I am a reasonably handy guy when it comes to repairing things.

Over the years I have tackled lots of different projects from faulty toasters to building entire homes from scratch. I lean towards working with things made of wood, but I enjoy the feeling of victory in the repair of machinery too. Readers of this column may remember how I restored a number of cars, and motorcycles, including my big green ford truck, "Beats Walking."

The truck has been fun to drive to the dump and to load up with firewood, but this summer, I found the starter motor was becoming a little hinky when I drove the truck on hot days.

From past experience, I figured that the starter motor was ready to be replaced, since it was original to the truck, and because I’ve changed a few starters in the past, I decided to do it myself instead of taking it to the shop.

That was my first mistake. Another thing that I have learned (the hard way) is that reputable auto repair shops become reputable because they know what they’re doing. They have special tools and they make their livings by fixing the stuff that the rest of us think we can fix, but often end up screwing up, thereby making the problem even harder for them to fix later.

I digress, and the reason for this article is to help you so you don’t make the same mistake I did. If you have fixed cars since you were a teenager like I have, you may be undaunted when it comes to things like brakes, carboretors, spark plugs and basic tuneups, but things have changed a lot since we were kids, mostly it is us.

I went to Schucks and got hand cleaner, rags, a new battery cable, and a couple of special wrenches and started work. Once I began contorting my body into the engine well of my truck to reach the starter motor bolts, I remembered why I usually just take my cars to the shop. It’s HARD to do this stuff.

I persevered and got the bolts undone, but when the starter plopped partly out of the hole, it became wedged in between the header pipes and the side of the oil pan. Now I had to undo the headers. No big deal, I sprayed them with PB Blaster and let them soak overnight. The next morning, I heated them up with my propane torch, and after they cooled a little I tapped them with a hammer and then began backing them out with my socket.

1,2,3,4 and 5 came out real slick, but number 6 was not moving. More PB Blaster, more heat, but no progress. When I wrenched on it, the bolt head moved, but not the exposed threaded end. That’s not good. Finally, metal fatigue won out and the bolt snapped and header dropped off. Still no big deal, just drill the bolt out and put in a an ‘Ez Out’ and remove the bolt remnants. I used my right angle drill attachment, but I still didn’t have quite enough room to drill straight into the bolt, so I used my bolt cutters to shorten the drill bits.

Shazaam, I got a hole started. I managed to get about a half way through the bolt when the drill shattered. No prob…just insert the Ez Out and back out the bolt. ‘SNAP’…there goes the Ez Out.

So now, the hole is filled with hardened steel, and repeated drilling (five more bits) got me NOWHERE.

Now I’m starting to get worried. But, the header is off, and I can just put the starter in and reattach the headers with the five remaining bolts, then take it to the mechanic and have them ruin a few of their drills getting the broken stud out.

I got the new, upgraded starter in place, and then tried to position the headers to check clearances. In no position was I able to get the headers to mate with the exhaust ports, while the starter was mounted. I ‘reclocked’ the starter several times to no avail. It was SUPPOSED to fit WITH HEADERS.

I guess the advertising should have said, ‘Note: Will fit with all headers…except YOURS, Dufus.’

So now I’m stuck with a $260 dollar boat anchor starter motor (can’t return it since it’s sort of bunged up from bumping against the oily undercarrige and headers) and I’m back to square one with a low quality replacement part, for an additional $40 bucks. All together, when I’m done with this project I will have nearly $400 bucks into it, and if I had just taken it to the repair shop instead, the bill would likely have been less, and I would have clean hands and no aggravation.

So, take my advice and just go see the experts when it comes to old car repairs. Even though it hurts the pocket book, in the end, you’ll be a lot happier.