Curious,but how many of our members here work on their own cars?

[greasemonkeyman]

I was wondering how many of our members work on their own cars?
1 ) How many have painted their own car or plan to?
2 ) How many have pulled their own engines/transmissions?
3 ) How many perform their own engine work/mods?
4 ) How many have done their own electrical wiring/troubleshooting?
5 ) How many have done their own interior/upholstery work?
6 ) How many have done their own suspension work?

Now,I realize that there may be certain things that some of us cannot do because of certain restrictions.Not everyone has the ability to bend an exhaust system in their garage or do a wheel alignment at home,and some people don't own air compressors or have a spray booth to paint.So I was wondering how many of you do any of this work listed above or do you farm out some of it when your restoring a car?:yes_no:

 

[Big_John]

I've done all that you list.

I've painted a couple cars and done enough body work to understand that I hate doing body work and painting. I farm that out to guys that understand the new paints and materials. My 300 goes in for paint at the end of the month!

I can't bend exhaust pipe, although I have pieced together pipes. A cheap MIG welder and some bends can make anything. Wheel alignment is easier than you think to do at home. I've done it. Spray booth?? I know of some great looking cars that were painted in garages.

You can do almost anything with a little ingenuity.

 

[70NPORT]

I was wondering how many of our members work on their own cars?

1 ) How many have painted their own car or plan to?
2 ) How many have pulled their own engines/transmissions?
3 ) How many perform their own engine work/mods?
4 ) How many have done their own electrical wiring/troubleshooting?
5 ) How many have done their own interior/upholstery work?6 ) How many have done their own suspension work?

Now,I realize that there may be certain things that some of us cannot do because of certain restrictions.Not everyone has the ability to bend an exhaust system in their garage or do a wheel alignment at home,and some people don't own air compressors or have a spray booth to paint.So I was wondering how many of you do any of this work listed above or do you farm out some of it when your restoring a car?:yes_no:

1 ) How many have painted their own car or plan to? No.
2 ) How many have pulled their own engines/transmissions? Yes.
3 ) How many perform their own engine work/mods? Yes.
4 ) How many have done their own electrical wiring/troubleshooting?Yes.
5 ) How many have done their own interior/upholstery work? No
6 ) How many have done their own suspension work? Mostly (get front end alignments at a shop)

 

[bajajoaquin]

1 ) How many have painted their own car or plan to?
Haven't done it yet, and I'd like to, but I recognize that the answer is no, I won't really do that.
2 ) How many have pulled their own engines/transmissions?
Not on my Imperial, but I pulled the engine on my '68 Dart, as well as the engine from the vintage sports racer I used to run (kinda cheating, since race cars are designed to be pulled apart)
3 ) How many perform their own engine work/mods?
Rebuilt previous dart, have done minor stuff like swapping manifolds and carbs.
4 ) How many have done their own electrical wiring/troubleshooting?
Do power windows count? If so, yes. Otherwise, only really really minor stuff. More than that and I throw up my hands in frustration. (Okay, to be fair, my windows turned out to be pretty minor stuff, too.)
5 ) How many have done their own interior/upholstery work?
Nope, other than removing door panels. I'll leave that to someone with a fine touch.
6 ) How many have done their own suspension work?
Yep. Did some stuff on the front end recently, and used to set the suspension on the race car. Planning on doing the entire front end on the Imperial when it comes time.

 

[Bryan]

I do most everything including body work, but I don't paint. I don't have the equipment or knowledge to, but would be willing to give it a try.

 

[MrMoparCHP]

I was wondering how many of our members work on their own cars?
1 ) How many have painted their own car or plan to?
2 ) How many have pulled their own engines/transmissions?
3 ) How many perform their own engine work/mods?
4 ) How many have done their own electrical wiring/troubleshooting?
5 ) How many have done their own interior/upholstery work?
6 ) How many have done their own suspension work?

Now,I realize that there may be certain things that some of us cannot do because of certain restrictions.Not everyone has the ability to bend an exhaust system in their garage or do a wheel alignment at home,and some people don't own air compressors or have a spray booth to paint.So I was wondering how many of you do any of this work listed above or do you farm out some of it when your restoring a car?:yes_no:

1 ) How many have painted their own car or plan to?

I painted my Barracuda, the car was in real good shape and basically needed no bodywork. I took a class at the local community college and even though it was my first paint job it came out very nice.

On the CHP car I did most of the rust repair and brought in help to prep the car for paint as it would be black and I didn't think I could pull it off.

2 ) How many have pulled their own engines/transmissions?
I have done this seams like a dozen times and all solo, twice on the A-Body I went through the bottom.

3 ) How many perform their own engine work/mods?
Mechanic I'm not.

