How did you learn to restore cars?

[Troy]

  "did it the best way I knew by watching my best friends older cousin and I've NEVER paid anybody to date again...."

no more hookers for you eh?..  sorry,..

Sad, I thought exactly the same thing.

Troy

[DavidSL]

Nothing to do with restoration, but good to know:

http://www.8thcivic.com/forums/mechanical-problems-technical-chat/50657-everything-you-wanted-know-about-car-measurements-hp-tq-gear-ratios-etc.html

[TylerCharger69]

Me?...Well...I consider myself to be somewhere between a novice and an intermediate.......How am i learning?    Trial and error!!!   OH!!!   And a lot of help from members of this forum too!!!   Gotta give the credit where credit is due!!!

[69bronzeT5]

Mainly from my dad and grandpa. I grew up around cars, my dad restored a '71 Camaro Z/28 and a '70 Buick GSX for his friend. He also fixed his friend's other cars including a '65 Galaxie 427 Police Interceptor, '68 California Special Mustang & a '70 AMC AMX. My dad also sold a '68 AMC Rebel for another friend.

[beware the sleeper]

sweet yeah, sadly I didnt have anyone around growin up into cars, and I tried to take autoshop in school but all the tools had been stolen, so I just sat there and did diagrams and crap all day.  thanks for the websites so far, I am checking them all out as we speak.

[beware the sleeper]

that car bibles site is bad ass, I have read like the entire site twice, got a real firm grasp of everything, major props, thanks man

[DavidSL]

that car bibles site is bad ass, I have read like the entire site twice, got a real firm grasp of everything, major props, thanks man

Aw crap, you're overtaking me by a longshot - I've read the first page on engines, and then got lost on these forums talking about the cars!

But yeah, I found that site and thought it was great - it wasn't until I'd printed out the entire section about Internal Combustion Engines that I realised the site had chapters pertaining to everything you need to know!

My dad used to be a mechanic, and I think he's pretty surprised at my sudden interest - until now I'd never really talked about it to him. It helps because he can give me some pointers when I don't know what something is - but there's a lot of stuff unique to Mopars that he's unfamiliar with. We just don't have that kinda thing in the UK much.

Out of interest, what cars are you interested in? You looking at Chargers?

[Chatt69chgr]

The guy I ran around with was a mechanical genius.  I learned by helping him.  He had a 52 ford with 239 flathead and 3-speed manual.  Together, we replaced one clutch, two drive shafts and one rear axle.  All sourced from the local junkyard.  My first "body work" was fixing the 50 pickup truck front fender that I had mashed in that belonged to his dad while I had it borrowed hauling sawdust out of the woods to sell for $$.  I offered to pay to have it fixed.  His dad wouldn't hear of it.  He just wanted me to take the fender off, beat it out, and paint it with some spray cans.  He sat on the front porch and answered my questions.  He said I wouldn't learn anything if I just paid someone else to fix it.  I've been doing all my own work since.  You just have to dive in.  The local tech schools usually have a text that accompanies their course.  Get a copy and read it.  Attend a adult education night school for auto repair.  Read car magazines and car books from your local magazine store.  Get catalogs and study them.  Find out where the local cruse-in's are and make some friends.  They will be glad to have you come over and help them.   Watch the "car" fix it programs on TV.  And don't forget to have fun. 

[beware the sleeper]

yeah im lookin at over haulin now, lookin for some other tv shows.


that site is great, I really like third gen chargers, Altho theres a few others that I would love to get my hands on, like 72 road runners are sexy, i like some of the 70's chevelles too.

[furbyboy]

 

[b5blue]

I learned a lot (when young) about mechanics by repairing what I broke. I would recommend spending some time in some junk yards, service stations, local car type hang outs, and the fore mentioned car clubs. Network yourself out there and be ready to pay some dues. It's one thing to read about something but to spend days, weeks, months and years covered in grime and scratched up, sweating your nuts off is another. As a hobby you decide when and what you do, as a job you do what you get, when you get it and there is no room for error or you go hungry. I cut my teeth in a (mostly UK) import restoration shop by doing "the crappy" stuff none wanted to do. Disassembling and cleaning, sand blasting, pressure washing, steam cleaning, hours fighting rust, dirty grease caked assembly's only to end up at the parts washer cleaning them till spotless. The only thing that broke me out of that rut was my skill in electronics, once that came into play I was redeemed. (Still poorly paid...but greatly respected given old Lucas's bad reputation)         

