Car Knowledge

[B C]

While deeply immersed in nerd stuff at MSOE it was often hard for me to know how to talk to people with non-technical backgrounds about science and engineering related stuff because I simply didnt know what level of understanding they had about basic mechanics and physics concepts. Sometimes people dont know what torque is, and other times people surprise you with things they remember from high school physics classes. Now that I am part of normal society again I dont struggle with that quite as much.

Similarly,  it can be so hard to know what the basic level of understanding the average car-guy has. Most of us are so deeply immersed in this hobby that people throw around terms like "injector pulse width", "caster", and "bump-steer" and most of the time you have no problem maintaining a productive conversation. There are car guys who do car stuff for a living and have an exorbitant amount of knowledge about everything car related, and there are also guys who have just recently gotten in to cars that still dont know how a differential works. 

 I tucked this all away in the black hole portion of my brain and moved on with life, but it resurfaced after seeing a thread about how "you need backpressure in your exhaust" and then this on Jalopnik today:

https://jalopnik.com/this-simple-animation-answers-everything-about-how-a-cl-1821706376

In all honestly I remember 7 years ago when I did my manual conversion, that was the first time I had ever pulled a transmission and I had to stare at the parts for a couple minutes to understand exactly how it all actually worked. I'm no master mechanic, I still dont fully understand the spool valve and torsion bar inside a rack and pinion, among other things, but to me its hard to believe that people dont understand the physical effect certain modifications have on a car other than "it makes your car do this ______"

Discuss.

[GunMetalGrey]

The quoted jalopnik article is an amusing one for me, because I still remember the first time I had ever dealt with a clutch, pressure plate, flywheel, and TOB. 

I knew what had to happen, but I couldn't instantly put my finger on what actually happened. Sure after staring at it for a minute it all made sense, but not all people have mechanical knowledge like that. 

I don't know if this is the direction you were going with this, but I'll head this direction anyway. 

I am learning more and more in life that people develop skills that are focused in one area, and said people become very knowledgeable about those topics. I struggle to accept the fact that I will not be able to be extremely knowledgeable in as many topics as I would like to be, but I also know that I don't wish to be a jack of all trades and master of none. 
Some people quickly understand mechanical things, math related subjects, human interactions, you name it and someone is good at it, but we can't all be great at every single thing we do.

[YoungCR]

GunMetalGrey said:

I am learning more and more in life that people develop skills that are focused in one area, and said people become very knowledgeable about those topics. I struggle to accept the fact that I will not be able to be extremely knowledgeable in as many topics as I would like to be, but I also know that I don't wish to be a jack of all trades and master of none. 
Some people quickly understand mechanical things, math related subjects, human interactions, you name it and someone is good at it, but we can't all be great at every single thing we do. 

This! I can keep up on the mechanics of things but I'll get lost in the math/science unless its explained to me thoroughly.

[Jeff]

Snap said:

Now that I am part of normal society again I dont struggle with that quite as much.

In what location is Normal society found? I have yet to find it on google.

I seem to learn best hands on weather then lectures and reading books. If I am showed how it is easier but we all have different ways of learning. Some slower some faster.

Some people know a little bit about a lot of things some people know a lot about very few things. I can’t stand when some people think they know what they are talking about but they are feeding the wrong information to others. For instance my wife’s brother told her mother to keep driving her car down the highway when she seen it smoking(oil leak). As she continued to drive the car got louder and louder then went boom. Neither one of them understand that 4 cycle engines require oil to lubricate the engine.

[Jdesign]

YoungCR said:

This! I can keep up on the mechanics of things but I'll get lost in the math/science unless its explained to me thoroughly. 

Me too. I think its a a variable of the individual. I am going to get a little more personal with my answer in relating to myself and my knowledge and where it came from.

I was raised as an adopted child at a very early age (6months) and my adoptive parents have very very little mechanical skill. So I think my personal knowledge, desire, and passion was mostly inherited through genes. I have memories and pictures of me at the age of 6 pretending to work on my little red wagon underneath it as well as drawings that look like a 70 Chevelle. (My uncle was building one at the time) With that I don't think I can remember a time when I wasn't learning to build, draw, or create something with my hands. Around the age of 12 a bicycle shop moved into a store front 2 blocks from my house and I spent hours there talking with the mechanics, riding bikes, and just hanging out at the store learning. When I was 14 They offered me a job and I worked there for 2 more years until they closed and I transitioned into a different bike shop that I still work at today. Here I met a mechanic that was deeply involved with autocross and shared a lot of the same interests and passions that I did. He taught me an exceptional amount of things and also introduced me to my first project car.

Little did I know that this car would be a life changing experience that would provide me with knowledge I still use to day. I bought the car in driving condition for about 2 years and decided that the motor was tired. Without ever working on a project of this size, It was a little overwhelming. I managed to have a good friend at the time that convinced me from watching his father wrench that we could rebuild the engine. A year later, many many headaches, some frustrated parents, and lots of reading (the internet was just starting) I was able to start the car and drive it once again.

It was the greatest feeling ever.

So some take to it naturally, some are late bloomers, others may not have any idea what they are doing, but at some point you just have to have the drive, be willing to get your toes wet and learn. I find that to be one of the most exhilarating experiences about working on cars. There just so much to learn and I will never in the all the years I am on this Earth, be able to learn or remember all there is to learn. I still get confused by simple things, yet con solve complicated issues quickly. Sometimes its the complete opposite. I honestly have no idea how an automatic transmission actually works, how to balance a crankshaft, or how to fine tune a car on a Dyno. One day I might learn all of these things, but I know there will always be something else to learn, but this is also why we have each other and why this forum exists. We all share a similar passion and look forward to enjoying it with others and learning all at the same time.

[i_love_cars]

I don't understand the point of this thread because I'm dumb, so I'm just enjoying reading it.

[retoropak]

I am a mechanical engineer and work with a couple dozen of other engineers ranging from mechanical and civil thru structural to signal and electrical. I have not found a person at my firm that i can talk to about cars. Its all black magic to them.

Its all about passion. You love something, you commit yourself to it and become an expert. I guess there is no love for cars where i work.

Some people do not want to know how stuff works. They are happy as long as the product meet their expectation.

I personally spend weeks researching before i select the parts for my builds to the point that i have most of the parts including critical dimensions and sometimes part numbers memorized.

For me it was simple: Read and learn and make educated choices or let somebody else decide for you or translate the car-nerd'ish to you so you can decide.

The bottom line is that things get lost in the translation and if you do not know what you need you better have somebody you can trust to guide you thru the process.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk