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Jun 12, 2006 15:28:43 GMT
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i know this is going off topic but i really do need to see if i am the only one. nearly every single time i try and do anything mechanical, be it to pedal bike, motorbike or car it never goes right. i get stuck and my dad has to bail me out. which is embarassing and becoming beyond a joke. i wouldnt mind if it was quite complex things, but changing a brake lever on a bike ffs? i'm supposed to of been going to the dealers with my sister this afternoon, but becuase i decided to change the brake lever on the bike i'm now sat at home without a front brake. i've had to come away from the bike because otherwise i was gonna loose it. point to the thread is that, is it just me who really is mechanically incompotent and should give bird watching a try or does it get better with time?
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Jun 12, 2006 15:39:24 GMT
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You are not alone. I am an expert at turning a five minute job into a weekend swear-athon. Any nut will be guaranteed to round off the second I show it a spanner, any screwhead will instantly dissolve into a mashed-up lump and all trim items instantly shatter into 18 non-fixable pieces as soon as I touch them. It would be funny if it wasn't so goddamn depressing
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MWF
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,945
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Jun 12, 2006 15:41:32 GMT
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I do suffer from a bit of tool dyslexia.
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Jun 12, 2006 15:41:39 GMT
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It would be funny if it wasn't so goddamn depressing exactly how i feel. so annoying. a brake lever for christ sake. gonna have to wait for my dad to come home from work now and ask him to help me once again. oh joy...
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technical incompetenceBenzBoy
@benzboy
Club Retro Rides Member 7
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Jun 12, 2006 15:41:59 GMT
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Everyone starts somewhere! It's a learning process. You can only get better by doing stuff yourself (and f*cking it up sometimes ;D). And each time you get someone to bail you out, if you watch them and take their advice, you'll be able to do it next time. I'm by no means an expert mechanic, but the stuff I have learned has been from getting stuck in and skinning some knuckles, whether at college or on my own / friends cars. It's frustrating, I know. Especially if the job seems really straight-forward! Keep at it, you'll get better!
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bstardchild
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,948
Club RR Member Number: 71
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technical incompetencebstardchild
@bstardchild
Club Retro Rides Member 71
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Jun 12, 2006 15:42:38 GMT
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i know this is going off topic but i really do need to see if i am the only one. nearly every single time i try and do anything mechanical, be it to pedal bike, motorbike or car it never goes right. i get stuck and my dad has to bail me out. which is embarassing and becoming beyond a joke. i wouldnt mind if it was quite complex things, but changing a brake lever on a bike ffs? i'm supposed to of been going to the dealers with my sister this afternoon, but becuase i decided to change the brake lever on the bike i'm now sat at home without a front brake. i've had to come away from the bike because otherwise i was gonna loose it. point to the thread is that, is it just me who really is mechanically incompotent and should give bird watching a try or does it get better with time? Gets better with time IMHO - I started pulling things apart when I was 8 or 9 - toys, cassette players and most of the time it still worked when I put it back together (although I often had bits left over!!!!) I worked my way up thro push bikes and field bikes and then cars as I got older What I found was the number of bits left over was a bad sign when it came to mechanically propelled vehicles - in fact I quickly realised that they tended to A. Not run at all or B. Break very quickly if you left bits out I think you have to approach things in an organised way and lay the parts out in the order they are removed..... I still get things wrong tho but my attitude is fairly simple if someone put it together then it can be taken apart, fixed and put back together again - having a wide selection of adhesives and fasteners plus a welder helps but if in doubt gaffa tape and cable ties rule ;D Oh and push bikes...... A. Adjust the cable tensioners back to fully in (no tension) or B. remove the rear brake blocks if that doesn't work or C. Remove the wheel Then you can get the new lever in
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Jun 12, 2006 15:46:55 GMT
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its on the simson. front brake lever. took the old one out...was putting the new one in and needed more slack with the cable so thought i'd loosen the adjustable bit onto the brake drum. (the bit that you adjust on the teeth to change the strength of the brake as i have done before.) fitted the lever, and i just cant get the adjuster thingy to 'bite' with the teeth. anyway, re-inspired i'm going to go and give it another go...thanks
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Jun 12, 2006 15:46:58 GMT
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At least you have your pops to help you! I'm a bit old to be asking my dad to come & help me now... not that he's any bloody use. When I was starting out he used to make my p1ss boil with the endless round of cups of tea & roll-ups before actually cracking on with owt. I once rebuilt the whole front end of my skoda on a saturday morning by the time he got his ar5e in gear. Silly old wazzock. These days the 'help' I get is my son moving all the tools and losing important compontents as I struggle with some stuck bit and the missus coming out every 30 seconds to ask 'have you finished that yet?' Strangely my mates seem to disappear at the slightest whiff of spanner wielding assistance being required. And when they do appear it usually ends in tears as it will instantly start lashing down, the tools we need are broken or missing and I'll do something GIMPY like drop a land rover on them.....
