I see that Mr John Haynes - he of the manuals - has sadly passed away at the age of 80. I owned one or two of the Haynes Manuals. Things always progressed easily through the early stages of the repair until one was hit with a phrase such as: "Pre-position the multi-bracketed sprocket hinge so that the flanges are fully aligned with the architrave." At that point I usually admitted defeat and consulted a garage. There was one moment of triumph. In my early days of parenthood, penury compelled me to buy a Lada Riva. The heating system was, to say the least, somewhat basic. A large tin plate, to which an unsubtle knob was attached guarded what seemed like a big hole in the side of the engine compartment. On a cold day (such as I imagine was not uncommon in the car's land of origin) you were meant to lower the plate with the knob and allow ferocious heat into the passenger compartment. The fitment in my version of the car was somewhat lacking, and experience showed that any slight bump in the road would suffice to make the plate drop and in high summer, to roast the car's inhabitants. The only version of Mr Haynes' manual I could obtain was a rare paperback copy. Having found the book to be slightly more unfathomable than "A Brief History Of Time" I rolled the book up and wedged it under the heater plate. The only success I ever had with one of the manuals! Here's to Mr Haynes. May he rest in peace - hopefully where the fires burn less bright than in my Lada!
I remember trying to read one whilst laid on my back under a car with a gearbox on my chest. Excellent quality work.
Cortina MK2. I didn't have a clue but I bought the manual. They were really clear, but you can't knock nails in knots.
Not the Haynes manual's fault but recently when I was having a problem with my windscreen washer bottle and motor and the manual said "first remove the front bumper as described in section xxx" then I knew I was beaten before I began. And no matter what repair you have to do it generally tells you to jack up the front wheels and support them on axle stands and then disconnect the battery.
Did that for all my cars until around year 2000 or so not sure if they even still do them for most modern cars Used to service them replace brakes - even replaced a valve on a volvo I had for a while - was really happy when it started and ran once I had followed the infamous instructions to put it back together - which were basically reverse the above Now I look under the bonnet of my current car and it doesnt even look like an engine - not even a dipstick to check the oil - pretty much all I can do is fill up the wash bottle and check the tyre pressures
Saved me a fortune when I owned a Rover P4 in the 70s. Was able to remove all wing panels and sills within an hour. I'd purchased new ones and had them prepainted and managed to refit the lot in three hours.
