working on your car alone?

[89hatchman]

Anyone else in the same position? I essentially work on my car by myself, no one to lend a hand, no one to give advice, no one.

Not to mention no one to hook me up with deals, this build is gonna be pricey and probably a bit difficult...

[Jayycob]

i'd start out by going to local meets, there are a few threads here that you can find to meet up with local 240 owners. I'm sure they could help you out. Also, there's plenty of DIY threads that you can look up here.

[89hatchman]

Originally Posted by Jayycob

i'd start out by going to local meets, there are a few threads here that you can find to meet up with local 240 owners. I'm sure they could help you out. Also, there's plenty of DIY threads that you can look up here.

thats what I'm doing, looking at DIY and build threads for the time being. But its confusing as hell wiring for engine swaps, mods, rust repair, all the numbers that go with building a drift car, etc. People say that an SR swap is pretty easy but as its looking right now I'm confused.

[Tearlessj]

Make more friends!

[theronin]

i did pretty much everything on both my 240's barring pulling n dropping a new engine in the 2nd by myself. and the only thing i used 1 friend for was to help in lining up the engine as we shoehorned it into the bay. noone will ever be as meticulous or care as much as you do about your car. quite frankly... i don't trust anyone to work on my car but me. pretty great feeling to know you did everything on your car by yourself.

[shiftdrift]

I do almost all work on my car by myself, granted I'm a fabricator/mechanic by trade, but there are a few things in which I will let people help me with, but not just anyone.

[Rich260z]

I started out watching my brother work on his car with his friends, then I got a car asked his friends for help and the rest is history.

[badbob2121]

[DS562]

Originally Posted by theronin

i did pretty much everything on both my 240's barring pulling n dropping a new engine in the 2nd by myself. and the only thing i used 1 friend for was to help in lining up the engine as we shoehorned it into the bay. noone will ever be as meticulous or care as much as you do about your car. quite frankly... i don't trust anyone to work on my car but me. pretty great feeling to know you did everything on your car by yourself.

QFT. the more hands you have in an engine bay, the more nuts and bolts go missing -_- and i can never be sure that the other person torqued everything right.

[KiLLeR2001]

All you really need is one good friend who knows his shit.

[roboticnissan]

Originally Posted by KiLLeR2001

All you really need is one good friend who knows his shit.

This!!!! The less ppl the better, cuz more ppl mean more fooling around and less work gets done. You need two ppl for certain things like trannys and engine swaps.

Also it doesnt hurt to bounce ideas off eachother and whatnot.

[Sleepiedaze]

one good friend who knows what hes doing is usually all you need. most of the time at car meets out of the 10 people there only 1 person really knows what they are talking about.

[dontxploitme]

[HyperTek]

Alot of people don't work on cars correctly, I never seen my friends with torque wrenches applying proper torque to their wheels.

[Homeboyx]

Originally Posted by HyperTek

Alot of people don't work on cars correctly, I never seen my friends with torque wrenches applying proper torque to their wheels.

This! x10000

[89hatchman]

Originally Posted by badbob2121

Exactly what's happening

[rednissan180]

Personally I'd rather work on my car alone

[surge s14]

i work alone most of the time, I feel your most likely to goof off of you have ppl helping.

[ManoNegra]

Could have been worse, it's not the early 2000s when my generation got started on these cars.
Internet, magazines, FSMs, DVDs... there are tons of resources at hand nowadays.

[Driftpretty]

i honestly prefer being alone working on my car. gives me time to escape real life. Lol

[ghoti]

Originally Posted by HyperTek

Alot of people don't work on cars correctly, I never seen my friends with torque wrenches applying proper torque to their wheels.

I use to use a torque wrench all the time but now I feel like I can sense by hand if it torqued down properly

[Chuki_KA24e]

Originally Posted by HyperTek

Alot of people don't work on cars correctly, I never seen my friends with torque wrenches applying proper torque to their wheels.

People actually torque their wheels to spec? I've never seen anyone use a torque wrench on lug nuts, ever....

[roboticnissan]

Originally Posted by ghoti

I use to use a torque wrench all the time but now I feel like I can sense by hand if it torqued down properly

I stopped using one aswell

[Jtuned_andy]

Ive had a friend or two offer to help me with my projects, they were even mechanically inclined, but I prefer to work by myself unless I absolutely need extra hands. I did an entire engine swap by myself in the driveway on my civic. It also helps to be a mechanic by trade.

Its also true that its hard to trust people working on your car. I would trust maybe one other person and even then its only for certain things. I need to have my hands on everything in my car to know for sure its the way I want it.

[Bmxer300zx]

story of my life
Only person i trust is me and when something goes wrong i can only blame myself and not say "if only i payed attention to what he was doing".

[MadScientist]

I only work on the car by myself and rarely ever ask for help.
Never trust anyone unless its something I can't do like Machine work, and even then its a shop i reserched and been to 1000 times!
If its wrong or if something happens to the car I can figure it out faster because I know what was touched.

However, I'm also the person that everyone knows to fix their shit!
It gets old when you have 3 (non car guy) friends asking you to do simple shit like Altenators.

Just do lots of research... years and years of reseach, and trust yourself so you can learn from your mistakes!

[dawagarage]

all you need is forums, fsms, more forums, youtube videos, etc
the only problem i have with working on my car alone is what would happen
if i get injured/knocked unconscious/car dropping on me.
i must include that i always use ppe (faceshield, eye protection, ear plugs, breathing protection, jackstands & usually back up jack stands AND the jack still in place.)
it's still scary to be under a car and realize that if somehow it dropped i would be fucked

[MadScientist]

Ha.... Yeah ^^^^^ the only fear is that!!

Doing a rear subframe swap, got my hand pierced and trapped between the Chassis bolt & subframe... significant amount of wieght. Girlfriend and buddy just left to get drinks. 15mins. trapped like that makes you think some wicked shit!!

[collegekid]

I only have 2 friends that mess with cars. When we were pulling my ka, my one friend stood there holding his dick while my other friend was under the car with me breakin bolts loose.
Moral of the story- find someone who is as motivated as you to do shit, it is a bonus if they know what theyre diong.

for some things, you need extra hands (like dropping in motors,installing/removing windows,hoods)
A lot of things you can do on your own but you hsould always try to be safe which I will try to elaborate on

-avoid working on things that could go shitty fast. Always have someone within earshot so they can atleast call 911 and LOL @ you when the car falls on you.
-Keep a fire extinguisher nearby
-keep your phone nearby
-when jacking up the car, have a backup support. When I jack the car up, I still put cinder blocks under the wheels and under the frame rails.
-be careful with chemicals, always read the safety labels on shit, they are there for a reason
-double and triple check everything
-dont blast lil wayne while attempting to drop in your sr by yourself. No one will hear you scream and you will die listening to some alien versus predator "got raped in prison" lookin motherfucker
- when using jackstands, always put support wood under the stand and inside the housing in case the little piece cracks off
-always buy stronger than necessary jack stands and jack
-when you put the car on stands, make sure you push it to make sure it is securely on the stand
-never rush with anything. no drift/racing event or car show is worth the damage you might cause to yourself

Now that I think of it, my mom is more help than my friend who stood there. She couldn't tell me which gear was which on a manual transmission but she would gladly help in any way she can. I love my mom

[Shouldahadav8]

pretty much the more friends you have working on it the more nuts and bolts you will lose.