Getting a big garage soon, fellas. Gonna get myself a full toolbox and car repair stuff, even considering a 2 post lift.
What car would be a decent first wrencher? Something that isn't like, "heck with you, home gamer."
Also, this will be a personal hobby, but I want to do all of my own auto repairs for now on. Would it be a good idea to take one of those mechanic courses to get a good idea of it all?
>What car would be a decent first wrencher?
It would help if you told us your budget and what kind of cars you like
Get an mr2 to fix up and flip
Sorry that I didn't mention that.
I like both American and Japanese cars. Wouldn't mind a volkswagen/audi, but those scare me in general know-how and complexity/cost in repairs.
Budget is around 10 to 15 thousand.
I just don't know what's easy to work on, versus what's incredibly complicated/expensive, and some cars can be unexpectedly complicated.
You could probably get away with restoring an old beetle or golf/gti depending on your taste (rwd vs fwd)
American cars are easiest to wrench on, or Japanese with a big mod base like the 86. If your budget is $10k$15k you could get pretty much anything since you obviously have the money for parts, but simple terms 86, STI, R32, or even Camaro, Mustang from 2010-2014 could be doable on your budget (accident car or something)
Mkay. I have a Sentra SE right now that has over 270k miles, was thinking about restoring it with a healthier SR20 and other stuff.
I really couldn't care less about racing. I just love driving.
But a WRX would be awesome, maybe a wagon or the hatchback. But don't those have a heavy takumi tax? As for Cameros, aren't those kinda complex? Mustangs seem easier. Maybe new edge 2003 model?
Again, don't give a care about being fast, just having fun when I'm out and about.
A beetle actually sounds really fun. Friend of mine rebuilt one and it was fun to drive. Problem is my area has really hot weather. Would want AC. The Golf sounds like fun, but are those taxed on parts?
Thanks for the input fellas.
I dont know about a tax, but older golfs (MK1-3) have been in the USA long enough that it should be easy to find a project car on craigslist and replacement parts online
>Problem is my area has really hot weather.
Turn it into a beach buggy then.
HMMMMM
I meant high priced parts. Golfs are awesome, wouldn't mind a mark 4.
Miata NB, super easy to work on, just takes a 10mm and a couple swear words.
Find a decent one ~6k and spend the rest on parts to make it really nice.
Get one.
But twin suspensions.
Get a veeaite in it.
DO IT FAGGOT
Maybe tig welding would be something good to learn. A Manx would be a decent way to learn. But I've never held a welder, would probably need to take classes.
Get an older mustang.
New edge?
Welding isn’t that hard to get the basics, but classes do help a lot. Community college is a good place for that. If you would rather just jump right in, practice before you work on something you want to get right. Watch videos, get a pile of scrap metal, practice different shapes and angles until you’re confident, then go to the real project.
>t. community college trade student
Mach 1
get an old Camaro. Those fuckers as so easy a retard could do it. Second gens can be found for around your budget, or you can get a first gen kit-car for about $12k. Also, read hanes manuals on your car and learn how engines work, thatll be enough to get you started
If you want to go Japanese, Toyota or Honda would probably be your best bet. Most reliable and mechanically simple while still having decent aftermarket. Personally I’d recommend a mk3 Supra, those are fucking noice. Could also find an rx-7 to fix up, from what I’ve seen/read rotaries seem surprisingly simple to work on as long as you do your research and take proper care of it. The reward of infinite revs seems like it’d be well worth it, too.
It does go without saying that you should definitely do your research before starting any project. Whatever you choose doesn’t really matter as long as you make it your own.
Op, do you have any tools? Are you starting from scratch, or migrating to a bigger garage, thus can have more allocations for different type of tools.
I'd make the garage easier to work in before starting out the project.
If you are going to buy a car, get the manuals for them, especially the ones from shops that show each step by step how to disassemble/reassemble.
I have some tools, family of engineers. But, I want to build my own box with my own tools, all in order with foam inserts. I care about that stuff.
However, senpai doesn't have breaker bars, impact wrenches or anything that is properly car-centric. So I really do need to start from scratch.
