Backyard Mechanic 101

[COMP]

Originally Posted by JoeBob

Therein lies the entire secret!

i agree ,,ask the questions

[trautotuning]

Just remember ONE thing, cars are not more than nuts and bolts!!

Well... nuts and bolts EVERYWHERE!

But if you have the patience, they are all pretty much the same and it just takes time to know your way around a certain car...

[Project84]

Bought an old clunker, needed constant repairs.

Next... bought a $15 Haines repair manual....

Here I am today, have owned 8 or 9 cars, bought repair manuals on all of 'em.

For the most part, if you can read, you can fix your own car.

[GasSavers_RoadWarrior]

Originally Posted by Project84

Bought an old clunker, needed constant repairs.

Next... bought a $15 Haines repair manual....

Next, pencil in a dozen corrections to Haynes manual

Don't worry about that though, it's usually in the more complex procedures that they manage to leave something out, misstate something, or it gets mangled by the printer or something. By the time you've gone through all the basics and got some of the simpler and medium difficulty stuff under your belt it will stick out like a sore thumb when you're reading through and planning the job. If however you're taking the plunge straight away with something complex, it's worthwhile to get a Chilton manual or look up the procedure in the autozone repair guide for an alternate source, if they disagree on something, you'll have to figure it out yourself.

[ihatemybike]

My dad taught me to do basic tune-up stuff long before I could drive, then he had back surgery and quit working on his own cars. I didn't really work on mine till I moved out of the house and had to pay for repairs myself.

[lowbridescape]

My father was a maintenance mechanic. By the time I learned to drive (14) I had overhauled engines and transmissions (manual and automatic). I graduated from a technical high school as a machinist. My first hitch in college got me an Airframe and Powerplant mechanic's license (which I never used).

I gradually forgot how to work on cars. Age (me, not the cars), lack of facilities, a clean air conditioned career, and a desire not to have to work on them anymore sent more and more work to the shops as I got out of the habit. Then a new owner took over the auto shop next door and I thought I had achieved "I don't have to work on cars" paradise.

He sold me a 96 Neon for my kids who had just gotten their licenses. First thing to go was the crank position sensor. That resulted in six hours on my back pulling the oil pan 'cuz the crank position sensor has to be knocked out from the inside. More followed. And lo and behold, I got used to working on cars again.

Then I discovered this mileage cult. Cars alway bored me because performance always meant faster, but the speed limits stayed 70 mph (except when they were 55 mph). That's why I got into airplanes. They're allowed to go fast. Now I've found a car performance that makes sense.

I was working on the Neon a few weeks back teaching the #1 son auto mechanics. I pointed to the big Sycamore tree we were under and explained to him that we qualify for the title "Shade Tree Mechanics".

[GasSavers_JoeBob]

I think I posted this somewhere else on here, but here is my story....

I was given my first car, a 1960 Corvair, in 1971. However, before I could drive it, I had to do an engine overhaul (a piston ring broke, and a piece worked its way to the combustion chamber, where it bounced around some. However, the head was still usable with a valve job, farmed out to the local machine shop). I also had to do a brake job as well, since the brake linings were paper thin. Not having much money, it had to wait until I found a job (several months later). Luckily, to guide me through the process I had the Clymer Corvair book, and my dad, who was one of those people who had a real mechanical (and electronic) talent. I did make some mistakes on that car, such as over-honing a cylinder, resulting in a piston slap which persisted for about 40,000 miles until it died horribly one day. Nice thing about an air-cooled car...I was able to drop in a new cylinder and piston, clean out the bits from the oil pan, and off I went again.

[bowtieguy]

my dad was a mechanic for many years, until computers took over vehicles. he went fully to body work after that. he did it all tho...cars, plumbing, (garage and home)building, paving, etc. he pulled from the woods(w/ a tree growing thru it) and restored a 1946 chevy p/u. he won 1st place at a local car show!

i picked up NONE of it! when i started my family, i was constantly running home to dad's garage and tools to do what i could myself to save $$$. by this time, dad couldn't do much(age and health), but he did offer direction and supervision. i quickly came to realize why dad demanded NAPA and original parts. i do use cheap parts, but am very selective as to which ones.

[fowljesse]

My Dad is a mechanic, and I started "working" in the shop around 5 years old (sorting nuts, bolts, washers, etc...)
I hated it.
Then I had to help at whatever level I was capable of.
I was given a '66 Microbus when I was 15 that didn't run, so I took it apart, almost literally every nut, and bolt, and rebuilt it, from the rod bearings out.
I had to help around the shop, doing everything from honing, hot tanking, machining, to building, tuning, daignosing, to fixing... etc.
I hated it.
However, I'm glad that I learned these skills, and have tuned by using all of my senses (yeah, even taste). That gave me a good base to move on to ECUs, and such.
When my parents got divorced, I lived in the shop with my Dad, sleeping under the lift.
I still don't like working on cars, but it's a means to an end.
I do enjoy upgrading, when I have the right tools, though!
I've worked on 1,2,4,5,6, and 8 cylinders, 2, and 4 stroke from 49cc to 500ish cubic inches (I don't remember exactly, it was a Cadillac).

[Dr. Jerryrigger]

Well I haven't been on here in a wile, but I'll toss in my start.

I have always enjoyed taking things apart, seeing how they work, and putting them back together.
When I got a car I did the same. I picked up a manual (for my personal confidence, as cars cost more than old record players) and slowly got together the necessary tools (a lot from flea markets and yard sales). I've never gone to a mechanic for anything but an inspection sticker (come Sep, I think I may need to learn how to do at home too).