Dave (Quick) got me thinking. How the hell do most of you know what you know about cars? For me, it's all the forums. I know Ralph (MOL) is a certified Chrysler mechanic and has been doing it since he was a kid. Where did guys like Quick, Cam, 1fast4dr, 1fastsedan, 1bad4dr, Halv48, etc get there car knowledge? Anyone feel free to tell their tale....it's killing me! LOL On a side note. I've come to the conclusion that if Data and Spock of Star Trek had a kid it would be Quick!
Honestly Bud,When i was younger I got tired of getting screwed by various people.So I figured if you want to do something right do it your self.Not to mention the cost factor. Not to mention I enjoy turning wrenches.My specialty is actually old school GMs with Carbs.This is the first computerized car i ever toyed with.Well except my Ford Lightning. Funny thing is I learned with a stack of Mags on the Shitter.lol
it goes way deeper then being a dealer tech. he's asking about your tech skills not your sex life. hahahahaha
I know Ralph that you are MUCH more than just a dealer tech. I know you have extensive drag racing experience you turd! LOL
You know,I knew some jerk off what take that and run with it..lol Congrats being that Jerkoff!..lol..:huglove:
Haha. I've always been sort of mechanically inclined. My Dad was mechanically inclined and had a penchant for old cars. I rebuilt a '36 Buick straight 8 Deluxe engine with him when I was in middle school (I know how to install rods with babbot bearings). Grew up in a small Ohio town in the 60s/70s. Kids didn't have any money. If you had a car it was an old junker and you carried tools. You know, like the shift linkage would come apart once or twice a night at a stop light cruising up and down Main street. One guy would get the boot off while another would slide under the car to hold the linkage up and it'd be good to go by the next green. If you did something stupid and blew up your ride you were probably going to spend the next couple of years hitching rides like the losers you were hauling around when you had a car. Then I spent 9 years driving company semis. It was long haul so you park the truck at home when you get there. If you wanted to customize it you did it yourself and made friends with the shop guys at your home terminal so they didn't undo it and, worse, report it. Nothing cooler than a 318 with 6" of flame coming out of the stacks -- had to be careful to keep your foot out of it at night around the terminals... and I think you just have to have that interest in "how does it work?"
That's a classic tale Dave. And exactly why I started the thread...not saying Scott's story about learning on the shitter isn't intriguing...but, this is a great story that answers a lot of unanswered questions. Thanks for sharing it brother!
Most of the current generation know very little about cars ... other than where do you put in the gas,,, check oil or change a tire, God forbid get a leak in radiator out on the road.. what you don't have triple AAA (yes i do because of my wife and 3 offspring that drive).. My first transprot was a 120 two stroke Kawi, then a 175 Honda twin which I blew up and subsequently fixed (3 months to save and get the parts and machining done, some by doing machine work at school to save money..) got hit by a car and my parents forced me to drive a 1950 Plymouth station wagon.. which you had to remove the glass fuel filter and clean the screen .. about every 100 miles.. put out smoldering fires due to rust holes in the floor board.. oh and blew the tranny and put in one two many synchro bushing and it would lock up the tranny after you shifted from 1st to 2nd.. took this thing apart about 20 time to figure this one out..yea I did not get to many dates with this ride in my early college years.. then a 65 Chevy wagon I fixed up and sold, bought a "hopped up" 64 Chevelle solid lifter 302 with a Muncie 4 speed and Holley 650 dbl pumper.. Had M/T valve covers with spin off hold downs and carried no less than 6 - push rods.. when you over reved showing off or racing and bent one.. marked the harmonic balancer every 90 degrees so I could spin the motor up on TDC for the correct cylinder and set the gap.. 10 -20 mins typically to change one. blew this engine more than I care to remember and got to the point I could remove, fix (machine work done by a friend) and replace the engine in 20 hours by myself.. using a swing set and a come along for a engine hoist.. ah the early days of drage racing at Lyons with no budget... then wen to school, for few years.. fell in to working part time with a neighbor doing engine rebuilds, bought a 71.5 split bumper Camero with 396 and this was scary fast after we did a little work... gas scrunch hit adn moved to a 240Z eventually gave the Camero to my now ex-wifes brother.. dumb ass mistake there.. then job and career got in the way of really letting me working on cars except for the usual maintenance stuff.. then wife #2 and some kids... Now they are CPU driven and i hate computers... oh by the way I will trade kid for mods... oh: and most of my tools are all gone now..
