The Best Of The Hack Mechanic

In 1986, after owning eleven BMWs in three years, Rob Siegel sent an unsolicited article to Roundel, the magazine of the BMW Car Club of America. Little did he know that it would kick off 35 years of do-it-yourself automotive writing, and that his monthly column The Hack Mechanic? would attract a community of like-minded enthusiasts who, like Rob, try to come up with creative workarounds to keep their cars running without taking them to the dealer every time they hiccup. More than just "use 10mm wrench on bolt B" instructions, though, the columns have always been small journeys into passion and problem solving, philosophy lessons disguised as a repair articles, and short stories about getting into and hopefully out of automotive trouble. The Best Of The Hack Mechanic? is a selection of these pieces, including ones on how to buy a vintage BMW and not get burned, the most creative way possible to lock your keys in a running car, why car folks will do just about anything to avoid buying a family minivan when the money obviously would be so much better spent on "something fun," why a car nut really does need seven cars, why the odds of having a car start is often inversely proportion to the number of cars in the driveway, why finding one of his father's tools is enough to make Rob cry, and why working on your car feels so damned good, all written in Rob's Hack Mechanic voice that hovers somewhere between J.D. Salinger, Bill Bryson, and David Sedaris. Informative, irreverent, and poignant, The Best Of The Hack Mechanic? will have you hoping Rob has another 35 years of columns in him.

For over 25 years Rob Siegel has written a monthly column called "The Hack Mechanic" for the BMW Car Club of America's magazine Roundel. In Memoirs of a Hack Mechanic, Rob Siegel shares his secrets to buying, fixing, and driving cool cars without risking the kids' tuition money or destroying his marriage. And that's something to brag about considering the dozens of cars, including twenty-five BMW 2002s, that have passed through his garage over the past three decades. With a steady dose of irreverent humor, Memoirs of a Hack Mechanic blends car stories, DIY advice, and cautionary tales in a way that will resonate with the car-obsessed (and the people who love them).

Electrical issues in European cars can be intimidating. The Hack Mechanic Guide to European Automotive Electrical Systems shows you how to think about electricity in your car and then take on real-world electrical problems. The principles discussed can be applied to most conventional internal-combustion-engined vehicles, with a focus on European cars spanning the past six decades.Drawing on The Hack Mechanic's wisdom and experience, the 38 chapters cover key electrical topics such as battery, starter, alternator, ignition, circuits, and relays. Through a practical and informal approach featuring hundreds of full-color illustrations, author Rob Siegel takes the fear-factor out of projects like making wire repairs, measuring voltage drops, or figuring out if you have a bad fuel pump relay. Essential tools such as multimeters (DVOM), oscillosopes, and scan tools are discussed, with special attention given to the automotive multimeter needed to troubleshoot many modern sensors. You'll get step-by-step troubleshooting procedures ranging from safely jump starting a battery to diagnosing parasitic current drain and vehicle energy diagnosis. And you'll find detailed testing procedures for most problematic electrical components on your European car such as oxygen sensors, crankshaft and camshaft sensors, wheel speed sensors, fuel pumps, solenoids, and actuators. Reading wiring diagrams and decoding the German DIN standard are also covered.Whether you are a DIY mechanic or a professional technician, The Hack Mechanic Guide to European Automotive Electrical Systems will increase your confidence in tackling automotive electrical problem-solving.This book applies to gasoline and diesel powered internal combustion engine vehicles. Not intended for hybrid or electric vehicles.

Air conditioning in vintage cars often falls into disrepair, as owners figure that it never really worked all that well when it was new, and assume that rejuvenation would be prohibitively expensive. In his new book, Just Needs a Recharge: The Hack Mechanic Guide to Vintage Air Conditioning, Rob Siegel details exactly what's needed to resurrect long-dead air conditioning in a vintage car, or install a/c in a car that never had it. In a level of detail not found in any other automotive a/c book, Rob reveals what you need to know about flare and o-ring fittings, upgrading to a rotary-style compressor and a parallel-flow condenser, making or specifying custom hoses, and selecting refrigerant so that the a/c blows cold enough to be usable. Although the book draws from Rob's BMW experience (with specifics for the BMW 2002 and 3.0CS), and concentrates on vintage a/c systems (those that have flare fittings and originally contained R12), most of the information applies to any air conditioning system, foreign or domestic, vintage or modern. Written in Rob's entertaining Hack Mechanic narrative voice, and including 240 photographs and illustrations, the book covers theory, the choice of refrigerant (R12, R134a, other EPA-approved, non-EPA-approved), legality, tools for a/c work, fittings and sizes, the compressor, the evaporator assembly and expansion valve or orifice tube, the condenser and fan, the receiver/drier or accumulator, electrical connections and compressor cycling, connecting and using manifold gauges, the basic steps for a/c rejuvenation, from-scratch a/c retrofit, making and installing hoses, flushing the system, pressure-testing and leak detection, evacuating and charging the system troubleshooting, and other things that heat up the cabin.

