Do alot of searching, reading and mostly doing stuff on your own. if you have friends that know about them and your unsure about how to do something, ask them to help you. that way you learn for next time. if some things seem hard, take it apart, note how it went, then reverse order when putting back. if doing things look for DIY and go from there. i have seen most of the time from seeing others and myself, you appreciate what you have if you do some - alot of the wrenching. you tend to appreciate it because it is your blood, sweat and tears that went into the work.... not some others you paid. that is just me though. sometimes alot of us dont have plans on a weekend, someof us will drive to help out a brother/sister just because that is what we do. if i lived closer id help you work on stuff. just ask around, there are others around where you live willing to help...... gotta ask. most of all never assume you know it all, there is always room for learning.

 

Reading will help. Doing will show you first hand what to do, what not to do, and why. Im sure you have a friend that is handy with cars. People who work or mod their cars are always looking for a helping hand. Make some connections. Again, nothing will help you more than seat/bench time.

 

Read A LOT. Get a good basic understanding of how your car works. When you feel comfortable with your knowledge, buy some parts and some beer and invite some more knowledgeable friends over and get wrenching. Also, good tuners are a priceless resource if they're willing to explain things to you while they tune your car.

Admittedly, my basic knowledge of cars came to me in high school through playing Gran Turismo 3 and watching Initial-D. *hangs head in shame and walks away*

 

I first have my own wrench when my dad taught me how to drive. The first thing he said,of course I said yes. From then on, he taught me how to drive and fix stuff around a vehicle. We owned a fleet of cars so I got to worked on a lot of things.

Like someone said here, ask and people will help. Maybe not all, but some knowledgeable people will chime in to help u out. Sometimes they will even help u out right out of ur own garage!

Read, read, read, and read some more. And when ur done reading, read again. There's service manuals u can buy at auto zone or any auto parts store, if not there, buy it online. It's always good to know what's going on under the hood so if in any case u have to go to a shop, they won't try and steal u blind....but then again, this is all so u don't have to go to a shop.

If it's ur DD, weigh out the pro's and cons. If it's a 5 hour install, plan for a full weekend install and don't procrastinate. If it's a two hour install, plan for a full day install. If it's a weekend install, think before u do it (if it's ur DD), and weigh out the time...can u really do it by urself? Can a (knowledgeable) friend help u out? If no to those two questions, then maybe going to a shop to install it would be a better choice.

Turbo back exhaust is an easy install....except for taking out the O2 housing on the turbo, but everything else is a cinch. With this in mind, I have one day to install a turbo back exhaust and it's my DD, so I opted to have a shop install it for me. Believe me when I say this, $200 to install that TBE is worth it in my opinion, coz of the clearances and headache to uninstall the stock O2 housing. That and all the horror stories of breaking a bolt on the turbine housing.

If it's easy 2-5 hour installs, and u have a full weekend to do it, I would say, yeah do it urself, but if u only have one day to install a 5 hour job...think hard if u can really do it in 5 hours. Coz sometimes, installs like a 5 hour installs turns into a weekend install....especially when u break a bolt in the housing. Just saying it as a warning, that's all. Not trying to discourage u or anything.

 

it's amazing how many people on here didn't seem to read the op's post. he said he can change oil fine, do basic bult-ons. I'm pretty sure he's asking and wanting to know how to do more complex work, like transmission, camshafts, taking apart the engine. Don't see many how-to's like that on the forums.

 

I think that's why most of the posters mentioned reading a lot and just getting your hands dirty. Things like rebuilding a transmission can still be done by reading step-by-step procedures in technical manuals.