[Wicked72]

I watched my grandfather and he let me get into his projects and learned hands on. However my grandfather was all about getting it done and not a ton on details lol but I am extremely anal. He keeps telling me to just shoot some primer and paint on my charger and throw a seat back in it and roll haha. I cant just do that, all the cars ive owned I learned by myself on the high detail part so my baby now is getting the full tare down and I am going through every part of the car to make it damn near perfect! I would just do some searches on google and watch some how to vids on the stuff you want to get done. And take your time!!!!! GOOD LUCK!! You can also hit us up!

[Dans 68]

I grew up with minibikes and motorcycles, and learned to take care of them. Having an older brother who was into the motorcycle scene also helped.    Racing motocross also helped to "inspire" me to be a good mechanic with both bikes and trucks (we had to get them to the track somehow  ) as money was tight. I had a few pick-ups to tinker with during my High School years, and it just seemed natural to continue with cars. My college car was a '68 VW Beetle, with a Hurst shifter, rust, and lousy paint job. I kept that thing running through College (and picked up most of my speeding tickets) while I received my degree in Mechanical Engineering, which I believe I undertook getting because of my mechanical and anal aptitude.    My roommate in college rebuilt a VW engine in our apartment foyer (I helped).

Hmmm, this is getting a bit windy...just have the desire to get your hands dirty, get a few tools and get to it. Everything else will follow.

Dan

[68X426]

I can only add that I am still learning, after 5 decades.  

Please don't ask how I know that.

[moparstuart]

I can only add that I am still learning, after 5 decades.  

Please don't ask how I know that.

[Cooter]

There's a saying that "If you do something you love, you will never work a day in your life"...


I don't buy this, cause If you turn a hobby something you love, where everyday you are doing it in and out for PITA, picky as hell, customers, it WILL become well, like a job and start to become "unfun"...I love to restore old cars and see peoples reactions to where it came from to where it's goes, but doing it full time day in day out, never.....

[Highbanked Hauler]

 I spent 38 years doing flat rate paint & collision work for the motoring public.

[Drop Top]

I grew up on a rather large farm. I was painting tractors, equipment and patching up old trucks by the time I was 13. My dad would hire old drunk painters to patch up this stuff and I learned what not to do. I painted my high school car at 16, then started painting my buddys cars. By the time I got out of high school I was painting my first Mopar a 69 super bee. Did some other Mopars over the years Chargers Challengers Cudas Road Runners and a few other other brand cars. Anyway by the time I was 30 I lost my Dad and fate would have it I lost most of my Dads property and money to IRS. But I still had a rather large shop in my back yard and a passion for cars. Through one of my ventures I met a man named Bill Cushenbery. I stripped a few cars for him useing Plastic Media. Had a chance to work for him and became very good friends. He tought me as much as he could before he pased away. He even worked out of my shop fro awile. Then over the years I just improved with age. I still live in the house I grew up in and working out of the same shop I started out in. I'm 52 tomarrow. I don't work anymore, because I love what I do. The latest Mopar that I'm doing is a 69 Charger for a customer and a 72 Dart Swinger That will belong to my oldest grandson. He's 5 right now and he helps me as much as possable. He was over her 2 day in a row this week and he showed up here to afternoon.

[Supercharged Riot]

What basically everyone else said above me.


Just dive into it.
Learn as you go.
Theres no way you'll learn everything in theory without taking a stab at it
Sometimes you learn a pricey lesson with mistakes, but that's life.

Just do things safe.

[bakerhillpins]

  "did it the best way I knew by watching my best friends older cousin and I've NEVER paid anybody to date again...."

no more hookers for you eh?..  sorry,..

Sad, I thought exactly the same thing.

Troy

Your not the only ones...

What basically everyone else said above me.


Just dive into it.
Learn as you go.
Theres no way you'll learn everything in theory without taking a stab at it
Sometimes you learn a pricey lesson with mistakes, but that's life.

Just do things safe.

Er well, just make sure that your pricey mistake didn't consume all your cash.  Don't ask me how I know.

Life is full of hard lessons, I've learned to listen to folks that have done it before and heed their warning. I just hope in the process I don't annoy them too much.