Topic

I’ve just looked at phil14140 post & the last sentence stood out, he claims that he doesn’t have the confidence nor the tools.
The tools bit isn’t a great shock because basic oddments are handed down & are generally imperial sized. To build a kit can be a life’s work but that collection would include eccentric items that looked useful on eBay after a refreshing evening, used once, then abandoned.
What Phil wants is a recommendation from the active spanner jockeys to encourage him with the next hurdle, his perceived ineptitude. This exists only in the mind, hell fire you’ve been bright enough to by the car, it’s not a great chasm to stride over, if you’re determined.
Please join in:-
Hacksaw, big hammer, pry bar, vice, wire brush.
A sensible socket set (restrict yourself to 8mm through to 19) with ratchet & breaker bar.
Allan & torx keys. Don’t trouble yourself with a kit full of 1/4 drive rubbish for a fiver, when you really need them, you’ll want to buy ones that last more than a couple of operations.
Right lads it’s your turn.
M

That's very good encouragement. A basic set of tools as described plus access to advice to people who have done this before is what it takes. Though these things can appear daunting at first to those who haven't dabbled that much or that recently there really is nothing to fear. Take advice, apply common sense and you will soon be following your nose and problem solving without realising how far you have come. The sense of satisfaction of doing this yourself will make the time, effort and head scratching highly satisfying. There is absolutely no reason for the average intelligent person to shy away from this. A few on here are professional mechanics but the majority of us are enthusiasts who have encountered a problem, learned how to resolve it and built competence as we go. A cylinder head gasket change is just a number of steps. There is no reason to rush, work at your own pace when you have a couple of hours free.
You will succeed.

My toolkit is currently filling a 20 x 6 meter shed, Totally disorganised due to just having moved in, hopefully I’ll make room by organising it but at the moment I can’t find a bloody thing!
The move of house and workshop took 2 months full time. Just finished yesterday!
I’m gonna take another couple of weeks off sorting some of it, before I go back to work for a rest! And then spend who know how long sorting the rest.
I’d been at the last place for @ 5 years……. I found stuff that I hadn’t seen since I moved last time!
Some might say that I didn’t need it if I hadn’t used it in that time……but no I had needed it and couldn’t find it, so often just went out and bought another.

One of my pet hates is looking for stuff!

And of course my Jag chose the move to take the opportunity for a ride of shame on a tow truck due to a gut full of dirty fuel!
So a thorough clean out of the fuel system is gonna be required……. I guess I’ll need to break out the fuel injector testing and cleaning machine, if I can find a glamorous assistant to film a video of the process I’ll post the video for you perusal, no guarantees though as there is never a glamorous assistant when you need one.

Last year rather than socks stuff I put a few things I'd had my eye on onto my amazon wish list and i'l pleased to say that Santa was kind to me.I've used this natty thing for way more than it was designed, so it's meant to be for removing interior clips and it has a nylon heel so as not to damage anything.

Its a home tool but so handy

Very similar to a pair I have & the matching end nippers. They’ve saved me ages on various jobs & dropped me much further in on others. On aggregate they’re still well into the positive portion of the graph, which is a credit to them considering the amount of miss use they have received over the years. I’ll break them one day & I’ll be bereft especially as I can find nothing similar on the net at a price point that will encourage the abuse these have endured.
M