Just finished a fun father/son project but now I need Advil.

[cantdrv55]

Fun project but now my back hurts.

First time wrenching with my son on his '92 Volvo 240. We replaced all the belts except the timing belt in a little over 2 hours. Couldn't find a good "how-to" in either the Haynes or Bentley manual so we reversed engineered it that's why it took so long. We had a great time wrenching together though and I didn't yell once. But now my lower back hurts so I'm going load up on Advil.

What father/son, mother/daughter things do you folks do?

[Rick V]

The son and I spend a lot of time rebuilding the Volvo 940 that he uses for Pizza delivery.
Daughter is in the Army so I don't get to do much with her anymore.

[Oh Haha]

My 5YO and I mounted an HO scale train track to a sheet of plywood this week.
Sure, I went overboard by cutting out handles and cutting the board to match the curves of the track but other than that, we had fun. Now, he can play with the train anywhere the board will fit and NOT right in the middle of the kitchen floor.

[Schumi]

Myself and my father have never really done any father-son stuff. Actually I can't think of anything that we really built together DIY-style as a kid. I was always much more mechanically motivated than my father. He had a early 70's Gran Torino with the cobra jet up until I was about 5. Never saw him drive it. I wish he would have kept it as I didn't really get into the car thing until I was about 12.

Usually I'm on the teaching end when it comes to stuff like doing brakes, belts, etc with cars. Which I find strange as I've seen many photos and heard plenty of stories of all the cars my father owned when he was my age and younger... and wondered how the hell he managed to own all of them without being a DIY car guy. He doesn't even change his own oil!


I'm slowly growing on him... this weekend I am taking off to do a clutch on my 924S and I'm using his garage to do it in. I'll be providing the teachings of the Porsche's drivetrain and he'll be providing the beer.

[Jims5543]

My son bought an E30 from RickV and we did the following together on it over a couple of months:

Timing Belt
Water Pump
Accessory Belts
oil change
Tune up
fuel filter
fuel pump
brakes
starter (we are getting ready to do it again this weekend rebuild was faulty)
spit shine the whole car.

Last year we built a trebuchet that would launch plastic baby dolls and a potato gun.

[onewhippedpuppy]

My 5 year old son loves to turn wrenches on my cars. He doesn't know what he's doing, but he loves to help.

[Chocaholic]

RC airplanes. He's the athlete, I'm the coach.

[Tishabet]

Father/son projects are the bomb.

When I was around 13 (1993) I convinced my parents that I should be able to use my saved up money to buy a go-kart. I ended up purchasing a 2-seater with a 5HP Briggs, had an absolute blast for about 4 weeks. Then one day I was showing my buddy how we could hit the end of the driveway at full speed, cut the wheel, and the back end would slide out... so cool! Except this time the kart flipped, throwing my friend about 10 feet onto a lawn and pinning me under the kart. We were both wearing helmets and were relatively unhurt, but mere seconds after extricating myself from the cart the gas which was leaking from the seal between the carb and gas tank got to the muffler, and WHOOOSH!

It took about 2 minutes for us to get a hose all the way out there and put it out. My dad and I spent the next several months ordering all of the replacements for melted parts on the engine, replacing burnt tires, etc. Then the next year we bought an 8HP motor and spent a weekend setting it up. That was the beginning of my interest in not just driving vehicles, but working on them for fun.

By the time I was 14-15 I was outgrowing the kart and my dad had let me know that he thought we should find an old Mustang or Beetle to fix up. We ended up buying a '73 standard Beetle in yellow. The car needed new pans, new brakes, some significant body work, new paint, new front axle beam... and we did all of it. I have great memories of working on that car with my dad as we both learned to weld, to shoot paint, etc. Most of what I know about cars I learned from working on that one with my dad.

I ended up driving that car from senior year of HS through college before selling it to buy my 944.

Here is a pic of me about to take off for my senior prom in the bug... I believe the paint is less than 2 weeks old in this pic

[KaptKaos]

Originally Posted by cantdrv55

Couldn't find a good "how-to" in either the Haynes or Bentley manual so we reversed engineered it that's why it took so long.

www.turbobricks.com
www.brickboard.com

*** Warning: The off topic board on Turbo Bricks is dominated by late teen, early 20-somethings and the topics there would make your toes curl. ***

Check there. Lots of advice available.

[cantdrv55]

Originally Posted by Jims5543

My son bought an E30 from RickV and we did the following together on it over a couple of months:

Timing Belt
Water Pump
Accessory Belts
oil change
Tune up
fuel filter
fuel pump
brakes
starter (we are getting ready to do it again this weekend rebuild was faulty)
spit shine the whole car.

Last year we built a trebuchet that would launch plastic baby dolls and a potato gun.

I bet the E30 projects were fun but that trebuchet build sounds cool.

[peppy]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

My 5 year old son loves to turn wrenches on my cars. He doesn't know what he's doing, but he loves to help.

My son thinks every tool is a hammer.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by peppy

My son thinks every tool is a hammer.

So do I.

[fastfredracing]

Bought an old 1 ton dump truck last weekend, and me , my buisness partner, and my 3.5 year old boy painted the dump bed rustoleum saftey red with brushes. The kid had a blast , and you could tell that he was proud to be helping dad and Rees. However I am in the dog house with mom, it has been a week , and he still has red paint in his hair. He loves to hang out in the shop, and I am sure that there will be lots of father son projects over the years.