How did you learn to work on cars?
 

As I have been reading the various sections of this forum, I began to wonder how those of you who work on your cars learned. I do very little in the way of "wrenching," but have been thinking about trying to learn.

How did you learn? How old were you when you began? Etc?

In 1972, a few months before my 16th birthday, I paid either $600 or $800 (I can't remember) for a 1962 MGA. It was worth $250 tops. Needless to say, it needed some work from time to time. I was fortunate to live next door to the best mechanic I've ever met, a Brit who raced sports cars in the 50s and 60s. I learned tons hanging out in his garage.

i dont know really.. i did alot of interior work and dash removal on my last car so ive got that down pat and the engine stuff.. let me figure what is broken and needs to be replaced and i can usually replace it. usually

To begin with, never having the money to pay someone else to do it. As time progressed paying someone else to do it and not being pleased with the work; with unexpected bouts of being unable to pay for it sprinkled here and there.

I should add that Grandad was a Rolls and Buick mechanic on the Estate where he worked back in the old country. So there must be some genetic aptitude.

I was 23
 

I was 23, which was the year I learned how to drive. 'Struth. My parents were older than old-school, and had the notion I didn't need to learn how, since I had no car. (I fired back, "Then I don't need to know how to balance a checkbook, since I have no bank account." As usual when they had no good answer, they changed the subject.)

My fiancee, later first wife, taught me to drive. She inherited a little insurance money, and bought a new 1975 Ford Maverick 4-door. (Just $4000 new in those days, folks.) The deal was, we'd both drive it, and I'd learn how to take care of it. Which suited me right down to the ground. I learned from books and from friends how to change oil, coolant, flats, and filters, top off fluids, change spark plugs and upper radiator hoses, and keep the tires properly aired up.

The Maverick was a simple car by today's standards, but it proved a good learning experience. And after years of waiting in the heat and cold for buses, or cadging rides from ever-more-reluctant friends, I was glad to have *any* car, let alone a new one! I was determined to make it last!
.

I did basically the same, except it was an '83 mercedes; and I have this forum to help.

For the past three years I've had a machine shop class (which was three hours a day, for an entire school year) which got me my current job, as a machinist for a company that does StainlessSteel exaust tubes (for Toyta, mainly) Pay is great (esp. when nearly all my classmates are working at fastfood joint..) and the experience I get there is invaluable. I dont just limit myself to machining; I do everything in the shop (Including, but not limited to: Hydrolics, Welding, Tool & Die making (and some designing) LOTS of High and Low current electrical, etc...)

sounds like me cept my benz was 2500$ and i overpaid by 1000$.. but alas no guy named klause next door that worked in the factory during the W123 period.. although my neighbor did own a 240D while in germany when in the army

I feel your pain man.


I new I soulda talked him down a LOT more.

Working on cars is like flying...your gonna crash and burn a few times.
I started back in the 50's helpng dad decoke his 650 BSA, then his 1949 Vauxall 12, then his '56 Humber and then his '59 Austin A40.

.

Damn, D. You just shattered my 38ish image of you:D

I built my own go cart when I was about 14. I had a couple of field cars and my first road car was a 62 Buick Special which needed a motor mount when I purchased it for $100. No money to pay anyone so I did it myself. Then in 1968 (9?) I purchased an MG Midget with a bad clutch and a tooth out of first gear. Had to pull the engine to get at the clutch and tranny but I was working at a Chevy dealership as a car washer/gofer and they let me use the shop. All downhill from there. Lots of real mechanics taught me a lot over the years.

wheres the canoe thing from :silly:

Did a 3 week long canoe trip in Algonquin Park in 1977. It was a religious experience. Pleasure for pleasure, a paddle beats a reciprocating engine anyday.

There was no other choice. Got my drivers license in 1961. Two of my 4 buddy circle were mechanical, the other two were not. None of us could afford to pay to have our cars repaired. So you just learned from manuals and trial and error.

Car's were simpler back then. You have plugs, points, timing, carburetors, no emission stuff, and no power windows etc. No computers. We always figured it out. This included a couple of engine rebuild projects.

