Our washing machine broke down the other day. A quick search on the internet and a bit of time testing with my multi-meter revealed that it was probably worn brushes in the motor. By the end of the morning I had fitted some new ones and its now all working again for a grand total of £12.95. SWMBO puts my confidence and skills to be able to do this down to building the kit car (thus providing me with a great excuse to spend more time in the garage!), so that got me thinking...

...What skills have you learnt building your car that you've been able to apply elsewhere in your life?

Last year I bought a 15ft speed boat.
This was fitted with a 1990 Mercury 50HP outboard engine.

Last owner had been trying to get the engine to run for the last couple of seasons.
Even a local Mercury mechanic could not find the fault & gave up.

I done a fair bit of research, learnt how to build & use some diagnostic equipment.

Traced the fault to the engines Stator not putting out enough voltage.
Fitted a new one & now running like clockwork.

Because the engine had a spark, all the previous work was fuel/Timing related.

Moral of the story, just because you have a spark, does not mean it's a good one.

Gave me a great deal of satisfaction to get it running again.
As a bonus, I learnt a fair bit about 2 stroke outboard engines.

My main skill is being able to look at a problem and coming up with a good solution fairly quickly.
Then spend many days correcting all the other things i have broken during the process....

Joking aside, i have definitely become the friends/family resident mechanic for when anything goes wrong on their cars.
It seems almost second nature now to fix most problems without too much effort required.

Good story Steve and well done on the washing machine!

During my kit car build I taught myself to MIG weld, write in HTML and problem solve.

I too have fixed my washing machine, tumble drier, dishwasher and other things. The required skills may be slightly different, but IMHO the patience and satisfaction are the same. It's really quite satisfying to have something working again at low cost from your own efforts.

I've just been pulling up tree stumps and shrubs using my engine crane. Zero digging/back strain. Does that count?

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Originally posted by Benzine
I've just been pulling up tree stumps and shrubs using my engine crane. Zero digging/back strain. Does that count?

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I can do up cable ties in confined spaces with one hand. I wasn't taught that in school or university but it comes in handy all the time :-)

[Edited on 11/1/17 by lsdweb]

Another skill I have learned buying bits for is lying convincingly about what you've spent. .

What you actually did was replace the motor in the washing machine which gives you a reasonable €100 to spend on your car!
You probably needed to buy some other tools you forgot about,so add another €20. 🤥

It's self gifting. My wife does it all the time and so do her friends/sisters as "essentials"

I have learned how to tow a trailer, vinyl wrap sew fabric.

Im sure there are many other things but these quickle come to mind.

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Traced the fault to the engines Stator not putting out enough voltage. Fitted a new one & now running like clockwork.

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I've learned a bit about electrics which I guess could be used in everyday life. I've also learned I can change a Sierra wheel bearing in about 30 mins. Not sure how that will help anything else though. Unless my washing machine uses a Sierra wheel bearing of course!

Used my kitcar multimeter to diagnose a faulty heating element in my fan oven. 1 evening and £12.05 later it was fixed saving me £350 on the cost of a new one.

I have found that the principals learned when tracking down electric kit car gremlins probably the most useful. It seems to take proper clear logical thinking to find a 'bad' earth.

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Originally posted by rf900rush

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Traced the fault to the engines Stator not putting out enough voltage. Fitted a new one & now running like clockwork.

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Thanks to bonzoronnie ,I just learnt something right now.

Bought some rough outboards recently to get running. above will be a thing to check from now on.

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The most notable skill that I've acquired is how to use an english wheel.


However, it's not a skill I've used on anything else.
There's just no call for a power bulge in the side of a washing machine.

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Originally posted by 907
The most notable skill that I've acquired is how to use an english wheel.


However, it's not a skill I've used on anything else.
There's just no call for a power bulge in the side of a washing machine.

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Just had a look at your bulge . You've spent far too much time on that. The dents are too small.

This is ready for wheeling.


Rescued attachment rear-arches-015-s.jpg



They say give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.
Give a man a rod and teach him to fish and you feed him for life..... or something like that.

So get your a*** up here and I'll show you how to use it.



Paul G

[Edited on 12/1/17 by 907]

Patience and methodical working.

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Originally posted by Toprivetguns
Patience and methodical working.

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Tenacity, problem solving and the ability to string the same few explicit swear words in to ever increasingly offensive sentences

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Originally posted by snapper
Tenacity, problem solving and the ability to string the same few explicit swear words in to ever increasingly offensive sentences

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