I want to be able to work on things. I really do. I listen to some of you talk on here about how you work and modify certain things and I just drool with envy. It just kills me that I am unable to do mechanical things like that.

But alas,,,,tonight I decide to try. Without risk, there is no reward, right? I say to myself, "you can't really screw anything up, so just grab the socket wrench and try." I got this tool set for Christmas three years ago, and it is like new condition. Why? Because my trying to repair something usually costs me much more in the long run.

Tonight, I face my worst fear. I stare it down as I open the hood of my car. Any other day, the motor owns me, but tonight, I feel as though I own the motor. Tonight I am going to do my first modification.

Before I go any further, let me first say that I have never been around anyone who ever worked on a car. I pay to have my oil changed. I could *probably* change a tire if I had instructions.

I have the worst curse that a man could have cast upon him. I love fast cars, but they always remain stock, because I know nothing about modifying them. The irony is, the thing you love you can't mess with. It would be like an ugly man always desiring a beautiful woman. It is like being obese but only wanting to eat ice cream. It is a genetic built in misery.

Oh,,,,the modification I did.

I decided to try and remove the top to my air filter. That SURELY couldn't be hard, could it? Of course it couldn't, because even a grandmother with parkinson's could remove the air filter cover. As I opened the hood, I looked over the motor and tried to find where the air filter was. Got it. Locating it was pretty easy. As I studied it, there only seemed like a four bolts that needed to come off. (I guess they are called bolts). There was also two screws holding a bracket on that containted three wires that were numbered 1,2 and 3. I took those two screws out and kind of pushed that thing out of the way.

Hmmm,,,,that was pretty easy. Two phillips screws removed, now on with the bolts. I take four bolts, I think, out. I pull the lid up and I see it. I SEE THE AIR FILTER! Hmmm,,,,now what. I kind of shake the lid around to see if it will come off, it doesn't. Hmmm.

I peer under the thing that has the three wires in it and there is a bolt under there. Gah,,,,,I can't reach it. The lid won't move enough. Why??? I push and move around it a little more, but I still can't get to it, and I sure don't want to do anything to damage the thing with the three wires in it. Okay,,,,,don't panic. Just put the stuff back like it was, and write this experience off as another mechanical failure. I start to put the thing back together, but ugh,,,,the thing on the right side of the filter casing come off the of the casing. It looked like some kind of outlet hose. Panic rears its ugly head. OMG,,,THE AIR FILTER CASING IS COMING APART ON ME. I remain calm and try to get the hose thingie back into the casing and FINALLY get it to go in there. I quickly screw and socket everything back together. I close the lid and just thank my lucky stars that the failure didn't hurt the car any.

Should I be depressed at my failure? Probably. I'm not, though. I think, in life, that you learn to kind of accept the things you are good at and the things you suck at. I suck at understanding mechanical things. Some people, in life, tend to admire doctor's or lawyers. I'm never impressed with them. The only people that ever impress me are mechanics.

 

Don't sweat it, man......just next time, find a friend who is car savy (or make one) and say I'll buy the beer, and you help me out, and please let me watch and assist you. If it is on his car, you can get familiar with tools, terminalogy and such. If it is on your car, even better. Just don't give up.....what if (knock on wood) you are driving and something happpened that would have taken a scew driver to fix, and instead you called tow truck and spent $100 for tow.....you could have saved that money if you just try.....I hope you don't give up.....it really is fun and satisfying when you turn the key and she starts.....after you sweated it out!!!!

 

I manage a service department, and I can really relate to your situation. I was a flat rate tech for ten years. I put my pride and workmanshio before my paycheck. Thats how I got to where I am now.

To be a GOOD technician, you either have it or you dont. The ASE plaques, big tool box, etc, means nothing. It's called natural talent. There is a big shortage of that.

My point is, you don't need to be a professional mechanic to have what it takes. I always took things apart quickly, and took my time assembling (flat rate pays by the job). Simple things like scraping gaskets and cleaning things properly make a big difference. SWEAT THE DETAILS MAN! Good luck with your endevours.

 

it's true that some have it and some don't, especially when it comes to tuning. you can either tune or you can't, but you can't learn you can only improve.

i wouldn't worry about it too much, just do as olie suggested. the best way to learn is to find someone that already knows what they are doing and watch, ask questions, pick their brain, and get them drunk! haha. really though, just find a local owner and get to know them. most srt owners are pretty cool and are willing to help out others. we all started out on this car not knowing anything, and someone helped us along (ok well maybe not for us 03 owners, as no one had a clue and we all kinda figured it out as we went!).

 

i dont no psi most of the local srt4 owners i have met here locally out of 11, 2 of them were nice people to talk and deal with and the rest of them are just complete a@@holes

 

and the other 9 are "warstories" vets from that other forum!!!!!!!!! [sm=oopssign.gif] did I just say that??? [sm=badbadbad.gif]

 

haha the ws guys are all over at my local srt site now, it get pretty interesting in there. and just so that people know, some of the smartest guys on that board actually hung out in ws. there was a lot of good info in there once you went through all the junk. just because they're goofballs don't underestimate them.

where are you guys located? i'll see if i can help get you in touch with some locals if i can.....

 

I think basically all you need is a understanding of instructions & procedures to be able to accomplish any task.

In example:
Its kind of like being a chef....with all the right ingredients, utensils and instructions then anyone can bake a cake. But only if you are able to follow instructions and have all of the equipment & techniques down.

If you had all the tools & components along with instructions & the confidence needed you could become a hell of a mechanic. You just have to want it bad enough to be able to try. If you fail you learn from your mistakes & success, you strip a thread then you get to learn how to tap, clean & replace them.

