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Today’s car guys vs yesterdays car guys?

3pdl

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this is a great thread. i loved almost every post.
like many, wrenching and driving went hand in hand. if tools were needed tools were bought, often second hand. but for me, it's more of a therapeutic hobby than a point of pride. if it can be done i can probably can do it, but by the same token, if i can do it, so could just about anyone else
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Ed M

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You have to be kidding. You obviously feel quite inferior.
Boy howdy, you hit the nail on the head. I’ve never had the ability to do my own mining, smelting or casting. Not only do I feel quite inferior, I’m not even worthy to grovel at your feet.
 

Linkster1666

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For those of you that say you do EVERYTHING yourself, I must say that I’m impressed that you are wealthy enough to do your own mining, smelting, casting, design, fabrication, etc.

Mighty impressed.
Just because I don't doesn't mean I can't.
 

w3rkn

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There are two types of cars guys... ones that don't care about anything but acceleration, and those who cares about performance. So some get their hands dirty...
 
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qtrracer

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I do most of my own work, including but not limited to suspension (springs, struts, torque arms, a-arms, etc.), alignments, oil changes (when not part of a special deal), brake pads, rotors, lines and flushes, sensors, and some electronics (e.g., stereo and old EFI). I even corner weighted. I've rebuilt engines and just about every drive-line component on a car. I've prepped for paint but don't actually do body, paint or upholstery. And I'm not a mechanic - far from it. Car Craft had me test at the time the new Holley Double Pumper carb and published an article about it in '71.

Today, at 72, I still do most of these things on vintage iron (e.g., my 86 Mustang), and I did the full suspension, alignment and exhaust on my s550. But I have more money now and am less inclined to get into drive-line, engine or electronic controls on these newer cars. And I don't relish spending hours on my back under a car the way I used to. I'd like to think I still qualify for my car-guy card despite handing some stuff over to professionals.
 

Johnnybee

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I do some things but not all. Oil changes, yes. Routine maintenance, yes. But that’s where it ends, because we have newer cars and pretty much nothing goes wrong with these things anymore. My old British stuff was always being fiddled with. My ‘78 Nova needed a carb rebuild, so yes, I did that. My ‘91 Caprice has a lope in the idle when cold, I troubleshot that and fixed it (coolant temp sensor), but it was throttle body injection and only had about five sensors on it! Certainly if I had a toy, I would do more, because, well, if you don’t get it finished that weekend, it’s not like you’re going to be walking to work.
 

TheReaper

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I built race cars and modded street cars in the 70's. Now all I do is change the air filters and check the oil and windshield washer fluid.
 
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kent0464

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Wow, this has been a really great thread with some awesome answers and some snarky ones, lol!
 

barron64

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As a kid I started out working on bicycles, moved on to minibikes and go-karts then motorcycles. Learned how to repair all these toys on my own as if it broke, my parents were not going to pay someone else to repair it. Cutting grass proved profitable to fund the gear head addiction, even more so if I could fix my own mower so a lot of valuable knowlede gained here. Learned a huge amount getting my first car, 68 T-Bird w/429, running and driveable. Car had been sitting for 5 years when I got it so just about everything had to be touched to get it roadworthy. Moved on to imports for a while...Built a heavily modded 80 Celica, with side draft Mikuni's, cam, header etc., Built a turbocharged 81 Toyota pickup that was a blast. Had a 89 Ford Probe turbo that was fast but had glass spider gears in transaxle, another story though. Recently had a heavily modded, turbocharged 90 Miata until the Mustang. Did all the wrench turning myself and enjoyed every minute of it. If I had to pay someone to do all the repairs/mods on all these projects, I would never had all these toys as I could not afford it.
Latest light duty mod was installing camber plates on my 18 GT. Recently put a new timing belt on my wif's 09 Acura MDX...Kind of a pain but saved a ton doing it myself.
 

