For those of you who are handy with a wrench, where did you learn how to work on cars...

For those of you who are handy with a wrench, where did you learn how to work on cars? I know very little about the inner workings of a car, the best I can do is change my oil and that's about it. I would love to buy an older Japanese sports car, say an rx-7, and fix it up, but my lack of mechanical knowledge makes me believe this would be a bad decision.

small engines are a good place to start. Books are also good.
>>/t/725510

The best starter Japanese car to wrench on is unironically a Civic. You should be able to get one for 3k with just a few simple mods.

...

I was compelled to work on cars because I didn't have any money to pay somebody else and desperately needed a functional automobile to survive.

my first vehicle (1994 GMC S15) was a giant piece of shit. only drove it for about 2 years, but i had to replace so much shit in it. that pussyfucker pro went through 8 mufflers from 2000 to 2015, battery would just die all the time, it went through like 6 temp gauges, which was bad because GMC was retarded and made the temp gauge tell the fuel pump how much fuel to give the engine, so the truck would just die everywhere. if you wanna learn how to fix shit on vehicles, the best place to learn is on old C-10's or other old trucks, where those fags are supposed to have everything replaced in it and go for centuries. manlet trucks are the next best thing


I STILL MISS YOU MIDNIGHT MARAUDER MANLET MOBILE

Smokin blunts in my mechanic friend's garage and helping him fix and flip cars.

Anything with OBDII, you can basically just get the scanner or have em check it at VatoZone and Google it then watch the Youtube how to replace whatever part. But with older cars I guess maybe follow a maintenance schedule. You aren't going to get a CEL and code when you need tie rod ends but you will feel it getting loose while driving and when you go on Google or a forum for your car, they will probably tell you they all replaced em at 150k miles.

I want to build an engine from scratch but everything requires machining ;~;

>an rx-7

max keks

I've always been interested in cars and kept looking over the mechanics' shoulders as they were doing special repairs on my car before I started doing shit to it myself. Started doing oil changes and tire rotations myself, until I was brave enough to do a timing belt and water pump on my DD. Bought a late 80's car in good shape for cheap to "restore" to future classic-status and tried replacing all necessary service and wear parts. Nothing major broke, except rounding off a few bolt heads or snapping some smaller bolts, so I just kept going. Be mindful that you will need a workshop or garage to keep your project car, and plenty of tools, some specialised ones too. If you're willing to spend lots of money on parts and tools, and have the patience not to give up when you run into bigger trouble, go for it.

Bought an old car and a workshop-manual. Never intended it to be a project but I didn't realise I'd bought a shitbox until afterwards and didn't want to sell.

>but everything requires machining ;~;
What did you think it would require?

Just learning machining

Because I was a cheap fuck who didnt want to pay to fix shit, and I ended up loving doing it,

I have an old car and bought a workshop manual and an OBD II scanner on eBay. I fix whatever comes up.

>and buy a lathe
>and a drill press
>...and a cnc machine
>......and the hardware that each machine requires

This. Never worked on a car till 3 months ago. Currently rebuilding a automatic vw dsg transmission.
The feeling of in over my head intensifies.

You can't teach mechanics. All the years you sit around wishing you knew how you could have learned by now.

probably cost you around $1k for a decent bench mill and lathe with the tooling.

All good investments

Bicycles as kid
Then mopeds
Then small engine class
Then car wiring for stereo
Then lifts for wheeling
Then performance mods
Then I realized I don't like working on things and paying others is masterrace

You going to mine the ore? Cast the block? I mean what the fuck does "from scratch" even mean?

>For those of you who are handy with a wrench, where did you learn how to work on cars?
I was helping my dad, my grandad, my uncle to work on their cars and motorcycles since I was 5. I rebuild 2 stroke motorcycle engine [with the help of my uncle] when I was like 10-11 y.o.

usually buying a semi-prepared block and all the parts you fucking autist

>probably cost you around $1k for a decent bench mill and lathe with the tooling.
for real? care to share a link

Buy shitty old car. Be too poor to send it to shop for repairs. Fix shitty old car as it breaks, as it's your only option for transportation to and from your job 25 miles away. Buy more tools as stranger things break.

Also, project cars are a good start, though something that already runs and drives is probably a better bet. That way, instead of throwing parts at it and finding out a few years later that you fucked up when you try to drive it, you can drive it immediately afterwards and instantly find out you fucked up, and then fix it again.

Really, most of it is just turning bolts. Unless you're chasing the bleeding edge of performance and trying to optimize suspension or eek out that last 1/10th of a horsepower without breaking class restrictions, nothing is terribly complicated.

ONE AND ONLY CORRECT ANSWER

REV
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used mini mills / lathes
you could probably get two new ones for $1000 to be honest, but you can get better quality used.
there are decent quality chinese made lathes and mills.
grizzly, sieg, precision, etc.

scotty be gone

My dad worked on cars out of necessity bc we were poorfags and I just watched and started doing my own shit on little chainsaws and tillers and etc and then transitioned to cars

>a new bridgeport knee mill costs $18k

wtf how do poor people become machinists

by working for a company that will buy all the big tools.

>where did you learn how to work on car
I bought a beat to shit '83 Toyota Celica for 700 bucks, a repair manual, and taught myself.

There is no secret sauce to working on cars, you just need the right mindset. Everything has a purpose and a reason for being the way it is. You need to have the right tools for whatever job you are doing, for most things, a jack, jack stands, a set of wrenches and sockets and a torque wrench are all that you need. Then start watching youtube videos for replacing or diagnosing things. Join the forums for the specific car you have too so you can read information and ask questions for things that aren't clear.

My friends and I were all delivery drivers in high school and also interested in cars, so naturally we did maintenance ourselves. One actually went on to be a mechanic.

My first vehicle that I bought with my own money was a 79 honda XL250s that didn't idle. It came with a haynes manual, so I loaded up google and youtube, and got to work. It's naturally progressed from bikes to cars now that I own a car alongside motorcycles.

Also, ChrisFix is a decent channel to learn basic stuff. Dunno what Veeky Forums thinks of him but he has some decent info

You buy a fucking used one that what you do.
Ive been a machinist for 7 years now and every machine tool ive used was as old as my dad.

The only brand new machines I saw were at school and noone was allowed to use them other than the teachers.

Haha, your a funny guy user, as someone who has been watching my local Craigslist for over three years attempting to find a cheap mill, they just don't exist. Even for the most clapped out Bridgeport from some godforsaken shop class with no tooling that Joe Schmoe bought for 200 back in 2000 commands a price of at least 1.5k. To top all of this off, the Harbor Freight/Northern tool mills only seem to last about 10 years of moderate use before they develop significant slop.

>buy car
>find that obscure forum dedicated to your 1987-1993 Gen 3 Shitbox LS
>lurk and use site:forum.com on google for every problem you have

I just used YouTube and forums my whole life. Beginning from my first turbo charged car in like 2010 prob to today I fixed my Maytag washer.

bridgeport isn't a mini mill and it isn't chinese.

You aren't building a space shuttle. a thou is plenty of tolerance for building small engines. There's like 100 lathes on craiglist in my city right now with plenty of sub $500 mini lathes with tooling.

stop looking at bridgeports and 20" swing $10,000 willis lathes

and i didn't say harbor freight.