Best things in your owner's manual or workshop guide?

Still one of my favorites from the Porsche 924/944 manual...someone posted up recently elsewhere and made me remember seeing it and laughing....

Installation is the reverse of removal.

The factory manual for my 87 B2000 is VERY well done.  Lots of well done illustrations (easier to interpret than photos), very clearly written, good white space and lots of torque figures in the text!

I don’t know if other Mazda manuals of that era are as good, but this one is impressive.

I have a lot of old Datsun stuff   This came as copies only - no originals  

Datsan 

Something newer - my 2016 Chevrolet Silverado has information on the manual tranny but Chevrolet didn’t offer a manual tranny.  

My 911’s owner’s manual has power and torque curves in it. 

I get a chuckle at the old R12 A/C service instructions.  I'll have to see if I can get a photo of it but in my '85 Corvette repair manual it basically indicates if you don't have a recovery machine just put one end of the hose in an old oil can.

I should have scanned it before we sold it.

The 1940 Luscombe 8A Silvaire Flight manual/Owners manual was 10 pages long, including covers.

The there were some general characteristics and operating parameters of the aircraft but it was basically "Learn 2 fly noob" when it came to how to actually fly the thing. God I loved that airplane.

The Rolls Royce AE3007 manuals liked to list all the different ways the engine could kill you before any process. That was always a sweet read.

Mazda shop manuals are exceedingly well written compared to Nissan and Toyota in my experience.

dclafleur said:

I get a chuckle at the old R12 A/C service instructions.  I'll have to see if I can get a photo of it but in my '85 Corvette repair manual it basically indicates if you don't have a recovery machine just put one end of the hose in an old oil can.

Flush the system out by blowing a pound or two of refrigerant through the lines.

Let's see if I can find one of my favorites.

Here it is.  Number 6.

I have always enjoyed the Poor Richard's books.  Not only are they full of hand-drawn exploded views and witty text, but the title itself has always cracked me up.  Apparently "Poor Richard" tested better in focus groups than "Broke Dick's Guide to Keeping Your Rabbit Alive".

Knurled. said:

dclafleur said:

I get a chuckle at the old R12 A/C service instructions.  I'll have to see if I can get a photo of it but in my '85 Corvette repair manual it basically indicates if you don't have a recovery machine just put one end of the hose in an old oil can.

Flush the system out by blowing a pound or two of refrigerant through the lines.

 

Let's see if I can find one of my favorites.

 

Here it is.  Number 6.

 

I think we have a winner!

“Avoid jackrabbit starts”. This is in, iirc,  my 75 Chevy k10 owners manual in the fuel economy tips section.  

Not my find but ... really?

Datsun310Guy said:

Something newer - my 2016 Chevrolet Silverado has information on the manual tranny but Chevrolet didn’t offer a manual tranny.  

Did they offer a manual in Canada? Canada tends to get more stick shifts than the US, and that manual says it's for Canadian cars as well.

aircooled said:

The factory manual for my 87 B2000 is VERY well done.  Lots of well done illustrations (easier to interpret than photos), very clearly written, good white space and lots of torque figures in the text!

I don’t know if other Mazda manuals of that era are as good, but this one is impressive.

All of Mazda's workshop manuals were like that before they went digital a few years back. A real pleasure to work with.

Dave said:

 

Not my find but ... really?

Looks like the writer of that manual was also selling content to Masters and Johnson. 

Keith Tanner said:

Datsun310Guy said:

Something newer - my 2016 Chevrolet Silverado has information on the manual tranny but Chevrolet didn’t offer a manual tranny.  

Did they offer a manual in Canada? Canada tends to get more stick shifts than the US, and that manual says it's for Canadian cars as well.

The belt-routing diagram for a late-ish model E350 in some years will have belt routing for a 4.2 V6, 5.4/6.8 V8/V10, 6-liter Diesel... and some other things...

Ok, I think the 3.9/5.9 are Cummins 4BT/6BT, but what engine is the 4.2 Diesel??

In reply to Ethnic Food-Wrap Aficionado :

I have the one for air cooled vw’s ...at one point it provides a breakdown of a sandwich. It’s just so great.

I was a mechanic at a large dealership in Eastern Pennsylvania during late 60s and 70s. Among the imports sold there was NSU. The owners manuals were a hoot. We used to read them during break time. I found an example on EBay if you are interested in reading some sample pages. Well worth the time.

NSU Prinz 4 owners manual

Enjoy

Huh. The best thing I found was that the top would automatically retract if I held down the unlock button on my key fob long enough.

As I write that, I remember that also in the manual was the warning to not lower the top without the car running, as it may prematurely wear out the battery.

From a Honda CR500 (big, fast dirt bike) manual,  YOU WILL BE KILLED if you do not heed the precautions.  Not injured or possibly injured.

From eightys RX7, the winker stalk referred to as the lane changer.

E30 M3 manual, after any city driving immediately drive for above 3000 rpm for 15 minutes.  They could have just said give it an Italian tune up.

Old Jeep manuals are the best, It has just been a long time.

Manuals for V6 Alfas in the 80's said: Change the timing belt at 30,000 miles, or just before it breaks.

This thread got me reading my 1998 Forester manual. They talked about corrosion. A lot. There are also two sections on how to defeat the steering wheel interlock and the auto transmission interlock. The manual writers were sitting around saying "this car is going to rust and break, we should let people know".