Being brothers didn’t stop the Davies from trying to kill each other.
I’m a college professor full-time, practice law part-time. No kidding. I started playing with cars when I was 13, the Summer that I turned 14 my Dad got me a job at the local Mopar dealership to keep me busy, as I was getting into trouble with my friends hanging out at the pool hall. Started washing new cars from the trailer, then detailing them, reconditioning used cars for re-sale, and I bugged the crap out of the mechanics to show me stuff. School started in the Fall and I kept working after school and on weekends, then every Summer, through high school and college. In law school I worked nights at the truck stop on the outskirts of town. No professional training, just a great interest in cars and everything mechanical. Looking back on all of the jobs I’ve had, the Mopar dealership was the best. Not much money, but a lot of fun and fulfillment. Rocketman
I learned Timing Belts,Repairing CV joints,Weber carbs, fuel injection and Double Overhead Cam cylinder head repairs on Fiats in the early seventies.
Fiats were way ahead of their time mass producing econo boxes with peppy motors. {or could be turned into peppy motors with Abarth and Fiat performance parts.The factory produced step by step instructions via the parts dept.}
Timing belts had to be changed every 50,000 miles if my memory is correct.Valve jobs were plentyful, since they had interference motors. Fiats produced alot of work and money for me!
It’s especially amazing when you consider that the book was published way before computers, calculators, Autocad, CAM, etc. It was a lot harder to be an engineer in those days, methinks.
I’ve got a Fender P-bass (modified by me a bit), an Epiphone EB-O (which is actually superior to it’s Gibson cousin which I sold), a Fender bass practice amp for the day to day stuff, and a sort-of home built bass amp to replace the Fender Bassman I also sold.
The modified amp is a 1981 or so vintage Randall 300 Watt head and the cabinet is a built from scratch behemoth with a pair of 15s in it. Cables are homemade as is the dual purpose footswitch, with one function being to change from the normal channel to the Equalizer channel and the other function is a homebuilt clean boost.
My better half is not really enamored with the Randall on 10 … 
Should have added that I’ve got a Fender Telecaster which was a gift from my sister. UPS dropped off a box one day out of the blue and I had no idea what it could be for the first few minutes then I thought, surely not…
(Now if I could only get into 6 strings a bit more.)
I am a retired ASE Master and former shop owner. My experience is heaviest in light duty trucks and domestic automobiles but over the years a great many peculiar automobile and internal combustion powered equipment problems have befuddled me and my success has been somewhat above average. Hopefully I can occasionally offer some information that helps someone here.
Thanks, CSA. I’ll give the dealer a shot at it, too. Actually, there are a couple of Honda dealers within 15 miles of home.
I just always wondered where your name came from.
Started out too poor to pay anyone to fix may cars. First car was a 52 Plymouth I rescued from a trip to the junkyard for $20.
Knew no one who knew how to fix cars, every time something went wrong, off to the library to get a Motors repair manual. Helper on delivery truck from 15 years old, dock worker, tractor trailer driver and school bus driver since I retired 15 years ago.
Found out I not only saved money but actually enjoyed working on cars.
Have a great independent mechanic who knows I do a lot of my own work that I take anything I can’t handle or don’t care to do any more.
By profession, I am a software architect (design software).
By hobby, and once necessity, I am a mechanic.
I started turning a wrench because I was a poor married airman, with one car. I either learned to fix the car myself, or skip eating. Preferring the former, I started with simple things like oil, plugs, brake pads, etc. Then I discovered this wonderful book called a Bentley and started buying lots of tools so I could replace half shafts (dirt roads were hell on the boots), timing belts, head gaskets, etc.
After a while, I decided to buy a better sports car and do a little racing on the weekend. That pushed me harder to really understand the why’s and hows and make improvements on what I had doing things like adding oil coolers, making fairings around the radiator to direct more air, adding brake ducts, caliper upgrades, engine swaps, transmission swaps, etc.
Watch out - if you start doing much more than changing the oil and plugs, you can get sucked in. It’s a disease of sorts - you are always thinking of ways to improve what you have, and how to explain why you need to do that to your wife.
