How many of the people on this forum actually do the work to their cars themselves? And how many are familiar with the codes, expected costs and general maintenance of their car? I am interested to see what you guys are about. Everyone is from the US?

I maintain my own car ( though not a certified mechanic ), am very familiar with running codes and diagnostics ( thanks to many forums such as tt net and zcar) and I will expect the cost to maintain a Z is bvetween $500-$1200 a year. As long as I don't go to the stealership.

 

i try to do all the work myself. between the FSM and the writeups on this and other sites i can usually walk myself through most tasks. if there is something that seems better left to a pro, i'll take it to a Z specialty shop, never a stealership.

 

I do the work myeslf on my car. The only thing I don't like to do is timing belt, although I will do it . If there's something that I can't do, someone in my car club can do it...

 

I'll do pretty much anything short of the "big" jobs (EGR, Engine swap, Tranny, rear end). Smaller stuff like alternator, starter, tune ups, suspension stuff, whaddeva. I hate taking my car to a shop unless I HAVE to get it fixed right away. I've done a ton of stuff to nissans in general, but haven't had to do too much to my Z except for some small maintenence once and awhile. Although I'm a Zfreak now, I still know considerably more about the 240sx (but i'm done playing with those toy cars).

 

Nobody comes within 10 feet of my car except the smog inspection guy. I even take the wheels off my car and throw them in the truck to go down and get new tires installed. I've spent right around $2500 in 21 months on all of the maintenance and mods. Maint. includes: 120k, plugs, pcvs & all new fuel/vacuum lines. Mods include: wheels/tires, shocks, intake/exhaust, 4-wheel d/s brakes, stillen sways, custom f/p gage.

I just picked up a used motor a few weeks ago to start a building a new motor for when the existing one gets too tired. The plan for that is to have it at 3.3 L and a eaton s/c mounted on top of it.

When I'm not working for a living, or driving my z, I'm usually tinkering on one car or another. My father/son hot rod project is ending up being a retirement project........ the son retired.

 

ive always done all my own work, including my sr20det swap. i must say though im not familiar with codes thats the kind of thing i look up but then ill forget. i research the crap out of everything i buy, ive been on this forum for three days now and learned soo much about my z32 that ive only owned for 5 days, thanks to the help of others and my own research. but honestly i forget alot too, theres noway i could do another sr swap without researching again. bad memory, good mechanical skills thats me

 

I do all my work myself when possible. It's hard when you don't ahve a garage and park in a carport in an alley way next to a college, but I manage to do stuff anyway. Charles has been nice enough to lend me his garage before. The only things I didn't do to any car I've owned was smogs, one injector that Greg did (on the old TT), tires, and I've taken my car to zwhizz for a diagnostics so I knew everything I was going to be working on with this new TT. Other than that, I've done everything...including a HG replacement on the Supra.

 

This is good, I like to see who knows their way around these cars. It is not an easy car and it is time consuming. Excellent posts, keep em coming guys!

 

I guess I'm the opposite side of the spectrum. I don't do jack crap to my car outside of washing it and topping off my washer fluid and filling the gas tank. Hell, doing the washer fluid makes me break out in a cold sweat fearing that I'm going to spillit and kill something.....

On the upside I've become VERY familier with expected service costs....HA HA HA HA HA.....*chuckle*......*crys*...

 

Eh, I do as much work as I can, but I leave the big stuff to the professionals... Im still a noob when it comes to cars but im tryin

 

I refuse to let anyone else touch my car. The only work I have anyone else do includes: mounting tires, alignment (though I found a writeup on how to do that yourself in your garage with basic tools, which I might try), and machine work when I'm building an engine.

 

your lucky, i wish i didnt know how to do anything because somthing as simple as a brake job can turn into an all day project with me. ex i get the wheel off and what do we have here stripped bolts or something is broke ect ect. one compound word...... headache. nothing ever goes as planned, well i guess i should start planning on throwing tools and cursing, thats a givin haha

 

I tend to do all my own work on my z's ive owned 5 of them (2) 280zx (1) 1990 N/A with 212k miles on it ( learned a lot on that one oh boy) (1) 1993 TT black with tan interior....first car I loved (figuratively) and my presesnt project car a 1995 TT. One day ill get a 350 but only if it comes with a turbo. I guess I draw the line on DIY work when it comes to how much it can cost if I make a simple mistake over how much it will cost to get it done professionaly. Pretty much all internal engine work goes to the shop, anything that goes around, up and down sucks or blows on the car is fair game.

 

ive done most of the mods install myself, all but the sub frame spacers which i was asked if i wanted it then next thing i know it was instsalled on my car lol. i cant say im a mechanic, but im pretty oriented when it comes to the mechanical work of a car and so forth. ive done my own 60k this past christmas as well as the clutch and flywheel, altinator, drive belts, ect., ect.

the only thing i cant do is an oil change. [/sarcasm]

 

I do everything that I have the tools for and I find myself buying new tools to do things that I don't have the tools for. The only thing im not going to do is body work. Even though I do have everything to paint with , Im not brave enough to try that on my Z. Maybe on my dads 79 ford F-100 beater .

 

I hand my car over to a shop for two things. One is tires. I dont do tires. Dont have the equipement and its not an investment I want to make. The other is alignments. Another thing I dont have the equipment for. Other than that I do any and everything myself. Of course there are emergencies that warrant the work of a shop like being stranded in a strange place with no tools. I dont do it to save myself money, and I dont go around bragging about the fact that I do all the work myself. I just like the feeling of knowing I did the work myself.

 

I do all of my own work on my two Zs. When I first bought my NA Slicktop a few years ago I was 15, and I did hire out the 60K service because I was in high school. Now, being 18, I can do nearly anything to my Z myself. If I have any questions I have no problems consulting websites like these or service shops like Z1 or local garages. I have done a 60K on my TT. I have pulled trannys with ease. I have done split flange down pipe installs, and I have done heater core replacement jobs just to name some of the large jobs. I am always working on a Z, be it mine or someone elses.

NO ONE touches my Z, unless they are first screened by me.

 

I've done all the work myself. I took it to the dealership once just so they could verify everything that was wrong with it after my accident. I fixed everything they pointed out.

 

I do all my own work. I dont trust anyone except my dad and myself under the hood. The only thing I cannot do is tires. Ive even dropped a few engines into a few cars in the past. Not fun on a z32, lemmie tell ya

 

i must admit i know very little about my car but im learning very quickly but am starting with the small stuff like plugs wires intakes and things like that but ive lookes at some of the write ups on the forum and it seems like i can attempt anything short of big jobs with the support ive seen so far