That's an awesome story there! I sometimes feel like I've been cheated because my brother's been a gearhead since the 70's when he hopped up a Challenger, Satellite, and Dart. He is 8 years older than me and didn't get me involved when he was doing things. I've mentioned to Mol, 1fastsedan, and SDCarguy a few different times that I'd love to see an engine broken down...for the first damn time....whenever they do one. BASTARDS!! LOL Thanks for the story!!! Rick
all done with love my friend. lol glad i was the first jerkoff, just think if ron had gotten here first?:thongue2:
so i'm pretty young but i feel i have a bit of a story here... it all started when i was 16 and looking for a job, found one at a local jeep junkyard/service shop. i spent two years at that hell hole, and learned more than i ever thought possible. to this day i can still identify pretty much any jeep part presented to me so long as it falls between the years of 1961 and 2001. while working there i managed to own three different jeeps, a 93 zj that recived a 3in lift and a muffler before it got totaled, a 95 XJ that ended up with a 4.0/4.2 hybrid powerplant, Custom NP242 with SYE, beefed up tranny, built dana 30 and 35 with fancy parts, lift and all the goodies, finally moving on to a 1986 CJ7 with an AMC 360 as built up as possible backed by a T-18, D300 and D44's. none of these vehicles would have existed without one single experience happening when i was 15 with a new drivers license and a new to me ZJ. at some point the radiator exploded and it was towed to a shop where i got a quote for the repairs...and nearly shit myself. from then on all work preformed on my vehicles would be done by me. as the years went on i realized i was capable of more than most shops...and started venturing out in the modification world. at some point i decided that jeeps were slow and bought a neon. end of story haha
I might have to do this in installments. My father had auto parts stores and repair shops in Ohio. We had a machine shop in the main store. So I learned how to do valve jobs, turn brake drums, use a boring bar, a hot tank, etc. He also had a lawn and garden center that I learned how to repair and overhaul small engines. I had a 40 Ford when I was 13 in 1961. Was doing a ground up frame-off when the body was burned up in a barn fire. My dad then bought a 1959 Renault Dauphine with a blown-up motor, so I completely rebuilt it, including all the machine work. My next major task was my sister's 57 Ford convertible with a 312 4bbl automatic in 1962. I did a auto to 3 speed conversion on it. Put in my newly won Hurst Mystery Shifter. Hurst had a contest to name the shifter. I don't remember what my winning name was, but they left it the Mystery Shifter. The shift lever was attached with a large compression fitting, which was really crappy. The next year I talked my sister into letting me drive it with my learners permit at age 15. Well, as I was power shifting into second gear, the compression fitting couldn't hold my youthful strength and spun to the right and I blew 2nd gear. This was my 1st tranny rebuilt, 2nd gear and syncros for 2nd and 3rd. I also got to pay for the parts. My sister had traded her 57 Ford for a 57 Chevy 210 2 dr sedan with a 265 2bbl 3 speed o/drive. I traded my 54 Chevy Belaire that was my Grandfathers to her for the 57 as she was newly married has just aquired a beautiful 57 Chevy Belaire Convertible. Her new husband, #1 of 3, wanted the 54 for a commuter car, as it was like brand new. I started drag racing the 57 Chevy in 1964 when I was 16. I ran K/Stock. Had a 4:11 with traction bars, cutouts and a Hurst Competition Plus shifter. Put a Corvette 12 spring B&B clutch in it. Car would launch like gang busters with the cheater slicks, but the motor was really tired. Had the tranny out numerous times for repairs. That O/drive tranny had a cast iron case and weighed a ton. Weak ass gears and syncros. Raced the winner or the runner up from the 65 Nationals the week after. He had the big circle on the windshield with a T on it, meaning trophy. He only beat me bn 1/2 a fender. I led him most of the way, but my wore out 265 wouldn't go past 5300 rpm. A fresh motor and I would have killed him. That was my formative years and that's only up to 45 years ago. lol
My story is a similar one of necessity. I grew up poor. A car, let alone the gas to run it, was a luxury. I had a Nantucket Blue '67 Malibu with a 283 and a glide. The drivetrain had led a pampered life until it met my lead foot. Leaving the toll booth at the sunshine skyway bridge (read showing off), I blew the motor. Looked like a crop duster was strafing the highway. Went to a local car dealer, bought a 1972 Impala with a 400 small block and 350 turbo tranny. I transplanted both into my baby. Then the mod bug took over and I added an edelbrock manifold, headman headers, holley carb, gauges and all the chrome I could find. Toward the end of our time together I added a 12 bolt posi rear and disc brakes. The car ran a best of 14.8 in the quarter with 3.08 gears and I thought it was the fastest car on the planet. That car was my baptism. If I were to ever buy an old hot rod it would be a '67 Malibu.
Why must you focus on the shitty part of my story?I learned more on the shitter then some of the dealer tech guys did in a 30k a year school. Matter of fact Im on the shitter right now,thinking of you.
well thanks for leaving me off the list asshat!!!! how many guys do you know rick that installed their own blowers......ones that did not come in a nice little "kit"!!!! lol actually rick, i started when i was young with my first car, a 73 VW bug. i wrenched on my own cars so i could figure out how to keep them running and me getting to where i needed to go. eventually i met a buddy (still friends after over 20 years) that got me into wrenching to go fast. tuned my last bug into a 12.5 monster!!! anyway, now i do it because i love it. learned a ton about this specific car from the forums and reading, even more so from being smart enough to figure out who actually knows their shit, and not just repeating what they read on a forum or heard a buddy say, and picking their brains! like scott, i have learned a shit load of info while taking a crap!!! hell, i got real familiar with f/i just from reading every magizine and book i could find while when sitting on the john!!!! lol
