7TiVette,
Well said.
So many times while working on my 68 I uttered the phrase " I wish the guy who designed this got out from behind his desk and got behind a wrench and maybe he would have provided an extra 1/2 inch of clearance to get at this damn part". Plenty of room on paper, but not in real life when you are working on it or find you have to remove 4 items to get at what you are trying to fix.
You now have the opportunity to mix "real world" learning with "book learning". Awesome combination: Go for it.
Kurt

 

Master the fact that even an internal combustion engine is merely composed of the 7 tools known to man. That's IT.

 

Couldn't have said it better !

 

i took auto shop for 2 years in high school. i have had subscriptions to hot rod, super chevy and chevy highperformance.

my favorite thing about my vette is discovering how it was built as i restore it. take it apart, clean it up and put it back together.

 

Once you start scraping the skin off your knuckles and wondering "why the hell did they put this part here" you will question your fellow mechanical engineering folks actual abilities. Glad you are a dirty fingernail, cut up hands engineer.

 

I joined the RAAF when I was 17 as an Aircraft Engine Fitter. After recruit training, I was sent to a technical training school where for the first 6 months we learnt to tell the difference between a file and a hammer etc - basic fitting skills, the culmination of which was the construction of this little vise completely from scratch.

Then I moved onto learning my trade and whenever we covered anything to do with aircraft piston engines that could be replicated on a car, we would bring our cars into the hangar and do the practical work that we had just learnt the theory to.

Also, like other guys have said, I couldn't afford a new car so always had some old junker. I couldn't afford to pay someone else to fix them so I had to learn to do it myself. Then I discovered that you could make a factory V8 go LOTS faster by modifying it, so my learning curve went up again.

I'm 40 now and apart from the "electrickery" associated with newer cars, there's still nothing that I wouldn't have a go at.

All good fun though and a real sense of satisfaction knowing that you've done something yourself. Buy a factory workshop manual and don't be afraid to ask questions. Digital cameras are dirt cheap these days so when you strip something, take a zillion pics as you go in case you forget when you go to reassemble it

 

When I was 19 a frame off restoration was the furthest thing in my mind.

I started out by helping my dad fix the family clunker. I developed a fascination with tools and started assembling my own collection. Right after I started college, I bought a '67 VW and found that car very easy to repair. It was a good learning car for me.

While in college a friend of mine got me a part time job at a Sunoco gas station & repair shop. I learned a lot there by helping and listening to the mechanics. After a while the manager told me any $$ I would bring in for repairing cars was mine. I worked the weekend 3-11p shift. He just wanted the customers to get accustomed to use his service station any time/day.

I then worked one summer vacation there and would inspect cars for the mechanics while they sat around playing cards. They would then spot check my work and put on the sticker.

My VW died and I bought a 6yr old Pontiac Firebird Formula 400, hood tach & all. After that I was an official gear head and had gear box lube running in my blood.

I graduated College and settled into society, moved out of the inner city ghetto and it wasn't until I was 40 that I started to think about buying a "hobby" car. I always owned some type of muscle/sports car over the years and repair them when I could. I had two Tran-Ams, a Z-28, Mustang GT and now my '70 Vette. I modded all of them myself but working on the old vette is easier in comparison.

 

Hey Matt,

Here on the forum we have everything from world-class professionals to guys who aren't sure where to put the gas. But for the most part, the folks here are just amateurs; duffers who happen to like wrenching in the garage. I think the majority here are challenged by these cars and pushed to, if not over, their limits.

At 54 I know most of the basics but I'm not too proud to tell you that I am "over my limit" on lots of this stuff. But that's okay with me. I just enjoy tinkering and learning about my car. I just try to make it better than it was when I got it, and I try not to break too much stuff in the process.

Read, ask questions, go to car shows, searn from anyone who is willing to talk to a young car guy. Buy the best tools you can and don't be afraid to get your hands dirty.

 

I learned what little I know helping friends on their hot rods after school...then I tinkered with my first car(51 Ford flathead)..actually pulled engine/re-installed,bent fan blade unkowingly and blade severed rad hose on freeway...my second car(49 Olds Coupe) I drove home after purchase($75) with the fuel pump leaking...somehow,I fixed that...
In the late 60's with very little money,just married, I had no choice but to do repairs...notable was clutch replacement on our 64 Malibu 283 cu in 4 speed...lowered the Muncie on my chest (under car) and wriggled out with it...installed new clutch and it did not work..so pulled everything out,and discovered parts shop had given me a pressure plate for a 348 chevy...

Anyway...it has been downhill from there...

Rich

 

The more I work on cars, the more I realize I don't know S#%t!

Still consider myself a Rookie!

 

I still don't know very much about cars when compared to the other guys on the forum, but have come along way, in terms of the engine knowledge.

When I was in high school, I did not have any money, and had an 84 Trans Am that I had picked up cheap. Ran pretty good, but I needed to do typical maintenance (i.e., plugs, wires, etc.). There came a day when I had to replace the valve cover gaskets. After I took the covers off, I remember thinking, "Wow, that's what the inside of the engine looks like." Little did I know.

The next largest project was the cam change in the vette. Once, it was all apart, I looked at it and was overwhelmed. Once it was put back together, I realized that it wasn't too bad.

Same thing when and buddy and I rebuilt the engine in his vette.

Just takes steps at a time.

 

Thanks again for the great response guys
I've been a vette fan since I was about 15 and my neighbor took me for a ride in his '02. I wanted to get a mechanical engineering degree so that someday i could maybe have a hand in designing the 2020 corvette or something like that. At school they definitely do not teach technical skills though, which is my favorite part of engineering. The math and physics are important sure, but I feel you need to able to get in there see how something works too.

 

I've been working on my car since I was 15. My dad has helped me some (mostly just the engine rebuild), but other than that I use books or read stuff on this forum. I'm now 17 and plan on starting a body-off this summer before I go to college.

 

Drive one of these all your life and the rest becomes second nature,

 

sweet

 

The best advice out there

 

I'm cheap!! I refuse to pay anyone to fix anything!!

Always have repaired any vehicle; I have owned over many years, with the exception of repairs which I don't have proper equipment for (always wanted to buy an alignment rack!!)

Having a forum available like this is PRICELESS!!
I used to spend days finding information from whatever sources I could find.
Today, the information is literally at your fingertips!!