It may still be winter, but in garages all over Canada, at least in garages with a little heat, there is work going on. It is an annual rite of spring. As the snow begins to melt off the roadways and driveways, hot rodders and old car hobbyists are busy preparing for the coming season of car shows, cruises and the simple pleasure of driving their favourite set of wheels.

In many cases all that is needed is an oil change and tune-up. But for some, early spring is the season for installing the new parts that have been purchased and gathered over the winter months.

Ask any do-it-yourselfer what is the most important requisite for at-home mechanical work and you'll hear "good friends" as often as "good tools." There is no substitute for the knowledge and experience of someone who has done the job before and who knows where the problems and pitfalls will occur.

But sometimes friends aren't available or the procedure is unfamiliar to everyone involved. Then it's time to head on down, via the Internet, to the Paradise Garage, where good friends and good advice can be found 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The introduction to this simple but very useful site says it all. "In our mind, one of the best things about doing it yourself is that when someone else tries to do the same thing, you can help! It's this spirit of community that really brings car people together. And, in this spirit, Paradise Garage documents all of its car service with instructions and photographs so the next person can learn from us."

People looking to do minor performance improvements on eight cylinder North American vehicles will benefit most from this site. A variety of procedures are profiled including installing headers, transmission oil cooler, cat-back exhaust system, underdrive pulleys, radiator, engine mounts and shocks. A 1970 Dodge Charger with a 318 cubic inch motor, a 1995 5.0 Litre Mustang GT and a 1998 LS-1 equipped Pontiac Firebird Formula are the principal test beds.

Each of these "stories from the garage" is written in a simple conversational style, but with attention to even minor details right down to the size of socket to use to fit any particular nut, as well as alternatives in case your tool kit doesn't contain what the job requires. The Paradise Garage mechanics make mistakes too, and readers will learn what not to do, as well as some solutions when the job goes wrong.

Before you visit Paradise Garage, you should realize this is not a professional garage, but the same kind that is attached or sits out back of your own house, which real car nuts might liken to paradise - depending on whether the job is going well or not.

And site owner Brian Schreurs is not a mechanic, but a writer, journalist and publisher, who just happens to like cars, old and new, and race them at his local drag strip (Woodbridge, Virginia). But Mr. Schreurs is not unqualified either, having written a handy guide for home mechanics, The Hot Rodder's Quick Reference, which contains tips, product reviews and parts manufacturer's names, addresses and phone numbers.

He has also compiled a similar effort for Paradise Garage called "Technical Paradise," an annotated guide of links to technically involved web sites, both private and corporate. Here the do-it-yourselfer can connect to a vast collection of information resources that will help solve just about any problem that might be encountered, from researching a car's specifications to fixing engine and drivetrain problems and finding the right tools for the job.

Paradise Garage goes one step further as well, providing "Link-A-Ramas," annotated guides to web sites on specific models or subjects. Currently there are Link-A-Ramas for the Dodge Charger, Pontiac Firebird, Lotus, Jaguar and a general racing Link-A-Rama.