i owned a 88 chevy cavalier man i hated that fucking piece of shit but i will say this i learned alot about cars when i had to always fix something on that thing
then i bought my first honda and havent had to do much since lol
Yeah I forgot that part.
I broke all kinds of shit, and still do.
It’s the best part.
I learned a great deal from VW16vcabby, enough to be dangerous. Then I got my confidence with working with bgblockelcamino. I am a reasearch junky too, I read about what I am going to do well before I do it. Trial and Error is a great learning tool too.
Agreed. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and for help. Everyone starts somewhere, and most experienced people will be happy to help you as long as you don’t act like you know it all. Nothing is a a bigger turn off than someone with little knowledge or experience who is not willing to listen to advice. Not all advice will always be good, but be humble and keep your ears open and mouth shut (unless you’re asking questions for the sake of learning).
Read, read read and then read some more, just don’t believe everything on the internet. There are lots of clueless individuals posing as experts on the web. All someone needs is a keyboard and an internet connection to be a master tech/ tuner/ fabricator/ etc. Learn to spot the phonies. Read manuals, technical books, and everything else you can get your hands on, then go out and get dirty. If you can, get an experienced person to look over your shoulder when you first start wrenching yourself.
Good luck and have fun.
Broke shit and tore it apart then put it back together, watched friends and family and learned, TV, books and most important of all…HANDS ON experience and listening to what most people have to tell you. A lot is trial and error.
My neighbor was a mechanic in the business for years. Started working down his shop alot. He happened to be a ex-ford mechanic also so when shit needed done on my car(Ford) he teached me. Thats how i learned.
AND i good manual for your vehicle will always help you out.
i started off on fixing/breaking my bicycle. Then i moved onto dirtbikes - first watching my dad then attempting to do some stuff on my own. After alot of trial and error i learned alot about my dirtbike and ended up throwing 3 top ends into 3 different dirtbikes. Then my sister had a turbo lebaron and she wrecked it and my dad did all the repairs on it and i watched him. Then i had a firebird and learned all the basics of doing car work on that. The kid i bought the firebird off of bought a civic si and at first supercharged it then did a gsr swap and turboed it and I learned ALOT just being around him and his friends as they worked on their cars. Then i got my own civic…spun a rob bearing and had to put a new engine in it.
So basically - for me - it took alot of trial and error - knowing people that knew what they were doing (to ask the tough questions) - and alot of bloody knuckles and dirt in my eyes
(and i know people on here probably think i don’t know shit about cars cause of some of the questions i ask but i know more than alot of people think i do)
I pretty muched worked out of the box…haha
You either have it or you dont…I feel that alot of the stuff cannot be learned…
i never did much of the mechanical work on my car but other stuff i do. my dad hates doing interior and wiring shit. thats how i learned to do all that stuff because he never wanted to do it when it came to my cars. everything comes in repetition thou. even thou i don’t do my brakes and stuff like that, i could… the one thing i;ve learned from being at the shop thou better than anythng is diagnosis.
I used to work on my bike when I was little and then moved on to R/C cars when I was a teenager. Once I had the $ for a car I just slowly taught myself how to do basic maintenance and repairs. Then when I got into SR20 powered cars when I was at Pitt in '98 I learned how to do more major work from people the SE-R mailing list and later the SR20forum.
by breaking them and wanting to save money so bad that i just picked up a hanes manual and went to town
My dad was a mechanic and I bought a Haynes manual.
I dont know alot about cars but i’m willing to learn all the time. What helped me though is racing rc cars. That taught me about how diff’s work,shock pistons,valving,spring rates,ride height. Engines running lean,rich etc. Stupid as it sounds they also helped me with taking stuff apart and putting it back togther the right way. Anyone who has ever seen or dealt with a 1/8 scale gas onroad car can see where i’m coming from. Paying for simple stuff that cost u alot makes u want to diy also.
x2
I am so grateful that so many people offered to help me out. I expected to get responses like “Come back once you know something”, but I guess that’s just from National forums like Club EG6 and others with ignorant people who only talk to and help other people with good questions that are difficult so that they can show their merit. I really appreciate everyone helping me out. And if anyone has a weekend project like installing something, I would be glad to be an extra set of hands. It would be a great place to start learning! Thanks again.
People on Pittspeed work on cars? I didn’t get the memo.
Trial & Error … Dont be afriad to ask what you dont know … Hang around people … Enjoy learning!
Hands on. I learned the hard way by breaking and burning up my share of stuff before i got it right
I learned by buying a car that was kinda rare and expensive to work on(Thunderbird SC). Hence no local mechanics knew how to fix it and the ones that did costed too much for what I made…
I just went from there, bought a set of tools and built onto it from there.
:stupid:
also my father owns a repair garage/body shop, so I spent my life around cars/trucks/etc.