TurboShmurbo

Hi guys,

Wanted to hear from folks who do some or all maintenance work on their Evo:

For a beginner - what's the best way to start?

I'm doing tons of reading in the various forums and how-to's, but am yet to get my hands dirty; more because of the fear of making things worse

Biggiesacks

Well for someone with 0 experience working on cars, starting off trying to do repairs is probably a bad idea. You will want to begin by learning how to do the routine maintenance. Once you have a good handle and all the necessary tools to do that then its probably safe to start delving into more advanced things like repairs and upgrades.

So things to start with:

Oil Changes
Tire Rotation
Drive train fluid changes
Spark Plugs
Brake Jobs

Learning and doing those things will help build your confidence and knowledge so you can progress.

nor11384

iTrader: (1)

I used to be like you when i had money to just pay shops. I had to learn on my own out of necessity. Best advice i can give you is use common sense and you have this forum where you can find tons of info and how tos, etc. If theres something you dont know how to do and analyzing it still cant figure it out then dont be afraid to ask questions.

mrowka

iTrader: (6)

I am far from a wonder mechanic, but an Evo would not be my first choice to learn on.
​Besides being complicated and finicky, unless you have an expert at hand, it's hard to find anyone who really knows what they're doing if something has you stumped.

To the extent I know anything about working on cars, it's because I was a kid with an air-cooled vw (aka the simplest automobile known to Western Man) and I got tired of paying people good and scarce money to screw up.

I was afraid of making mistakes, I still am, but I figured at least my time was free.

Biggiesacks

mistakes are part of learning. Just do your best to do everything as safe as possible, research the proper ways to lift and support the car. Wear proper safety gear etc. You don't want the mistakes you make to be the ones that cost you your health/life.

Klaiceps

iTrader: (18)

Get a factory service manual for your car. It will tell you the steps necessary to perform whatever it is you are working on.

RallySport9

iTrader: (20)

Getting very dirty. Getting very hurt. Then breaking ****, then breaking more ****, then breaking some more ****. That's how I learned anyway. Just don't let an evo be the "learning" car as that can get very expensive lol. First real thing I ever did on an evo was change a clutch. can't really go wrong starting there. Then move up to electrical and finally internal stuff. You just need proper tools and experience.

hutch959

iTrader: (18)

^^^^ this!!!

and buy some good tools.
working on a car with the wrong tools just always ends up bad.

Take your time... and dont rush.
if your someone that cant figure something out and you just bang on it and then cant sleep at night... then dont work on these cars.

sometimes if you dont know what to do, you gotta stop, research... and then go forward.

cleong

Just some humour, I do some of the work on the car myself too.

barneyb

You have to examine yourself - do you have mechanical ability? I remember my father-in-law trying to screw on an oil filter and failing. He was a great musician but he had no mechanical ability. We each have the talents we are born with.

Biggiesacks

This reminds me of a buddy with a 3000GT VR4 that i was helping do an oil change. Basically had him watch the whole time, except i told him to screw on the oil filter. Go to start the car and oil starts dumping all over my garage floor. He had cross threaded it and it was only half way on. Funny enough he too was a musician. Maybe there is a trend here lol.

DeeezNuuuts83

Technology has made this stuff so much easier to learn, especially with the combination of YouTube, wifi and iPads. I remember when I had to ask my teachers in high school how to bleed my brakes. My English teacher stopped class five minutes early to draw a diagram for it on the board.

Jonno99

I took my transfer case out and pulled it apart just by looking at youtube. Like said above start off changing oil, bleeding brakes, brake pads, clean filter, odd general maint stuff. If something else needs doing then research it and ask advice first don't go in there if you do not have the confidence or tools, I have dabbled for years and still knee jerk into stuff ups.

RightSaid fred

Start off with lego at about 3.
Progress to meccano at 5.
Move on to bicycles by 11.

Then hopefully by the time you've got a car you'll at least know which way to turn the spanner to undo the nut.
You might also know the difference between a left hand thread and a right hand thread.

If you're having to ask the questions, it's probably a waste of time.


One of the most important things to learn is that everything breaks for a reason.
It's usually to do with whoever touched it last.


I'm a musician too, just like everyone is a mechanic.

EvolTweetyBird

Best advice I can give you is what I was taught. Buy the best tools you can afford, even if it means skipping lunch for a week. Good tools means a better job, crappy tools can ruin a job.

And if you don't know 100+% or aren't sure, ask first. There is no such thing as a stupid question.
Stupid is screwing up and then asking why, second.

Some of us are lucky, I've been doing this for over 40 years as a professional. I grew up in a family that raced circle track, road course, and 1/4 mile, and restored antique cars, and the above was pretty much beat into me. You learn real quick if you screw up it can really hurt your wallet, and you can hurt yourself or someone else.

One last thing, you will never stop learning. Don't ever think you know it all.