Checkbook mechanic or DYI?

[GH85Carrera]

I just finished up a task many of you have done before, the valve adjustment on an air cooled 911. It really is not that difficult, but damn am I SLOW!

One of my buddies is a factory trained Porsche tech since the 1970s and he said in the heyday of air cooled 911s when he worked at the dealership he would do three full oil change, filter, and valve adjustment every day, and he said they usually up-sold a spark plug replacement "while there were in the there". 3 per day!

I just finished the oil, filter plugs and valve adjustment and it only took me three days. OK, I was not in a hurry, and I let the oil drain overnight. I did my annual spring brake fluid change as an add on. The valve adjustment to get the covers off & cleaned up, gaskets off, adjust the valves and reinstall the covers and new gaskets plus the spark plug change was most of one entire day.

10 quarts of oil, $58 gasket set, oil filter and plugs were well over $100 alone. I have one large wound on my arm and two smaller wounds on my left hand. Golly this is a fun hobby!

I have done the check book valve adjustment in the past and it was $450 as I remember.

So what is the going shop charge for a full adjustment, and oil change?

If any of you guys want me to do it, I charge $5,000 plus parts.

P.S. if any 930 owners want a 930-123-194-07 the first 930 owner that asks for it can have it for first class postage.




It is the wastegate gasket, and I keep looking but I can't find a wastegate on my non turbo car. I think it is next to the water pump or the ABS pump.

[KFC911]

I'm a "Do Yerself In" guy for the Carrera .... checkbook for others

Sloooooow is way to fast for me also

[Sooner or later]

I can run the valves in a half day or less. Except the time when half a head stud fell out of the exhaust valve cover.

[fastfredracing]

3-4 hours for an sc, carrera, or less for older . Depends how much gunk I have to clean off of the valve cover surfaces, and I usually take my time, and wash and clean everything else up , and make it really neat, so that gobbles up an extra hour or so . but I am confident I could pull off 2 a day if I had to, and I am out of practice . I have definitely been slowing down as I age , not just from physical limitations, but just sick of a lifetime of trying to beat the book .
It's nice to slow down, take your time, be extra neat, and do the best job you can .
I cannot wait to retire and noodle around with my cars all day . I have big plans if my body holds out .
I would not turn down that waste gate gasket if you don't mind .

[Seahawk]

I don't do any work on cars anymore after I sold the Mercedes.

I have a souless, all Toyota fleet and the dealer is an acquaintance. For routine stuff I schedule early and he lets me use the wifi and a small office before the sale folks trickle in. Free coffee, a little WAWA for breakfast and I am out by 0900.

To be frank, the amount of crap that has to be removed and put back on my Tundra just for a freaking oil change and filter makes the whatever I spend seem a pittance.

I took few hours off this afternoon off getting a sense of what I need to get the farm equipment unlimbered after being stored since late October. I enjoy working on that stuff.

I have battery conditioners for every vehicle and everything turned. All the sprayers and other stuff looks good.

Tomorrow is a massive oil and grease day then fix the road in here, which looks like the craters of the moon. 40 tons of 3/4 inch delivered two days ago just waiting.

[look 171]

Check book for sure here. Last summer, we pulled all the suspension and replaced all rubber parts and fluid on my kid's 4 runner. It wasn't hard, but working on the floor at my parents house was no longer fun like it was in my waste youth. It took us two months, and a lot of getting my kid to get out ther eoff his damn computer games. It was hot also, so I can't blame him too much. Fun times anyway seeing oil running down his arm into his armpits.

[IROC]

I work on everything but the wife's Honda Odyssey. Beyond all sorts of regular maintenance on stuff, I changed the radiator in my Land Cruiser last summer for example. I'm about to install Bilstein 5100s on my 4Runner. I enjoy it, actually.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by look 171

It wasn't hard, but working on the floor at my parents house was no longer fun like it was in my waste youth.

The other thing for me, besides time management (the cost benefit just isn't there for me) is that I would be doing it alone now.

When I did all the routine stuff with the kids it was fun. Both my son and daughter helped me on their cars for routine stuff.

I kept all the maintenance logbooks from the cars I worked on I owned. Lots of memories.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

The other thing for me, besides time management (the cost benefit just isn't there for me) is that I would be doing it alone now.

When I did all the routine stuff with the kids it was fun. Both my son and daughter helped me on their cars for routine stuff.

I kept all the maintenance logbooks from the cars I worked on I owned. Lots of memories.

As hard as it was getting him off those damn games, thinking back with only 6 months gone by, it was fun, for me anyway. I am not sure if he feels the sense of accomplishment? I certainly do.

[pete3799]

I do all the work on all my vehicles.
The town equipment i do 90 percent of the work. Farm out the rest.

I blew the transfer case on the town 1 ton about a month ago and just didn't have time to fix it as we were in a stretch of snowy weather and we were putting in a lot of OT as it was so I "called a guy".

We got it back about a week ago and all was well.......until today.
I could feel a vibration in it while i was plowing this morning so i stopped and checked the wheels and they were all tight so i figured it was probably one of the outer u joints on the front axle.
Finished up the road i was on and backed it into the garage.

Driver side joint was ok... passenger side was ok......hmmm.
Guess i've got to crawl under this dripping, slimy rig.
Grab the front drive shaft and it's ready to fall out. 3 of the bolts are gone only 1 holding it to the transfer case. Check the 4 bolts on the rear shaft and can turn them all with my fingers

This is why i hate someone else working on my stuff.

[greglepore]

Maintenance, light mechanical, diagnostics I try to do myself. Anything that requires major strength, or more than a day or so, off to the shop.

[KFC911]

I just remembered that I haven't written a check in over fifteen years. Other than the 911, I'm a debit card mechanic

[GH85Carrera]

Fred, the gasket is your. Just pm me your mailing address.

[OldSpool87]

Depends. Straightforward maintenance and repairs DIY. Just had to replace front suspension pan and have O2 sensor bung welded in. That sent to the shop. My wife’s car goes to the shop just to keep the peace at home.

[wdfifteen]

No one touches my 356s. I had a place do the front end alignement on my '65 VW but they had me drive it on the rack. Same with my '47 Dodge. They couldn't even start the engine.
The 911 - I'd pay Fred or someone I trusted -at this point probably only Fred.
Everything else is checkbook.

[Arizona_928]

I do everything myself.
Down time of the repair, and travel. It'll be quicker just to knock out everything myself.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

In 1984 I was 17 and bought a 240Z that didn't run and needed one rear wheel bearing done. I think I paid $500 for it. I had it towed to a local shop that could work on foreign cars. The guy there (I won't call him a mechanic) couldn't get it running (had Webers) and couldn't figure out to do the wheel bearing.

First and last time I brought any car to a shop to be repaired outside of an alignment.

Fortunately for me, karma's been an angel's kiss in the car ownership part of my life.

[stomachmonkey]

Depends.

Have had no interest in doing oil changes and such on my DD's for a decade at least. Still do my own brakes though.

Basically if it involves me laying on the floor under the car I avoid it.

[Ayles]

I do most things myself on all of our cars. I did have a valve adjust and oil change done on my 911 last fall. It was close to $1k. I just didnt feel like getting under the car and since both of my mentors have recently passed away I was feeling far less motivated than usual about taking it on.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I’ve flirted with the checkbook mechanic but am never happy with the end result. At least when I DIY I know who to blame.