experiance helps

[grumpyvette]

have a buddy that stopped by to have me look at a problem with his honda, now I generally won,t poke a honda with a sharp stick, but hes a nice guy and needs help, we traced the problem to a partly clogged fuel filter,(orriginal and hes got 100K on the car) and I suppose some 120 pound double jointed guy from japan was the morron who decided to locate the fuel filter, up above the steering/suspension and down behind the engine and under the master cylinder where its bolted into a bracket and all the hot engine parts and you can barely see it without a shop light and requires a crowsfoot wrench and a 2 ft extention to reach it from below the car, naturally theres special bolt thats cross drilled and hollow that fastens the filter to the fuel rails and it requires two copper o-rings and standing on your head to get access.....and naturaly the bolt faLLS , but fails to fall thru to the floor and its wedged where it can,t be seen, well after looking for the little S.O.B. for 15 minutes with magnets and mirrors and several shop lights its no place to be found and we can,t continue without it, my friend says well just order a new one in the morning.....B.S. that suckers there I just can,t see it, so I do what any \experianced mechanic would do, I crank both air compressors up to max pressure and get the air hose with a long spray nozzle,and put on my safety goggles and start shooting high pressure air into every area on the frame and suspension....well in no time Ive got a very dry, clean engine compartment and the bolt that was missing comes flying out of some crevis it was hiddening in onto the shop floor and in about 10 more minutes work the cars up and running.....see! thats were experiance and persistance pays, you know that theres several ways to find drop bolts

[Eric]

Sounds like, uhmmm, fun. It must be a rice thing. I changed the plugs and coil packs on a friends Lexus SUV. Those who have met me know I'm a little on the thin side but even I was struggling to get to the dang plugs. First you remove the 6 coil packs which are these wierd 5 inches long tubes that have the plugs at the bottom. Of course the engine is transverse mounted and tilted towards the back. I dropped one of the coil pack screws behind the engine and it managed to go through one of the small holes in the frame cross-member. An hour and several bloody knuckles later I fished it out with a pick-up tool.

Oh how I miss working on my old 71 Vette.

- Eric

[Mac]

see! thats were experiance and persistance pays, you know that theres several ways to find drop bolts

Thanks for the great idea and the good belly laugh which both my son and I enjoyed while reading your story!

-Mac

[grumpyvette]

I know! youve never done something and your afraid youll mess it up,
EXAMPLE
the first time I looked over a TPI injection system I was very reluctant to start taking things apart, so as a hedge I took a dozen close up digital photos and labled every connection with masking tape and a majic marker sharpie pen, I had no idea how the injector connectors were released and didn,t realize there was a spring retainer untill Id got four removed, but after about the first dozen, I didn,t even bother looking any longer since things were so familiar.
EXAMPLE
the wifes MERCURY had the power seat control switch in the door go bad, I bought a new one,but I was very reluctant to disassemble the door panel, as I was sure ID screw it up!, but some careful inspection revealed it could easily be accessed and in 10 minutes I was done doing a job ID been hesitant to start for days.
theres a first time for nearly everything and youll be surprised, in many cases youll find you enjoy knowing how to do things better.....think back to how clumsy and hesitant you probably felt when you started dateing,but learning new skills has its benefits
now I got asked,
"what do you do, who do you call when your about to tackle a job youve never done before?"
now most guys sub out jobs to the dealer or a corvette shop when they get into areas they may not be familiar with,but I do ALL the work on my corvettes for TWO good reasons, first I could NEVER afford the shop rates and I can NEVER trust the quality of work many shops do, now ILL be the VERY FIRST GUY IN LINE to ADMIT Im in WAY over my head at times! but Ive always been able to research the processes, tools, and skills and do the work, or find someone too teach me the skills eventually, youll NEVER learn new stuff if your not willing to tackle new projects and get in way over your current skill level....besides it USUALLY requires buying LOTS OF new tools and meeting new friends so you can,t hardly lose!
IF you take this advice seriously youll save ALOT of time and money,
BUY YOUR CARS FACTORY SERVICE MANUAL.
DO YOURSELF A HUGE FAVOR
buy these books, FIRST it will be the best money you ever spent, read them, and you will be miles ahead of the average guy. youll save thousands of dollars and thousands of hours once youve got a good basic understanding of what your trying to do!
http://www.themotorbookstore.com/resmchstvi.html
how to assemble an engine basics on video

these books

HOW TO BUILD MAX PERFORMANCE CHEVY SMALL BLOCKS ON A BUDGET by DAVID VIZARD
http://www.amazon.com/Build-Performa...5231793&sr=1-1
JOHN LINGENFELTER on modifying small-block chevy engines
http://www.amazon.com/John-Lingenfel...5231760&sr=1-1

SMOKEY YUNICK,S POWER SECRETS
http://www.amazon.com/Smokey-Yunicks...5231724&sr=1-1
How to Rebuild Small-Block Chevy Lt1/Lt4 Engines
http://www.amazon.com/Rebuild-Small-...9/ref=pd_sim_b

[Edmond]

now most guys sub out jobs to the dealer or a corvette shop when they get into areas they may not be familiar with,but I do ALL the work on my corvettes for TWO good reasons, first I could NEVER afford the shop rates and I can NEVER trust the quality of work many shops do,

I think that is with quite a few cars, whether is a Honda, Toyota or whatever "specialist." The shop rates were a reason why I started learning how to work on my own cars. There's always someone out there who claims to specialize in some car. Whether it's true or not is not known to me, though.

Your second reason is a big one, probably bigger than the issue of money itself. Like I said to someone, "even if the labor was cheap, it wouldn't matter if it were done wrong." If you mess up your own job, there is no one to blame but yourself. I've done my own work for the last 8 years and couldn't imagine it being any different.

now ILL be the VERY FIRST GUY IN LINE to ADMIT Im in WAY over my head at times!

No, I think that'd be me!

it USUALLY requires buying LOTS OF new tools

It sure does. I buy tools anyway but buying new tools for new projects totally justifies it.

Last week, I just worked on a Nissan Altima for a co-worker. Her car had been stranded at work for a couple of days until someone suggested she talk to me. Long story short, it took me 3 hours to drop the starter that first time working under flashlight. Had the starter tested, two places said it was okay. Threw the starter back up and the car ran for a couple of days. Then it didn't start again. Dropped the starter again, only took me 30 minutes that time, and put one in from the junk yard for $40. It's been fine since.

Of course, working PT at Sears with a discount also makes buying Craftsman tools so much more tempting.
But I think working on cars is becoming lost among the younger generation. Guys just don't want to do it, they use the excuse of "everything is computerized." Well, damn, changing batteries, oil, alternators and brakes isn't computerized, is it? And why would you pay someone to wash your car?

There are a lot of things guys don't know how to do these days, among them:

work on their own cars
drive a manual transmission
handle a firearm safely
be a gentlemen
etc...

[grumpyvette]

we ALL tend to remember better and learn more from our own and others ,SCREW UPS than when things go flawlessly...if your not occasionally screwing something up its obvious your not doing much engine rebuilding or many extensive modifications on a steady basis,
EXPERT= REQUIRES YOU TO BE EXTENSIVELY EXPERIANCED IN A CERTAIN FIELD OF ENDEVOR
EXPERIANCE= VERTUALLY REQUIRES PAST SCREW UPS

[Edmond]

People ask me how I learned to work on cars. I tell them, "I couldn't afford to pay someone to do it so I just started ripping stuff apart. Sometimes, there are screws and bolts left over after I put things back together but nothing has fallen apart on me yet."