- This topic has 7 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 7 months ago by
.
-
Topic
-
-
Replies
-
To someone with little mechanical knowledge, many aspects of working on a vehicle can be very daunting. The vehicle I have now needed quite a bit of repairs, I knew that going in since it’s purpose was more of a 4×4 winter and a secondary vehicle. Before getting it, I had at most changed oil 2-3 times, that and some minor small engine work was the extent of my mechanical knowledge. I was extremely blessed that I am friends with the guy that sold me the vehicle and he knew my abilities and frankly, my confidence shortcomings. He’s also very mechanically inclined and knowledgeable.
The first major thing to be done on that vehicle was ball joints, it needed tires badly but scraping together $600 and putting new tires on bad ball joints wasn’t an option. I had purchased the ball joints and let them sit on my shelf for a month or two, thinking about the repair in my free time. I was very uneasy of jacking the vehicle up for an extended period of time and unsure of what to encounter. Keep in mind, this is an older Explorer, with I-Beam suspension, you gotta take off axle components, the caliper & rotor and get the knuckle whacked out of the beam to work on it. But my friend nudged me into it and said “let’s do it this weekend”. I couldn’t say no.
I won’t go over the process since that’s not what the topic is about but while it was more work than I thought, it went a hell of a lot smoother than I had imagined. I think there’s 2 reasons for that; having a knowledgeable helping hand guide me and when you don’t know much about something like that and don’t have any experience, you tend to build it up in your mind into this insurmountable obstacle, at least I do anyway. We ended up doing more than ball joints, there were spindle bearings and axle u-joints, brake hose, bearing packing and maybe another thing or two I’m forgetting. In the end though, when I could look back on it, I was surprised I did that. It gave me a lot of intimate knowledge in how the front end works and a heck of a lot of confidence. Sometimes you just need that nudge to push you forward, maybe out of your comfort zone and to learn something new. You can feel the confidence building before you even finish the job, when things are going back together and you can do it by memory. When everything just slides back into place and it feels right, there’s no missing or left-over parts. You may be all greasy and have a couple knuckles bleeding and other battle wounds but, man… that confidence building feels so good.
I’ve since done more repairs than I ever thought I would, the biggest of which was removing the engine to work on it. Looking back on that project, I didn’t fully know what I would encounter but I fully knew what had to be done and I had the confidence to know that, one way or another, it would get done. Having done that and having the engine fire right up after putting everything back, it’s even more confidence. Once you get that initial nudge, each subsequent project is a learning experience and confidence booster, even if it’s a small project, it helps a lot with your mentality as a whole.
I think a lot of us that have a desire to work on our own cars need that initial nudge to say “it’s ok, you can do it”. For a lot of people, your videos do just that Eric. In a way, your videos our confidence builders for us DIYers. We can see the process and know that it’s ok if you hit a wall, if that stubborn bolt doesn’t want to play. To know that there’s more than one way to solve a problem, it gives us more confidence and more knowledge to see someone else go through that process. Thank you for providing that Eric, you’re not just entertaining, you’re a teacher.
I’ve been wrenching on cars since 1978, mostly as a DIY’er, so I’ve had my share of confidence builders. My latest one was several years ago when I had to replace a bad cam bearing in-situ with the heads removed. Luckily, it was a Chrysler 360 engine with slots in the lifter valley large enough to pass the bearings through. Long story short, everything went as planned much to my relief! Thanks, Eric, for all you do!
Every time I wanted to get into something on a vehicle, motorcycle. I had no damn idea what the part was, what it did. I slowly started looking up youtube videos, DIY tutorials of other people doing the type of work. Googling how each part operated. Slowly started getting into the performance aspect side of things.
Got a fully rebuilt LT1, learned a ton about the internal working of inside of a motor, but unable to do the work due to being deployed. So my engine builder did the work.
I finally wanted to do my own work on my own car. Did a Clutch Valve Delete, replaced shifter bushings, had to get the air out of the new SS clutch line I installed. It was a big learning experience. I read so much about each part, where everything was connected. I didn’t wanna go in blind. Once I knew what I was dealing with, opened the hood and started going at it.
I’ve always wanted to be hands on like that, never given the chance, or had the tools to do the job properly. The opportunity presented itself, I took the chance and did it. Now after doing even this small work, I feel even more confident now to do more work on the vehicle in the near future. Once you get over that first hump, it just seems “simple” in our eyes, and it’s like a chinese wiring diagram to other people when you try and explain it to people who only know how to start the car and drive to work
last year, my 1989 BMW daily driver had a catastrophic wiring failure that was not possible to fix in a reasonable way and I needed a new daily quick. I spotted a 200k mile Accord with a blown tranny for $800 that was in great working order and condition otherwise. I’m a strong tech, but I’m always trying to get better. By that point I’d done a few dozen various engine jobs, about 10 manual trans overhauls, but never an automatic. The other A+ guy I work with has done tons of automatics and they have no real reason to have me get involved in a live job other than for me to learn, so I decided to buy the Accord so I could jump that final hurdle of repair experience.
I got lucky (in my opinion) and the trans turned out to be severely damaged, requiring very in-depth repairs that was an educational journey. It was beyond reasonable to fix if was a retail job, it never would have been done. It cost me $1400 in parts and about 50 hours labor. Even though I haven’t done another automatic since then, I am still able to confidently apply knowledge I gained on that job to all sorts of diagnostic questions. I hate driving automatics and this my first one (that I didn’t convert to manual), but it’s a car where everything works perfectly on it and its paid for (about $3000 total to date) so I can’t ask for much better than that.
That is my single biggest confidence builder story in my 15 years of working on cars. I’ve also been able to use the videos I made of the process to help a few other people as well, and they are among my more popular videos. At the time I made them, I was thinking more of having something to go back to myself to see how things looked before I took them apart, but they turned out to be informative enough that I decided to put ’em on YouTube.
Really everything I haven’t done before is a confidence builder. I think that;s what keeps me doing this stuff year after year is the good feeling I get when I figure out a new skill or a new repair.
The things I really like are new and interesting trouble shooting problems.
First I want to start off by saying I just recently started watching your YouTube channels and I am a fan. I am about to complete my first year in the diesel field as a tech. Most days, I love what I do, others, as I’m sure you know, can be rough. I find myself building up my confidence every day while learning new techniques and tricks of the trade. I still have a lot to learn, but I work with a lot of great techs at my dealership that help me succeed. Both being new to the diesel field and to a dealership can be real intimidating at first, but I try to stay positive and learn all that I can. Your videos on the ETCG1 channel really put things in perspective from someone that has worked in dealerships in the past. I just want to thank you for the tips and I look forward to future videos.
Thanks to everyone for their comments and sharing their experiences. It seems this one really struck a chord. I think it’s something we all relate to. I also think it’s one of the reasons we like to repair things. For me it’s one of the few places in life where I have some control. I find it comforting, and enjoy the feeling I get from making something work that was broken before. Especially when it helps someone.
Thanks again for all your input.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.