POTD- PROJECT OF THE DAY: What Did You Make In Your Shop Today?

GoceKU said:
Buy a new crankshaft bolt and torque it to specs, those engines don't have a key in the crank. Last one i've had to rebuild was a real pain, the chain tensioner are so flimsy i'm surprised they even last 100k. Try to find a new or very low mileage engine just to change it. Those engines are just a bad design in my opinion.
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Comes with the kit:


Used engine is not really an option around here. Mini coopers are not that common and a Peugot? Good luck even finding one let alone parts for one.

yeah, I’m not overly impressed with the engineering in the n12, but it does make the car fairly peppy. Just seems overall kind of fragile.

German engineered car, french engine and assembled by the brits. What could possibly go wrong with that?

Only way it could be more confused is if you threw some Italian engineering in there!

lol!
 
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GoceKU said:
Clutches are much more work especially on Front wheel drive also the parts are much more expensive.
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Nah, front drives don’t bother me either. In sone ways, I find them easier than rwd’s as a lot of the work can be done from the top instead of on your back. Pop the shafts, control cables, any cooler lines and then its just nuts and bolts. Easy peasy.

I also find fwd less expensive to do than rwd’s. But I’m in NA, not Macedonia so prices are definitely going to be different…
 
How many french, british and italian cars have you done clutch jobs? I'll rather do 2 Vw clutches than one on a peugeot or a renault.
 
GoceKU said:
How many french, british and italian cars have you done clutch jobs? I'll rather do 2 Vw clutches than one on a peugeot or a renault.
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Used to work at a chrysler dealership that also sold Peugeot’s, Renaults and Jags (the old 6/12 carb jobbies). When one of those came through the door suddenly the shop got real quiet and real empty….

Jags were so bad they actually hired a guy out of the UK to work on them. I still remeber this gawd aweful thing they had on the wall that looked like two octopuses fighting to the death which he used to balance the carbs on a 12 cyl jag. Horrible thing to work on. Gawd help you if you actually had to work on the rear brakes…

In general, most NA shops don’t like working on European cars. Too many special tools needed, too many odd sized metric tools needed. Usually, there’s shops that specialize in European makes and as far as I was concerned they were welcome to them. Not that they’re bad cars, they’re not. They’re just uncommon enough to make it not worth your time if you aren’t already set up to work on them.

Volkswagens? Hate ‘em. At least working on them. Had one foreman try to force me to work on a rabbit once after a convo in the break room that I’ll never work on one for pay. I quit, walked across the street to a competitor shop and was working on cars that very afternoon…after I rolled my box across the street that is…
 
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Newer they are worse they are to work on. All the brittle plastics need to be replaced every time you touch them, and all the specialist tools needed cost a fortune.
 
I own a shop that specializes in VW/Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Japanese and korean cars. We recently lost the main Euro tech to a motorcycle accident so I am rethinking the mix. I am pretty sure we are going to chase away the Sprinter vans and motorhomes now, blaming shop space for the reason. I am not sure we have ever made any money in the end on Land Rover due to the difficulty of repair and parts and the customers who don't believe it should cost so much in the first place, so they may go too.

Major German brands have taken component protection to new heights, or lows maybe. Protected parts are some of the obvious like ignition switches, ECUs, Transmission controllers etc. But now things like climate control switches, headlight assemblies, stereos/entertainment units, and so on. We have the Factory BMW/Mini interface, and can still do them. I am now signing up with VW/Audi to get their factory hookup too, but I think I am going to tell Mercedes people to hit the dealer. I was told by a very good and experienced mercedes specialist that he will not even try to replace a headlight in any car 2016 on. He sends them to the dealer and they don't even know what to do. He says they usually have the car 2 weeks or more before getting it straightened out with the factory help.

It is really getting rough and expensive to work on the newer cars, and finding someone that can or will is getting real hard too.
 
davek181 said:
I own a shop that specializes in VW/Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Japanese and korean cars. We recently lost the main Euro tech to a motorcycle accident so I am rethinking the mix. I am pretty sure we are going to chase away the Sprinter vans and motorhomes now, blaming shop space for the reason. I am not sure we have ever made any money in the end on Land Rover due to the difficulty of repair and parts and the customers who don't believe it should cost so much in the first place, so they may go too.

Major German brands have taken component protection to new heights, or lows maybe. Protected parts are some of the obvious like ignition switches, ECUs, Transmission controllers etc. But now things like climate control switches, headlight assemblies, stereos/entertainment units, and so on. We have the Factory BMW/Mini interface, and can still do them. I am now signing up with VW/Audi to get their factory hookup too, but I think I am going to tell Mercedes people to hit the dealer. I was told by a very good and experienced mercedes specialist that he will not even try to replace a headlight in any car 2016 on. He sends them to the dealer and they don't even know what to do. He says they usually have the car 2 weeks or more before getting it straightened out with the factory help.

It is really getting rough and expensive to work on the newer cars, and finding someone that can or will is getting real hard too.
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A lot of NA cars are going that way too. Its not as bad as the European cars, but its getting there.

For example, it was a couple G to get the vcmII and software to work on my 2016 F-150. Until very recently, very few “non ford” software packages could even do things like run a calibration on the lane keeping camera in the mirror.
I spent the money because I plan this to be my last vehicle (price of fuel might derail that plan) and I like to work on my own vehicles.

my truck is a lariat 502a package and so far I’ve added lane keeping, parallel park (kinda useless in real life but I added it becuase I could), hill decent, adaptive cruise, etc.
 
davek181 said:
I own a shop that specializes in VW/Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Japanese and korean cars. We recently lost the main Euro tech to a motorcycle accident so I am rethinking the mix. I am pretty sure we are going to chase away the Sprinter vans and motorhomes now, blaming shop space for the reason. I am not sure we have ever made any money in the end on Land Rover due to the difficulty of repair and parts and the customers who don't believe it should cost so much in the first place, so they may go too.

Major German brands have taken component protection to new heights, or lows maybe. Protected parts are some of the obvious like ignition switches, ECUs, Transmission controllers etc. But now things like climate control switches, headlight assemblies, stereos/entertainment units, and so on. We have the Factory BMW/Mini interface, and can still do them. I am now signing up with VW/Audi to get their factory hookup too, but I think I am going to tell Mercedes people to hit the dealer. I was told by a very good and experienced mercedes specialist that he will not even try to replace a headlight in any car 2016 on. He sends them to the dealer and they don't even know what to do. He says they usually have the car 2 weeks or more before getting it straightened out with the factory help.

It is really getting rough and expensive to work on the newer cars, and finding someone that can or will is getting real hard too.
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I once did a extended warranty inspection on a late model Audi . It had a headlamp warning light on. I swear I could not see why the dash said it had a headlamp failure. Anyway, I think I read it had to do with some minute circuit failure detected in diodes or resistors. I forget.
But, on the phone with the adjuster....I find out that the repair costs for the headlamp is like 4000.00

WTH....Four Thousand dollars for a headlamp. That's insanity.
 
Tim9 said:
I once did a extended warranty inspection on a late model Audi . It had a headlamp warning light on. I swear I could not see why the dash said it had a headlamp failure. Anyway, I think I read it had to do with some minute circuit failure detected in diodes or resistors. I forget.
But, on the phone with the adjuster....I find out that the repair costs for the headlamp is like 4000.00

WTH....Four Thousand dollars for a headlamp. That's insanity.
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Totally believable. Tail light for my 2016 F150 is nearly a grand (blind spot sensors and such).

Its getting so a minor fender bender these days could result in a complete write off…
 
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