How did you learn about cars?
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JimmyJames1
- Posts: 83
- Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2004 1:37 pm
How did you learn about cars?
I'm a 17-year old kid with little automotive knowledge. I'm wondering how people who aren't mechanics and didn't go to mechanic school and such know about cars (i.e. working on and fixing them). I hate taking my car to other people to get work done on it and would like to eventually learn how to do stuff myself. Did you have people around you that were knowledgable and taught you? Books. . .?
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AZhitman
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http://www.howstuffworks.com
Hanging around watching other people do the work, helping out Dad...
You'll learn more here that you'll know what to do with. There's so much Nissan expertise here it's scary!
Hanging around watching other people do the work, helping out Dad...
You'll learn more here that you'll know what to do with. There's so much Nissan expertise here it's scary!
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OneFastStanza
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'92 Nissan Stanza
'97 Nissan Maxim
'04 Saturn Vue Redline
'04 Ford F250
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HongKongChick
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UncleBen
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- Car: '05 Infiniti G35 Sedan Sport
'98 Nissan 240SX LE A/T
'95 Nissan 240SX SE A/T - Contact:
Learned alot about Nissans on here of course, but everything before I got my 240 and joined 240sx.org was just helping my dad and watching those TV shows about cars like on TNN (now Spike). I've always had a knack for working on cars, so I would read the magazines, watch the shows, do various work w/ my dad on our vehicles, etc.
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HongKongChick
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^ man, must be nice to have a dad who knows about car, my dad knows almost nothing about the mechanical part of a car... 
oh sometimes shows on TV are not a great reference though coz they dont show you how hard it is to take something off or put something on and so on, they are like "you unbolt here, here and there" "see? it's off"....but we all know it's not THAT simple! WHAHA
oh sometimes shows on TV are not a great reference though coz they dont show you how hard it is to take something off or put something on and so on, they are like "you unbolt here, here and there" "see? it's off"....but we all know it's not THAT simple! WHAHA
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HongKongChick
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- Car: Nissan 1992 Flying Chicken
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My dad always did the work on his cars, so it seemed natural to spend a couple hours each weekend underneath a car.
Working on older cars/trucks to start with is the way to go. You gain so much perspective from the scraped knuckles and cursing the damn rusty bolts that won't budge! Old cars are hard to work with, because of age/rust, but are infinitely less complicated than new cars.
Reading up on a subject is a good start, hands-on experience should be your goal.
Working on older cars/trucks to start with is the way to go. You gain so much perspective from the scraped knuckles and cursing the damn rusty bolts that won't budge! Old cars are hard to work with, because of age/rust, but are infinitely less complicated than new cars.
Reading up on a subject is a good start, hands-on experience should be your goal.
lots of reading-- howstuffworks.com is a good one, NICO, Fresh Alloy, the Factory Service Manual is a great read haha...
But the best thing to do is just get out in the garage and just DO stuff. You learn so much more with hands on things--- you just cant be afraid to break things (because you WILL, trust me). You'll become an expert at getting off stripped/rusted bolts, a contortonist who can fit his hand in any small place and undo one fitting or another, and sooner or later... after many bloody knuckles and curse words, the engine bay will no longer seem like such a scary place.
Really, just get some background knowledge, perhaps a friend who knows at least a little bit, and jump right in. Thats what most people do... There is very little you can really do that cant be fixed (with $$ haha).
But the best thing to do is just get out in the garage and just DO stuff. You learn so much more with hands on things--- you just cant be afraid to break things (because you WILL, trust me). You'll become an expert at getting off stripped/rusted bolts, a contortonist who can fit his hand in any small place and undo one fitting or another, and sooner or later... after many bloody knuckles and curse words, the engine bay will no longer seem like such a scary place.
Really, just get some background knowledge, perhaps a friend who knows at least a little bit, and jump right in. Thats what most people do... There is very little you can really do that cant be fixed (with $$ haha).
SmithSR wrote:You gain so much perspective from the scraped knuckles and cursing the damn rusty bolts that won't budge!
I have seriously come to beleive that time spent working on cars is pretty much 98% messing around with frickin bolts that DONT/WONT come off for some reason, be it rust, or stripped, or SOMETHING.... lol after a while though you have your own special tricks that work pretty well-- lol the knuckles still bleed, but at least the bolt comes off before dinnertime...
Some of my favorite stuck bolt "tricks:"
-the double wrench technique-- lock 2 open ended wrenches together for extra torque!
-even better, take the 2nd section of the pole off of your floor jack, slide it on to a socket driver, and now you have a huge a$$ breaker bar!
