Some time ago I seem to remember reading where car owners can hire a session on a professional car hoist for their own DIY purposes - inspection, maintenance, whatever. Anyone know if this still exists?
Oz (as was)
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A long (very long) time ago, I'm sure it was the local Halfords with around 5 bays that hired them by the hour at weekends.
I guess 'Health and Safety' would stop anyone thinking of this dead in their tracks.
Martin
(who would love the idea)
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Have been employed in Health & Safety myself and had assumed that such garages had very strict H & S procedures and controls - e.g. hoist locked and *not* able to be operated by anyone other than the garage operator! etc. etc.
Oz (as was)
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Oz,
These were the rage in this area (and others I'm sure) say 15-20 years ago, it was supposed to be the way forward for budget maintenance.
Many places had supervising mechanics who could give advice, some would even finish the job for an hourly rate if you couldn't.
Then there were extra tools and facilities that could be hired by the hour.
An absolute liability nightmare, I don't know how they thought it would work.
One of these outfits was associated with an MOT bay who gave the dodgiest passes ever.
A right shambles.
MM
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The best route I found when I was running a 20+ year old Mk1 Escort, was to join an evening class in vehicle restoration at the local college, this was very informal and we got to use our own cars as the examples and as a group under supervision took on lots of general maintenance and bigger mechanical and bodywork jobs....the only proviso was the 3 hour time limit. Mind you it is amazing what can be done in three hours with hoists, pro tools and expert supervision and plenty of helpers.
I sometimes felt a little out of place...at 30+ I was the youngest there and my car was only half the age of most of the examples.
I did get the complete brake system renovated (all pipes and parts made up/obtained in advance and fitted and tested in one session, exhaust replaced, tyres fitted and wheels balanced, wheel bearings pressed out and replaced.
Cost me about 70pounds a term but well worth it for 3 hours a week for 10 weeks. The use of tools....hoist, welding, rolling road, tyre gear, hand tools was worth this alone.
regards
Ian L.
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Ian - wasn't North Trafford College by any chance was it ?
I have to grow old - but I don't have to grow up
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Hi Borasport,
No, Durham, the lecturers did a 'proper' car maintenance course during work hours and a part time course for 4 evenings a week, these were aimed at getting a qualification and were attended mainly by spotty apprentice type kids on day release from the lcoal garage.
On a wednesday two of the lecturers did a 'classic car course' mainly for fun....no lecturing just tinkering with older cars and passing on very useful information. We had to answer a question sheet on one occasion to maintain local authority funding (the questions were so trivial that with no preparation us oldies answered every question 100% right in 15 minutes (90 minutes allowed).
The 'course' ran for at least 4 years (about 1991-1995) not sure after that as I moved to Oz. I suspect it would have been the first in line if any cuts occurred as it was frequented by only about 15 active participants. Still well worth the effort of looking for somewhere similar.
This was nothing like the 1 or 2 year full time restoration courses that used to be available, just a cheap and fun way of keeping older cars on the road, learning about techniques and meeting other car owners.
Ian L.
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Ian
north trafford college in manchester did the same sort of thing - great fun, fix the car in the warm and dry, get to use all sorts of professional equipment, but when i was last there in about 1994 it looked to be at risk from cuts. A great shame.
I have to grow old - but I don't have to grow up
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H'm. Thanks for your feedback. In the terms you describe, I can only agree with your opinion.
All I wanted to do personally was to take a good look at the underside of my car to see if there were any corrosion spots or other areas that needed touching up. I could buy myself a pair of ramps ....
Oz (as was)
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If the local water table is reasonably low you might consider digging yourself a pit in the garage. Heavily labour intensive but not very expensive.
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