Why Is It?

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mopar head said:
As a younger man, if it wasn`t for Chilton's, I wouldn`t know squat on vehicles. This was before I knew factory repair manuals even existed.
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Absolutely no disrespect due to your younger age; it's just a different time. When I began working on cars (1970-ish) I already had a head full of knowledge from reading every car magazine I could get my hands on. I knew how stuff worked, but it wasn't just me - my entire generation had at least elementary mechanical knowledge even if they were not necessarily "mechanically inclined" like I was/am. Sadly that is not deemed important any more; and as a result many younger people have not developed what I consider essential life skills - fixing stuff.

Chilton's is great for top level stuff, but as you've discovered, the FSM gets right down to the nitty-gritty. Soldier on - it makes me happy to to see younger guys getting into the automotive hobby or racing.
 
slantsixdan said:
You, to the counter clerk: "I only see one Anco 12-14 wiper refill on the shelf. Could you please check if you have any more?"

Clerk: "What year, make and model are you working on?"

You: "It doesn't matter, I just gave you the part number. Anco 12-14. It's a 14-inch wiper refill like this what I am holding in my hand."

Clerk: "I need a year, make and model."

You: "Fine, whatever. It's a 1972 Dodge Dart."

Clerk: "Truck or car?"

You: "Dart. It's a car."

Clerk: "What engine?"

You: "It doesn't make any difference! They all used the same wiper! Just pick one!"

Clerk: "I need to know what engine. Does it have the one ninety eight three point two, the two twenty five three point seven, the three eighteen five point two or the three fifty five point seven?"

You: "There's no such a thing as a 350 in a Dart."

Clerk: "Three fifty. Ummm...sorry, we don't have parts for that car."

You: "No, I said it couldn't have a 350 because they never came that way. A 350 is a Chevrolet engine, and this is a Dodge. It has a 225!"

Clerk: "OK a 225...and does it have drum or disc brakes?"

You: "It has 14 inch wiper blades. Anco 12-14s. I can see them on the shelf behind you. Over your left shoulder. Can you please just grab me another one to match this what I have placed on the counter in front of you?"

Clerk: "Uhhhh...I have to check with my manager...and he's on lunch...I could take down your, like, name and number...I guess...if you really want me to. That would require paper...and, like, a writing thing...we have these really kewl headlight blackouts, they look phat if you want to impress the chizzicks and, like, stuff. They're on aisle four."

You: "<unprintable>"

Clerk: "SEH-KUR-AH-TAY!!!!"

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:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
 
318willrun said:
Assemble engine. Race it. Desire 5 tenths quicker. Buy more performance parts. Try again. Want 2 tenths quicker? Buy more performance parts. All the while leaving a full second on the table by not taking the time to tune, and think through the actual first assembly.
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That, or its big brother:

I have a stock '63 Valiant. Runs good. I bought an 800cfm 4bbl, a Hurricane intake, a set of headers, a Procomp ignition, and I was gonna get a double-roller timing set but I found a gear drive instead. So my questions are:

1. How do I make these headers fit? Serious answers only, so don't be telling me "it won't fit" or "you will have to use a torch" or other BS like that (place I got them said they're for a truck but wtvr a slant-6 is a slant-6 lol)".

2. How fast will my car go? I expect at least 13-second quarters, maybe 12s.

I am ONLY putting on the parts listed above. I am NOT changing anything else. EVERYTHING ELSE IS STAYING STOCK, my wife will still be driving this car daily. NO NEW CAMSHAFT. NO THE HEAD IS NOT COMING OFF. NO I AM NOT MESSING WITH THE BRAKES OR PUTTING NEW WHEELS ECT. I do not want to get into any of that. As far as my experience goes, I have helped out with a couple of oil changes before, and I changed a taillight bulb once.

I'm exaggerating a little, not a lot. There were numerous cases more or less like this over on .org. Some of them reached advanced stages after the dillweed had read a bunch of articles—mostly the kind in magazines that amount to advertorials/infomercials—combined them all together like doubling or tripling a recipe, ignored the chorus of "you're doing it wrong" advice, spent tens of thousands of dollars on parts and labour, and their car ran like crap (if at all). Their conclusion was always the same: [type of car/type of engine] is useless junk, [forum] is full of idiots, and they're gonna go build [other type of car/other type of engine] instead.
 