I could take the overdrive transmission out of my '56 Ford, re-place the blown synchros, and put it back in one evening. Nobody taught me how to do it. I just crawled under there and figured it out. If you do something often enough it you get good at it.

I took many years off the working on cars thing. Company cars, and no time to mess with the other ones.

Now it's only the MB's that generate any interest on my part. It gets me away from the mental stresses of running my own business. I pay to have the little Tacoma truck, and the 2001 Chrysler mini-van serviced and repaired because I have absolutely no interest in them.

I believe that learning to repair cars is like everything else in life. If have the ability to stick to a target, then you will succeed. You don't necessarily need to become an ace mechanic or tackle every task to enjoy the satisfaction and security of knowing that it was actually done and done correctly.

Finally, the internet with things like forums, pictorials, etc. make things a lot easier to figure out.

Steve

Helped a buddy change a timing chain on a 63' Bonneville when I was about 20.

Then it was just an alternator here and there for the next decade+... diddn't drive much.

Then I got the Benz and found Mercedesshop.

Who wants to wrench on a rusted toyota?... working on the Mercedes is a pleasure and a satisfaction.

Almost everything I learned was from reading and turnning the 'wrench', there is no classroom like trial and error... but the 'Tech' section on this site and the factory manual can get you to the right point of attack.

Bought my first car at 16, an 8 year 1966 Mustang. Learned basic
maintenance and mechanics by books and DIY initiative. Drove it for about year and moved up to a '69 T-bird, now that was a car, 375 hp stock. Thats where I learned alot about more complicated systems, like engines, ignitions, suspensions, voltages, and especially interior stuff (power windows,l ocks, guages, under dash kinda things). 50+ some cars, trucks, and boats later , I rarely let a paid indie touch my mechanical stuff.

Started with boats 454's, Atomic 4's, AQ125B's, big V8N Cummins, than progressed from there.

Buying the MB a couple of years ago forced me to!:D Its fun as a hobby but I am looking forward to only wrenching when I feel like it.

I think it all started the day that my grandfathers Ford Taunus 17m (Badewanne) threw a rod, or died in some other permanent way. (I was 6 or 7). I remember the frantic search, and everybody being happy to find a used motor from a butt-ugly burnt orange/red donor car. From that point on, I thought that maintaining your automobile was one of the more paramount things in life, and I started to pay attention when work was being done (either by my grandfather or my uncle - who has smashed more cars than I care to know about).
Once I moved to the states, I decided to change oil at the beginning, and quickly moved up to thermostats. A few years later I got my own car (a $950 Malibu) and graduated to radiator swaps, exhaust repair, carb mixtures, brake repair, master cyl. swap, and whatever else broke on that thing.

This illness has progressed mildly since then, and is currently being treated by my 3 Benzes, with relatively good success - I haven't had withdrawal symptoms in years.

Got a disassembled A-4 in my basement which I bought for parts and to learn more about them by taking one apart. Great engine.

I'm a natural born gearhead. Everything else in my life takes effort. I suppose one could say I'm an idiot savant....whatever that means:P :D

I hear that. Time flies.

I blame it on legos.


I used to play with them for hours upon hours.

my dad used to tell the story, and i remember it hazily:
he was doing the brakes on his 53 studebaker. drum. i was watching. squatting next to him just watching. he got to a certain point and there was a part which he couldn't remember how it went onto the brakes. i don't remember what part it was. he was muttering out loud, puzzling how it went. i was watching. finally he put it down and was staring at it. i picked up the part and put it on in the way it had to go.

he looked at me and said "thanks tommy".

i was about 5.

been fooling around with mechanical things ever since.

i used to take everything apart to see how it worked. usually i could put it back together too. and it worked.....usually.

tom w

Well they are a neat engine, and parts are pretty easy to get. But compared to a nice 20hp diesel no contest. The A4 lacks the punch to really push a boat that a small diesel delivers.