If you really want it, you can do it when you apply yourself. If you don't know how to do something then just get instruction from someone that can.

Good luck with you mechanical ineptitude. Knowing is half the battle.

 

Well Word, I'm as much a "born" mechanic as anyone I know, and it's a nice gift to have, but it ain't making me much money right now. Sometimes I wish I was more well rounded. The whole explanaition for this is a very long one and it's very late, but I'll to try to explain myself in a short way. I'll just say it's all about geography. I would be making a lot more money than I do currently if I was living in a different location. I am where I am now because of family reasons. While my mechanical ability is keeping me employed, my forte is aircraft. There is really next to none of that here. So I now work on HD deisel trucks and I do not really enjoy it. The money to be made around here is either mechanical or chemical/biological engineering. I've been at the deisel shop job for about a year now, but have been looking for something better, and have yet to find anything. Sad as that is. (yeah michigan) I do enjoy the "gift' that I have, and it surely saves me lots of money. I do work on all my own stuff such as my motorcycles, boats, tractors, cars, trucks, appliances, furnace etc, as well as doing my own carpentry, electrical, plumbing and what have you. I can, and do occasionally, make side money working on friends bikes, boats, cars..... yada yada yada, but also can get caught up in doing a lot of it for free. Since leaving Las Vegas 4 years ago to come back to Mi., I have taken some major hits to the wallet. To the tune of more than 50% less pay, and yes, that hurts. My wife was a stay at home mom. Not anymore, now she works, but she's ok with that because this location was near her family too. I do often wish I had skills or education pertaining to what is a good paying job around here. I'm starting to think I'll have to go into business for myself cause workin for "the man" just aint cuttin it anymore. I guess I wanna say be happy with yourself and what ever skills you have, being a good mechanic is a nice gift, but it has it's limitations.

 

So many things I want to say to those that responded in this thread.

Ollie: Yeah,,,,I know what you mean about finding someone, but honesty compels me to tell you that I am not 17 any more. I'm not even 20 any more. Okay,,,I'm not even 30 any more. Alright,,,,I've broken the 40 year old barrier. I just don't know people my age that mod their cars. Sooooo,,,,,I don't have that option. Great idea, though!

Ripsiguy and PSI Chick: I could not agree MORE with what you said. You just either have it or you don't. It's not like I don't try. I do. Sometimes you just have to accept that, in life, there are things that you just cannot do. It's like being an artist. Someone could give me a brush and teach me over and over how to paint, but it just ain't gonna happen. Modifying your car and doing it RIGHT, is VERY difficult to do. I live in Kentucky. More on that.

In Kentucky, we don't have SRT owners. I've had my car for about two months and have yet to see another SRT-4 yet. In all fairness though, in that same amount of time, I've yet to see a person that isn't married to a relative, either. Anyhow, we have truck owners, and we have a lot of people who drive more traditional types of cars. People in our state buy vehicles that can haul a dead deer out of the woods and haul their four wheelers. There are some car owners that modify their cars, but a lot of them tend to drive Honda's. Anyhow, finding someone in this area who knows anything about this kind of car is just not feasible.

SRT Driver: I understand exactly what you are saying, and in all honesty, it works for most people. For some reason, it doesn't work for me. For example. Every year I always get something for Christmas that has to be assembled. You know,,,book case, TV stand, computer desk....things like that. Here is the typical scenario:

Step 1) Place parts all out in floor
Step 2) Open instructions and lay out parts
Step 3) Wonder why pictures on instructions don't look like the parts
Step 4) Try assembling with the instructions, even though I don't think I am doing it right
Step 5) Finding out, after three hours, that half the (whatever object I am assembling) has the shelves in backward
Step 6) Having tons of left over parts and an object that isn't assembled right and looks like ****.
Step 7) Call my friend Mike and have him fix it when he is coming in my direction again.

This above scenario has repeated itself a million times over.

I do think that knowing is half the battle. Like you said though, I just wish I had someone that could just explain some of the stuff to me. I think that would help a ton. I go into the "other" site and look at the pictures in the how to section and then I try to find them on my car, but I just can't make sense out of the steps. It just aggravates the hell out of me that I can't figure it out. And in truthfulness, I have ZERO confidence to touch anything on the motor, and honestly, I am almost phobic about it. Hmmm,,,here's a good example. I have sometimes tried to teach my mother how to use a computer. However, she can't really learn, because she always thinks she will push a wrong button and the damn thing will explode or something. That's kind of the way I am with a car.

And finally,,,,

Pressurecooker: In my mind, you are looking at your situation backwards. It IS a great gift. Just being able to learn that stuff like you do is just amazing to me. You see,,,,,in your situation, you have the ability to be more rounded. Obviously you are smart, so to be more rounded, all you would have to do is to expose yourself to more things. You have ability. As for me, if I really wanted to learn how to tune a car, I would have to go to classes on it. I would have to have a teacher. I would have to have diagrams and be taught what things are and do. I don't even have rudimentry skills. All you need is exposure to anything you wanted to do, and I would bet the bank that you would pick it right up. I understand what you are saying about it having its limitations, but think of it as a spring board or something. Having ability is the key. And you have already proved that you have plenty of that.

As for me, I'll just continue to check with you all on the things that I have questions on, and maybe, slowly but surely, I will take the leap into doing some simple mods. I have been doing some reading, and they "say" that installing a stage one ECU is pretty easy. I may get one of those sometime soon and attempt that on my own. I will keep you all posted

Great comments people!