i have always loved cars, whether it be sporty, super, loud, big or small ive always found interest in cars. I want to get into a vehicle that i love and want to grow with, but i have never worked on a car more than changing a radio out. I want to be able to work on anything modification wise to upgrade my car, but i have no experience or knowledge with how a car works. I understand the bare minimum when it comes to it all, spark, fuel, and air is what you need right? lmao but seriously i want to know whether its good to buy a new car that runs perfectly fine that has almost everything i want, and wait to modify it; or should i get an older car that would need modifications to run good? i know what i want in a car, fast and loud pops and bangs but i just dont know how to get there. I also have a full time career and its not a possibility to go to a school for experience. Does anybody have any ideas on where to start? its pretty overwhelming at first trying to understand it all, thats what has kept me from learning this long.
For example i love the 90s Japanese tuner cars, such as the skylines, NSX, Rx7, supra, but i know they are all so nice because people have spent years building off of the chasis and platform. Would it be worth it to get an old car like that, which would need a large amount of modifications to go fast and perform well? or would it just be worth it to buy a fast performance car? I also do not know how to drive a manual and i know a large amount of the car comunity agrees that manuals allow you to feel more engaged with the ride and feel more in touch with your skills. Any advice would help, thanks.
i have always loved cars, whether it be sporty, super, loud, big or small ive always found interest in cars. I want to get into a vehicle that i love and want to grow with, but i have never worked on a car more than changing a radio out.
You've got a good head start if you can take radios out. Most people who have never worked on cars before, start with oil changes because they're simple and it tells you all you need to know in the owner's manual. I would get ramps so you can do oil changes yourself.
I understand the bare minimum when it comes to it all, spark, fuel, and air is what you need right?
That's basically it. Diesel engines are 2-cycle (the piston just starts to reach Top Dead Center and the diesel fuel spontaneously ignites due to the compression; they don't need spark plugs, they need glow plugs for when it's cold outside. They also fire every time they hit TDC, but that's getting off on a tangent.)
i want to know whether its good to buy a new car that runs perfectly fine that has almost everything i want, and wait to modify it; or should i get an older car that would need modifications to run good? i know what i want in a car, fast and loud pops and bangs but i just dont know how to get there
I would go with some kind of Honda or Toyota as a daily driver. Save up to buy something that you can treat as an every-once-in-a-while car. For example, I use my 1999 Ranger as a daily driver, and I use my 2017 Mustang when I want to cruise around on the weekends. I've modified my Mustang. The truck is stock.
For example i love the 90s Japanese tuner cars, such as the skylines, NSX, Rx7, supra, but i know they are all so nice because people have spent years building off of the chasis and platform. Would it be worth it to get an old car like that, which would need a large amount of modifications to go fast and perform well?
Cars are designed to perform perfectly fine in their stock configuration. People mod cars to be different and increase horsepower. You can also strain that engine, causing it to wear out faster. If you do enough modding, the computer may trip the CEL because it's not been programmed to work with modifications that have been done to the vehicle.
If you really want to go on an adventure, get a project car from the '70s. I have a 1979 Pontiac Catalina with a 301. It's basically an old man car. I bought it from my now father-in-law three years ago for $750. I wanted a classic car and that Pontiac stayed in the same place for 5 years at that time. It's powered by a carburetor, not fuel injection. Parts are still readily available, despite their age. Stay away from Mustangs and things like that. People charge way too much.
thank you very much Justin, you helped summarize a couple hundred hours of research and i have a couple good ideas on what to read up on now, and i have a 2012 toyota matrix as a daily driver right now and i see no room for modifications, and i would like to keep it always available for if my "project car" was getting worked on or such i suppose. I will look into the Catalina for sure! is it probably easier to work on older vehicles because less electronics and less filler in the engine bay? ive heard new cars are hard to work on because their engine bays are always filled to the brim with hoses, wires, plastic, etc. thank you again!
Man, you live in the right time. When I was young in the 1970's before the internet we used to have to go to the auto parts stores with a 6 pack of beer to "bribe" the counter guy to let us look at exploded views of engines and components in those huge books that used to be on their sales counters.
Back then, they had parts books, no computers. There were dozens of these books from various parts suppliers, each the size of a 1970's era yellow pages phone book. But inside those books were the diagrams we couldn't get anywhere else.
Back then, looking up parts was a slow process for the retailer and if you went to the auto parts store on a Saturday, you'd expect to spend an hour in there.
Here's a movie screenshot of one of those "parts book banks"
So, we had to go there with our 6 pack "bribe" about 15 minutes before closing time on a weekday night when it wasn't busy because they didn't have time for us during busy business hours.
Flash forward to the 21st century. You have all kinds of resources on the internet. You can find facebook groups or other social media groups for guys who love doing '90s Japanese tuner cars.
You have guys like Paul Danner aka Scannerdanner who is an ASE L1 Certified Master Technician with twenty-eight years of field experience and teaches at Rosedale Technical College in Pittsburgh, Pa and offers a premium membership and study book for folks to learn automotive electronic, electrical and drivability diagnostics online.
There are so many guys online that you can learn from. For example, Matt at Schrodingers Box, Eric O at South Main Auto, Ivan Temnykh at Pine Hollow Auto Diagnostics, the guys at GoTech on youtube, the guys at ADVANCED LEVEL AUTO on youtube.