-two words: angle grinder!
-PB Blaster. There is no substitue- not WD40, not Liquid Wrench. PB does its job better than any other.
-the "curse and get pumped up" technique. Remind yourself that you are not the bolt's ******, and that YOU are the BOSS!
-and last, but not least, the "take a break and get some food/drink for a while" technique. for some reason, a frustrating bolt always seems to come off much easier after a couple slices of pizza and a cooling-off period
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Mr1der
- Posts: 36020
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- Car: It's still not a Nissan...
- Location: Lebanon TN
books are a great help.
experience is the biggest though.
I've learned a lot from reading and mostly from helping my uncle since I was like 12. (I still don't know **** though:D)
the sites Fiz listed are helpful too, howstuffworks will teach you the basic concept of the modern combustion engine though most makers have something different in design (like VTEC, VTTi stuff like that, or Ferrari's crazy sliding cam thing...or just the basic head and valve design, cumbustion chamber, like the hemi, which a lot of modern engines use). Sometimes different fuel delivery (silly crossfire, then there's efi, throttle bodies, and the classic carbuerator)
buy a carb and rebuild it for fun. or play with throttle bodies. remember to buy some good books and don't ever be afraid to ask us(well, more so them, I wouldn't ask me a question) questions.
experience is the biggest though.
I've learned a lot from reading and mostly from helping my uncle since I was like 12. (I still don't know **** though:D)
the sites Fiz listed are helpful too, howstuffworks will teach you the basic concept of the modern combustion engine though most makers have something different in design (like VTEC, VTTi stuff like that, or Ferrari's crazy sliding cam thing...or just the basic head and valve design, cumbustion chamber, like the hemi, which a lot of modern engines use). Sometimes different fuel delivery (silly crossfire, then there's efi, throttle bodies, and the classic carbuerator)
buy a carb and rebuild it for fun. or play with throttle bodies. remember to buy some good books and don't ever be afraid to ask us(well, more so them, I wouldn't ask me a question) questions.
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psychic_mechanic
- Posts: 296
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- Car: the world's ugliest civic
fiznat wrote:I have seriously come to beleive that time spent working on cars is pretty much 98% messing around with frickin bolts that DONT/WONT come off for some reason, be it rust, or stripped, or SOMETHING.... lol after a while though you have your own special tricks that work pretty well-- lol the knuckles still bleed, but at least the bolt comes off before dinnertime...
Some of my favorite stuck bolt "tricks:"
-the double wrench technique-- lock 2 open ended wrenches together for extra torque!
-even better, take the 2nd section of the pole off of your floor jack, slide it on to a socket driver, and now you have a huge a$$ breaker bar!
-two words: angle grinder!
-PB Blaster. There is no substitue- not WD40, not Liquid Wrench. PB does its job better than any other.
-the "curse and get pumped up" technique. Remind yourself that you are not the bolt's ******, and that YOU are the BOSS!
-and last, but not least, the "take a break and get some food/drink for a while" technique. for some reason, a frustrating bolt always seems to come off much easier after a couple slices of pizza and a cooling-off period
Mopar rest penetrator is better than anything else on earth. (It also works on non-mopar rust as well)
It's a thick gray goo that sprays on. Of course this goes back to everyone having their own favorite tricks.Getting your hands dirty is the only way to truly learn about cars. Books and FSM's are nice to read, but to truly make sense you need to be able "feel" how the parts relate to each other.
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Thrwnsprkz
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nametakennow
- Posts: 10024
- Joined: Sat Aug 24, 2002 4:14 pm
- Car: '06 MINI Cooper S
I wish there were more decent people around town who needed work done, I'd learn a lot .
Anyway, reading a ton helps. Browing the forums here has brought me more knowledge than anything (besides a couple installs on my own car).
My dad wasn't much help beyond new windshield wipers. If I was into stereos I'd be set (Electrical Engineering degree), but of course, I want speed. Learning to wash a car properly is a good first step, learned that from my brother. You've never seen a cleaner car than when he's washed it, wow... I'm getting there.
Anyway, tinker around, find some friends who are installing stuff and join them (install days are GREAT excuses to have friends over... my original crew of 3 will be 5 for my next install, despite the fact that this should be the easiest install yet, assuming I go exhaust over suspension...blah blah, launches into internal dialogue about what to do next).