Although there are a lot of them around, and I sell tons of A4 parts every year.

Unless you are a cruiser--bad CO poisoning risk and less than good fuel temperance in other countries.

cdplayer
 

My first car was a 1969 Mercury Cyclone. I was eighteen and bought it new. After a couple years of hard driving the water pump went out. Paid a dealer $100 labor to put new water pump in. Watched him do it. Thought, damn! I could do that. Did my own work since then. Later on Pic N Pull junk yards came to town. Tools in hand, I practiced on their cars before attempting the more complicated repairs on mine. Thanks to Pic N Pull European and WHunter in this forum I replaced my leaking steering box on my 1984 500 SEC. Saved $600 in labor costs for this repair. Next are the brakes pads, fuel pump and filter, and new steering wheel from Momo.;)

Got the "bug" so to speak back in the early 70's watching a couple of VW nuts down the street build kit cars...one was VW powered, the other, getting a Corvair engine. Learned that you could torque really big nuts with a long pipe over a breaker bar and a bathroom scale!

Anyway, my Dad carpooled with a guy owning a 68 VW, our next door neighbor had a 69 Squareback, and the VW wrenchers had a 72 VW Bus. Needless to say, my first car was also a VW (see my sig of still-owned car).

The VW air-cooled engine was the epitome of simplicity, devoid of cooling system components. A novice could do a rebuild in a weekend!

My Dad owned an MB during that era, and those of you old enough remember that the parts booklet that came with the owners portfolio had very detailed exploded drawings of every conceivable component on the MB model you owned. You could practically build an MB from the ground up just from looking at the diagrams!!

In college, I had fairly expensive tastes in cars and a somewhat indulgent father. Hence the 1987 Audi 5000 turbo quattro in 1996 $4000... but I didn't have any help in fixing the thing... hence learning how to replace steering rack in said Audi. I was buddies with a Mercedes nut at the time, he had a 1972 220, a 1970 280SE, and later a 1958 220SE. That was kind of like getting tossed off the deep end. Later came several more cheap Audis (still have one), the Datsun 240Z affliction, and turning pro a few years back... thanks to a VW shop owner who thought that, all things considered, the W126 is the car of cars. As he sold me one of his, I'm inclined to agree. Now I have a rule which I'd wager few people can follow:

Never pay more for a car than two weeks' paycheck.

I've held to that for the last three years. Still have an Audi 5000TQ (not the same one) and a 300SD, and the reason I came to that axiom was the crushing destruction of the Datsun Z. (Got totaled by a Ford Excursion). It made me cry. Literally. I love my cars, but why get so bent out of shape? If you can't replace it without making a noticeable dent in your checking account, you've put too much of your fortune into it. Gotta be able to replace it at any time is my theory. As I'm not nearly making $10,000 a week, I have to stick with the cheap seats. hence being such a wrench by avocation that I finally made a job of it!

In 1973 I bought a non-running 1947 Willys overland station wagon for $100; I was 16 and I learned by asking questions from my dad; and looking at well worn greasy repair manuals at the library.
The grey beards at Old fashioned Auto parts houses helped a lot also; with things like polarizing a voltage regulator & how to hone a wheel cylinder. They helped me find the way.
(It's hard to find that kind of help from Auto zone)

I wrench now because I enjoy it most of the time; & it takes me less time to repair most things than the amount of time I would spend driving to a repair facility.
I find it hard to pay a mechanic that throws parts at my car until the right part is the 'fix'.

Great story, Tom!
 

What a story. That's great. That kind of positive reinforcement can't be beat. I don't know about your dad, but I spent the first 15-16 years of my life trying to gain my dad's approval or at least some attention. Pats on the back from us are powerful motivators to our kids, aren't they?

I'm thinking of taking one of those adult education classes for working on cars, at least to get started. Trying to talk a friend here to join me. Participating in this forum has been a tremendous motivator for me.

