Keeping Your 3Gen For A Long Time?

Over the years we learn the new tech...we adapt and overcome.

I remember when EFI was making its way into motorcycles and off road machines. The EPA Tier two emission standard was a nice volume to read through.
My job was to design exhaust systems, dyno test machines, recalibrate the fuel mapping, open up the air intake and overcome low compression, anemic camshaft numbers and poor ignition timing so
that our dyno numbers would show enough gain for the end user to justify the cost of the system vs the power gain.

As a professional mechanic most all of my life....I stick to my training and experience over the 45 years of working on internal combustion and compression ignition engines.

Maybe I should make youtube videos so people can start threads about me on forums......ummmmm na

 

LOL! And there ya go..
Back in the day ... I can honestly say there were only 3-4 things that have served me well in my later life I learned in high school.....
A: Auto Shop
B: 'Chef's class' (It was for males and taught you how to cook.) I thought that being as 'mommy' wasn't gonna be cooking for me when I left home .. I better be able to know more than just how to boil water.. It served me well...
C: 'Home Economics' ... (Home EC at the time..) ... I took this ... As a GUY ... A lot of it, because THAT'S where the girls were at ...
But because I knew I needed to know how to do laundry and cleaning and all the other stuff. (I was a GUY ... WTF do *I* know or care, right?? LOL!!) ,Balancing a check-book was a big thing and not for no good reason.
D: The last, was called 'Industrial Math' ... It was NONE of the usual Algebra/Geometry/ETC that they make you take/use in HS (At the time).. It was because the stuff they taught you then was still simple math and formulas, that I still use to this day.

 

I remember going to Yamaha school....we knew more than the instructors....

Unfortunately my private schooling did not include an auto shop class..in fact high school was a 4 year long hockey game...

Im sure the Fonzies of the day may have possibly helped my already advanced knowledge of internal combustion. I was already racing motocross and modding my bikes in every way since I was in 7th grade.

 

There was a man ..every two years..he brought his wife a new car....when he was ask why?
He said I didn’t have to buy tires....
Aloha

in a way makes sense ..cars two years old will not have issues like a three, four or five year cars...
When I go to McDonald’s...I like my Big Mac new...?

 

Let’s take this one at a time.

1.) So basically you’re trying to make a case for renting or as some call it, leasing their vehicles. This might work for people who need a shiny new object in the driveway every two or three years. Does not work for me at all. For those who enjoys having no car payments for extended periods of time - getting rid of their car every two or three years doesn’t make a lot of sense. I bust my onions to get my vehicles paid off as quickly as possible and ahead of schedule.
So for sake of argument, let’s say the average car payment is $325 a month. Times 12 that is $3900 a year. As long as my maintenance expenses are less than $3900 a year (and they are) I am way ahead of the game owning my vehicle out right. And that is not even considering down payment or deposits etc.

2.) I don’t eat at McDonald’s

 

Way back when l was in aviation school a fellow student fired up a Ground Power Unit. A hydraulic hose ruptured and sprayed Skydrol all over his face and chest, he was loaded up immediately for a trip to the ER and was red for a few days!

 

Yep, auto shop was interesting. Growing up as soon as I could tell a common from a philips dad put me to work. Auto shop was a breeze except for the first day.

At roll call the teacher ask if I was related to that red headed kid of the same name. Sucks when you have the same teacher your dad did. And he remembers your dad.

I never did get the whole story but it had to do with a hot exhaust, used oil and the fire department.

Apparently a pretty girl was also involved.

 

We had "cafeteria", where i learned to cook a bit, was quite fun and easy going class.

I did take home ec, but i just hated sewing haha. My sausage fingers are not meant for that.

I really loved woodworking man, i made a table with a drawer that i still have I wish i have a garage so i can work on my truck more and do some woodworking projects.

We did not have this "industrial math". We only had the regular algebra/geometry bullshit which i hated with a passion.

 

Damn! Poor guy!

