Buy a car from the 00s with a blown engine, find the shop manual, buy the parts, and rebuild it. That's how I learned
this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2024
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Cars - For Car Enthusiasts
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Buy a 60’s era truck. Pre-smog, but not too old that parts are hard to find.
A ford f100 or f250 for instance. The f100 with an inline 6 engine would be perfect. A 302 would be good too. I’d avoid the “fe” 352, 360, 390 only because they cost a bit to maintain.
My dad likes to tinker with stuff, and he's a pretty mechanically inclined guy.
He pulled an old shitty lawnmower out of a scrap metal bin, and made a motorized bar stool. The bloody thing rips across his shop at like 20km/h!
I don't know where I was going with that, but scrap metal bins are a gold mine for free shit to tinker with. Good luck brother
Mowers are an okay start, theyre usually 2 strokes so a bit different from a car but they still have many similar parts.
You might be able to ask around at junkyards/pick a part places if they have engines, especially broken or damaged ones. Even if you never put it together to get it working, you can still learn a lot from just disassembly/reassembly. You could ask local shops if they will let you be an apprentice, maybe make a little money while you learn.
Recommend watching YouTube videos, not necessarily "build videos" since I find those pretty stupid usually, but videos about disassembly and reassembly are important. Cleaning, machining, etc are usually good ones too. Curmudgeon Transmissions is one I like for transmission videos, for example. I like to find the old guys, because theyre the ones with all the years of experience and I find I learn way more from them than from younger guys.
For YouTube stuff, d3sshooter is pretty good. He's an older bloke that really knows his stuff and does detailed videos about how to do specific jobs on his cars (e.g. I followed his video when putting together the hubs for my mini). This is also a more expensive way to do it, but restoring an old car isn't a bad way to go. You'll learn a hell of a lot from it and they're a bit simpler and more approachable than a newer car
As an Old Car Haver myself, I would definitely not recommend someone learn on one unless finding parts is very easy. Maybe something like a Mustang or Camaro, but definitely not anything like a Studebaker or Oldsmobile. And unfortunately, the popular cars they still make parts for don't come cheap.
I haven't seen a 2-stroke mower in over 40 years.
Those are some great ideas about finding a non-running engine for free, tear it down and see how it works.
Seeing the crank rotate, the piston move, and the cam timing the valves opening - that was fun to do as a kid.
Small engines seem to be a good start. Mowers, generators and stuff. Helps you to better understand the basics and concepts without breaking the bank on something like a car. They're also relatively simple, with no computer components to deal with.
My first engine was a lawnmower too! I was 6 and I didn't think my parents thought I would get it working. I have a picture somewhere of me holding a piston like a prize fish. Worked up to a minibike later. Finished a complete rebuild of a V6 a couple years ago.
Books (remember those things?) are great. YouTube is ok if you actually find a good video. But the best is to make friends with someone who knows what they are doing.
I've found, almost too late sometimes, that you have to already know what to ask to learn about something. Buy new bearings for your specific engine? Great! Check clearances before you purchase in case something is out of spec? Oh, guess I'm doing that again. Oops. Haha!
There's "car mechanic simulator" games that are pretty accurate.
Plenty of YouTube channels
Buy a motor from a junkyard and take it apart.