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The Elva Experience Tech Library

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Buying a Used Vehicle

Used Car Buying Checklist
A great checklist when buying any kind of used vehicle, print this out and take it with you if you're considering a purchase.
Used Car Buying Checklist (Printable) (pdf)
A nicely formatted, printable PDF version of the SOL Used Car Buying Guide.

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General Care

Car Lifts Compared
Choosing a car lift for your home garage: buyer's guide to four post lifts, two post lifts, in-ground, and single post lift systems reviewed and compared.
Leather Care for Classic Cars
How to keep your leather seats from fading or cracking, repairing old or damaged leather, and proper leather seat care instructions to ensure they always look their best.
Twist Drill Talk
How to get the most from your drill bits in the garage, and how to sharpen, inspect and keep them in top working order.

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Service and Repair

Suspension and Wheels

Mounting Tires the DIY Way
How to change your wheel tires and tubes, and get a nice cardio workout for free.

Brakes and Clutch

Bleeding The Hydraulic Clutch System
A simple tip that might solve your clutch bleeding frustration.
Bleeding Your Brakes
How to replace the brake fluid and eliminate air bubbles from your car or truck's hydraulic braking system, known as "bleeding" the brakes.

Engine and Tuning

Make a Spark Tester
Diagnosing a weak spark with a few bits and pieces from the junk bin.
Oil Filter Study
A good website showing what oil filters are made of, and good and bad components to look for.

Carburetors and Fuel

Weber Carburetor Factory Settings (pdf)
Stock settings for various Weber carburetors, a good starting place for tuning.

Electrical and Instruments

Battery Storage, Fact or Fiction?
Will leaving your battery sitting on concrete cause it to discharge?
Car Batteries 101
Testing, maintenance, troubleshooting and charging advice for the common automotive 12V lead-acid car battery.
Ground Point Preparation
Removing corrosion from your car's ground points often solves all kinds of electrical gremlins.
Understanding Alternators
Operation and theory of the alternator, explained in simple terms.
Understanding the Ignition System
Operation and theory of the ignition system, explained in simple terms.

Interior and Upholstery

Low Cost Cockpit Sound and Thermal Insulation
How I made low-cost thermal and sound insulation for my car's interior, and a comparison to Dynamat Extreme.

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Body and Paint

Car Bodywork 101: Lesson #1 Prep Work
The first part of the series on automotive bodywork, Prep Work, covers basic preparation before painting such as rough sanding, applying and sanding filler, applying and sanding primer, and fixing high spots.
Car Bodywork 101: Lesson #2 Sanding Jamb Areas
Part 2 in this series on automotive bodywork, Sanding Door and Hood Jamb Areas, covers "jambing", basic sanding technique, supplies like sandpaper, Scotchbrite and blocks, sanding technique, cleaning and paint masking tips.
Car Bodywork 101: Lesson #3 Painting Jamb Areas
Part 3 in this series on automotive bodywork, Painting Door and Hood Jamb Areas, covers Tools for Automotive Painting, Fixing Paint Runs and Overspray, Block Sanding Final Primer, and color hold-out (even color).
Car Bodywork 101: Lesson #4 Final Paint Prep
Part 4 in this series on automotive bodywork covers Final Body Preparation, Masking the Body, Masking Curves and Letters, Masking Cracks and Tight Areas, and Final Air and Solvent Cleaning.
Car Bodywork 101: Lesson #5 Painting
Time for Paint! Part 5 in this series covers Mixing Automotive Paint, Automotive Paint Systems, Painting in Your Garage, and Painting Tips.
Car Bodywork 101: Lesson #6 Undercoating
The final part of this automotive bodywork tutorial series covers undercoating your car and final words on bodywork and painting.
Color Sanding Instructions
Supplies list and method to get an excellent finish after repainting your car.
How to use Body Filler on Repair Panels
How to blend in a new body panel with filler and block sanding for a perfect paint job (Bodywork for Beginners Series)

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Restoration

Build a Body Rotator
The ultimate low-buck body restoration aid (mirror)
Media Blasting and Air Compressors Explained
How to choose the right blasting equipment for car restoration; sand, slag, alox, and glass beads; gun and nozzle selection and air compressor buying guide.

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Reference

Bolt Torque Specification
Universal torque specs in ft-lbs for SAE Grade steel hex bolts.
CO% to Air Fuel Ratio (AFR) Table
Handy chart for CO based tuning.
Standard Threads Reference
Table comparing UNC, UNF, USP, BSW (Whitworth), BSP (Pipe) and Metric threads.
Wrench and Socket Reference
Reference table of US (Imperial), Metric and Whitworth wrench sizes.

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