New to mechanics, where to start?

[toki]

I am new to mechanics and would really like to get to know workings of a car deep down, but I dont exactly have a car of my own to work on, other than my parent's (yes, I am young, how did you guess?) I have read up on how to do do a brake job and little things like that but I don't exactly have an engine to open up or a transmission to rebuild at hand or practice with or anyone to even watch or to teach. What should I do? How did all you garage tinkerers learn? I have applied at several garages but all they seem to want is an errand boy who can work a broom -_-, which I can't even do since I dont have a license. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. If this is the wrong place to be asking this feel free to move it.

[trpower7]

Yeah, it'll probably get moved to General. Use the internet, use the library, pick up a service manual for your parent's car, etc. If you've got some $$ pick up an old V8 at a junkyard and start ripping the fool out of it, etc.

[blackbeauty240]

http://www.howstuffworks.comgo to the under the hood section

[EZcheese15]

Start hanging out with people who know their stuff. Ask to come watch as they do stuff. Ask questions to learn more. Most people don't mind teaching people the correct way things work. Be cautious though, don't ask too many questions. That tends to get on peoples nerves. Just watch and learn, but if there is something that totally stumps you, then ask about it. Best way though is just hanging out with people who know their stuff. That, and read forums. Read technical forums (where no B.S. is getting slung like monkey dung), and just analyze stuff until you understand it.

For instance, if someone says "my boost was spiking to 22 lbs because I was running a .70 A/R," then take your time to decipher what that means. If you don't know what boost is, look it up. If you don't know what A/R is, then do a search for it. But attempt to learn it on your own before asking somebody. That does two things....doesn't annoy people who *do* know, and helps you learn. Because you will have to read a ton of stuff to figure that out, and in the process, you will learn even more stuff about cars. This applies to any car related technical sentence you may see.

As you learn more and more about cars, feel free to ask more and more questions. The more you know about cars, the less # of people know more than you, which in turn means less and less people will be annoyed by your questions, the higher your knowledge is.

Anyway, hope this was a decent answer to your question

[trpower7]

:Werd

[Meantime]

One thing my grandfather did to teach me in this regard was give me old Briggs & Stratton and Tecumseh motors from his dealership (he owned a Toro dealer) and then I would completely dismantle the engine from top to bottom, then put it back together again. Gradually moved up from 1 cyl to 2 cyl bike engine, then 4 cyl Pinto engine, then 4 cyl MGB engine...you get the picture. That's how I learned the engineering aspect and how everything is related. To get the technical aspect and other things like wiring etc., you need to do some reading on the Net or check out a few engineering books at the library. Take it slow and you'll be amazed at how much you learn.

[toki]

Yeah, I have been doing basically all those things, and I mean I know ALOT (ok, alot to me) in theory, but not in application, I mean I can tell you what A/R to use and what trim to use for so and so engine, but I couldn't install the thing or even know where to put it if I lifted up the hood. I don't know what the hell throttle body even LOOKS like none the less where to find it or how to install a clutch or anything like that. I mean anybody can read and know what to do, it's being able to do it that i'm looking for...

I am thinking about calling auto shops near my house and just asking to apprentice... oh well.

[themadscientist]

buy a Ford, you will get lots of practical application fixing things:pface If you can snag an actual engine to tinker with it would help you alot. Talk to the local junkyards, they might let you have a known bad engine for free or something. Get a manual for whatever it is and get to wrenching. You will start to understand it a lot better when the parts are in your hands.

[Queamore]

The way I started was I had this Caddilac with this ht4100 engine which was the worst engine they ever made. I got tierd of spending the money on getting it fixed so when the water pump went out again I went to the part store picked up the book and read it and did it myself the engine seized up on me about a month later but thats how I started. After that I refused to give mechanics anymore money for something I could do myself. As time went by I asked mechanics questions and some became friends and I watched and learned. It also helped me by buying 100 doller cars and fixing them by myself those were the good times. especially when I had that ford econoline van it broke down every few blocks and caught on fire twice. but first things first you have to pick up the book and read or take a machine shop class. that'll put you way ahead of the game.

[toki]

Hmm yeah...I was thinking about calling machine shops, and I would definitly try and do that whole 100 dollar car thing if i really had a place to put it....maybe I can try and make room...

[DAEDALUS]

Try the local community colleges too. For $33 I enrolled in a semester of engine repair, which includes 3 hours of lecture and 3 hours of lab per week. In the lab, you can bring in your car to do whatever you want, or you can tear apart one of the many donated cars they already have. It's a night class, so it doesn't interfere with my work schedule. My partner is still in high school. If you're worried you won't be able to make it every night, or if you don't really want to have to do the homework, then see if you can audit the class.