Modern cars are more computerized than ever. Infotainment and navigation systems, Wi-Fi, automatic software updates, and other innovations aim to make driving more convenient. But vehicle technologies haven’t kept pace with today’s more hostile security environment, leaving millions vulnerable to attack. The Car Hacker’s Handbook will give you a deeper understanding of the computer systems and embedded software in modern vehicles. It begins by examining vulnerabilities and providing detailed explanations of communications over the CAN bus and between devices and systems. Then, once you have an understanding of a vehicle’s communication network, you’ll learn how to intercept data and perform specific hacks to track vehicles, unlock doors, glitch engines, flood communication, and more. With a focus on low-cost, open source hacking tools such as Metasploit, Wireshark, Kayak, can-utils, and ChipWhisperer, The Car Hacker’s Handbook will show you how to: –Build an accurate threat model for your vehicle –Reverse engineer the CAN bus to fake engine signals –Exploit vulnerabilities in diagnostic and data-logging systems –Hack the ECU and other firmware and embedded systems –Feed exploits through infotainment and vehicle-to-vehicle communication systems –Override factory settings with performance-tuning techniques –Build physical and virtual test benches to try out exploits safely If you’re curious about automotive security and have the urge to hack a two-ton computer, make The Car Hacker’s Handbook your first stop.

To most people, cars are just appliances to be disposed of when they rust, become unreliable, or are outgrown. But to car people, it's different. Cars are like photographs that occupy physical space. They hold aromas that trigger memories, and remind us of who we once were. In addition, to some people, the relationship with the car itself is a real thing. Many enthusiasts pine for the cars of their youth, regret that they ever let them go, and yearn and search for them the way people do with old lovers, hoping to find them and rekindle that old spark. In Resurrecting Bertha, Rob Siegel assures you that this is normal (well, as normal as anything is with car people), and embarks on this journey himself. Writing in his trademark Hack Mechanic voice that's enthralled readers for 35 years, Rob describes his original eight-year relationship with his highly-modified 1975 BMW 2002 "Bertha," selling the car to a dear friend, its 26 years of storage, and buying it back in a weak whisky-soaked moment only to experience the "oh dear God what did I just do" regret when he raises the long-closed garage door and comes face-to-face with the badly deteriorated car. The book details the steps Rob went through to get the car running, then driving, then sufficiently sorted to make a 2000-mile drive, and how the reconnection with the car was so much deeper than he expected. Resurrecting Bertha is about more than just the nuts and bolts; it's about deciding what's important, the joy of doing good, and how, if you do it right, not only can you go home again, but you can do so in the same car.

Mechanically timed ignition is easy to understand and wonderfully straightforward to diagnose and repair, which is good because it's one of the most likely things on an older car to die and leave you in the lurch. Rob Siegel--better known as the Hack Mechanic-- explains how mechanical ignition works and discusses in detail how to set timing and advance. There is also a full chapter on troubleshooting mechanical ignition problems. Illustrated with over 100 photos and diagrams and supported by clear, step-by-step instructions, the Mechanical Ignition Handbook features sections on:*mechanical ignition basics and components*common repairs and recommended tools*adjusting point gap*setting dwell angle*locating the timing mark*finding top dead center*setting static and dynamic ignition timing*using both a standard and an advance timing light*testing coil resistance*Retrofitting breakerless electronic ignition (for those who say "enough!")Applies to vintage cars from the 1950s up through the mid 1980s that have either points and breakers or mechanical ignition advance, including: Porsche 356, Mechanically-timed Porsche 911, BMW 1600, BMW 2002, Ferrari 365, MGB, Austin-Healey Sprite, Jaguar E-Type, Triumph Spitfire, Triumph TR3, Mercedes models including the Mercedes 190 SL, Volkswagen Beetle, early Volvo, Pontiac GTO, vintage Chevrolet Camaro and other American muscle cars.

The author buys a long-dead vintage BMW sight-unseen, travels a thousand miles to where it sits, gets it running, and drives it home. During the twelve-day trip, he finds that what began as a story of man-versus-machine turns into something else entirely--a story of the kindness of strangers, and how doors sometimes open exactly when you need them to. "Rob Siegel is a writer with the mind of a mechanic and a mechanic with the mind of a writer. He's also an old-school romantic of the best kind, and one of the few people who understands what car culture really means to the people invested in it-free of stereotype, cliché, or pat sentiments you've read a thousand times before. Like all of his writing, Ran When Parked focuses heavily on the why behind the hobby. It's a mix of casual, long-form blog entry; detailed how-to; and emotive confessional; most of all, he seems to believe the world would be a better place if everyone else followed on his crazy path and devoted their free time to resurrecting old iron. He's right." -Sam Smith Editor at Large, Road & Track