If it takes you a lot longer than people tell you it will, it's probably a good thing, unless it doesn't work. This part comes from experience, being that I've done only two installs on my car and pretty much 0 of the maintenance (haven't had it long). Installing my intake took 8 hours, including 2.5 troubleshooting as to why the car died even when the gas was floored... the MAF was backwards (DOH!). This is what happens with 3 car geeks with little to no experience... combined.
So, like I said, I've only been under the hood/car twice since getting it in August, and I'm dying to get under her again, even if it takes some obscene amount of time, the satisfaction of having done it myself (with help from friends, which is almost free) is great.
Favorite tricks:-cuss, a lot-bolt not coming off? Hit it! Now try again!-spend all that time that you're trying to get that stupid bolt mentioned before off also talking with your friends about where you're going to victory (victory over the forces of "pay-to-install") dinner... victory dinner is the GREATEST tradition ever, I hope you all try it sometime.-cuss, more-do little stuff while I'm at it, for instance, when we pulled out my stock intake setup, since the battery was out too, I whipped out the shopvac and vacuumed out some of the engine bay, clean cars are happy cars.-money is a biatch (not a trick, just me griping)
Hmm... not a lot of favorite tricks yet, all the more reason I need my paycheck... GAR!
A bit of advice for starting out: it doesn't matter how long it takes, or how many cuts you acquire, or anything, so long as it works. Relish the newfound power/handling/etc you get every time you install something... the first drive with a new part is always the most enjoyable one.
Oh, and I'm not quite 17 myself (so close... 31 days), so I fully understand where you're coming from.
.Anyway, reading a ton helps. Browing the forums here has brought me more knowledge than anything (besides a couple installs on my own car).
My dad wasn't much help beyond new windshield wipers. If I was into stereos I'd be set (Electrical Engineering degree), but of course, I want speed. Learning to wash a car properly is a good first step, learned that from my brother. You've never seen a cleaner car than when he's washed it, wow... I'm getting there.
Anyway, tinker around, find some friends who are installing stuff and join them (install days are GREAT excuses to have friends over... my original crew of 3 will be 5 for my next install, despite the fact that this should be the easiest install yet, assuming I go exhaust over suspension...blah blah, launches into internal dialogue about what to do next).
If it takes you a lot longer than people tell you it will, it's probably a good thing, unless it doesn't work. This part comes from experience, being that I've done only two installs on my car and pretty much 0 of the maintenance (haven't had it long). Installing my intake took 8 hours, including 2.5 troubleshooting as to why the car died even when the gas was floored... the MAF was backwards (DOH!). This is what happens with 3 car geeks with little to no experience... combined.
So, like I said, I've only been under the hood/car twice since getting it in August, and I'm dying to get under her again, even if it takes some obscene amount of time, the satisfaction of having done it myself (with help from friends, which is almost free) is great.
Favorite tricks:-cuss, a lot-bolt not coming off? Hit it! Now try again!-spend all that time that you're trying to get that stupid bolt mentioned before off also talking with your friends about where you're going to victory (victory over the forces of "pay-to-install") dinner... victory dinner is the GREATEST tradition ever, I hope you all try it sometime.-cuss, more-do little stuff while I'm at it, for instance, when we pulled out my stock intake setup, since the battery was out too, I whipped out the shopvac and vacuumed out some of the engine bay, clean cars are happy cars.-money is a biatch (not a trick, just me griping)
Hmm... not a lot of favorite tricks yet, all the more reason I need my paycheck... GAR!
A bit of advice for starting out: it doesn't matter how long it takes, or how many cuts you acquire, or anything, so long as it works. Relish the newfound power/handling/etc you get every time you install something... the first drive with a new part is always the most enjoyable one.
Oh, and I'm not quite 17 myself (so close... 31 days), so I fully understand where you're coming from
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Ghettokracker71
- Posts: 348
- Joined: Wed Jun 02, 2004 9:12 am
My dad is a major car guy and taught me ALOT of the basics throughout my entire life. I was raised on Chevy V8s,so I already knew alot. That and lotsa car magazines,bugging the hell out of mechanics when I want to know something,books,TV shows...etc.
Recently I've been learning on Zilvia and NICO
Also just trying to fix/tinker with ****...often breaking it,but hey ti was fun and worth it
Recently I've been learning on Zilvia and NICO
Also just trying to fix/tinker with ****...often breaking it,but hey ti was fun and worth it
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NoStickers
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- Car: 1991 240sx w/ sr (RIP)
1989 240sx w/ ka
1996 240sx donor car (coming soon) - Location: Ft. Bragg
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nametakennow
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- Joined: Sat Aug 24, 2002 4:14 pm
- Car: '06 MINI Cooper S
