Club 80-90 Forums

Having the mechanical knowledge of a brick and the suddenly realisation that I have a high maintenance T25 - I am really keen to learn as much maintenance/mechanical skills as possible.

Being the sort of person who learns through seeing and doing and hating Haines manuals with a passion -
I tried to enroll on a basic vehicle maintenance /mechanics courses (night school). However there a no such courses in Birmingham or surrounding areas.

Then a couple of weeks ago, I saw that just campers have a limited number of mechanical demonstration video's on there site i.e. from break maintenance to remove an entire engine.

This got me thinking. (This is indeed, a rare event!!)

Would there be any members interested in doing demostation videos - this does not need to be complicated tasks, perhaps just basic things like changing break pads, doing oil change or if anyone is up for it even a complete yearly service etc. All simple tasks I'm sure, once you know how to do them, but still very daunting if you have never worked on a vehicle (like myself) before.

I don't know about this bit, but perhaps a voluntary club contribution could be suggested for accessing and using videos.

It could develop into some sort of visually library that included more difficult mechanical work.
Anyway would love to hear people's opinions on this.

Cheers Darren

Back in 1980, my first wife bought a beetle. We never had any money and I knew nothing about mechanics then so learnt bit by bit until next thing I knew, I had queues of other beetles at weekends needing work done. Bear in mind that these vehicles are very simple. You might find a local VW workshop willing to let you sit in on a saturday morning and keep everyone in cups of tea. I agree, first hand experience is great but they are pretty easy to get to grips with. No comparison to modern engines.

Mind you, the video idea has I think been considered and I did one for 'paint your wagon with a roller' in the WIKI for that reason.

Thanks for response

yeh - had thought about doing the tea-boy thing and have sort of tested the water, but unfortunately the only two quality VW mechanics over my way are way too busy for tourist's and the over one has a bit of a dodgy rep which I would in no way want to be associated with.

My intention is to eventually buy another T25, that's as cheap as possible.

I'm not really interested in restoring this Van (never again, well not until the next time) but will use this T25 to explore maintenance/ mechanics. I know I will be a lot more confident, without the fear causing damage and running up huge mechanic bills

Any hoo thanks for the suggestion.

I think once I and my girlfriend finally get a house with garage - I will but a van a start to make some basic maintenance videos and hopefully it might get others interested in contributing.

Anymore suggestions appreciated

I have an Aircooled early t25. Ive found that the cd collection "bug me" videos are very useful. A couple of yanks show you how to do almost everything step by step, including engine rebuilds(on Beetles which are very similar to my T25). They include oil changes etc, its worth a look.

http://www.bugmevideo.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

thanks or that - i'll be checking those out.