4 ) How many have done their own electrical wiring/troubleshooting?
Lights horn etc no problem, Ignition and charging are recently where I'm learning.

5 ) How many have done their own interior/upholstery work?
On my Barracuda I did just the carpet a simple project. On the CHP car a friend is going to help me do the headliner. On both I had the seats done, the Barracuda it was Legendary seat covers, the CHP car I has a trim shop stitch for me.

6 ) How many have done their own suspension work?
Shocks, brakes, Idlers and tie rod ends I have done, I'll be doing everything on the CHP car including the rear end, all a learning project.

I'm fortunate to have a friend who is a mechanic and a Mopar fanatic.


Alan

 

[LocuMob]

I've done all the above except paint and interior. Haven't needed to do those yet.

My dad taught me years ago that if you have a few hours, and the tools you need, you can save some money and learn how to do it yourself. I probably wouldn't have my vehicles if I had to have someone else work on them. Thanks dad!

 

[tbm3fan]

I was wondering how many of our members work on their own cars?

1 ) How many have painted their own car or plan to? YES
2 ) How many have pulled their own engines/transmissions? YES
3 ) How many perform their own engine work/mods? YES, assembly that is.
4 ) How many have done their own electrical wiring/troubleshooting? YES
5 ) How many have done their own interior/upholstery work? YES & NO depending on the car.
6 ) How many have done their own suspension work? YES

 

[polara71]

I wash mine....

 

[72Fury]

I've done it all on many different makes. Obviously I don't do machine work, final alignments, and I have not rebuilt an automatic. A couple pics of current project standing in the way of my Fury. It does take time, and there is a learning curve, but the internet can shorten it. Sometimes you will screw something up, and I chalk that up to doing it yourself. Once I was fixing my furnace with my Brother and we replaced a transformer on it. When I turned the power on at the breaker box, it made a loud boom! WTF was that? My Brother yelled back "that's a $100 firecracker!"

 

[tallhair]

1 ) How many have painted their own car or plan to? No to body work and paint, yes to wheels, parts, etc
2 ) How many have pulled their own engines/transmissions? Yes and yes
3 ) How many perform their own engine work/mods? Yes, and some
4 ) How many have done their own electrical wiring/troubleshooting? Yes and yes
5 ) How many have done their own interior/upholstery work? Yes but no upholstery yet, but have pulled everything out and put back together and have swapped a ton of stuff out on various cars for better parts. I'm thinking of trying a legendary seat cover swap in future though.
6 ) How many have done their own suspension work? Yes

 

[detmatt]

I love doing the metal work most out of everything on that list and the only thing I haven't done even a little of is paint. I'd like to give that a try though.

 

[tallhair]

This would be cool as a multiple choice poll btw ...

 

[detmatt]

.................geek!!!.............

 

[patrick66]

No, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes

 

[67Monaco]

er'rything but upholstery.

 

[bulldogchesty]

I would like to be able to do it all, but I can't. I really would love to know how to do upholstery. If there is something I don't know how to do, there is always Google, or you tube. I just don't trust some people to do as good a job as I would do. This is why my project is taking so dam long.

 

[commando1]

I love tinkering with something on my bench.
Taking something apart, replacing a ten cent pc. available frome the hardware store with a little ingenuity, and having it work like new again instead of buying a NOS part.

 

[monaco75]

Done everything, except for big electrical work. I've had to farm that out a couple times. Not the best painter, but don't have to worry about it on my car!

Nice avatar bulldog!

 

[66/440]

I was wondering how many of our members work on their own cars?
1 ) How many have painted their own car or plan to? It's been a few years but I have painted 4 or 5 in my car career.
2 ) How many have pulled their own engines/transmissions?
My grandfather owned a trucking company and there was always some repair to be done. I learned by being the tool gopher, hold this guy, and graduated to don't just stand there. So yes both, actually was surprised when my buddies in high school did not do their own work. Just always thought everybody did. Glad to have had the privilege to learn from some really good men who took the time to try and teach me something.
3 ) How many perform their own engine work/mods?
Everything but the machine work
4 ) How many have done their own electrical wiring/troubleshooting?
Ok I have to admit electrical really frustrates me. I know it can't be that hard but it always is a PITA.
5 ) How many have done their own interior/upholstery work?
No sewing but recover headliners, carpet, install seat covers, recover door panels etc.
6 ) How many have done their own suspension work?
Everything but the final alignment. I can get it close enough to drive to the alignment shop but leave the final to a pro with the right equipment.

Now for the disclaimer. It is not as easy to get under a car or dash as it used to be. And work/ travel sometimes slows my projects way down past my patience level so I have been sending more out than I used to. I try and break a project down into related segments send the pieces to the appropriate shop to be rebuilt/ repaired and then I install.