Morning Guys,
I'm on the crest of starting some work on the car, and thought I would float the idea of a thread diarizing the work I do on the car. I did this for my last car on the appropriate forum and it proved quite popular. I used to do some hobby work on cars, the main one I did was a Mk1 Golf Gti, which I bought off a scrappy for £50 and stripped for parts, maybe no fancy project show car at the end but I learnt a lot about the workings of cars and the practicalities of actually doing work on them. I'm keen and organised, and take my time on jobs, but I'm by no means a VantaaM5. Having read most of the DIY's on here, it seems this isn't an incredibly difficult car to work on, and I feel it would save some money on work to do as much as is feasible myself. It seems a waste to have as much information as there is on here, posted by other members of the community, and not use it.
I'm thinking that doing work on the car and following the DIY's and learning gradually might give an insight to other owners thinking about doing their own maintenance. I'm starting fresh with this car, and might notice omissions in information that other, more experienced mechanics might assume to be common knowledge. I'm happy to take photos of the progress on the off-chance it might help someone.
I got really fed up with paying so-called 'specialists' quite decent money to get work that I wasn't happy with, and felt that given time and patience, there was no reason I couldn't do as good a job myself. Over the past weekend, I've started to pick up some tools again, a real PITA as I had loads that were all nicked a few years ago and the insurance was really awkward about it and in the end I gave up with them.
The main issue to begin with is doing the first lot of work in the right order. I know my thermostat needs doing, as I'm getting a constantly maintained 64 degrees on the KTEMP. This seems to be leading to the car running slightly off and I think it would benefit from this doing. My last car was the same and the thermostat failure issue was equally prevalent on that car, replacement improved the car plenty. That would seem to be the first job. I have various other issues that are familiar to the car and these are to be done over the next few months.
The one thing that's spurring me on is the fact that I've added my name to the Evolve dyno day in June. That gives me a timeframe to aim for to get the car running in good order.
Anyway, if anyone has any strong feelings one way or the other, post them up, and I'll either admit my howlers/document my progress to the world, or keep my trap shut
I'm on the crest of starting some work on the car, and thought I would float the idea of a thread diarizing the work I do on the car. I did this for my last car on the appropriate forum and it proved quite popular. I used to do some hobby work on cars, the main one I did was a Mk1 Golf Gti, which I bought off a scrappy for £50 and stripped for parts, maybe no fancy project show car at the end but I learnt a lot about the workings of cars and the practicalities of actually doing work on them. I'm keen and organised, and take my time on jobs, but I'm by no means a VantaaM5. Having read most of the DIY's on here, it seems this isn't an incredibly difficult car to work on, and I feel it would save some money on work to do as much as is feasible myself. It seems a waste to have as much information as there is on here, posted by other members of the community, and not use it.
I'm thinking that doing work on the car and following the DIY's and learning gradually might give an insight to other owners thinking about doing their own maintenance. I'm starting fresh with this car, and might notice omissions in information that other, more experienced mechanics might assume to be common knowledge. I'm happy to take photos of the progress on the off-chance it might help someone.
I got really fed up with paying so-called 'specialists' quite decent money to get work that I wasn't happy with, and felt that given time and patience, there was no reason I couldn't do as good a job myself. Over the past weekend, I've started to pick up some tools again, a real PITA as I had loads that were all nicked a few years ago and the insurance was really awkward about it and in the end I gave up with them.
The main issue to begin with is doing the first lot of work in the right order. I know my thermostat needs doing, as I'm getting a constantly maintained 64 degrees on the KTEMP. This seems to be leading to the car running slightly off and I think it would benefit from this doing. My last car was the same and the thermostat failure issue was equally prevalent on that car, replacement improved the car plenty. That would seem to be the first job. I have various other issues that are familiar to the car and these are to be done over the next few months.
The one thing that's spurring me on is the fact that I've added my name to the Evolve dyno day in June. That gives me a timeframe to aim for to get the car running in good order.


Anyway, if anyone has any strong feelings one way or the other, post them up, and I'll either admit my howlers/document my progress to the world, or keep my trap shut