Aussie Rex

hanging around the dealership and bugging people

galactichero

None of us actually knows anything about cars. The only thing in life of which I am certain is that I know nothing (Socrates said that a long time ago... he was pretty smart for a dumbass).

I am smart enough, and have pulled things apart for long enough that I can do these things to a car, but I still sweat and feel my blood pressure go up when I start pulling apart my $25k car. As a result, I rarely do anything crazy myself. I have helped friends do craaaaazy things to their cars though. Fear is good, it keeps you sharp.

My mom, to this day (I'm getting old) still calls me the "wrecker" because when I was little I took things apart, figured out how they worked, and then lost interest before I put them back together. Have you ever thought about getting an RC car or plane, just to have some familiarity with taking things apart, how electronics work, that sort of thing? There's also a model called the ... visible engine, I think, that shows how a basic engine is built. Also, go to a junk shop or something and pull apart a lawnmower. Anything with an engine will give you a feel for cars. Have you considered looking to see if you can get a summer job at an auto shop, or volunteer to gopher for them if they'll let you watch in the shop?

galactichero

We ALL lose interest before we put things back together. That's the point. If they were intended to be put back together, they would come in pieces, right?

Which is my answer to your question. You can "mod" an RC car, or plane. I used to have an MRC Tamiya BIGWIG (loooooong time ago) and I replaced the plastic bushings with bearings, added a Technigold motor, changed the gearing ratio and pinion gear, altered the body and bumper, put in an electronic speed controller... put it this way, it ain't an MRC Tamiya Bigwig anymore (come to think of it, it WAS AWD... It all makes sense now...). I would get one that you put together, as you will know every little piece of it, and you can change it. If you go to Radio shack and get some pre-fab POS, you can't do a whole lot to it. They also have gas and electric, 2WD and AWD, various scales, various types of radios, servos, speed controllers--I think you can even get a Lexan WRX body for them. Hell, get on EBay and see what people are junking. I know my mom wants the bigwig out of her basement (400 miles away from me, but I won't let her), maybe other moms have succeeded in getting such things sold.

Everybody knows the BASICS about engines. But do you know how they come together, how they come apart, what happens if the timing is off, what timing IS, fuel ratios, compression ratios, detonation, spark plugs, how turbos work, why displacement matters, ???? I'll shut up now. You must get the point. The more familiar you are, the more you can decide what should be done, and what doing that will accomplish.

Oh, and buy the book "training WRX II" (I think it's done by the guys at MRT (www.mrtrally.com)). It's crappy if you want a manual, but they have been tuning WRXs down there in Australia since about 1994, and they explain what all these things do, talk about the basics of intercooling, suspension, those sorts of thing.

galactichero

http://www.howstuffworks.com/engine.htm

Pretty good, but I'm sure you already know that being able to define these things isn't the same as knowing how they work together.

Compression ratio is basically the volume of the cylinder when the piston is at the bottom divided by the volume of the cylinder when the piston is at the top of its stroke. Up to a point, a higher compression ratio means more power, but more risk (detonation, heat). After that point, it means a big fat hole in your engine block, or an otherwise blown piston, rod, camshaft, head gasket, etc.

Check ebay for your RC car. I'm willing to bet you can find a bunch pretty cheap there. And if not, you can always start by taking apart your mom's car, and promise never to do it again if she gets you an RC car, right...?

abaxter34

if youre planning on working on your car and want to make sure you do it right, just get a factory repair manual. they have partially assembled pictures that show every nut and bolt and tells you what the torque specs are. im not sure how much the subaru manuals are but the one for my audi retails around $180 but ive seen them as low as $100. they also come on cd-rom so you can print out the pages and not worry about smearing grease all over them. what i think is a really good source for general car knowledge, for racing at least, is Grassroots Motorsports magazine. its not all bling bling race/show car stuff like your average tuner magazines. function and performance on a budget are the primary focus of the mag.

X1_SRT

i was really lucky to have a best friend who's dad owns a car garage. we started driving cars out in the junk yard when i was about 12, and we always had to fix the cars ('80-'93 subaru loyales were the car of choice. none of you know how much abuse those will take!!) to keep them running. we used to just spend the summer at the garage gradually working on the cars more and more. i worked one full year ending in sept. 02 and the amount of things i learned amazes me. i have a weird skill for understanding mechanical things very easily, which is bonus. by the time i left the garage i was doing 2.5 timing belts and oil pumps seals in 1.5 hours. also did head gaskets, clutch jobs, suspension, and started to get into OBDII scanning and trouble shooting. reading things on these boards give the ability to say ok, a wrx has 227hp, first built in japan in '93, came to us in 02. great. but for the actuall working on cars and figuring them out, i just have to do it. as Peaty says, i too have torn every knuckle off, burned my finger prints off, slashed, gashed, and mashed my hands daily, but i still love doing it.

-PJ