I'm weird I guess..

[whitechef]

I find it personally satisfying to bring a dead or dieing car back to life. I was a mechanic for years with 2 of the finest wrenches I've ever known, God rest their souls, I quit doing it profesionally when computer controlled cars started rolling into the shop. I just couldn't afford the diagnostic equipment needed to work on them. About the only thing I use a Mechanic for now is front end allignment and trans work. I still enjoy working on the older cars, You know, the ones you can still see the ground under the engine.

 

My 2 cents worth

[510six]

It`s just progress... when I first started working on Datsuns in the early 80`s having the points POS distributor replaced with electronic ignition was hot stuff. Having progressed from L16`s with a Racer Brown cam and a Weber DGV , which BTW ran very well to a L20b with a blowthrough sidedraft Dellorto carb and a Mitsubishi turbo from a Starion, that wagon hauled ass. The Dellorto was replaced by Bosch CIS from several different cars and made about the same HP but was better at non WOT and got much better fuel mileage.

 

From there is was an L28 with CIS injection , then JYparts 3L stroker L30 CIS injection and nitrous . It progressed into a "built" L30 stroker with a CT26 off of a 3rd gen Supra and a shot of nitrous with SDS fuel injection 535rwh was the result . Now it`s AEM EMS and a dual fuel system 87oct and E85 with a small shot of nitrous but with a bb T67 turbo,the wiring harness only has about 80 wires. It`s complex and often a PITA but when the T67 hits with about 18-20 psi of boost and you walk away from a Viper on a 4th gear roll belive me it`s worth it.

 

It`s just like the Chevy guys being hesitant about using the new LS/ LM V8`s

because they are electronically controlled. Even through 1k can get you a 5.3 with a OD trans and a 150 dollar Z06 cam swap will yield 30 hp.

[fisch]

I am turning 38 this year and am just now learning to work on my own cars. Hell I just adjusted my first points gap yesterday! My dad was a weekend mechanic with a chiltons in hand, but not really a car guy.

 

We did put a timing belt on my car once though.

 

I always wanted to learn about cars and always was a fan of their aesthetics. But thought I should spend time learning my art craft, it took 100% commitment to get to the point where I could make any sort of living as an illustrator. Anyone going into any sort business for themselves from scratch knows what I mean. And I know myself well enough that if I had a classic at the beginning, I would be obsessed and wouldn't be out there working as hard to get established as an illustrator. Heck if I took the amount of time I am here on ratsun now, or tinkering with the Datsuns or surfing the net for any random part I need (or don't need), I would be getting so much more art done even today! And if I were this way in the beginning, it would have been devastating to my fledgling career.

 

It was all about keeping the overhead low and the distractions to a minimum.

 

I use to eat sleep and breath art. I had no other hobbies cause I couldn't afford the time or the money. So yeah, I had someone else work on my cars. Cause the 2 days it would have taken me to figure out how to fix something, plus the day or so to fix it, I could have been growing the business, and had the the shop do it in half a day. Probably coming out ahead. It was worth it to me. Sometimes you have to specialize.

 

But I am also at the point where I realized it can't 100% be about work. And now, instead instead of going to the art section of the book store, I go to the auto section!:D

 

But I still have the 04 mazda worked on. And I mess with the Swift, but have taken that in too. If I am going to be wrenching, I'd rather wrench the Datsuns, lord knows they always need work!

[ggzilla]

Learn to rebuild an engine

Yes, it is weird to expect that a real car fan would be interested in learning how to rebuild an engine, it's just not reality. Sometimes we don't even have an interest in what engine mods make sense. We can just ask someone else.

[FoxyRoadster]

There was another topic on here that sort of hit on this. Cars today have become appliances. I wouldn't try to fix my fridge, or resolder a SMT circuit on my PC. If my electric razor breaks I just go buy a new one. It's a combination of the societal phenomena of consumption and the balance needed to perpetuate said consumption. There is an advantage as a manufacturer to 1.) Not produce a product that is serviceable by the end user, 2.) Build a 'life time' for that product, 3.) Provide the only service available, 4.) Provide reliability that can be translated into repeat sales.

 

We like our stuff to work now and break never. If it breaks, we generally don't want to hassle with it. If it becomes a hassle, we dump it and go buy something else.

 

Look on Craigslist for vehicles under $500. You don't see a bunch of 70's and 80's cars that you might expect in that price range. You see tons on 90's vehicles with 'problems'. Head gaskets rank #1, and who even knows if the seller knows what they are talking about. Stupid items like leaking water pumps, worn front ends, dead coil packs, etc. Fundamentally these are cars, but what we're seeing is that they have met their allotted number of pop-tarts, something broke and it's more hassle for the owner (driver really) to fix than it is to replace the vehicle.

 

It's an interesting cultural shift. A lot of us in our 40's (and up) learned about cars when all we could get was a left over Valiant, Rambler or VW. Until about the mid 80's, fuel injection was for race cars. Dual overhead cams were relatively exotic. Front wheel drive was considered a 'fad'. The cars produced in the early 20th century are not what is being produced in the early 21st century. NO 'cars' on showroom floors are equipped with a carb. NO 'cars' on the showroom floors are ODB exempt. We've sued each other so many times, that we now require so much 'safety' equipment in our cars that is dangerous to try to work on them ourselves.

 

The idea of a backyard mechanic in the late 21st century is comical to me. The idea of working on our own cars has been slowly snuck away from us. The hobbies of the late 21st century are probably being invented now. My guess is that some kid will program his iPhone to plug into his car, not as a stereo but as a 'core' to operate the thing. Then 'hotrodders' will be people who can tweak the code...

 

Got all socio-political, sorry. I'm not really a great mechanic, body man, fabricator, etc. but there is a satisfaction in knowing what's been done to my cars. If I can do it, I try to.

 

 

I'd say anyone here with EFI is a child of the first generation of Electronic hot rodders, my father knows a little about EFI but if he wants to discuss hotrodding an EFI car he sends people to me. :lol:

 

 

As much as everyone hates them hondas are a great introduction to working on a car with EFI, least the early 90's ones.

 

 

Also.. I'd say we ratsuners are part of an environmentalist movement that doesn't get any credit... It normally makes more pollution to recycle a car and make a new one then for us to keep on driving our old ones.