Learning about the mechanics

I've been digging through old threads and google images looking for engine diagrams, rear end diagrams, transmission diagrams, pretty much anything to help me learn the lingo so I don't have to use google every time I hear the mention of some critical component... Anyway,

If anyone has super secret learning tools that they wouldn't mind sharing, please do!

The pic below is nice, minus the fact I can't read it lol

This helps too:

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

Lecki6 said:

I've been digging through old threads and google images looking for engine diagrams, rear end diagrams, transmission diagrams, pretty much anything to help me learn the lingo so I don't have to use google every time I hear the mention of some critical component... Anyway,

If anyone has super secret learning tools that they wouldn't mind sharing, please do!

The pic below is nice, minus the fact I can't read it lol

Click to expand...

I prefer books over the web when it comes to important stuff, but I'm old and somewhat old school.

Read anything you can. Ask questions every chance. Verify every answer.

What part of Washington are you in?

Experience.
Get one, take it apart.

Danger Will Robinson, Danger, Danger.............here it comes..........wait for it








..........................You can download FREE factory service manuals over at MyMopar. Several of those over there came from the guys on here. There is one HELL of a lot of good information in those books. Before Al Gore invented the dubya dubya, that's all some of us had

http://www.mymopar.com/index.php?pid=31

The thing is, tho, sometimes the "lingo" is AFU. One popular term I REALLY dislike is "tranny." To be it's transmission, gearbox, automatic, or Torqueflite. Not "tranny." Maybe "trans"

Dizzy for distributor, "carby" for carb / carburetor are equally annoying. These did not seem to be around when I was a kid.

There are all kinds of lingo that is old, new, modern, not so, local to some places and not heard of much in others.

"Lingo" can get you in trouble. In the seventies and part of the eighties, I sold auto parts. Guy comes in, says he wants a "foot valve."

"What size" says I

"3/8"

"That's awful small I doubt we have one that small"

"Might be 1/2"

So I go back and it turns out the ONLY one we had on the shelf was a 3/4" Grainger foot valve, and I take that up front



"THAT'S NOT WHAT I WANT, I want a FOOT VALVE"

Turns out he wanted a TREADLE VALVE for the air brakes in his truck

=============================================

Guy comes in with an electric drill motor. "Need a chuck"

"Ok, I can't tell what thread that is, I'll have to take it back and remove it."

"grunting noise"

So I take the drill back to the shop, remove the chuck, sashay up through the "chucks" isle, and pick out a couple of chucks with keys.

"I didn't WANT the WHOLE THING, I just wanted the CHUCK" (points to the key.)

"This is a chuck, THAT is the key"

"Well I call it a chuck."

"That's just great, but as long as you keep calling it a chuck, then the chuck is what you'll GET"

67Dart273 said:

Danger Will Robinson, Danger, Danger.............here it comes..........wait for it








..........................You can download FREE factory service manuals over at MyMopar. Several of those over there came from the guys on here. There is one HELL of a lot of good information in those books. Before Al Gore invented the dubya dubya, that's all some of us had

http://www.mymopar.com/index.php?pid=31

Click to expand...

Best move you can make. Some of the info may seem WAY over your head at first, but it's really not. Ask here if you get stumped. You may catch a little bit of grief (all in fun tho), but you'll probably get the correct answer.

Haha I cringe every time I say tranny yet I end up saying it that way anyway.. I'm out in Tacoma, working on finding a nice ol magnum 360 to take apart and play with but its hard to find a deal these days.. Maybe it's the tax return thing.

Those animated diagrams are pretty cool, as far as downloading service manuals go I probably need a newer version if I want to learn about post 93 magnums?

An electric drill with a key.. I must be daft

Keep an eye at PNP, I've seen several magnum 5.9's float through there.

tranny is normal lingo for me and every car guy I know since the 70's

dizzy and carby? uhhhhh....not so much

But yeah like others have said read a lot and when you build something you'll learn in time.

Read, then read some more, then read even more still. Flea markets, garage sales, old book stores are sources of information, don't get hung up on just Mopar stuff, read, study every thing..........to quote/paraphrase Smokey Yunick......"(the) engine don't know what name's on the valve cover"

Tear an old lawn mower apart, it's an inexpensive way to learn about what some of the parts are, and the basics of tuning.

Have fun!

jos51700 said:

Experience.
Get one, take it apart.

Click to expand...

Best learning tool ever.....
Live and breathe it.....you'll catch on.

go to a pick-a-part junk yard with some tools and just have at a motor, take everything you can unbolt off and find out what makes it work. Wash your hands on your way out and your done. Best way to learn to take a front windshield out, because you usually end up breaking it..(remove lock strip, use foot on inside to push out corner and gently push out until its free)

Having come to this fairly recently myself, I bought this book by Martin Stokel: Auto Mechanics Fundamentals

It explains the fundamentals in a very methodical, logical way and, although features Ford and GM as much as Mopar, gives a good explanation of the basics.

My edition is from 1969 so is pretty contemporary with my 1973 Duster. I highly recommend reading it cover to cover, then going back and refreshing on whatever chapter is most relevant to the current task at hand.

Keep reading here, and books and magazines...

No matter how much you learn please don't EVER use the term "dizzy". Please...:wack:

jos51700 said:

Experience.
Get one, take it apart.

Click to expand...

This is the absolute best advice. You will need a good factory service manual that shows the tear down process. That along with the engine itself is the best way in the world. Just grab it and do it. Disassemble and re-assemble it as many times as it takes to get comfortable with it.