How did you learn to wrench??

[GSXLR8]

I was having lunch with some other club members yesterday and we got to talking about how we best learned to work on our cars and solve problems and why it seems to be that things have changed recently.
my thoughts were, I learned things most when I simply went in and started trying things....taking things apart and doing my best....taking responsibility for every bolt I stripped, every perfectly good part that I replaced, every clutch job that took weeks to complete. Sure, I messed a lot up, but know I know how to do those things properly. I payed to have my clutch done the first time....and it was by a friend...yes, I payed money! that was because it was his time that I was comsuming....he had his own dsm that he could have been working on. after that, I learned by wreching on my own with the words of others to back me up.

moral of the story, I didnt ask for free wrenching unless I had already done everything in my power (busted knuckles, blood, sweat, etc.) to get the job done.
maybe it was just the desire to actually learn something new and I held pride in the fact that I've wrenched 95% of the parts on my car. *shrugs*

what about you guys?? how did you become experts at what you are experts of?

[dsmarc]

my swap i think i have learned more in 7 months than i have in 12 years of school. and i still dont know much. and i know i wouldnt know half of what i do if it wasnt for the people who have helped me.
at this point i am just needing help building a motor, where i can now probably put my own engine in. a few months ago i didnt even know where to start

[Iwishiwascool]

I was a noob once too. About a month after I bought my car my motor crankwalked. Having no place to do it or the sills to change my oil let alone a motor, I paid Buschur racing to do it for me. Being cheap, I dove right in doing any mods myself that I could get a vfaq or dsmtalk info on. I still wasnt confident that I could do a clutch myself so I paid Shumway and JP to do it for me while I watched. I moved on to turbo swaps, eventually a head swap with the help of Jamie. When I killed the Bushchur implanted motor, I knew that it was time for me to learn myslef. With Mike Blacks graciousness (which as a result, MB's garage is off limits to CDSM forever) My current motor was built up and dropped in (In just 3 months). In doing this I learned a great deal not just about motor building but about how motors work and how important and minute tolerances are.

That being said, it makes me sad when people almost expect others to go out of their way to help with projects. I am 10 times as likely to lend a hand to a kid who has already done everything he felt comfortable with before arriving to aid in the challenging part.

and... Im still learning.

[Mike C]

I've learned by trial and error and alot of help(teaching) from my dad. He has been alot of help with general mechanical stuff but his knowledge ends once engine tuning and stuff like that starts. I honestly attribute a big part of my success to getting the right tools. I think its often overlooked but having the exact right tool for the job saves so much time and money in broken stuff.

[Dweet]

I'll admit I dont know a whole lot. I'm learning tons from doing this swap. But the help I've recieved from people on this board is priceless. I started learning by putting bolt ons on my Tiburon, started with a header and went from there. So far on my Tib I have 4-2-1 header, catback exhaust, BIM, BTB, UR Crank pulley, stage 3 clutch, Fidanza flywheel, and at one point had a NX setup. All of which I put on myself except for the flywheel and clutch which I can do now. Then in my beater at the time I had to do a engine AND tranny swap which I learned a little more from. But doing a boosted car I'm doing something new because I've never owned yet alot drived a boosted car on a regular basis, but I have read maximum boost and thats about the extent of my knowledge. But hopefully I'll learn some more as I help people with their projects.

[jplong]

You guys are gonna laugh.
I learned when i was 5 years old. It was a bycycle that I took COMPLETELY apart and was unable to reassemble it 100%. that was my first learning experience. My dad and stepdad are both do it yourselfers and both very smart. so i got the genes and the schooling. I can literally see how something works before i take it apart now. I can build shit in my head. I feel like im tooting my own horn a bit on this, but oh well.
At the age of 9 -10 i was fixing lawn mowers - typical stuff, flywheel/magneto, spark plugs, coils. By 14 i was doin struts and coil springs and any other issues on my parents cars. yeah I said 14. at that time i was rebuilding a motorcycle engine for my 100 CC dirt bike. I have built (helped build but was an intrigal part of design process) of a sawmill with a v8 to power it by the age of 15. I have also done other non auto mechanical work...built a house etc. I worked on car stereos in my HS years. who didnt at that age. by the time i was 18 I worked on engines larger than some peoples houses. In the navy i worked on dual crank opposing piston diesel engines (awesome shit) there found in todays tugboats. I did 2 stroke motors on the smaller boats and again the lager stuff that propelled the ships. I was tired of gettin dirty by my naval end so i decided to get into electronics.
Devry good school...too much money. I never finished. learned enough to be usefull in simple repairs. IE those pesky caps on your ECUs that go bad..LOL.

