stamped - i dont really trust garages, in my experience they usually come back with more problems than they went in with - although Fernies did do a good job - maybe TVR garages are different. Im prepared to have a go at most things as long as it doesnt need specialist tools - it can become cheaper to take it to the garage by the time youve bought a partiuclar tool which you may only use once!!! cheers chris

[philr]

I guess that i am in a similar position to the rest of you. I grew up having to (but enjoying) do my own basic mechanics on previous cars, mainly due to finances. I have undertaken a few bits of work on the Chim now (brakes, wing mirror replacement ... ) and although things tend to be a bit different from cars I have worked on before, it has not been too bad. It is made easier by Steve Heath's handbook + Haynes Ford Cosworth book + advice from people on this web site. Needless to say, if I do not feel comfortable about the complexity of a job then it will be back to TVR for the work. I agree that TVR will need to service the car and stamp the book for resale purposes. However, the service bill can really add up with the extras and little things - My last service was "free" with the purchase of the car, but still cost me > £300 with all the other bits and pieces. My aim is to do all these type of things before a service and then just get hit by the basic cost of the service. Hopefully we can all learn from each other as we undertake the various tasks on our beasts. phil

[trefor]

I'm another IT/Marketing type. When I was a student I did a lot of work on cars, mainly my Mk1 Escort (the shedsort). I like the TVR as it is nice and old fashioned with regards to mechanics. I still leave the tricky stuff to a specialist though - I don't want to spend the whole weekend under the car. The temperature gauge on my girlfriend's TTs has recently gone AWOL so I thought I'd take a look and make sure the sensor was connected/worked. Lifted the hood, removed the cowlings ... er, nope. I gave up after identifying 30 thread things which could be the temp sensor! (BTW, it's amazing how many problems you see reported on the TT list!). T/.

[apache]

guys, see if you can help Ted on the website feedback thread about cross ref for fixes

[tricky2]

Pretty much the same. Come from a Family of Mechanics, Brother (tricky2bruv) stress tests performance cars for a living and dad was a mech/eng for 30yrs+. Im in IT but have rebuilt the odd mini. Like to get my hands dirty but dont get the time, best left to me bro as he loves it and gets to show off at work for a couple of weeks while he does the work!!