OT-ish DIY-friendly cars

[john james]

Sure, but nothing like the original.

[bert]

Local timber merchant will deliver free - if you are prepared to wait 'til Tuesday.

[GMM]

The bigger problem tends to be whether you can be in on Tuesday (or whenever), when they deliver. I'm happy to pay my BM a fiver for a chargeable load and they're pretty good, but they do assume they will be delivering to an active site, so there will always be someone on hand to take the delivery.

[John Rumm]

To be fair, it was sunny, and just a very light breeze when I left to go to the shop. By the time I got out with the wood it was quite strong and gusting, cloudy and beginning to spit with rain (so a typical British summer!) I figured once tied down they would be fine, but getting them safely on the roof single handed in the wind would have been hard!

I only needed to take them about 6 miles, and mostly through town. Come to think of it, I must have bought 10 sheets in total since I also got the wood to do my outfeed table a the same time:

It probably also depends on if the natural angle of the roof points them up or down a bit over the length of the car. I think on mine its pretty close to level.

[Alan Braggins]

Having changed the engine in a Ka without cutting anything, nor do I.

[Scott M]

I did a Cit C3 cambelt yesterday. The belt wafted around the RH engine mount. Five vertical, torx headed bolts removed the mount. Easy thinks I. Then the block bracket has to come off, another 3 torx bolts. Drop engine down, remove 1 bolt. Jack it up, removed 1 bolt.

But the 3rd. Oh. Bang dead centre of the chassis leg and not enough "slack" to get it high or low enough. Not enough clearance for the torx bit (let alone bit + breaker) to fit in. If it had been a hex head, no problem, and when I put it back together I put a hex headed bolt in to make the next poor sod's life easier!

[Andrew]

He is a retired mechanic and another neighbour, also a retired SAAB mechanic (and MOT tester) both decided on this course of action. You cannot get the inlet manifold off because the alternator is near the top and has to come off first.

[Andrew]

My 1986 VW fastback used to change one of its own plugs from time to time, because a previous cupid stunt had stripped the threads in the head. And it was the least inaccessible one.

[Andrew]

Changing the entire engine on a Ka is easy. But dropping the engine just to change the alternator on the roadside is not.

Changing the clutch on a golf requires dropping the rear engine subframe. Other neighbour (MOT tester) just did one - 6 hours allocated in the VW schedule.

[john james]

Makes a lot more sense to tow it than to hack a hole in the body.

[The Natural Philosopher]

And that is why he stripped it

[Chris French]

I've had no problem with thicker boards on the roof bars of our Ford Galaxy causing any handling issues - though do tend to keep the speed down to about 50 on the way home (bit easier to load than the old mondeo as the roof bars are wider, but no big difference)

Plasterboard and thinner boards like hardboard are a bit more of a faff. I bodge it one way or another at the moment, but keep meaning to make sme sort of carrier for them.

And yes, wouldn't be without the ratchet straps.

[Capitol]

Fence panels are interesting.