Car Mechanics

Our main source for project cars is British Car Auctions. The cars usually have problems (we like problems) and they can be bought via bank transfer and come HPI clear. However, our latest project car came from a different source. I made mention when

CONTACT US Car Mechanics, Kelsey Media, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent ME18 6AL. Email: cm.ed@kelsey.co.uk Editor Martyn Knowles email martyn.knowles@kelsey.co.uk Technical Editor Steve Rothwell email cm.questions@kelsey.co

► The Electronic Diagnostics series we have published since the early 1990s is back after a 15-month break. Rob Hawkins has taken up the challenge to write the series in conjunction with our new diagnostics guru, Mark Shipman. We’d like to thank Mark

► Having just failed the MOT on a lower swivel, the owner of this Fiat 500 was on the phone to me asking for a quote for the job. I looked up the job time and gave a quote based on the book time of 1.2 hours which is the allowance for replacing the a

Problems on a project vehicle aren’t always so straightforward to fix, but we seem to have had luck on our side recently with our Kia Sportage. The leaking screenwash reservoir couldn’t have been simpler to remedy when Rob removed the engine undertra

► As your garage or workshop slowly becomes cluttered with tools, spares and consumables, it inevitably reaches a point when you want to start again and create a working environment that doesn’t leave you tripping over everything or negotiating your

► Making a workshop secure to prevent a break-in can be quite a challenge, especially if some of the materials it’s constructed from are not so strong. If you have clear plastic roof panels for example, then these can be easy to remove and enter the

► Having a clean, uncluttered workshop is an ambition for many people and it needn’t cost a fortune. A shallow plastic box, as shown here for instance, can be used as a drainer for keeping a worktop clean when dismantling oily components. All it need

► If you have an old tatty workbench or can find one for sale that needs some light restoration work, then this is one of the cheapest means of making a workspace look as good as new. If a workbench has a wooden top, this is often made of chipboard a

► White walls and a freshly painted floor will transform a grotty garage or workshop and should cost less than fifty quid for paint, brushes, rollers and cleaning solution. Painting the walls white helps to brighten up the inside of the garage or wor

► Adequate illumination is a must when it comes to working on a vehicle. If you have old fluorescent strip lights inside a garage, they can often be upgraded to LEDs from around £25 with no wiring modifications required (check with an electrician if

► You don’t need to spend hundreds of pounds on tools to equip your dream workshop. Depending on what jobs you commonly tackle on a vehicle, you may discover you need a very limited number of them. General servicing for instance, may require several

► A comprehensive socket set consisting of wobble bars, universal joints and a range of extension bars and sizes of sockets should set you up for life and doesn’t need to cost an arm and a leg to buy. The difficulty concerns catering for all the poss

► If your budget is limited, then how about buying a select number of high-quality tools or at the very least, buying the right tools for the typical jobs you complete? For instance, if you routinely service the brakes on your vehicle or vehicles, in

► Having the tools to ensure you do a job properly is essential and this extends to tools that check or measure specific details, such as the voltage of a battery, whether a connection is live, the thickness of a brake disc or even the diameter of a

► Having the equipment to get you out of trouble and avoid the problem of a dead vehicle that’s difficult to move can help to avoid those frustrating situations where you find yourself working on a vehicle on the street because you can’t get it into

► You can never have enough space and whatever you have will always be filled. However, the amount of space needed to work on a car is always going to be an issue, no matter how big your workshop or garage is. You’ll generally always need a little mo

1 Start by clearing the floor area that needs to be painted, which may be easier said than done, especially if you have nowhere to move a workbench and tool cabinet, but they need to be out of the way. 2 Clean from the top down to reduce the risk of

► Moisture inside a garage can often be difficult to avoid, especially in winter when the air becomes very humid so it contains lots of water that can settle on surfaces. Clear roof panels also attract moisture (condensation) at certain times of the

► Shop around for deals and you can easily find a large tool chest or cabinet (or both) for under £250 and in some cases, under £100. Don’t always expect top quality if you are buying a large multi-drawer stacked chest and cabinet. For instance, the

► If you are planning to strip and rebuild an engine, then an engine stand is a useful piece of equipment that can save your back and enable you to work more efficiently. Most engine stands start at around £100, and although there are a few for under

► Battery-operated power tools are becoming increasingly popular, largely because their prices have become more affordable, and their batteries are interchangeable between equipment (providing you buy the same brand). We’ve included this in the £100-

► Moving a vehicle around a workshop, especially one where the engine isn’t running, can be hard work, but for around £150 or more, a set of four-wheel dollies can save your energy and frustration. These can be best described as roller skates for car

► If you have a disorganised selection of nuts, bolts, washers, screws, fuses and electrical connectors stored in a variety of boxes and drawers, then how about transferring them into a dedicated selection of bins in their own shelving? The ones from

1 It’s all too easy to ignore assembly instructions, but it’s worth following them for this workbench because it must be bolted together upside down. 2 With the worktop laid on a soft surface (the polystyrene packing in this case), we secured the fo

► If you can afford to spend around £200 on a fault code reader, then you can not only get a lot for your money, but also a piece of equipment that can diagnose engine management issues on a range of vehicles and save you money in the long run on hav

► A handy mobile trolley that can carry several tools and store parts is a useful accessory when working on a vehicle, especially if you find all those items become spread across the workshop floor for you to trip over them. Known as a service or too

