"How-To"-section anyone?

transexl

Member
Guten Morgen

This is still bothering me:
Is nobody interested in establishing a "How-To"-section anymore? :(

I can not find the appropriate thread(s) anymore, but I think it would be worth the efford, as so many things are repeated, and some are hard to find when needed.
Seems to me that we also have to preserve - as good as we can - knowledge that is coming from specialists.

(I still would love to do donkey work!:cool:)

 
not sure what you mean by appropriate threads? I check out headings first e.g. engine .brakes then look at ongoing threads .plus you can do a thread search...thsi site is heaps better than my other local car club site.
 
The issue of a "How-To-Section" was brought on before, and I can't seem to find older thread(s).

But the other answer to your query is:
The site works fine, but "search" does more than often bring up no, too many or irrelevant results, some items can hardly be put into words - PLEASE try, for example, search on "how to" in all forms that come to mind!!

Whats more:
knowledge about e. g. "LED-bulbs", "What oil" or "BW35/65" is spread around the forum in various threads, and they ALL bring SOME vital aspect to the discussion, be they as "daft" as they may be.

Nor can I find all the relevant threads, nor can I filter them appropriately.
I'd LOVE to have it all in on encyclopedic section to add to when requiered.
 
Last edited:
And who do you propose should give up a large amount of their free time to organise all this, or are you volunteering ?
 
For a very good presentation of "How it Was Done" apropos to what you are suggesting may I refer you to another forum I peruse regularly and as a participating member...www.britishv8.org and go to the 'photo gallery' and scroll through the list of car marques (including Rover) to find descriptions of various builds. I realize it is intended for the V8 or V6 crowd, but still....!
 
OK.

@cobraboy
As stated above: "donkey work", i.e. hours (!) of tiping.
I 'm no good at computers at all, can barely see through all possibilities on, say, this forum, leave alone administrate or expand websites or ANY of that matter.

@Rich:
The stickies are very helpful, of course, THANKS!
I was wondering whether anyone is still interested at all, as at one point it seemed that we would have enough enthusiastic volunteers to do this in a jiffy.
 
There is an advantage in not being able to drop onto the answer you seek straight away and that is ........
If you open say six posts on BW 35 oil, chances are you will learn six useful facts about the BW 35 box before you find the answer you really want.
Its a win,win,win,win,win,win, situation.
 
There is an advantage in not being able to drop onto the answer you seek straight away and that is ........
If you open say six posts on BW 35 oil, chances are you will learn six useful facts about the BW 35 box before you find the answer you really want.
Its a win,win,win,win,win,win, situation.

... now you got me thinking...
 
I'm with the search the section lot. It's very useful to just search, say the suspension and steering section for something. I'm a member of a few Saab forums and their search functions aren't as good at all. They also have a how to fix things thread. It's hard to search because its a single thread and it's up to 75+ pages at present. You end up having to trawl through the pages to find the relevant subject.

I think the stickied articles on each section does a good job of compromise.

Transexl, the search function works this way. Go to the section of help you're looking for (I've chosen 4 cylinder engines) . Click the search field (circled in green in pic).
You have a few options to help you. If you click on the [Search titles only] box it will only search for the words you type in the thread title, and NOT in the body of the conversation. This is handy especially if you are looking for a common word, like 'oil'.

If you click on the [Search this forum only] box so the tick goes away it will search all of the classic rover forum. This is handy if you are working on something that might appear in more than one area. Like, say, the heater which could be in the interior section or the electrical section.

Hope its some help.

search.JPG
 
Transexl, the search function works this way. Go to the section of help you're looking for (I've chosen 4 cylinder engines) . Click the search field (circled in green in pic).
You have a few options to help you. If you click on the [Search titles only] box it will only search for the words you type in the thread title, and NOT in the body of the conversation. This is handy especially if you are looking for a common word, like 'oil'.
If you click on the [Search this forum only] box so the tick goes away it will search all of the classic rover forum. This is handy if you are working on something that might appear in more than one area. Like, say, the heater which could be in the interior section or the electrical section.
Hope its some help.
View attachment 11284

This will help!
I have almost never, I must confess, used the search function to this extend.
And I still keep the feeling I might have missed a thread or two... .

On "2-ventiler.de", a forum on BMW airheads, THIS

Wissensdatenbank

pops up as a "data bank" or "HowTo"-section.
I like that a lot!
Seems to depend on how compact you can process your knowledge.
 
Last edited:
The other main forum i frequent is LR4x4.com and they have a very good "technical archive" with topics covering most aspects of Landrover repair and modification. Its a very useful resource to have. However it did take a lot of work to put together, there is even an index thread - see here:

INDEX.* Read this Post before looking at any threads*

I realise that getting something like this setup would be a lot of effort, so using search may be easier.

One tip i have for people is that using google to search a site is invariably better than the built in search facility. To do this you simply browse to Google, and then in the search bar type "site:yoursitename.com your search terms" - notice that the "www." is removed from the start of the web address.

As an example if I wanted to search for posts relating to Megasquirt wiring diagrams on Classicroverforum.net I would type:

site:classicroverforum.net Megasquirt wiring diagrams

To perform the same search on the Msextra (megasquirt) forum i would do:

site:msextra.com/forums Megasquirt wiring diagrams

Hope that helps!
 
Lets talk a bit more about the work it takes to set up such a section! ;)
(Especially the donkey work!)

The problem I have with "search", be it via google or via built-in device, is that anything NON-specific is quite hard to find.

I do not have proven examples at hand, but general things like "heater box" (or "Rover P6 heater box overhaul" for google) or "wheel alignment" (... "Rover P6 wheel alignment" or "RP6 front axle adjustment" or "RP6 steering"...) are a PAIN in my opinion.
 
Last edited:
OK - How about I create the section - If it gets new articles then great - if we dont get much uptake then we'll fold the articles back in to other sections?
 
What about a Sticky thread with an appropriate title in each section that contains links to the various threads?
That way, the authors of the work can PM you with the link to the thread and you simply hot link it in the Sticky?
Obviously, anyone who comes across an unlinked thread can ask for it to be included, too.
 
:)
Good to hear two more concrete suggestions. This is taking off, as it seems!

I do like the first better, for obvious reasons, although it would take more work. Given enough time to develope and attract donkeyworkers, this would be unified, comprehensive and attractive to read, I guess.

The second sounds like it might be far spread and messy, contradictory in parts and not easy to maintain once up, minus the "Have-I-Read-Everything"-feeling that is my biggest fear right now.

One thing that suddenly comes to mind either way is the "judgement" on every single hint, suggestion and manual!:eek:
Who would (have to) decide what is "right" or "wrong", what to add, mark as "not yet proven" or similar?
I mean, I would do anything to help, but this would take quite a bit of expertise on a subject AND/OR (even more) democracy and tolerance from everybody in the long run...
 
Back
Top