I have learned about engines through my whole life. I knew how to fix them at an early age. but not untill now did i know how to make real power. I knew adding air would make more power. But i never knew how to do that until now.

[OWNDJOO]

i've learned most of my knowledge from my father. the man is just great with cars. i actually have to tell him to leave the car alone, so i can work on it and learn. jamie is ALWAYS there to help out anytime i need it. and mike c has also been a great guy and helped out with wiring and tuning issues. sam has helped out a lot and shumway, jp,ken, and mikey have all been contributing to my knowledge. i usually just dive in and try to do the work myself with a lil help a la cell phone calls. i recently did a tranny swap by myself with just a lil help in the muscle dept. to get it back on. i love to work on cars, but i'm more into custom fabrication.

[EvolvedDSM]

As with JP, I started jerking around with my bicycle at a young age. My dad came in handy when I was stuck. I witnessed him doing the mechanical stuff on our cars for years and picked some of it up from him. I was into RC cars for a few years and had fun building my own. Dabbled in the stereos in HS and drove a BPOFS that I had to do some work on myself to keep it running. Picked up my first DSM in 93 and started playing with bolt-ons shortly thereafter. Friends of mine worked as techs at dealerships and I got some guidance from them. It wasn't until 99 when I blew a T25 that I did anything of consequence (by myself). I think 00 was my first timing belt when the water pump seized on the NT AT POS. First clutch came that year with the help of Tony @ FFI. Since then, it's continued to be a gradual learning process. Now I'm in the EVO game and most are noobs or just don't want to be any sort of grease monkey, but that's OK. I enjoy the additional income ;)

[DSM614]

I really dont know what to say here... ive pretty much covered the board on car's, and every part to them.

I did the bike thing because my older brother was a dirt racer, and my grandma/grandpa owned a bike racing store to help him out, so up to about 10 years old I was working on bikes... and then my dad got a Trans am with a 350 in it and it was over from there, it was all about car's... right acrossed the street was his buddy's body shop and you should believe I spent my days in the shop helping out on all the hotrod's.

Then somehow, I got into skating and 11 years later im turning wrenches on everybody's DSM after I did my first turbo swap (paid FFI to do a the first clutch and turbo) and ive been into it for 3 years now and owned almost every DSM made short of a 2g AWD. (AKA addicted)

Ive fucked up many times, by myself, fixed the problem I made, didn't pay anyone shit. LEARNED. Now...its a time game.. how fast can you do a headgasket? turbo? tranny swap? all valuble in the time of need, When you don't have much time at all.

Get a job at a junkyard, or a dealership, and take all the motor's and suspension apart. (50 a day on my part) You'll learn car's. Really quick.

I have had alot more exp. then what ive said, but it would be a book.

[12SecT@lon]

I would have to thank my wonderfull dad on teaching me everything I know. I am still trying to get him to teach me how to do bodywork/paint. My dad has been in dragracing teams for most of my life and I have been privlaged to join him now and then getting the chance to learn such things as how a supercharger works and how to make 7000 hp out of a v8 wich is totaly awesome! Most of my other talents like welding and newly learned tig welding I have learned on my own helping other people out with there projects.

I am still here if anyone need's custom welding/fabrication of downpipes, exhast etc. Just pm me and I will respond as soon as I can!


Thanks for your time,
Dan Weaver

[ucsigep]

Around 11 or 12 years old I started going to the track with my uncle. He had an 11 sec Nova at the time, and after one trip to the dragstrip, I was hooked. I went every weekend with him, trying to do what I could. He was never a great teacher, he was also the type to do everything himself. Eventually I was helping on changing the jets in the carbs, spark plugs, little things like that. Other duties included filling up the water jugs, topping off the fuel cell, putting him in the water box, things like that. When I turned 16, I was ready to start building my own race car. Mom said not to come home with anything we didn't already have, but dad and I went out and bought a 69 Chevelle with a straight-6. Brought it home, mom said immediately I wasn't allowed to have a race car. So, dad decided to try and tinker with it. He had no clue about cars, other than you put gas in them and they get you places. He found a guy that he worked with that did mechanic work at home for a little extra income, and asked him for help. Dad and I spent a few weekends at the guys garage, first day was ripping apart a stock Chevy 350 that was going to be built and dropped in. That was the first I really learned how a motor worked. At 16 years old, I was ready to learn how to do automotive work myself. I managed to tear apart a block myself, surely I could change brakes and oil, etc.