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Rut Row. Today's anything guys versus yesterdays real men thread :lipssealed:
Careful you don't sound like a bunch of old guys telling the kids you are better because you had to kill your food and fix your car.
Reminds me of Granny calling us kids whippersnappers spoiled rotten with store bought toys and indoor plumbing. :shock:
Kids today got it rough too.
They must compete in endless hours of video games only to be publicly shamed for a poor kill to death ratio.
They have to work at low paying no skill jobs and live in Mom's basement to save money for tattoos and vaping supplies.
Then you humiliate them by blowing the doors off by their noisy 4 banger in your real hotrod that you built yourself.
Be nice.
:giggle:
 

Rover

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I'm only 31, but I can legitimately say that I've walked uphill in the snow to get to school. It wasn't uphill both ways though :cwl:
I remember walking to the school in the rain and snow with the bus passing me by because they would not pick up any kid that lived within a couple of miles of the school. Of course it was safe to walk alone anywhere in those days, and we did. Hell, we hitchhiked for transportation before we got cars and it was safe and reliable.
 

Boston23

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Interesting thread. I am a gear head and former adrenaline junky. Started saving my money and tips as a paperboy at 8 and bought and RM125 at 12 and switched to the water cooled CR125 when I started racing motocross as a novice. Back then, it was Brad Lackey, Bob Hannah, Jimmy Ellis, Marty Smith and Marty Tripes. I was too young to drive so I had to tag along with older riders that had trucks and trailers to get to local events. The racers in novice were friendly and accommodating regardless of the manufacturer they were riding and I learned a lot about wrenching. I was an ok rider but there were only so many partial sponsorships coming from local bike shops and without money, you won’t make it far. I learned to drive in a 1978 F250 Ranger with a manual transmission. 1st gear was the granny gear that was used on hills, towing or plowing. About the same time, I got into road bikes. Saved my money and went to road racing school with the intent of joining and endurance team racing GSXR 750’s but the funding fell out and that was even more expensive than motocross. I was still tracking bikes but gave up public riding after using up a couple of my 9 lives. I did a 2 year stint as a service manager in a marina that sponsored two offshore boats. I was the backup driver in the 30’ Cat and crewed on both boats, fun times and there’s nothing like race week in Key West. A friend crewed for Zero Defect/Drambuie on Ice when the boat won the championship. We modified the mini pit bikes that looked like F1 racers. So bikes, boats, trucks, cars, sky diving, scuba diving and pushing limits puts a smile on my face. I like all performance vehicles regardless of manufacturer and enjoy the story behind them. Old school HP used to intimidate you when the chassis and suspension weren’t tuned and new school HP at 600+ seems underwhelming because of how refined the chassis/suspension set ups are. I’m happy to see manufacturers both foreign and domestic pushing limits. Competition is good all the way around. Didn’t like my last two Vettes but would consider a new mid engine. Pretty sure I’ll keep the Mustang though. Always happy to lend a wrench as that’s the way I was taught. A gear head is a gear head, new school or old school.
 

gregsdart

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Just because I don't doesn't mean I can't.
Exactly. Sometimes we just want to enjoy one part of the sport more than other parts. I take my 2019 GT out for joy rides for pure fun, knowing I can put it away clean and neat and do the same thing 100 other days without having to touch anything but a key fob. Nice! Now the race car-------tens of hours of labor for an eight second run. But I love it!
 

Hack

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I build my own cars from scratch. I don't respect anyone that just goes to a dealership and buys a premade car.
Must be a real pain casting the engine blocks and so on. I've pieced together stuff from different cars, but never made much of anything from scratch other than sheet metal stuff. I guess I didn't really make that from scratch either, because I bought sheet metal that someone else made for me. I've never done any mining for metal.

I pick and choose what I will work on with my cars. It depends on the weather outside, how easy the task is, etc. I typically will do brakes is one of the main things I think are foolish to pay someone else to do. I sometimes will pay for oil changes, AC work and some other stuff that is relatively inexpensive to have someone else do - especially if it's terrible weather or I'm busy.

When it comes to modifying cars - things have changed a lot. Many cars that are produced today are better than what I could do. My '70 Mustang can be improved from stock fairly easily, but modern cars aren't quite the same. Of course there are little things like suspension parts that can be swapped out, but I'm not going to come up with a major improvement to a modern vehicle. Most of that is just bolting on pre-made components that may or may not be better than what the factory designed. IMO there's nothing heroic about turning a wrench.

I used to enjoy building vehicles more than driving them, but newer vehicles are so good that I've found time on the road course to be much more fun than wrenching.
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