That sounds like me
 

I can remember and erector set as a Christmas gift, and taking apart and not fixing a German clock of my mom's. Then there was the go cart, and when I was 15 my first car was a 1955 220a. It was a basket case that I paid $100 for. I started buying Craftsmen tools at that time. Every birthday or Christmas I would just give my mom the part number of the next tool I wanted and she would get it for me. I still have all of those tools after (gulp) 31 years.

As far as technique I am mostly self taught, and have gained lots of knowledge over the years. Now I feel I can do just about any mechanical job with the right tools and manual.

I love working on European cars, and the Benzes and Porsche 911 are the best IMHO. Taking my time and doing the perfect job gives me a great feeling of satisfaction.:D

Then you had to learn to work on cars!
 

Because we all know that FIAT stands for Fix It Again Tony. I can remember dragging an X1/9 with my souped up 2002 and it blowing my doors off. That must have had major work done to that little 1.3 liter engine. I think they are all gone now because they were made from bad steel that had major corrosion issues.

While that doesn't say much about your family's judgment, it explains everything about why you had to work on cars.

Mee, too
 

I had one of those, too. Sometimes it actually ran well enough to get where I needed to go. I could repair a few things on it just because my mechanic felt sorry for me after a while and showed me how.:cool:

Great topic!

I learned a lot from an older cousin of mine, who was the 'coolest' cousin in the family and he always had engines apart as his house. His Dad had a beautiful Sunbeam Alpine that I loved as a kid.

I started around 17 with my Dad's Ford Tempo, just doing oil changes, plugs, etc. Shortly after the Tempo, I got my first 'real' car, meaning I owned it. It was the 1971 Mercedes 250 sedan in my sig. My Aunt gave it to me as a gift. I remember driving it home, the car felt so special. It looked completely alien to me - unlike anything else I had driven, and to me, the car had tons of character.

I limped it home from my Aunt's running only on 4 of the 6 cylinders. So I had to learn how to fix it. Got a Haynes manual for it and off I went learning about points, dual Zenith carbs and eventually took the head apart and rebuilt it. Mostly self-taught, but my cousin still helps me out and my independent techs have been fantastic as well - helping me out of many a rough spot.

My only sadness is that it seems to be an end to the era of this kind of tinkering/rebuilding.

My first rebuild was a Briggs and Stratton 5 hp engine that I had an "old timer" looking over my shoulder the whole time. I was 13. About that same time I started hanging out at a local shop as much as I could helping out doing whatever I could. A couple of those early years I sold personalized Christmas Cards door to door and spent all of the earnings at Sears on Craftsman tools. Like riethoven I still have some of those tools that I purchased 36 years ago:). On more than one occasion I would spend every bit of my paycheck on Craftsman tools.

Hmm, coming out of a family where we owned several Saabs, an Audi Fox, and coming out of multiple 5000 ownership experience, I guess I was doomed to the same fate. Oh, and the last new Fiat X1/9 Bertone ever sold in AZ. 1988...

Hmm, you're in MSP; I grew up in Hutchinson. Didja ever see a Saab Turbo on bald TRX tires skate by you in the mid '80s? That was prolly us on a visit to the Cities...

Picture it, Miami 1973 it was the best of times, it was the worst of times and the birth of the "Portugese Love Machine" was happening in my neighborhood. I grew up in a neighborhood where my brother and all his friends had muscle cars and I got hooked at an early age when my brother had a 67 GTO with a 427 engine with a 411 posi rear end and slick tires, I got to be the test driver and gofer. I don't know much about them but my dad wanted to make sure his girls knew alittle about cars so we wouldn't be taken advantage of and "If you maintain a car properly it will last you a long time." My boyfriend and I are signing up for a mechanics class..this will be fun!

yeah, erector set. i had three finally i think. i spent hours with them. the first thing i made was in the book. after that i winged it. cranes, trucks and a cable car.

the first engine i had apart was an old maytag. dad gave it to me. i took it all apart and got it running with a little cleaning and a piece of nylon hose over the fuel intake where the screen had rotted away.

when we moved away from greencastle dad left it in the crawl space. i occasionaly think of stopping by and asking if it is still there.

tom w