Then comes college years. I go from a Chevy Blazer (mom and dads, brand new, wasn't allowed to do anything to it) to my first DSM, 90 TSi FWD. Meet up with a friend of a friend in college that was also into DSMs, and he got the ball rolling. I started reading the Talon Digest, VFAQ, etc. My first mod I did myself was cutting the air can so it still could be mounted, as well as allow maximum air flow. I put in a boost gauge, and a simple bleeder-valve to up the boost. Only took the car to the track once, but when I was there with about 10 other DSMers and I saw what they were doing with theirs, I wanted to do more.

Only two things on a DSM I've ever paid to have done, the timing belt on that 1g, I was still a greenhorn when it came to DSMs, I didn't even know what the problem was at the time. All I knew is that it wasn't making power. That was an expensive lesson. :) Second thing I paid for was a turbo swap. My turbo on that 1g went out in the winter of 2000. I had no garage available to work on it and didn't want to work on it in the snow, so I bought a used 14b and took it to the local Mitsu dealership in Cinci. They hooked it up, I ended up paying something like $100 for labor, and that was because they broke two of the turbo bolts. I paid nothing for any parts they needed for the job.

The turning point for me, though, was my front mount on the 2g. When I installed my front mount, I knew I could do almost anything with this car. When I had it all apart, and there is nothing on the front of my car, to go from that to running was huge in my mind. Plus, the fact I pulled in the garage, and 2 hours later pull out of the garage with a FMIC on, it was over.

[MitsubishiGirl]

One word-6 bolt swap...if you don't know anything before doing one...you'll know after doing it!! :D I learned more about my car in 1 week than I have in 2+ years.


Actually, I started wrenching back when I was a teen...on muscle cars.

DSM's-I've been learning here and there watching Sam and Kenny or getting instructions while they supervise. Every time I get a mod, I like to do it myself while they kinda walk me threw the steps (of course trying to take over and me yelling-"give me the damn wrench, I'm doing it myself, just tell me what to do" ) lol

You just appreciate it more when you know you've played a big part in doing it yourself...

[BlackEclipse]

For the most part, I am self taught and a late starter.

I've helped my dad a few times over the years as a "tool bitch" when he did stuff like replace the clutch on my sister's Ford Mustang. I never actually did any work other than help and stay out of the way. The concept of modding a car for higher performance never entered my mind until the 90's when I started reading magazine articles about stuff being done to 4-cylinder cars.

I didn't really start "real" wrenching on cars on my own until 2000 when I was 33 years old. (I didn't take apart a bicycle until I was 26 years old). It was only at this time in my life (when I was 33) that I had some things going for me:
1) money (my family did not have much when I was growing up)
2) a car that is no longer covered under a warranty
3) tools
4) my own personal garage
5) no car payments & no debts

My first wrenching came on my 87 Jetta - I took it apart. This car sat in pieces in my garage for over a year before I gave it to my dad to put back together. I already had the short block & clutch back together but I had issues with a number of parts that went around the block like accessories and brackets and motor mounts. It really wasn't obvious where things went and I couldn't remember since it was apart so long.

I didn't start real wrenching on my 95 Eclipse GST until 2002. I had a few things that ushered in this era:
1) I was completely done with throwing away my money at FFI
2) After seeing my car in pieces and being worked on at FFI, I developed confidence that I could do the work myself
3) I had a digital camera to take pictures of stuff before I took it apart
4) I had a lot more tools now that I collected while taking apart the Jetta
5) The Jetta was back together and was a somewhat reliable 2nd car to drive now

Then in the fall of 2002 I had some problems that happened all at once: my tranny went bad, my starter went bad, my motor was crankwalking, my CV boots were blown, and a rubber boot on one of the lower control arm ball joints was blown. This coincided with the closing of the FFI shop...so I was completely on my own.

I just jumped right in and starting wrenching and never looked back.

The only unpaid help that I received on my car was 3 times when Jamie came over to:
1) help diagnose the knocking noise in my tranny
2) help me in the final stage of removing the tranny
3) help me set the timing on my rebuilt motor

I have personally torn down both a 6-bolt short block and a 7-bolt short block. I've also watched Ken & that other guy tear down a 6-bolt block.