If you have an hour or two in the evenings you can soak up more automotive knowledge at home these days, than you could get from 50 six pack bribes to the 1970's parts counter guys over the period of 10 years back in my day.
Baby steps. Start with the most reliable car you can afford.
The general rule is that you can get the parts + the tools to do a job for the cost it would be to pay someone to do a repair or service. So you get your tools and experience one job at a time. And the more you do yourself, the more you learn, and the more you can save for a more “fun” car later.
Just be patient. When you’re a “car guy”, you’ll know.
start by doing your own maintenance. oil , brakes , that sort of thing.
Find a friend who's a "car guy" that can show you the ropes though, and invite him over for beer. You don't want to be messing with brakes with zero experience.
Great advice given so far.
Don't forget that any job you plan to do, there are tons of instructional videos on youtube, from Scotty, and others.
If you have a friend that mentions a problem with their car, look it up and see if you can figure it out, you may learn something. Be careful not to try something on somebody else's car, or yours for that matter, that is more serious, as @imperator mentioned, brakes are not something to mess around with, until you know what you are doing.
I knew how to change radios in cars before I worked on anything else, you are off to a good start, it means you aren't scared to pull things apart. Putting things back together is the fun part.
Where do you start?! You’ve already begun!!!
Changing a radio is more than many folks have done with their cars.
While I have been an admirer of cars for the longest time, I’ve never really wrenched until later in life.
My biggest recommendation, is be curious. Even if you don’t know how to work on something and take it in to a mechanic. Ask a bunch of questions. Learn about what brands of parts reputable mechanics prefer, any quirks they know of your car, and what was done to your car. More than likely, they will be happy to explain it all to you.
And when searching YouTube for how to do something, find different videos doing the same thing to your car. Some videos cover different nuances or even methods to get the same job done.
If you can find it, find the manufacturer repair manual for your car. That may be hard to find depending on the year. There is a bountiful of information in there.
and of course, ask questions here! Everyone is super helpful.
and once you get the hang of it, maybe contribute back, either here or another forum. Share the knowledge you have picked up from tacit first hand experience.
Thank you all very much for the input, advice and information! i have a lot more confidence in diving in, i will do my research and figure out exactly what im looking for. I appreciate all the names and references to help point me in the right direction! im excited to learn what im missing out on, my friends have always have a mechanic dialect and often reference car parts and famous engines and such so ill start off researching with what ive heard other people say (LS engines, superchargers, turbos, rotary engines etc.) and see what peaks my interest the most. I have a few friends that have built miatas, rx8s, nissan pick'me up trucks, etc. and i love everything they do to it, im just so impressed with how a single person or a small group of guys can get together to build a running, stopping, racing machine. Im interested in possibly doing catfish Camero or an older corvette, which i know would most likely be big block i believe? im not sure haha i have a lot to learn but i will start off learning everything about my daily driver and maybe that will give me a good head start. thanks everyone!
Also check out vice grip garage on youtube to see some real redneck engineering ... and I mean that in a good way. Derek has talent for breaking down car vernacular into terms anybody can understand (he's actually really smart, but hides it well). And it's a hoot to watch too.
i would like to keep it always available for if my "project car" was getting worked on or such i suppose. I will look into the Catalina for sure! is it probably easier to work on older vehicles because less electronics and less filler in the engine bay?
I have a small block V8 in my Catalina. I'm 5' 10" and slim. I could probably stuff myself in that car's engine bay; It's 6' wide, and it can utilize a 402 cubic inch powerplant.
It's a different experience, that's for sure. You have basically no electronics. It's all analog -it's basically analogous to a massive lawn mower. I was puzzled when I couldn't get that car to start. I had to ask the forum how to start it- you pump the gas 5 or 6 times for a cold start. Haha. Working on true classic cars is kind of a two-way street. Yes, they're simpler, but you need to have more mechanical aptitude, because you don't have electronics to help out. As an example, my carburetor was running way too rich. There are mixture screws that control the lean lean/rich mixture. I had to adjust the idle screws while the engine was hot and running and listen for the idle speed to reach maximum. I also had to adjust the idle speed screw itself. Haha. You get a feel for it. There's an old Scotty video that explains it. How To Adjust A Carburetor On Your Car (youtube.com) If that makes some sense, you're definitely a "car guy" in the making. My carb runs just fine, now.
thank you very much Justin, you helped summarize a couple hundred hours of research and i have a couple good ideas on what to read up on now,
Happy to help! I studied thermodynamics 18 months ago, and when we started getting into different types of engines in the final three weeks, it was my cup of tea. I have a minor in mechanical engineering, I'd like to turn it into another major. I got into cars partially because my mom almost always had some kind of car issue when I was growing up. I discovered I was pretty good with cars, once I had my own, and the rest is history; I had an old 1994 BMW 540i on a college kid budget 10 years ago and I made it work only making $8 an hour. I sold it to a friend who owed her money in the same shape that I had bought it in, 2 years before.
If you want to go whole hog, read about the Otto Cycle (4-stroke engine) and Diesel cycle (2-stroke engine) on Wikipedia, you may understand more about engines than being a magic box that moves. Haha.
Step 1: make sure you have a disposable income and a few bob in the bank. 😆
Tools are crap these days as well. Even as a carpenter I got all my tools off ebay that were made 50+ years ago. Doing the same thing with my mechanics tools as I go.