It will be nice to have some specialty machining tools here and there though, and I can have custom parts made for me.
If you want to do body work, minimum is a circular grinder/cutter, welder and proper equipment for those things. Anything else you can mostly do with hand tools. Impact wrenches are nice in a professional environment where you need to work fast, but in a casual environment a ratchet/breaker bar works just as good.
I already have experience in professional detailing, but not body work. That's a hill I want to climb some day. Seeing pro-bodyshops doing their thing, though, makes me squeamish. They really know their stuff. I'll get a grinder.
So no on the impact wrench? I don't mind buying that stuff. I was also considering a good, high CFM compressor to buy a bunch of air tools. However, I hear lithium has come a looooong way in the past few years.
Is air still a great thing to have?
If you really want power tools (and they are really nice to have in any case), then go for lithium. I only have to charge my Milwaukee m18 fuel impacts at work like once a week at most, usually they last longer when I’m not using them as much. The charge time is quick enough that it almost doesn’t matter, I can leave them on the charger for a few hours and they’re ready to go by the time I check back on them. Definitely better than spending the money on a compressor.
Though, that being said, you’ll still want to go corded on some tools that need sustained operation, like the grinder.
There’s always alternatives to air, and at this point it's really only necessary in heavy duty applications, like trucks or buses.
Miata.
i have all my automotive tickets (Canadian Journeyman and Red Seal) and worked in a shop for 6 years, got tired of it and had my own company for a year and now just do side jobs from my home. ive got all my tools etc at home now
courses are worth it if you know fuckall because when i apprenticed as a tech i knew fuckall and came out of it 6 years later knowing alot. i was taught the old school way of no manuals etc just figure it out.
only thing i can say is get an air compressor, i bought a cheap $100 Hyundai one from Wal-Mart from home and it works just fine. if you want something to start on for repairs check auctions for a vehicle with common issues. Transmissions were my bread and butter, late 90s Explorer are notorious for blowing the auto transmission and ive replaced about 2 dozen of them. if i see a clean Explorer with only a bad trans for a couple hundred bucks im all over that shit
Air cooled Beetle
Miata
Mustang
Honda Civic
Yeah yeah, these are commonly talk about but that means parts are everywhere. Need help?
Someone bound to know the same bullshit you're gonna be going through.
A70 supra, pretty common, pretty badass, pretty easy to work on and toyota aftermarket & cualidad partner
Thank you for your input. Any must-have tools I should look into?
Like, stuff you normally think is necessary.
isnt** necessary
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>Getting a big garage soon, fellas. Gonna get myself a full toolbox and car repair stuff, even considering a 2 post lift.
>buying all this shit when you don't even know what you are doing
Jesus fuck user, just throw it in our fucking faces that competency isn't rewarded in this country.
>worked hard my whole life to afford a house
>always lived in apartments
>never had a chance to fix my own cars because they would yell at me every time i tried in the parking areas
>ecstatic that I finally get to do this
>throwing it in my face that I don't deserve it
m8...
>Hay reddit, I think im a total soyboy and want to learn to work on cars because I think that is manly, what do I do
You don't fucking belong here.
>Oh you worked hard? Everybody that isn't a slacker works hard.
>I always lived in apartments
>instead of being a bitch like you I worked on my cars in the street, I told the apartment managers to fuck off, and did large projects at my friends houses
>yeah I can tell you are ecstatic, you think you are about to get your man card. That you are going to grok some of the masculinity a guy has right after he slithers out from under a car on jack stands. You are the faggot that buys a full set of pads to learn skateboarding. No, the other kids are not going to respect you.
You know how most of us learned to fix our cars you coddled piece of shit? We were poor, something broke, we needed to get to work on Monday and we decided to figure out how to fix it instead of taking it to a shop. It was out of necessity or curiosity.
>actual advice beings here
Go buy a whatever cheap old car perks your curiosity. Buy a jack from harbor freight. Buy two jack stands from Sears (they come in a box for $14), also get a basic craftsman mechanics tool kit with sockets, wrenches and screw drivers for $100 and get your hands dirty.
Why are you being so obtuse?