I've rebuilt a 7-bolt block by myself. I did maybe one third to one half the work in helping Ken rebuild his 6-bolt block.

I've torn down a 7-bolt head (except for the valves) and built it back up.

[Theoretic]

By breaking things and having no money to pay someone else to do it :) and working for my dad at an automotive repair shop doing the basics first and working my way up to more difficult things and also helping him work out our race cars

[ucsigep]

Originally posted by MitsubishiGirl
You just appreciate it more when you know you've played a big part in doing it yourself...


Amen to that!

[vitamincj]

I was always taking stuff apart as a kid. Pens, toys, electronics anything I could get away with taking apart. I just wanted to see how it worked. I always helped my dad working on cars but I was never really interested in doing any of the work myself until I left home and didn't have dad around to do the work anymore. I did all the work on the Conquest myself because every mechanic that saw it was too scared or too intimidated or too smart;) to work on it. I did/do all the regular maintenance because nobody else would. Last year I almost overheated waiting to get in to Norwalk for the DSM Shootout(electric fan died) and the rings started to go. I garaged the car, did the research, bought the parts and got it back up and running. So long story short, I am self taught.

CJ

[MikeyboyTSi]

I'm a first generation car person, so I'm 100% self-taught. Lots of reading and LOTS of trial and error. I learned the most from the "error" portion of that. No joke.

Research and mistakes are the best learning tools.

[smokeshank]

since my dad works for honda, ive been chaning oil since around 8yrs old or so.
he would make me sit there and watch him as he worked on cars. then i learned how to change spark plugs, and any kind of matience. tires, ignition, belts, ect.

then i turned 15 and started hanging out with talon guy, and learned more and more. then i bought a 4 door civic at age 16, learned a bit more when 3 days after i bought it, it got 2 burnt valves. so i learned a lot when we had to swap the motor. then 2 months after i turned 16 i sold the civic to my dad, and bougth an integra. learned alot from that, then recently, jan this year i bought my 91 hatch, and in june i "totaled" it. but i completly repaired it all my self, and know how to weld, and do any kind of body work. i also learned how to remove and fill rust on my integra.

in fact, im going to be doing some welding for kens car, and body work for a guy with a 240sx thats doing the sr20det swap.

now i know more about honda motors than my dad :)

also, i learned brakes ect from the integra, and suspension. i did my coil overs and brembo brakes on the teg my self.
now its all a breeze.

talon guy calls me "hondo" (guy from Swat) being that im "mr. Honda"

[smokeshank]

Originally posted by MikeyboyTSi
I'm a first generation car person, so I'm 100% self-taught. Lots of reading and LOTS of trial and error. I learned the most from the "error" portion of that. No joke.

Research and mistakes are the best learning tools.

indeed. i learned how to weld, the hard way. wrecked the car i had to weld the core support on, only one way to find out.

[talon guy]

well, i have always been into fixing stuff and tinker with stuff...first it started with like skates and bikes and stuff like that..taking apart my bike all the time after i rode it to lube everything up and put it back together...then i turn 17 and i got my first car...and then it was over....started to mod it, well actually rice it out a bit. did osme electrical work on it, such as neons and stuff, then got the ehxaust on, then the intake and wut not...
then i got my second car. and was more concered with the performance of it then the looks...so all the mods i did to the car was done by myself or with the help of others.....learned alot, got bloody, broke tools etc..all in the fun of moding cars and wut not....had no complaint wut so ever the whole time, except i want faster..
then i got the dsm. and then i modded and modded and read and wrenched and all that fun stuff....helped out others with thier cars and stuff....doing the turbo upgrade by myslef with the help of others was a big learning expierence for me as well as them...we had no instructions or anything...just going on wut i have heard or read online...so i learned alot from doing that and then it was all over from there...i just started to do everything myself or learn how to do it from others cars.. and here i am today, still learning alot all the time and only wanting to learn more....

i love my dsm, its taught me more then i have ever dreamed:beer

[b00stnTSi]

Trial 'n Error.

As everyone else. I worked on my bikes, skates, r/c cars. guns, paintball guns, 3hp b & s motors, lawn mowers, go karts, mini bikes, computers then cars.... My next thing to do is motorcycles. I want a 250-650cc crotch rocket. I want to ride with my buddy on the open road...