 

Didn't care much for the sewing part either (Hated trying to thread the needle) but when yer single it helps to know how to sew a button on or do a simple hem... And like I say, That's Where The Girls Were At .. LOL!!
Had wood-shop too ... Loved it. Still do wood working to this day. Since retiring, I do wood crafting stuff and sell these things at craft shows.
Industrial Math was the best ever. You learned how to figure out ratios, figuring out decimals to fractions/fractions to decimals, SAE to metric/metric to SAE, figuring out volumes, dry weights to liquid weights, dry volumes to liquid volumes ... etc etc. Very useful stuff I still use today...
And you did it on paper .. A pocket calculator back in those days were still very very expensive.
Keep working towards the dream m'man. You'll get yer shop some day.

 

There are a lot of things kids don't learn these days.
I know I didn't get auto shop at the regular high school. We did have it at Vo.Tech school if you elected to go there, which I did but not for auto mechanics or auto body.
In middle school we had to all take a cooking class, sewing, wood and metal shop.

Now I work at my local high school and they have eliminated home economics class. We have wood shop and we have an Agraculture class that does get in to some repairs of farm equipment and small equipment but no auto mechanics. The county technical school is where students go to learn that and other trades.

I am thankful for the opportunity to learn some cooking and sewing, it's handy when you can do thing for your self.
All the auto stuff I learned I learned from my Dad, Grandfather and neighbors where I grew up that were DIYers.

 

Thats why their demographic is among the most scammed and exploited?

 

How to make your taco last for a long time.

Step 1: don't add a lift
Step 2: don't add a lot of extra weight
Step 3: dammit it just stop messing with it and leave it alone. Use it as a truck and take care of it, it's not a tank and will break if treated like one

 

Sadly, that's the way things are these days...
When I was in Jr. High (Not 'Middle School'..) Late 60's ... You had to take a semester each of the various 'Industrial Arts' ..
These were wood/metal/electrical/drafting/plumbing shops (No auto shop ... We were still to young to drive)
But the reasoning was to give everyone a 'taste' of something that they might want to pursue later in life. The world isn't made up of nothing but white-collar office workers. We still needed those who get their hands dirty.
I've always said that 'Everything I Ever Needed To Know In Life, I Learned In Shop Class' ...

 

This is like the 65th time I’ve seen this picture. Haha. Has a use in every thread!

 

I had wood shop, metal shop, home mechanics which was wiring, drafting, plumbing etc. Feel fortunate to have had those things, my class was also the last year to have had drivers education too before the school district axed the car

 

Yep Jr high was wood, metal, electrical, and drafting. The first three you actually made something. Drafting was a waste other that giving a kid a chance to see if they were interested.

High school finally got interesting. There we’re still wood, metal and electrical. But it added auto which had things like mechanical, auto body/paint and even interior (a local business owner taught it).
Pretty much every year the school sold off a nicely redone older car. The beater was donated by a local car lot and various donated either parts or money.

I doubt you could get a school to risk litigation much less find a business willing to participate today.

 

You guys taking home ec to be with girls are amateurs.

I took typing. Only male. Was useful when computers came to the home 15-20 yrs later.

I also took physiology. Only male in a room of girls who were considering being nurses.

 

When I was in high school back in the 70's, I took an advanced auto-repair shop class. Well the shop teacher had a freshman shop 101 class at the same time, so he gave us a few books and basically told us we were on our own, but that he would be checking up on us from time to time. We never saw the guy. We ended up spending the entire semester getting stoned and working on my FJ-55 Landcruiser.

 

I know, I gotta tow something else soon. This truck really amazed me on "Rescue the Ranger" trip. Layton Utah to Blythe Ca. at maxed out weight. That is not a flat land run. As well as the truck did on the up hill I was even more impressed how well it did down hill. ECT on and Sport I was able to maintain down hill speed with very little use of the brakes. I was, am still am, amazed at this trucks versatility.