My long-turn project is to build an unlimited open-wheel racecar, using all the engineering tricks I can muster to stick it to the track (think fan car, movable wings, >1000 HP engine, etc) to try and set a track record. Some of my software expertise will help there, as it does as cars become more and more digital to make quick corrections before the driver even is aware of them.
But first - I have three kids to graduate out of the house. Until them, it will stay a more limited affair due to them consuming almost all spare money.
OK Guys…Who do I need to consult or email or what have you to make this a “Sticky” and I never looked but…where do I find any previous “sticky’s”? Is there a section of them on this site? I’ve seen them on other forums and such but…never looked here.
This thread should definitely become a permanent one…so that none of us have to answer my stupid question of “What is your background”… if and when I see a response that tells me that one of you surely know what you are talking about instead of taking a “stab” at an answer to an auto repair question type of thing…
ANY IDEAS FELLAS…Mr. Moderator?..wherever you are?
I don’t think this platform does stickies.
So what is your post? Fixing stuff is not the issue. Knowing the reasons and symptoms is the issue newbie
Umm OK? Are you talking to me? If so what on earth are you referring to? I started this thread and was wondering if we could make it permanent so everyone can read it whenever they want…So they could see the guys backgrounds when they respond to repair questions. What does any of this or my post or my backgound have to do with my… “Newbie-ness” ? You got me confused…
When I was in college, I fixed as much as I could myself out of necessity back in the 60’s. That is when I bought my dwell meter and timing light. Since then, I have gradually been getting better and doing as much as I can that doesn’t need a lift. When I thought I got ripped off on a brake job by the dealer, I taught myseld how to do my own brake jobs (thanks to all the help available on the Internet), and have done them ever since. I still use independent repair shops when necessary and sometimes the dealer, but use the dealer rarely and only when I think it is something they can do better. I am an educator by profession (several college degrees) but get great satisfaction out of doing as much as I can myself and learning new things.
Reading the various posts on this discussion board has been a great help as well. You soon learn who the smart guys are and who is blowing smoke. Even when I can’t do the repair myself, I have learned enough to diagnose things myself so I don’t get ripped off by a shop for the things I can’t do. So I quess you can say my credentials come from the pain of experience.
My Fiat predated the timing belt driven overhead cams. If Abarth made performance parts for it, I was not aware. They did for the later model of the Cabriolet, in fact I think that the later engine was made by Abarth, but it was heavier than the engine in mine and as a result, it didn’t handle quite as good.
It was a kick to drive, but for the year and a half that I owned it, it was like having a second full time job. At one time, the body was sitting on concrete block with only the control arms and the transmission attached. I learned a lot with that car. Major components were not available so I had to learn to fix the components and in some cases, make my own parts.
As teenagers in the early '70’s, my brother & I “fixed” our own cars. He went on to law school & now gets 11 weeks paid vacation. I always wanted to get my hands dirty for a living, so I get 1 or 2. Didn’t start wrenching professionally till 1989. Before that It was unskilled labor: factory work, plumber’s helper, concrete worker.
Late '70’s got a job pumping gas at a full service Mobil station. Graveyard shift. Just me myself & I from 11PM to 7AM 6 nights a week. Had Sunday nights off. Whoop dee doo! Pretty scary working alone those hours with all the drunks, druggies & weirdos out there. Ended up on first shift where I got the 2 mechanics to show me stuff, but the boss & I didn’t hit it off & I went to a tire store where I changed tires on everything from wheel barrows, to cars,to big rigs, to quarry loaders. Almost got killed fixing a tire on a combine out in a muddy field one time. Plus a bull in an adjacent field felt my service truck was a threat to his manhood, & kept on charging the skimpy barb wire fence separating us. Hard to concentrate on the job at hand! After that I told the boss he better help me get my state inspection license or I was outta there.
So I got my licenses & started wrenching, but as a DIYer, was overwhelmed by this new fangled fuel injection & computer command. I attended a 2 year trade school, & learned a ton of automotive theory, but that & all the ASE tests, & $1.75’ll get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks if you can’t apply the knowledge to the car at hand. Someone had mentioned the difference between knowledge & wisdom.