[irocnrl89]

I get it all from my dad, he tuaght himself everything starting with rebuilding an LT1 350 out of his 70.5 Camaro Z-28/RS at 17. As I did the same and he just showed me the way and let me go. At 8 after watching my dad once I was rebuilding the carb on my 70cc Honda fourwheeler(Now a built 90cc). Then at 10 I was rebuilding and tuning my 80cc Kawasaki KDX engine and all(Stolen). In the same year my dad got an 89 IROC-Z 350TPI and from then on I focused on nothing but cars. At 14 I built and tuned(Vortech S-FMU) a T3/T4 setup w/ FMIC on my friends 2000 Eclipse GS and installed a Centerforce clutch(1/4 clutches now on that car-none can handle 320whp). At 15 my parents bought me my 90 Mustang GT and in the first month I had it I did a motor swap and clutch. Scince then I've done 30+ Break jobs, 5 sets fwd axles, 10+ clutches, too many head gaskets, and lots of bulls^&! work. I just turned 17 and I have a good feeling Im gonna be working on cars the rest of my life. I dont mind working on mine, I just dont wanna be a mechanic forever.

[TRAIN73_TSI]

i started out with a 1.8l eclipse. went from wings to rims and looks. one day the piston rings went out. so i baught a motor from kirby's junk yard and had a friend swap but i helped being his tool bitch. i learnd a little bit. i traded that car for a 91 eagle talon tsi from king of the hill in c-bus. the clutch went out so i thought. was going to have my buddy change it for me. he told me to come over and hell do it. i pulled the car in and jacked it up on stands and was ready for him to start. he cam out to the garage and and said " this is your car these are are my tools figure the shit out your self." from then on i have been wrenching my own car unless it is out of my power to do. i have learned a great deal about the dsm and very confident in what i do. i am still learning new things about it every day. got so good a pulling motors a few buddys timed me at pulling my motor out sitting it on the floor and changing the clutch and putting it back in the car every thing hooked up in 40 min by my self. that was with all the heat shealding and little things that i didnt need from the first time i pulled the motor. when working on your on car you have something to appreciate when its done and many people have mre respect for you and your car if they knew you done all the work your self as to having someone else do it for you.

[dsmarc]

this thread is almost EXACTLY a year old.

[coltboostin]

My father and most in my family want nothing to do with cars, dad even offered to buy me a "normal" car if I gave up on the Colt. All self taught for 2-3 years, then hooked up with a good bunch of guys that share info with me and I with them. Research is your friend.

[MitsubishiGirl]

Originally posted by TRAIN73_TSI
i traded that car for a 91 eagle talon tsi from king of the hill in c-bus.

Is this car red?

[TRAIN73_TSI]

no its silverish gold looking. was about 2.5 yrs ago something like that.

i know own a 91eagle talon fwd stroked

mods

2.3l stroked bottom end (i built)
20g turbo
2.5 turbo back custom v-band setup
fmic
550cc if dont sell moving up to 1000cc inj
rx7 fule pump
1g exhaust mani ported.
all free mod
greddy emange (moving to aem ems if dont sell)
working head to be continued.
and more cant remember every thing.

[MitsubishiGirl]

I was thinking it was red, but may be wrong. Sam worked there about 2 1/2ish years ago.

[TRAIN73_TSI]

may be same guy i dont know. if so ask if he remember the black guy that test drove it and traded in a blue 91 eclipse. i did like 90 on a side street by the dealer and the guy was a little scared as i was too for driveing my first turbo car.

[yellowrage99]

I'm another one of those late bloomers. I didn't really start doing auto stuff till I was 16 and my old Dodge Dakota needed fixing. Here's where I learned brakes, exhaust, plugs, etc, and how to diagnose general problems (what a certain sound in the engine or tranny might mean). Then I got my Mirage, and the real learning began. I've learned so much just by reading how-to's on the internet and in books, taking stuff apart and putting it back together, and especially from one of my best friends, Kyle who is an absolute wizzard under the hood. Whenever I couldn't figure something out or didn't have the right tool, he'd always be willing to come over after work and show me what I was doing wrong or how to improove something that I had already done. I'm still learning, and have a long way to go, but simply by putting together a turbo kit for my car, I've learned a lot about my engine, and look foward to learning more when I actually get the time (and money) to put it all together.