TheRacerDave said:
I see this all the time and am baffled. Guys come to the track with basically good cars and "it made 900 hp on the dyno" engines and run 12s. Meanwhile my under 600 hp car runs deep in the 9s and I'm thinking, how fast would I be with 900 hp? Got to sort those rigs out if you want to be fast! More speed parts isn't the answer - tune the ones you have; work the combo. But that takes what has been alluded to throughout this post - you need to know how and why things work to in order to tune (or even simply repair) them properly, and that's acquired by experience.
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That’s because testing involves logical thinking, a test protocol and a driver who can repeat.

Testing is hard work and it’s not cheap.

You’ll never convince anyone their chassis needs more work than the engine. Never.

And God help you if you tell a guy to put away his checkbook and learn to drive first. Stick guys are THE WORST drivers out there. And their cars and chassis are the least sorted out.

You don’t make friends telling people the truth.
 
slantsixdan said:
You, to the counter clerk: "I only see one Anco 12-14 wiper refill on the shelf. Could you please check if you have any more?"

Clerk: "What year, make and model are you working on?"

You: "It doesn't matter, I just gave you the part number. Anco 12-14. It's a 14-inch wiper refill like this what I am holding in my hand."

Clerk: "I need a year, make and model."

You: "Fine, whatever. It's a 1972 Dodge Dart."

Clerk: "Truck or car?"

You: "Dart. It's a car."

Clerk: "What engine?"

You: "It doesn't make any difference! They all used the same wiper! Just pick one!"

Clerk: "I need to know what engine. Does it have the one ninety eight three point two, the two twenty five three point seven, the three eighteen five point two or the three fifty five point seven?"

You: "There's no such a thing as a 350 in a Dart."

Clerk: "Three fifty. Ummm...sorry, we don't have parts for that car."

You: "No, I said it couldn't have a 350 because they never came that way. A 350 is a Chevrolet engine, and this is a Dodge. It has a 225!"

Clerk: "OK a 225...and does it have drum or disc brakes?"

You: "It has 14 inch wiper blades. Anco 12-14s. I can see them on the shelf behind you. Over your left shoulder. Can you please just grab me another one to match this what I have placed on the counter in front of you?"

Clerk: "Uhhhh...I have to check with my manager...and he's on lunch...I could take down your, like, name and number...I guess...if you really want me to. That would require paper...and, like, a writing thing...we have these really kewl headlight blackouts, they look phat if you want to impress the chizzicks and, like, stuff. They're on aisle four."

You: "<unprintable>"

Clerk: "SEH-KUR-AH-TAY!!!!"

View attachment 1716317485
Click to expand...
That, right there, is ******* priceless!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Because it's so true!
 
mopar head said:
As a younger man, if it wasn`t for Chilton's, I wouldn`t know squat on vehicles. This was before I knew factory repair manuals even existed.
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My best friend in high school and I both got the Chilton's "Big Pink Book" on the advice of our auto shop teacher. We both still have them. The best thing those books taught both of us was how to tell year, make and model from the front end drawings in each section. Very detailed. I still refer to it from time to time.
 
slantsixdan said:
Preach! I was long in the habit of replying to "HALP MY CAR IS BROKEN EVEN THO LOOKIT ALL THE PARTS I'VE REPLACED!!!1!!!1!!!" posts by advising a stop to the money-spending and parts-throwing, and coaching on how to diagnose what's causing the problem(s). If I'd been keeping track, it would be many years since I lost count of times I've been told off and bіtched at for it.
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Yeah and we still get that from time to time. When I get popped off at from suggesting they diagnose instead of replace parts, that's the end. I have a new person on ignore. ....and my list is pretty long. LOL
 
RustyRatRod said:
I still refer to it from time to time.
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Yeah, instead of being lazy and asking dumb questions on here, I walk 10 steps to the bookshelf and reeducate myself. I save the mind-boggling questions for the forum, and most of those go unanswered:)
 
mopar head said:
Yeah, instead of being lazy and asking dumb questions on here, I walk 10 steps to the bookshelf and reeducate myself. I save the mind-boggling questions for the forum, and most of those go unanswered:)
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This is exactly why things stick more with "us". Because we keep referring back to our knowledge base.
 
It’s human nature to jump to a solution.I’ve dealt with this a lot. For the most part training or experience will make people stop and think about diagnosis or root cause determination.
 
"Read till your eyes bleed". I have been saying that to a few newbies. There are volumes of information and fixes in these forums. Use the search and read through a bunch of threads. You know, you may learn other things while you are searching for your answer.
 
RustyRatRod said:
My best friend in high school and I both got the Chilton's "Big Pink Book" on the advice of our auto shop teacher. We both still have them. The best thing those books taught both of us was how to tell year, make and model from the front end drawings in each section. Very detailed. I still refer to it from time to time.
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I remember those books, exceptional sources of reference.
 
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