Then I went to a Chrysler dealer as a technician. I got screamed at by a boss one day because I couldn’t back out the car I had just finished repairing, since there was an ambulance blocking my exit. They were working on 2 women who had just been in a car crash out on the street. “You tell that “%&@$” to move that thing NOW we got work to bring in!”
Bad shop morale there so I went to a Volvo dealer. More of the same. Got screamed at for not slapping inspection stickers on used cars that failed inspection. They laid me off in 2008; I feel it was age discrimination, but you gotta roll w/the punches. At 59, after being out of full time work for 2 1/2 years, I recently got hired as a tech at a local tire store. 8:30 to 5PM M-F. I’m back in the saddle!
Karl, ASE certifiation represents a proffessional attitude, and the realization that some standard must be met.Something alot of mechanics seem to lack.
I have heard over the years that ASE doesn’t mean anything.Well, in my experience, those people can’t even fix a sandwitch.Higher learning is what fixes cars today.
Back in the early seventies when I first became certified, I would agree with you, but that is no longer the case.
With my Master certification and State Inspectors license, I get paid more and always get job offers.
As a Volunteer Firefighter and former Service Manager, I would not be happy with your
response to move the ambulance.
I will also go on the record ,that Flat-Rate has done more to harm our profession than anything else.Everyone works differently and at their own rate.Fixing it right the first time should be the priority, so pay mechanics well, by the hour.}
The only credentials that mean anything are my tax returns, we have been through the “book smart but can’t fix a thing” concept quite throughly. If those ASE’s and job titles are backed up by an end of year earnings figure that is large enought,thems be good credentials.
I would have liked Blackbird to have spelled it out a bit different. Something along the lines of “do you think you give accurate advice, and why do you think so”? Then the question about credentials and what they mean could be avoided. A guy could explain that “I put a Honda motorcycle engine in a ultralight and am here to talk about it” and show pics. One good reason to take on and finish a project car is that it can be used as a vehicle (pun intended) to demonstrate your skills. You don’t need to let on it took you 10 years to complete the project.
I worked for Motorola in Zurich Switzerland (one of the many jobs over the years) and easily exceeded 500 installations of various communications gear The only recognition I recieved was my paycheck. On the day the new salesman sold his first auto cell phone every bigshot in the company managed to attend the party.I will admit getting somone to part with $3000.00 for the phone and pay my 4 hrs labor for install (typical) was no easy task.
About jobs,I hope it is not too off topic but I will admit I am proud. My 19 year old nephew leaves very soon for US Army basic training, he goes to Ft Benning GA.Way back in 1973 I was making the rounds saying goodbye before the Air Force (all tests taken,medical exam,just come up with the date) and a just discharged Air Force MP picked me up (no car I was hitchiking around L.A. After I told him what I was doing he said “I advise you not to get involved with the military right now” then he gave me the address where he was working (manufacturing aircraft ground support equipment). I showed up the next day, got hired and there was one p***off Air Force recruiter at my door every day for a week.
I do have 4 ASE certs (brake and suspension work never have interested me) and even though retired I keeep them up, more a way to run into old friends at the test facility than anything else. Some ASE tests are too easy but others like those related to engine performance are revelant and present a very good learning model. By saying “the ASE test for brakes is too easy so all ASE tests have no value” is another use of the strawman fallacy.Don’t base your judgement on ASE’s by using the worst feature of the ASE program as your base line.If you were to judge the ASE program based on the series dealing with engine performance and OBDII diagnostics you would get an equally “non-representive” impression, but in the other way.
“Karl, ASE certifiation represents a proffessional attitude, and the realization that some standard must be met.”
No offense, Oldwrench, but those sound like empty platitudes. For many, ASE certification is just a quick way to create the illusion that they are “crack” technicians. The tests are ridiculously easy to pass & mean next to nothing, except for their PR aspect; getting one’s foot in the door. I agree with you on that part.