reinhardt02

I just completed a clutch swap in my 02 Z28 and had a hell of a time doing it due to negligence on my part. I bought a Haynes manual and it was damn near useless. It told me to use the grease trick to get the pilot bearing out! Fortunately I read on this forum not to do that before attempting that, otherwise that would have opened another can of worms. Not all of the torque specs I needed. The instructions basically read:

1) Remove the old one.
2) Put the new one in.

This site was a great help, but it was a bastard searching through old posts to find this or that. The lesson learned from the clutch nightmare is: PROPER REPAIR MANUALS! So my question is what is my best option? I just got done perusing the alldatadiy.com link at the top of the page. It looks good for $45 for 5 years. The other option I saw were genuine OEM repair manuals on ebay for $150-$250 depending on the seller. Is there a better option? I am thinking the alldata may be the better option due to an easier to navigate digital interface, books can be a nuisance to navigate flipping back and forth. Also, I would have to own the car for 15-20 years for the alldata to cost the same or more than the OEM manuals.

I recognize the days of repairs with a crescent hammer and a roll of duct tape are gone. The days of tighten the bolt down with an impact are gone. The days of 4 wires under the hood are gone. So on and so forth. I miss my 79 Camaro, it was so simple. What are you guys using?

Decadence75

iTrader: (17)

I shelled out the $ for the Helm shop manuals. It has everything you could possibly want to know about the cars. But that's not for everyone. If you don't plan on taking care of all the work yourself it would not be a good investment. Personally I take it off the shelf all the time to browse through it.

sjsingle1

iTrader: (1)

100$ for mine........ebay all the way

mrgoodwrenchSS

iTrader: (5)

^X2 Helm all the way

bww3588

iTrader: (49)

I found all 3 volumes of the 98 factory manuals on ebay for 40 bucks. Best investment I've made on my car. Everything you can think of is in there. From frame and engine measurments to oil change procedures.

bww3588

iTrader: (49)

On a side note, the haynes manuals or the like are worthless. I worked at a low buck repair shop for a while and that's all the shop owner had. I can't count how many times I consulted it for something just to find, "remove and replace". No procedure what so ever.

Those books aren't worth the paper they are printed on.

1320talon

Do helms service repair manual have differences for example a 1998 set vary from 2001 set?

oldmano2z

helms has year specific,i own a set of manuals for my 02Z28 just like a good set of wrenches. and right in front of me on the shop bench for everything. invest in them in my opinion

reinhardt02

So no one is using alldata? I have found a laptop easy to navigate while doing repairs.

2000PewterT/A

I bought GM's computer based service manual on cd. It covers all GM cars from years 1994-2005, give or take a year I can’t remember. I own multiple GM cars so for me it works great and I don’t have to question if it’s right or not. I bought it off ebay for $30.

1964_442

iTrader: (5)

me too

reinhardt02

I saw the gm manuals on cd on ebay. Considering they are so cheap I assumed they were either crappy, vague (likes haynes manuals), or pirated. Am I wrong?

2000PewterT/A

Well the one I purchased is a licensed GM cd. It is the same software program that is used at the dealers. It is not a Haynes type manual and it is not pirated. It was sold by a dealer on ebay, because when they update their program these cd's are old, but for me they work fine because I currently don’t own any cars past 2009. I love it and the best part is I don’t have to question the information I am reading, can’t say that about alldata or Haynes, there have been many occasions where their information was wrong.

ROC OUT

iTrader: (1)

Yea, I was wondering the same thing. Was checking out Alldata today. OP may want to look into this as well. Very inexpensive for a 5 year subscription but am unsure of all what is included with the Alldata info online.