I do just about everything except for more in depth tranny work and gears. I am recently learning how to do gears, gears are a PITA and have to be installed exactly right or BANG!!!!!!! I have a lift in my garage so it makes things easier. you would be surprised what a working man can fix on his car with a nice lift. unless you are one of those white collar babies

 

went to the dealer once with my camaro when it wouldnt run, told me they ran a test and it would cost $600 to replace a cam sensor before they could even look any further into the problem......
took it home and fixed it for $40. havnt been back to a dealer since....
or a shop.. only autozone.

 

changing tires and balancing em is sooo simple. yet they charge a pretty pennt. just a matter of the equipment. i use to do it all the time. alignments i think are also almost a rip off, except the required machines are damnnnn expensive and the process does take a little bit. but i still dont think it should be $100.

 

I last did my spark plugs, changing my own oil cost's me the same as the dealer once I facter in the time spent in my muddy drive way and than I have to take in the used oil for the green crowd..

I was last quoted 75 bucks to have the dealer confirm that my thermostatt was going bad, quoted a 145 bucks to replace it...

30 bucks and twenty mim I replaced it my self..

 

I do most of my own work. I have access to a large work area, so that helps. I have found that oil changes though, are sometimes worth it to have someone else do if you have a coupon by the time u properly dispose of the oil and everything. But then again Jiffy Lube forgot to tighten the drain plug on my buddies 06 hemi, so i might go back to doing them myself. but brakes, t stats, tuneups, radiators, whatever i will do myself. This has inspired a new post idea.....

 

I do mine whenever possible. Mechanical, to body, to paint. Paint work has fallen off since I re-did a old Toyota 4x4 that I got from a uncle for a song. My garage has to much crap in it to get serious. I have done small stuff since then, hoods, the side sills on the Viper, the Viper dash, ect.

During and after on that last major project. Sorry for the cropped pics. I had to grab them from the name that car thread as I am not home. Oh, and that fog is a bit of over spray

 

I fill it up with gas, wash it, add windshield wiper fluid, and drive it. The rest of the work is for the dealer to handle.

 

I installed my cam, heads, headers, efan, cai, tq converter, shiftkit, drop (flipkit an drop spindles, c-notch, bags), u-joints, rollpan, e-cutouts, rollpan, sport bumper...only thing I didn't do was the gears and welding the exhaust system...

 

My truck is still under warranty, so all the warranty crap goes to the dealer. Other than my exhaust which I had done at an exhaust place because I wanted it welded and not bolted up, and my radio installed, because it was free installation (not going to pass up free work) are the only things I have turned over to others.

After the warranty, it will boil down to how bad the problem is and if I have the time to do it. General maintenance will always be done by me. I can't trust any place where you can actually see the work being done.

 

the dealerships take too long especially on warranty work. you bring it down there for something simple because you want it covered under warranty and you will wait at least an hour. for some reason dealing with a dealership is kind of like dealing with a 2 year old. just cannot get through to them at all... they just dont understand anything. almost like they are brainwashed to being retarded for the day while at work.