Teach me!!!!

[gpskinzhut]

Originally Posted by partlowr

My buddies and I joke about how did we do anything without the internet, Forums and You Tube 20 years ago.

Chilton's, Haynes... and when all else failed, hang your head and let a garage figure out what the hell you just f'd up. lol. Don't miss those days.

[Norm Peterson]

Originally Posted by wsmith

After a few months on here and lots of reading I still feel like a complete noob and stiff have lots of questions. Where do the people who really know what they're talking about learn all that stuff? It's really frustrating from someone who never grew up with someone to teach me how car stuff works.

It's knowledge that has been accumulated over time, decades of that in many cases. It's starting small and working up to more difficult tasks as your experience and confidence build. It's being able to take what you learned in the past and being able to adapt it to new situations. It's learning how to think, and thinking about what to learn.


Norm

[bkevind]

OP - I am / was in the same boat, though at my age now I have no excuse. I grew up without any kind of wrenching knowledge.

Like everyone has said, with forums like this one and youtube vids there is plenty available to accelerate your knowledge. you're missing the experience and built up skills, which will take some time to accumulate as you tackle new things.

I think a large part of what you are asking about is not just mechanical skill with cars, it's knowing what works, what doesn't work with regard to modifications. That's where sticking around the forums and just gleaning knowledge as you read various posts will help. I've learned a lot that way over the years in various forums. Unfortunately there is a lot chatter, and not always good information in forums, (and a lot of "just search for it!" which doesn't help really). Initially you have to take the information with a grain of salt until you can discern the truth of what works over time - you'll identify the consistent patterns from those that know, and have proven results.

Some people are not at all mechanically inclined, even if they have been around it. No shame in that.

Me, I've only tackled basic maintenance, bolt-ons. Oil changes, spark plugs, brake jobs, suspension R&R, timing belts (Audi), turbo installs etc. I have never disassembled/reassembled an engine. I think I should just get a spare/junk engine for cheap and start learning with my hands for that level of work.

I spent a few years wrenching on F-16s, which helped get over the fear of the unknown when working on a car. Though I think the jets were almost easier to work on (they are incredibly complicated but you have very explicit job guides for every step + a lot of experienced folks working along side), you start as an apprentice and get hand-held for a bit, then work your way up to journeyman etc.

[myold88]

Originally Posted by gpskinzhut

Chilton's, Haynes... and when all else failed, hang your head and let a garage figure out what the hell you just f'd up. lol. Don't miss those days.

I kinda do. But there wasn't much any novice couldn't do to fix any Chevy back in the 50's
or an antique car today..... My Camaro, I let someone else do it.

[Orange skid mark]

I learned a lot when I was a kid by tearing things apart and putting them back together. I grew up on a farm and had lots of machines to fix all the time. When it comes to these cars I know very little because I have not taken my Camaro apart - yet..... and don't plan on needing to. When I was a kid I also learned a more important lesson to not ever need to repair stuff - drive newer cars that don't break down like old stuff.

[Zaruh05]

I'm always on YouTube watching car videos and searching up the terms that I don't know on google

[dugoodle]

I grew up helping or watching other people work on cars. That's somewhat helpful, but doing things yourself is when you really learn. Unfortunately, I have the habit of breaking stuff on newer cars. I liked working on my 83 Camaro. It had screws that you could visually see on the dash and almost every part. Now everything has to be hidden and has plastic snap in stuff that is easy to break.

Almost everything I've done recently I've found online or on YouTube.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

[gpskinzhut]

Originally Posted by dugoodle

I have the habit of breaking stuff on newer cars. I liked working on my 83 Camaro. It had screws that you could visually see on the dash and almost every part. Now everything has to be hidden and has plastic snap in stuff that is easy to break.

I'm assuming that was when it was relatively new? Everything on my '87 is about as brittle as Larry King in a dryer.

[Ir0nM4n]

Originally Posted by wsmith

After a few months on here and lots of reading I still feel like a complete noob and stiff have lots of questions. Where do the people who really know what they're talking about learn all that stuff? It's really frustrating from someone who never grew up with someone to teach me how car stuff works.

One of the questions that I have is how many parts designed for an SS will interchange with a lame LS like mine (doesn't even have foglights wtf?)

I changed items on my first 5th gen Camaro here is that thread,

http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showth...=160428&page=1

Then moved to my 1LE after all that work. Miss the car it was fun and now enjoy the 1LE. As others have said there is allot of information here and depending on what you want you can pretty much do what you want.

[gringo]

Originally Posted by CamaroFred

Sorry, went off on a tangent.

What do you want to improve on your LS? Handling? Get the RS wheels and tires. Braking? You already have great brakes. Acceleration, ah you are kind of screwed there.

Best advice, go to a driving school. There are some inexpensive ones like from the SCCA.

Why is he screwed on acceleration? A 100 hp shot would get him on par or even faster than a V8. If he wanted it to be faster all the time, he could invest in the Overkill supercharger kit. 400+ rwhp should take care of any V8, even a slightly modified one.

[dentnshell]

Lots of reading... and Murphey's law.... Spend money to mod your car.... Then research what to do to compliment that mod - ONLY to find out your first purchase was a bad purchase.... Nothing teaches quite like the burn of wasting money.

Seriously - Set a goal and start researching the ways to achieve it. Your research will teach you many things along the way.

[dugoodle]

Originally Posted by gpskinzhut

I'm assuming that was when it was relatively new? Everything on my '87 is about as brittle as Larry King in a dryer.

LOL it was probably around 10 years old when I had it but was in pretty good shape

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[PalmerGA]

Originally Posted by SlingShot

IMO cars of the 60's to early 70's were much easier to work on without all the computer stuff. Just about any repair could be done at home with just a few tools and a Chiltons.

Agreed. That's the era when I was learning what I know about cars. My Dad would crawl under a car at the drop of a hat, and I'd be under there with him. I was his tool fetcher and a "hold this tight" guy at first but he always explained what he was doing and why, as he went along. Little by little he let me do stuff like; gap the plugs, bleed the brakes, etc. I was blessed that he took the time to teach me the basics. It has saved me a lot of money over the years, and got me out of some jams as well (car suddenly won't crank - give the starter a good whack with a hammer to free up the Bendix gear... but I digress).

Yes... cars were simpler back then, but every time you turned around it was time to change the points, condenser, distributor cap and rotor, (you young guys/gals can Google those terms to see what they are), spark plugs, brake shoes (and don't forget to get the drums turned). Hell, if you lived up north you even needed a new muffle every other year. With today's car you need much more information, special tools, and money to fix your own vehicles. Fortunately, the routine maintenance is much less frequent (i.e. used to get new plugs every 10-15K miles... now you don't touch 'em before 100K miles).

[fhrex]

32 years working in new car dealerships taught me. I'm an assistant service manager, not a tech. But seeing all the repairs and reading all the bulletins over the years has taught me a thing or two. But I'm not a hands on guy, so I choose to remain silent for the most part.