12 thoughts on “The psychology of people who know how to work on cars, mechanical, electrical devices.”
Then engineers add sensors that are faulty and impossible R&R of parts without removing the body.
True that. Make some thing dead live again. Done it more than once.
This applies in many other skills. Today I was straightening a flange ring using a 5# hammer and the welding table. My nephew asked how I knew where to hit the ring to straighten it and I told him I don’t know I just know.
Make sure you tell Dio!! It’s him.
Known this since the late 60’s…
All this is twice as true if youre working on a motorcycle, ten times if its a Harley.
This vid kind of implies that being good at working on cars is the pinnacle of mechanical mastery, while I consider it a stepping stone. I get the premise of what they are trying to say – that people that work on things are wired and operate differently. That the knowledge and confidence to accomplish a mechanical repair is transferable to other tasks. To that effect, I agree.
In my case, my journey started with an old Briggs & Stratton engine on a push mower. Didn’t have any spark. So, my father told me where the the points and condenser were, and I mostly had to figure it out on my own. If I got stuck, he would show me what I was missing. Getting that running was my first step in a path that continues today. And not just engines either. Construction, plumbing, electrical, electronics, autobody, control systems, metal fabrication, etc, etc. Most of which I acquired by shadowing my father. I had no formal training otherwise.
Being able to jump into a CNC machine to repair it, with no previous experience, was a culmination of a lifetime of working with my hands. At least, up to that point. My knowledge base continues to grow, every day.
As Chris Boden would say: ..”and THAT’S PRETTY COOL!”
Leigh
Whitehall, NY
I bought my table saw at 14 or 15. not sure anymore. and got a few books on woodworking. after school I was cutting wood and trying to make “stuff’ as my dad would say. made the new kitchen cabinets at 16-17 years old. they still in my Mom’s old house. white oak and yellow pine support/back parts.
when you come right down to it, it just a box inside of another box. drawers that is.
they like 55 years old now and still look and work as well as the day we put them in. after that, my Dad stopped bitching about the electric bill.
rebuilt his truck engine in 1975. new rings, bearings. valve job, the works.
and new clutch. I was told my others, that my dad said it ran better than ever.
never told me that though. just it’s okay and it works.
funny how Dads can be.
but as long as I have a pencil and paper, I figure it out sooner or later.
I made the drawers with finger or box joints by the way.
yeah, I made the jib I found in one of my books.
I wonder how far I would have gotten if I had gone to shop class.
my parents had me go to a college type of school.
Yeah… I remember working with dad on the old Apache. Canister oil filter and oil bath air cleaner… “Bump it again, again, HOLD IT!!” as he checked the point gap. He taught me the value of good tools by not having any… of time sinks by trying to cheap out with a rebuild kit, instead of replacing the unfixable. Heck of a carpenter though, not a bad concrete guy, passable plumber. We did it all. He was a depression era farm kid. I got the “can do” from his example.
MGB owners become either mechanics or hitch-hikers by default.
I had 2 MGB-GTs and loved them both. lost one in the divorce and
got the second one 10 years after it. rebuilt both of them.
a fun car if there ever was one. one of them I put a V-8 in.
out of a 64 Buick al block , 215 CI. bored out to 040 over.
fast little ride. had to switch from wires to disc wheels due to the
power increase. then my back blew out and had to sell it.
Then engineers add sensors that are faulty and impossible R&R of parts without removing the body.
True that. Make some thing dead live again. Done it more than once.
This applies in many other skills. Today I was straightening a flange ring using a 5# hammer and the welding table. My nephew asked how I knew where to hit the ring to straighten it and I told him I don’t know I just know.
Make sure you tell Dio!! It’s him.
Known this since the late 60’s…
All this is twice as true if youre working on a motorcycle, ten times if its a Harley.
This vid kind of implies that being good at working on cars is the pinnacle of mechanical mastery, while I consider it a stepping stone. I get the premise of what they are trying to say – that people that work on things are wired and operate differently. That the knowledge and confidence to accomplish a mechanical repair is transferable to other tasks. To that effect, I agree.
In my case, my journey started with an old Briggs & Stratton engine on a push mower. Didn’t have any spark. So, my father told me where the the points and condenser were, and I mostly had to figure it out on my own. If I got stuck, he would show me what I was missing. Getting that running was my first step in a path that continues today. And not just engines either. Construction, plumbing, electrical, electronics, autobody, control systems, metal fabrication, etc, etc. Most of which I acquired by shadowing my father. I had no formal training otherwise.
Being able to jump into a CNC machine to repair it, with no previous experience, was a culmination of a lifetime of working with my hands. At least, up to that point. My knowledge base continues to grow, every day.
As Chris Boden would say: ..”and THAT’S PRETTY COOL!”
Leigh
Whitehall, NY
I bought my table saw at 14 or 15. not sure anymore. and got a few books on woodworking. after school I was cutting wood and trying to make “stuff’ as my dad would say. made the new kitchen cabinets at 16-17 years old. they still in my Mom’s old house. white oak and yellow pine support/back parts.
when you come right down to it, it just a box inside of another box. drawers that is.
they like 55 years old now and still look and work as well as the day we put them in. after that, my Dad stopped bitching about the electric bill.
rebuilt his truck engine in 1975. new rings, bearings. valve job, the works.
and new clutch. I was told my others, that my dad said it ran better than ever.
never told me that though. just it’s okay and it works.
funny how Dads can be.
but as long as I have a pencil and paper, I figure it out sooner or later.
I made the drawers with finger or box joints by the way.
yeah, I made the jib I found in one of my books.
I wonder how far I would have gotten if I had gone to shop class.
my parents had me go to a college type of school.
Yeah… I remember working with dad on the old Apache. Canister oil filter and oil bath air cleaner… “Bump it again, again, HOLD IT!!” as he checked the point gap. He taught me the value of good tools by not having any… of time sinks by trying to cheap out with a rebuild kit, instead of replacing the unfixable. Heck of a carpenter though, not a bad concrete guy, passable plumber. We did it all. He was a depression era farm kid. I got the “can do” from his example.
The “knack” came from somewhere else… https://youtu.be/g8vHhgh6oM0?si=QcUTIQmP10ad24Sm
MGB owners become either mechanics or hitch-hikers by default.
I had 2 MGB-GTs and loved them both. lost one in the divorce and
got the second one 10 years after it. rebuilt both of them.
a fun car if there ever was one. one of them I put a V-8 in.
out of a 64 Buick al block , 215 CI. bored out to 040 over.
fast little ride. had to switch from wires to disc wheels due to the
power increase. then my back blew out and had to sell it.