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Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by skinnayyy
...Common sense, plus wrench time. That's all you need.
A good mentor helps. Especially an older guy that will whack you up side the head for doing stupid things... I learned much from Eastern Europeans. They had a strong 'scolding' personality, and weren't shy about knocking on the head of an idiot apprentice.
A Friend Network that are into wrenching is a big help. (there are surely a local group that specializes in your model car)
After 40+ yrs several of us still help each other out with repair / invention. (and 'great' ideas. One friend has a nice shop with 2 overhead cranes and 2 lifts. We can do engine swaps in 4 hrs, so we do lots there. Look around for a neighbor. Can be handy to be close-by. I recently got a house in TX and in the first week, found 4 local guys to help with cars and projects.
Some great 'wrenching' times were had on the farm with buddies. (about age 12 - 14) We would get the 'hot wrench' out and do some serious 'remodeling' of cars. The 1951 Pontiac was a real treasure as were the '53 and '54 Buick's.
I had several cars by the time I was 16. Most of my Edu came from old-timers, and crazy friends. I never had an auto mechanics class, but was rebuilding motorcycle engines by age 12 and car engines by age 14, rebuilt a muscle car from a "total" when I was 16. I read automotive / truck / tractor books by the hour at night and followed up with 'experiments'. Got into racing and mods, learned machining, welding, casting, sheetmetal, plastics molding...
BTW:, followed this all up with Mech Eng, and toolmaking career. I still do all of the above in 'early' retirement. Trig is VERY fun and useful, I use it everyday. Find a good tutor, it is very helpful tool to have in your bag, especially if you ever get into technical climbing, sailing, winching, .. .
Last edited by StealthRabbit; 05-22-2013 at 05:41 PM..
The ones who are don't get very far. You aren't getting any promotions when your functional specifications are full of typos and grammar mistakes. Communication skills are important whether they be verbal or written. It also shows an attention to detail.
Whatever. Our lead engineer, who has been here forever and is well-respected in his field, has the worst spelling and written grammar I've ever seen. And because I'm copied on most of his emails, our customers' engineers aren't any better. And our customers include Modine, Allison, Cummins, Deere, etc, etc.
No I dont want to be a mechanic, I want to work on MY own car in the future. Do things on my own time.
Here's how I learned automotive stuff...
1. Started off with model cars. Often in the instructions the parts are labeled. I memorized the parts' names.
2. Picked up books, magazines, etc. and started reading about what the parts are, and what they do. Mind you I'm not much of a reader, but because I was interested in cars, it led me to read on. Message boards are also a great way to learn.
3. Trial and error. I first started cutting teeth in mechanics by repairing bicycles. I took them apart and studied them, then figured how to put them back together. Eventually that led to working on mopeds, then on to my own cars.
Also a mentor helps. When i built my first engine, I had a mentor who guided me along.
I never spent a day in automotive school. I don't know all there is to know, but I can do most of my own repair work.
Cool. I wanted to do mechanical engineering until I saw what math they use, I hate trigonometry but tell me how much does that factor into it. The thought irks me. So ill be cool if i just watch hands on videos and take on certain task myself?
I had a hard time with math in high school because the teachers did not really understand the subject - so, D'oh, I had a hard time learning. College was a fresh start, I finished with a degree in Physics. Just sayin...
Don't chicken out because of the math. If you have good mechanical intuition you may end up like I did, taking more advanced physics and engineering courses than the math, usually the math leads but for some people with a mostly intuitive approach what I did works.
Don't chicken out on the math and take a "soft" degree. Just say no to that, OK?
I was never particularly good with cars but when I was a teenager I bought what turned out to be a POS- mind you it did cost only £50! This was in the 1970s when £50 was worth more than it is now but it was still a POS!
I learnt to put right the things that went wrong, one after the other.
Thankfully it finally died a major mechanical death and by that time I'd saved up for something decent.
I had a hard time with math in high school because the teachers did not really understand the subject - so, D'oh, I had a hard time learning. College was a fresh start, I finished with a degree in Physics. Just sayin...
Don't chicken out because of the math. If you have good mechanical intuition you may end up like I did, taking more advanced physics and engineering courses than the math, usually the math leads but for some people with a mostly intuitive approach what I did works.
Don't chicken out on the math and take a "soft" degree. Just say no to that, OK?
Easier said than done, buddy.
To me, it's easier to go for the technical/vocational certifications first and put any academic-related classes on the back-burner until you're ready to devote time and money to the process of "register, fail, repeat".
At least this way, you could guarantee yourself a steady stream of income to support the "war against mind-rot".
That said, I gave the math subject a rest a few years ago after being stuck at College-Algebra for an extended amount of time.
Figure a few different vocational certs would be more worth it to me in the long-run than getting trampled by speedier minds in an educational rat-race.
Today there is only one answer......Yes, you need schooling. This is due to all the computers, sensors etc. that are used to control emissions.
Back in the 1950's & 60's when I was a young man cars were fairly simple so it was easy to be a "shade tree mechanic" and do a lot of your own automotive work. You can try and do some of your own work now but unless you know what you're doing I'd advise against messing with your car unless you want a huge repair bill to fix what you messed up.
See if your local junior college offers a automotive class to learn with.
Bull****. If anything I like working, tuning and troubleshooting fuel injection more then carbs.
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Last edited by MustangEater82; 05-25-2013 at 07:54 AM..
My advice get into working stuff. I used to fix my own bikes, then cars, then modding them and making them faster. A chiltons manual on you car is not a bad idea, read up on things while you are on the crapper. Watch some powerblock tv on the weekend. Got to howthingswork.com and learn how certain systems work. If you have a smart phone buy a $25 bluetooth obdII adapter and the torque app and monitor your cars systems to see how it works.
I mean don't expect be an expert but there is a lot to learn. But you can do a lot.
I never had any sort of formal mechanical training until I was about 27. But I knew tons about cars and other mechanical things. Had done many major repair items on cars. Even when I had formal training it was on aircraft. Some stuff I blew through some I had to learn from scratch because it was aircraft unique. But overall doing well.
Its a series of simple machines put together to make a complex one. The only mechanical thing I have worked on that really was difficult and made was hard to work on was movie projectors. Nothing like sitting in the dark working on a 25 year old machine with a 20 year old manual with coffee stains and missing pagesn that has many handmade parts and works like a clock.
Going to tech school for the average person to "learn how to fix cars" is a good way for them to learn that when their car REALLY has a serious problem that they can not fix,,,,,,,,,,,not in a hundred years. Looking a pictures and talking the talk dont fix chit.
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ideas. One friend has a nice shop with 2 overhead cranes and 2 lifts. We can do engine swaps in 4 hrs, so we do lots there. Look around for a neighbor. Can be handy to be close-by. I recently got a house in TX and in the first week, found 4 local guys to help with cars and projects.