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Jun 12, 2006 15:48:58 GMT
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Practice makes perfect Tear down a load of engines...soon gives you all the knowledge you need to know about shearing/rounding/freeing/undoing bolts and nuts and fitting stuff properly! ;D
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Seth
South East
MorrisOxford TriumphMirald HillmanMinx BorgwardIsabellaCombi
Posts: 15,538
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Jun 12, 2006 15:54:13 GMT
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DIGITAL PHOTOS!!!! If I'm ever not 100% sure I'm going to know what to do with all the bits once I've taken something apart then I snap a whole load of pics of it from every angle then at various stages of dismantling. Granted, I've only been able to do this the last couple of years so before then I would lay stuff out logically and make sketches. Still do that for certain things. You can only learn by doing as everyone else has said. Best to take advantage of your bail out option while you have it though! All changes when you leave home etc!
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Follow your dreams or you might as well be a vegetable.
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Jun 12, 2006 16:35:02 GMT
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norm, the best way to look at it is, if you havnt made it any worse than it was to start with= good day, if it doesnt work at all + you,ve got blood on your seats= bad day
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"quote hairnet"
I'm not paying nine pound for a pi$$!
[/quote]
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Jun 12, 2006 16:38:22 GMT
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I don't think I've ever done a job on a car that has gone even remotely according to plan. I need to top up my axle oil, but I know that the moment I touch it it'll be new axle and/or car-off-the-road-until-I-give-up-and-sell-it-for-a-quid time.
Even a recent attempt at merely polishing my car resulted in me posting a 'help' thread on here.
I can cut springs though.
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Jun 12, 2006 17:33:19 GMT
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Even a recent attempt at merely polishing my car resulted in me posting a 'help' thread on here. I can cut springs though. which ,in my opinion, is easier than polishing. ;D
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Jun 12, 2006 17:48:34 GMT
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i have the same problem,its not you its your dad ;D its the x factor dads have,when your young its your mum embarrassing you ,wiping your face in front of your friends,choosing your school uniform for you etc,when you get older and get involved with mechanical things its dads turn.i can spend 10mins measuring and double checking before i cut something ,he walks up has a look,buggers off and cuts it exactly to fit!!! arrggh why can't i?
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Jun 12, 2006 18:21:45 GMT
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:)I used to be the same..but experience counts for a lot. I'm not boasting but occasionally I have 8 or 10 jobs on the go at work because of parts delivery delays ect., and after a while you just get the knack of doing all kinds of stuff,and getting yourself out of the poo! On the first day I started my apprenteship at 16 I was told to get on with a service on a Mini....and frankly I didn't know what I was doing. However with advise, and cos I had too..I picked it up. The only way to beat it is to just get on with it,accept you're gonna make balls ups now and then and learn from them. You've deffo got the ability, you just need the experience,and the confidence that comes from it. The Skoda head gasket you're doing is a great start..see if you can do more by yourself without your dad being there..cos when you have no one there you'll work out what to do simply cos you have to.
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technical incompetenceBenzBoy
@benzboy
Club Retro Rides Member 7
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Jun 12, 2006 18:25:33 GMT
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The Skoda head gasket you're doing is a great start. That was one of my first major jobs on my own car, when my Rapid popped its gasket! Nothing like being chucked in at the deep end! ;D Very satisfying when I got it fired up again though
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Jun 12, 2006 19:15:00 GMT
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my fathers an engineer so hes been spannering and tinkering for as long as i can remember
seems to have slowed down a bit now cos buying newer cars he think he wont have to get his hands dirty anymore......then he buys two old motorcycles so bang went that idea lol
been doing it 20 odd years meself and still make a mess now and again......
you shoulda slackened off the adjuster at the lever end norman NOT the brake end...........
90 second job
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2001 HONDA CT110 (NOT RCV)
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Jun 12, 2006 21:32:37 GMT
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well we got it sorted. my dad had the same problem a few months back and took a good two hours working out what to do - its not just me then bit of copper slip and taking the whole thing off got it all back and re-attached.
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Jun 12, 2006 21:42:43 GMT
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Practice, experience and confidence. The three together make a difference. If possible do a bit of background research on what you are doing. Have everything you need to hand such as tools, parts etc.. And when things go wrong a fuckjng big hammer and something to hit
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Jun 12, 2006 22:24:25 GMT
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you think nows bad LOL ( it does get better ) wait till you get married 5 kids etc then trying to do ANYTHING kids running off with parts wife asking how long it takes going to scrap yards getting the part only to find out its wrong it goes on and on and on qick story for ya we'd just finished building a turbo'd gsxr1100 imagine the sene 3am starts runs fine jist a little tuning to do 4 yr old daughter comes down stairs wondering what all the noise is goes to loo hangs round then goes to bed ok ya say i'll just give it one more start vroom vroom almighty clunk motors dead then sees the large pile of washers on table missing frantic i'm looking its now7am i ask my little girl has she see the washers oh yes daddy i posted them for you in that shiny tube arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
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