2015 Wow where does time go!

                Happy New Year! Boy do I feel old!
                Now for the New Years Resolution!
                Will you keep it??????????????????

Technical tips Page

Check out the Technical Tip Page for new updates

Are you sure your doing what you really want to do???????

Hello,  fellow Techee’s, just wanted to throw a little food for thought at you. When I started in this business, I was 12 years old. I sat around gas stations and watched the cars come in and out of the garages. Meanwhile , I was drinking a soda and some kind of cakes wondering what was going on in the garage. This was after school of course and if there is one important thing in life, it is to get a good education. My buddies and I were told  to take a walk because we were loitering  on private property. The owner gave us a choice, “Either go home or come to work for me”. Of course I picked the latter. So I went to work changing oil and washing vehicles and pumping gas and kissing  %ss  for him. I loved it but my Mother had other thoughts on the matter. I was supposed to be a Certified Public Accountant. Yeah right that’ll get the girls for me! No I loved cars and wanted to work on them and own my own vehicle. When I was 16, I bought my first car for a hundred bucks. A 1955 Ford custom 2 door sedan with a dead battery and bald tires. I didn’t care about any of that. I just worked my butt off and fixed it all. Later on in the years to come, I migrated to Heavy trucks. Man, what a feeling when you rebuild a Diesel engine and test drive the truck. Again, I am in love with this business. I worked 10 to 16 hours a day on trucks for close to 20 years. Then I decided to get a job teaching and found out that it was hard at first but then it got better as the years went by! Teaching was my way of giving back to the business that I loved and still love today, even though I am retired. That was the reason I started this blog. If I can help 1 Automotive tech out there, then it is all worth it! The moral of the story is: If you don’t love what you are doing, then you need a new job”. Too many people are in jobs they hate but do it for more money. Is that a good philosophy? Maybe for some but not for the health and welfare of my mind! It’s funny that some TV show made a sound assessment of the working force by saying, “ If you love your job, you will never have to work a day in your life”. Can’t beat that logic by no means! So do yourself and the rest of us out here in this difficult world we live in, get the job you want in life and enjoy life at the same time! Happy Motoring  Ya’’ll.

Gas Prices

Alright People Don't loose you mind now that gas prices are down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just because gas prices are down doesn't mean we can push the pedal down further. We need to stay alert and drive responsibly and prices will dip down even more. Lets keep our heads and our money!!!!

Technical Tips

Check out the Technical Tip Page for new updates

Technical Tips food for thought!

Hey ya'll, I love watching those Automotive TV shows about muscle cars, where they put a new engine in the car. Then they try to start it and “Boom” it backfires and shoots flames out the carburetor. Now I don't know about you but this really pisses me off big time. These guys are professionals and can't get a car to start properly??? So with that being said I decided to start a Tech Tip Page, so that I can show you some short cuts on how to be more professional at your job!

TECH TIP NO. 1 -

Let's say your installing a new engine and your are about to start it for the first time. Something to make sure of is that the motor has been primed for oil pressure, (I will make a new Tech Tip for this procedure also). Ok, now lets assume (be careful of that word, we all know what that means) we want to get the motor started. Follow this procedure:

1. Remove No.1 spark plug
2. Get a breaker bar and a socket to fit the crankshaft bolt.
3. Start to bar the engine over and put you finger against the spark plug hole till you feel compression pushing against your finger.
4. At this point look at the damper pointer(make sure you mark the damper with paint or white out)
5. Look at the numbers on the damper and make sure that the “0” or zero is directly in line with the pointer!
6. At this point we should be at top dead center on the compression stroke so we can advance the damper to the recommended timing specification. (0 or 2 or 10 or what ever the manufacture recommends)
7. Now remove the distributor cap and see where the rotor is in respect to the No.1 spark plug wire .
8. If all looks well then re-install the distributor cap.
9. Now, re-install No. 1 spark plug.
10. At this point we are almost ready to start the engine.
11. Using a screw driver or a spark substitute, connect the spark plug wire to either one and turn on the key.
12. Rotate the distributor in the direction of rotation till the spark plug substitute fires a spark across it,
13. Lock the distributor in place till after the engine is fired and running for a while.
14. Re-install the spark plug wire.
15. The purpose of this is too get a preliminary timing point so the engine will start on the first key turn!
16. Once the engine is running, use a timing light to set the correct spec!

I used to do this every time I built a new engine and never had to worry about backfire or destroying a power valve in the carburetor!

Good luck with this and be careful. If you mess it up, always have a fire extinguisher on hand to grab in case of an emergency!

AS ALWAYS SAFETY FIRST!!!

Hello again, if you want some really great information, head over to CDXauto.com and check out there site. They also have a new textbook out. I don't want to brag but myself and some really talented people over there had  a hand in putting this book together. You won't find anything better in Automotive Technology information out there. There site is loaded with all the new stuff we need to know about. Check it out and believe me, you be glad you did! Enjoy!