It does kinda make you wonder who writes for Haynes and Chilton....    The people that write for Haynes are on par with Quick305, whereas the people that write for Chiltons are a step a head, or they try to be. If your new to cars, either book can be a good help, as they explain enough to get you started, and tell you how it goes back together.    No, they don't.  That's why I have such a problem with them.  I can understand that they aren't going to give detailed advice on how to set up a rear end or rebuild an auto trans.  However, I do expect to be able to follow their instructions on removing a heater core.  The Haynes manual for the Olds sucks, there's no other way to describe it. The few little things I wanted it to have, like removing a heater core and showing me where the ac wiring was were pathetic.  Steps were missing, imcomplete, and two were just flat wrong.  I worry about someone relying on those things to fix their only car and that doesn't know enough to spot those pitfalls.  Afterall, the only reason for buying the damn things is to guide you on how to do it right.  I've seen magazine articles with better instructions than they write.

It does kinda make you wonder who writes for Haynes and Chilton....    The people that write for Haynes are on par with Quick305, whereas the people that write for Chiltons are a step a head, or they try to be. If your new to cars, either book can be a good help, as they explain enough to get you started, and tell you how it goes back together.    But on the other hand, they say you should not do thing that you should, and say you can do thing you should not. An example of this comes to mind from about a year or so back. One of the guys at work bought his daughter a Chevette and a Haynes manual for said car, as well as her own set of tools. He told her to do what he had to when he got his first car, learn to fix it. Well she ended up blowing the motor in it, and looked in to changing it. She then took the book to her dad and showed him what it said. He then brought the book in to work, photocopied the page, and passed out the copies. I still laugh my ass off when I look at it, and see them advising Chevette owners to use Rope and a Tree Limb to pull the motor with!         Yeah, you laugh.  I watched a guy pull a small block out of a mid 70's truck using a come-along on a tree branch.  A rope, though, would be pure comedy Justin

missing, imcomplete, and two were just flat wrong.  I worry about someone relying on those things to fix their only car and that doesn't know enough to spot those pitfalls.  Afterall, the only reason for buying the damn things is to guide you on how to do it right.  I've seen magazine articles with better instructions than they write.         We should write our OWN manual sometime, and publish it.  I'm sure between the two of us we could make sense, and we'd make millions.  Just a thought.         BTW, I've got a Chevrolet chassis manual for my '67 Chevy, it came with the truck.  It's awesome!  It covers only '67 trucks and vans.  I've never seen any other book like this one, though. Justin

It does kinda make you wonder who writes for Haynes and Chilton....       The people that write for Haynes are on par with Quick305, whereas the people that write for Chiltons are a step a head, or they try to be. If your new to cars, either book can be a good help, as they explain enough to get you started, and tell you how it goes back together.    No, they don't.  That's why I have such a problem with them.  I can understand that they aren't going to give detailed advice on how to set up a rear end or rebuild an auto trans.  However, I do expect to be able to follow their instructions on removing a heater core.  The Haynes manual for the Olds sucks, there's no other way to describe it. The few little things I wanted it to have, like removing a heater core and showing me where the ac wiring was were pathetic.  Steps were missing, imcomplete, and two were just flat wrong.  I worry about someone relying on those things to fix their only car and that doesn't know enough to spot those pitfalls.  Afterall, the only reason for buying the damn things is to guide you on how to do it right.  I've seen magazine articles with better instructions than they write.         Wow she actually responded to a post of mine!         You need instructions on how to change a heater core? Maybe I have just built to many Derby cars, but heater cores are rather simple to change.         As for A/C wiring, Haynes manuals usually have decent wiring diagrams. Or maybe I just have wired to many cars and understand the diagrams to well?         And for most things a Novice can do, a Haynes or Chiltons book will do. Sure they have Pitt falls, and sure if I was to write one, it would be a lot different, with a lot more detail.         But if you want a good book on cars, the Motor's books were pretty good. To bad I have not seen one for sale any place in the last 10 years. I used to have a set that covered from 1968 to 1978. They even went so far as to publish illustrations of car front ends so you could tell what yours was supposed to look like. ************************************************************************ Got Balls? This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it