No, I cannot perform engine machining as well, as I do not have the equipment. But alot of the people in our area who claim to be professional machinists fail at making a straight round bore.

 

i do what ever i have time for/tools/knowledge, other then that i go to my buddys shop.

 

now i hate to say it but i have paid for alot of installs done on my car ...(cause i am in iraq and my wife drives it)
but after the out come i see ..not all, but on some installs performed ...

i will be the only person who will work on my car from now on..
i am really disapointed in shops in my area and customer service..i have been working on cars for years ..from rebuilding them to install's..there are repairs or install's that may seem hard or you think you going to mess it up , but it is very simple ..
techs love who fear to work on there own car..like they see dollar sign's in the air ..and if you dont know much about the car ..oooooRaped ..

now machining . yeah i'll go to a machine shop
body damage ..yeah i'll go to a body shop
tuning ..untill i start messing with the program ..i'll pay to get that done ..
how do you know your tuner is taking the car to its full potental..so then you wouldnt have to go back to him later (not bashing on any tuners).

but about shops very hard to chose , i like when i go to a shop they see me as a friend and not a customer..that i cant hang out , with out having to buy things ..Thats a Shop

 

just knowing i did it myself and its done right makes me feel better..allways worring about if someone did somthing wrong drives me crazy ..and having the excuses when somthing goes wrong..

 

I really don't think that alot of people know how un-professional their "professional" is. Which is sad, because considering the labor rate and how much they make off of you, alot of them often fail at their jobs.

I have worked at several dealerships in parts and service (and also in sales), (including Dodge and Mitsubishi dealers). You get screwed on every aspect when you get work done. Take a timing belt for example. At our dealer, when you pay 650+ dollars to get the job performed, you do NOT get new idler and tensioner pullies, nor do you get a new hydraulic tensioner. Often seals that should be installed at the time of the job (which you also pay for) are often thrown in the mechanic's box, in a collection of seals he never installed. Your car when it is in the shop, is litteraly thrown together as fast as they can get it out (they make money by fixing your car quickly, not how well the job is done), and is also subject to abuse during "testing". I have witnessed all of this first hand many many times, and most people have no idea.

I know it's a little different with a daily that you MUST have on the road, often there is no time for extra down time while you "learn" to do the job, but I will NEVER bring my car to a dealer, or a "performance shop" (which I also have worked as a technition at). The way I see it, this is my hobby. This is what I do for fun. Building engines, late nights under your car swapping transmissions, building a car from ground up, and pumping the doors off of the guy who has spent thousands more than you in labor alone at the races is the ULTIMATE reward. With enough money, anybody can do anything.

Basicly, paying sombody to work on your car and feeling proud when it runs a fast time is like paying sombody to **** your wife, and feeling proud when she has his kid.

 

You're right. Tommi Makinen has no reason to take pride in his wins, seeing how he didn't build his car, nor does Jeff Gordon, or Michael Schumacher, or John Force, or any other driver put in control of a given vehicle. Brilliant logic. Next time I hit the court, I'll ask for a show of hands identifying those who made their own tennis racquets.

 

Often rally drivers will fix a vehicle on the side of the road to continue a stage, NASCAR is retarted, Top Fuel Dragsters and F1 Teams have theyre own pit crews, but nice try. I'm not speaking of competitive motorsports with multi-million dollar sponsorships, and sports in which time of a car down must be minimal and whole teams of pit and repair crews are needed. I'm talking about everyday enthusiasts, who enjoy taking their car to the track, or in some illegal cases, to the streets. There is a pride of knowing you put all of your mods on, tuned your car on your own, and are raping people on the street and on the track. I guess you have to be a true enthusiast to understand.

 

as much as i'd love to do my own work... i have no garage, my driveway is on about a 70 degree angle, and my street is narrow with cars always traveling down it. plus i work 50 hours a week.

i'm investing in a nice tool set to ATTEMPT to do some things myself, but i'm still looking for a reputable shop for evos/someone else to help me with stuff. (i provide the $$$ and beer hah)

 

Nice try, what? None of these folks built their own cars, yet they somehow managed to hit the top ranks in their respective disciplines. Maybe, just maybe, their skill lies in the driving part of the sport.

We all have our respective strengths and weaknesses, as well as individual preference structures. Some enjoy working on their cars and some don't. If you can explain how that relates to the driving part of the equation, I'd love to hear yet another enlighting rationale stemming from a complete lack of aggregate awareness.

I see that you started this thread in hopes of taking a superior position, regardless of its validity. It seems like you want to chastise (err...) undeserving Evo owners for not being "true enthusiasts," when you, a true enthusiast who wrenches on his old DSM and hangs out on an Evo forum doesn't have the ability to own one, himself. Good luck to you.

 

i just pulled my engine out- in the driveway... i take pride in doing the work myself, but as far as the machine work goes blocks getting sent out

 

I did most of the work myself or with a help of a friend in a garage or on a driveway but I have never built a motor from the ground up. Most of it is due to the fact that I am a total cheapskate. I rather get new parts for my car than give that money to someone else.

Hes right you know, you can't ask an honest question like that and turn around and inflict insult on those who are different than you. Its like some kind of trap or something.

 

Take a look at the name of the thread up there, it reads: "Evolution Owners: Who Does Their Own Work?". It's not, "Evolution Owners: Who Drives Your Car?". Had it been the latter, you point would be valid. It isn't, and it isn't.



See above response to previous quote. It has nothing to do with driving. However, my previous analogy comparing one building one's car to screwing one's wife is a refrence to sombody who takes pride in a hobby in which they DO NOT PERSUE IN COMPETITIVE MOTORSPORTS, but in a car hobby in general. It is in this aspect of the topic in which you are failing to understand.



Hmm, don't feel like I came off in a "superior" way, nor do I feel I made any comment that would "chastise" anybody from either camp, though mabey I have somehow struck you emotionaly somehow that you may feel this way? Funny enough, you assume I don't own a Lancer Evolution because I do not have the "ability" to own one, not because I choose not to own one. Perhaps you assume that I chose a DSM platform to start with was because purely of a financial issue, or that I perhaps wish I could trade said "old POS DSM" for a LanEvo, you would be horribly mistaken. I have a brand new non-Mitsubishi as my daily, and my DSM is my "go fast" car....But this is irrelivant to our thread at hand, and you simply selecting the "checkbook racer" part of our pole would have worked.

 

So far seems like alot of guys here do SOME work on their cars, post in the poll either way!

 

You wrote:

"Basicly, paying sombody to work on your car and feeling proud when it runs a fast time is like paying sombody to **** your wife, and feeling proud when she has his kid."

As a car doesn't drive itself, the latter text illustrated the untenable nature of this assertion, as well as its follow-ups. Perhaps your hobby revolves around wrenching, but it's foolish to prorate that same preference onto others. As an example, my hobby revolves around driving an Evo, something we do not share.

What's with all the empty rhetoric? It's clear that you insulted those whose preferences differ from yours, and that you do not even own an Evo to boot. Folk have a multitude of reasons for not doing their own work. If this were an automotive repair forum, you'd have a reason for such an apparent case of unfounded dismay. Since it's not....

 

OP - Good thread, but dont bash people who dont "work" on their evos. Some have lifes, wifes, children, work, and simply just dont have time.