Give it to a pro?

[Zanzer]

I'll post back when that day comes :mrgreen:

Seriously though, there's literally only 2 or 3 people other than myself that I trust working on my stuff. I try to do everything that I can unless it's not cost effective for me or I have someone I trust who also gives me a good deal. About the only stuff I "farm out" is:

ECM tuning. I have a friend with a dyno shop and he's won my trust and respect after watching how picky he is about his tunes. Plus I can't exactly justify the cost of buying my own Mustang Dyno LOL

Major machine shop work such as boring, decking, and turning cranks. I have a valve grinder and can do 90% of head work myself. After I get my mill going I'll be able to do decking (of heads) and I built a sine plate so I can press my own valve guides. I'm also working on building my own hot tank.

Paint and Body. I have a friend with a body shop who's better and faster at it than I am and he only charges me for materials. I figure I'd be buying them anyway so I may as well let someone better than I utilize them

Exhaust work if it requires extensive bending. I do the little stuff myself but if the car requires a full system replacement and/or requires a lot of bends then I have a local shop I like.

When it comes to hard to solve problems I have a never say die attitude and I'll keep at it until I figure it out. Plus many of my friends are long time mechanics so they're a good source of reference...and of course I'm never afraid to come on here and ask a question about Festy related stuff. Heck, just a week or so ago Villageidiot answered a question for me that kept me from having to pull a transmission :mrgreen:

[ericsmith32]

Time to eat some humble pie. Being that this forum has to be (IMO) one of the most "do-it- yourself" orientated car places on the net, I'm posing this question. When have you said "That's it- I'm done" and had to resort to taking it to a guy who does this for a living. Either got into it and coulnd't figure it out, didn't have the one tool that would have made the difference,
ran out of time or just plain ran out of "gas".

It happens. I've found over the years if I can't figure something out back away. As in leave it alone for a few hours and do some google searches or intense Chilton's manual reading on the throne. Typically this is all it takes. All cars have certain tricks to doing things.. after you own 5 there's not much you can't do even hanging up side down naked from a tree. I wouldn't know this just sayin'.

[DrMaxwellEdison]

I have a friend who has a shop in his back yard, so I don't consider it sending it out when I'm using his tools to do the work myself, just gets frustrating when he works crazy hours and I have to work around them for shop time.... that's why it took me so long to rebuild my B3..... now if I can find the answers to my problems with tuning to not run like (crap) I'll be doing good... getting ready to put a whole brake system in all the way from Aspire booster and everything..... I'm looking @ some 14x6s aspire patterned

[deathegg]

I tried to do everything my self on the Festy. Here in PA it was easier since I had a garage, all my tools, and a second car to drive while the other was being worked on. etc.

When I lived in CA however, I had just my basic set of tools and no place to work on the car. Also since the Festy was my DD and I had no other car to rely upon, I did end up finding a good honest (!!!) mechanic just down the street. I had him do some things for me that were just impossible for me under the circumstances.