Hello c/cars
tl;dr: I’m looking for knowledge of a cheap simple car (with cheap parts) to break/fix/learn.
My apologies if this is semi-rambley. I’ve been forever stuck at “too afraid to break my daily driver” and only really feel comfortable changing the oil and refilling various fluids.
I want to change that.
Problem is… I’m a hands-on type of learner. I need to break/fix something to really get the knowledge (and confidence) so I was thinking of getting a project car to work on and dispose of. Something I would be proud to repair over time but also not care if I miserably fail and have to get it scrapped. My neighbor highly recommended that I don’t touch anything past the 90s, as the electrical systems in modern cars are apparently terrifying even to skilled mechanics, but I feel like the older the car gets the rarer (more expensive) the replacement parts would be. I want it to be as cheap and simple as possible. I’m only trying to learn… I’m not restoring a show car.
That’s why I’m here. Do you have any suggestions at what I should look at?
I’m thinking something compact or subcompact just so I don’t have to take up a huge portion of my garage storing the vehicle itself. (and yes, I realize there will be plenty of parts and tools involved). My neighbor recommended I look at various auctions to choose one of the totaled vehicles available at clearance pricing, which… seems a little extreme for me. I’d rather choose something neglected and go from there. I want to figure out how to replace a window by disassembling the door. Find out to plug a leak in the windshield washers lines. Replace the alternator and recharge a battery. Flush the brakes and change the rotors. Restore a headlight or brake light unit. Change the stereo. Fix a seatbelt. That kind of stuff.
My advice: buy an older Nissan Leaf and learn about EVs.
Working on some shitty old truck won’t help you in the future.
That sounds waaaaaay more expensive to learn how to change a lightbulb than buying some kid’s Civic.
But I get what you are saying. Combustion engines are old tech. It’d be like learning how to install a supercharger.
I’m going to recommend the opposite here.
There’s not much you SHOULD do on your own on an EV that isn’t similar on a combustion engine vehicle. You don’t want to be touching the high voltage battery to repair individual cells unless you know what you’re doing, and a motor is just… a motor. It’s not that interesting on a technical level.
Get in a cheap car made at least two decades ago, but avoid anything too premium, unless you’re a masochist like me. Suspension and brake bits aren’t necessarily too different on an EV compared to ICE.
Your life will be easier if it’s something with an OBD-II port OR with a carburettor. Electronic fuel injection with no easy way to get fault codes and sensor readings is a PAIN. My KE-Jetronic system had issues the entire 4 years I owned the car.
If you tell us where you’re situated, that might be helpful because suggestions would be very different for the US vs continental europe vs UK vs Australia vs… you get the point. You want something that you can easily find parts for locally, and that other people around you have touched before. Eastern Europe, I’d tell you to go German (specific models and engines of course) or Volvo, but in the US you’d want American or Japanese (except in the rust belt). Etc.
Then there’s the budget to consider, and whether you want to keep it for a year or 2 or 10. And of course what you like driving in the first place.
Me, I’d get any Mercedes with an M113 engine (doesn’t have to be the K variant, kompressor mercs are too expensive), or any Mercedes with a diesel engine from before they started making the V6 diesel (OM642). 70s, 80s, 90s, early 00s. Just skip the W210 because rust and W163 because rust, ugly, heavy and slow, unless you’re into offroading. It’s because I know older mercs, for the most part, are durable, even if not necessarily reliable (this is from youtube channel Mercedes Source, who explained it once about old Mercedes diesels: they WILL go millions of miles without an engine rebuild, but that doesn’t mean they’re reliable, you’ll still get random issues to take care of like in the fuelling system, HVAC, etc).
Anyway, if you’re into European cars, I probably know more about old German cars and strengths and weaknesses of different models, engines and transmissions than just about anyone on the Fediverse and can even help you pick something that’s actually not too horrible on your wallet or sanity despite the German brands having the absolute worst reputation for reliability and cost of ownership. I would still not recommend it unless you’re SURE you’re capable of letting go of it if there’s something that makes absolutely no financial sense to repair.
Oh also, boxy old Volvos! Prices are going up unfortunately, but a turbo 740 or 940 can be made into an absolute beast. Naturally aspirated ones require more work.