► Flooring that is suitable for driving a vehicle over isn’t cheap, but it can make a huge difference to a workshop and create a professional-looking environment that’s easy to keep clean. Floor tiles are one of the easiest solutions and we reckon th

► The more you spend on shelving, the more you get for your money and integrated units that can squeeze into the corner of a workshop, for instance, such as the ones shown here from BiGDUG, are space-efficient and capable of storing large quantities

► Installing a compressed air system inside a workshop is a big commitment that is costly to start with, but can save you money on a range of compatible tools that would otherwise be batteryor mains-powered and often more expensive. The starting poin

► We’ve already covered a set of wheel dollies, but if you want a quicker means of effectively picking up a vehicle and moving it around a workshop, then a set of dollies each with their own jack is one answer. This enables each one to be positioned

► Don’t cut corners when it comes to safety equipment that can protect you and the contents of your garage or workshop. It can all end abruptly if you set fire to something whilst welding or metal fragments from angle grinding become lodged in your e

► An ever-growing collection of tools need somewhere to store them and one of the most space efficient solutions is a tool cabinet. Inevitably, the size of such storage equipment expands both upwards and outwards, so before you know it, they can take

1 Rob Hawkins volunteered to fit floor tiles to his garage workshop, so BiGDUG sent him 140 Swisstrax plastic tiles. After clearing the floor area and moving large objects over the inspection pit, he started to unpack. 2 Before fitting the floor til

► With over £1000 to spend, this level of money can buy you some comprehensive tool cabinets with numerous drawers and cupboards. And at this price level, you can also buy tool cabinets full of tools stored inside made-to-measure trays. This may seem

► If the expense of a modular workstation doesn’t appeal to you, then there are a few options. Some non-modular workstations are a little cheaper, although many still fall into our £1000+ price group. Draper’s single and double workstations cost betw

► An inspection pit helps to access the underside of a vehicle without having to lie flat on your back or having to install lifting equipment. It does however mean you’ll need to dig a hole in the workshop floor and construct something that keeps the

1 An existing floor can often be cut with a circular saw to add an inspection pit and avoid having to lay a new base, although in the photo shown here, a new base was being laid. 2 After cutting through the concrete base where the inspection pit will

£28.74 (30mm) £35.94 (50mm) sealey.co.uk ► A practical way to protect your tools in the workspace or on the move, Sealey’s Easy Peel Shadow Foam brings practicality and personalisation to every one of your tools. Not only is the foam specifically f

► Running until 31 December 2022, Sealey’s latest tool promotion boasts 70 new lines as part of a 180-page issue with over 1760 deals to be had, including offers on many seasonal items such as battery chargers, lighting and heating at a time when eve

► The latest technical messenger bulletin from MAHLE has warned of the dangers of using tools when installing spin-on oil filters. Oil filters are available in two variants that not only differ in design, but also contrast significantly in the way th

► Set to go live later this year, the Independent Automotive Aftermarket Federation (IAAF) has announced a new training academy, designed to train, develop and upskill new and existing people working within the automotive aftermarket. With both virtu

► A frontrunner of 4x4 fame, the Range Rover has been turning heads ever since its launch in 1970. Long before the stereotypes of blocking entrances on the school run, its exceptional handling, sophisticated style and practical performance on and off

TBC bridgestone.co.uk ► Bridgestone has announced its new flagship summer tyre that’s set to launch in 2023, called the Turanza 6, offering best-inclass wet performance, superior mileage and improved fuel/energy efficiency. The global leader in rub

£POA https://bit.ly/3Mhp0j4 ► Available to the trade only, LKQ Euro Car Parts has launched a new battery range under its Starline brand to help workshops cater for everything across automotive, commercial, marine and leisure vehicles. Covering 99% o

► Engine lubricant experts, Motul, have launched a new partnership with London’s popular North Circular hangout spot for all things motor-related. The agreement sees both businesses looking to engage automotive enthusiasts in new ways through events

TMD Friction answer your braking system queries. Send in your braking questions to the editor at cm.ed@kelsey.co.uk ► When it comes to vehicle maintenance, monitoring the condition of brake fluid rarely makes most driver’s to-do lists. This can lead

► One thing that I do find frustrating these days is how difficult it can be to trace a car’s previous owners – all thanks, of course, to the GDPR regulations that came in a few years ago. Once upon a time you had view of the previous and previous-pr

Q I’m hoping you can help out (again!) with a problem this time on my kit car. It’s using a 2.0 SIlvertop Zetec, with a Brise alternator fitted. I’ve only just got it completed, and still have a few wiring glitches to sort out, so when I saw that the

Q My problem concerns a 2007 Renault Modus 1.4 petrol with 63,000. The Renault runs great, except for one small problem, on start-up it idles to about 1200rpm – and revs correctly – but after only a few seconds drops to 700rpm then stalls and pops.

This listing is published every THREE months and will next appear in our February 2023 issue. We welcome further nominations (from satisfied customers only please, no self-nominations) of businesses to be included, so that we can make this listing as

Last issue I introduced my 2006 Vauxhall Meriva 1.6 which only had two notable faults – how it went and how it stopped. Last things first, the quite vicious steering shimmy under braking was due to nothing more sinister than out of true front brake d