At Home Mechanic

Tools. I love tools. I love tools the way some people love shoes. Not to get off track, but what is the deal with shoes? How many pairs do you need? A black pair, a brown pair and a pair of sneakers. Slippers do not count, nor do flip-flops. And how do you spend $400 on a pair of shoes? I suppose that if you got a set of really nicely tooled boots in some fancy exotic leather you could spend a lot of money, but I cannot for the life of me understand spending huge money for some strappy Italian sandals that have a postage stamps' worth of leather.

The at home mechanic needs a place to work. Ideally this place to work is covered, well lit and protected from the elements. It should also have a place to store tools and parts in an organized manner and it should be secure so that big jobs can be wrapped up at night for a second day's effort.

Contrary to popular belief, your brakes do not stop your car. The brakes on your car stop the wheels turning; the wheels are attached to your tires and the tire friction with the road is the factor that stops your car. All of your car's motion or lack of motion is really dependent upon the tires and their contact with the road. And the tire's contact with the road is an area about the size of the palm of your hand. Imagine, those four palm prints are all that starts, stops and turns your car.

Yesterday we talked about the basics of tires and brakes and that they are dependant upon traction/friction to do their best work. But that the tires and brakes with the best traction/friction factors are also likely to wear out faster so that most consumer tires and brakes are a compromise of long life and reasonably good performance.

I am the king of my domain. I am the undisputed ruler of all I survey within the boundaries on my kingdom. No other opinion matters but mine for I am the great and powerful lord of my manor. My Kingdom is small but my authority is absolute. Where is this kingdom of mine? Within the four walls of my garage.

There are three distinct phases of any project you take on in the garage. The first phase is the enthusiastic euphoria of confidence that comes when the handy guy or gal tells them self, "I can do this job. I have studied the manual. I have the parts, I have the tools, and I have the time. There is no way that I can screw up this job. I will ________ (fill in the blank) to my car and I will have the satisfaction of knowing that I have done it myself. I can show the guys back at the office how handy I am. And I will save enough money to take my significant other out for a lovely dinner."

I recently read a posting on a Honda web site from a fellow in Australia who wanted to know where his car's "bushes" are and if changing them was worthwhile. Unless they have another word for these parts in Oz, they are called "bushings" and these are a bunch of little rubber "donuts" that connect the moving parts of the car's suspension to the body of the car. In time they wear out and it is a good idea on cars older than 10 years to replace them if you want to keep the car.

"The Junkyard." Just the sound of those words is enough to get me salivating. The Bone Yard, The Wreckers, Auto Salvage Yard, Used Parts Recycler. In England they call it The Breakers. What ever you call it, I love them all. The world of possibilities is endless in the Junkyard. Think of it as a treasure hunt for the At Home Mechanic.

I am waiting for the UPS guy to come. I am waiting for the FedEx guy to come. I am waiting for the Mailman to come (my Mailman's name is Lillian). I am waiting for my packages to arrive and I am not waiting patiently.

A car's engine makes power, but where exactly is the place in the engine does the power get made? Most will argue that the output of the engine is transmitted through the crank and that is where the power is made. Others will say that the pistons move the crank so that is where the power is made. And while those arguments do hold plenty of weight, for me an engine's power is made in the head.

A low car is a cool looking car. When a car has been lowered the tires fit better in the wheels wells, the contours of the body flow more smoothly when they float just above the ground and a low car has the look and feel of a racecar. Lowering you car will also lower the car's center of gravity by a corresponding amount and this will increase cornering ability.

LSD are three letters that incur strong emotions. For many people they represent a utopian ideal that should be shared with everyone. Others view them with suspicion and mistrust, wondering how anyone could possibly benefit from them. For me, LSD represents pleasure beyond description and I believe that it should be shared with all freely.

I am in the process of surviving my son's adventure of becoming a new automobile driver. Back in the days of fully funded public education, the school taught kids how to drive a car. We got a two month course driving simulators (a double wide trailer parked on the school grounds where students would practice "driving" a desk with a steering wheel and pedals while a movie was projected at the front of the room. When we had enough simulator time, five students at a time would cram into donated Chrysler land yachts of the early 1970's while an instructor rode shotgun with and auxiliary brake pedal to bring the massive
vehicle to a semblance of a quick stop if the young trainee was in danger of hitting something.

The controversy about tires and tire wear at this week's Formula 1 United States Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway caused seven of the ten trace teams to withdraw their cars from the starting grid before the race started in protest of what they felt were unsafe rules that limit the number of tire sets that can be used on a race weekend to three. And the rules specifically prohibit tire changes during a race. Seven Michelin tire-using teams felt that particularly high speed of the Indianapolis track made the limit on tire changes a dangerous situation and refused to race. Consequently only the teams supplied by Bridgestone tires felt comfortable enough to race. Instead of 20 cars on the track, there were only 6 featuring the premiere Ferrari team who dominated the remaining field, leaving perennial Formula 1 also-rans Minardi and Jordan to race for all places behind first and second.

Rust. Road Rot. Car Cancer. The scourge of the automobile owner. Nothing will kill a car faster than uncontained rust. Out here in the dry Southwest, rust is not much of a problem. Maybe if you live within a few miles of the ocean's salt air, a scratch or other unprotected surface may gather some rust after a couple years of exposure. But in humid regions, or worse, in regions of the country that put salt on the roads to improve traction during the snowy, icy winter, rust is a guaranteed occurrence.

How much car is too much car? Do you need to be driving a car that is capable of 150mph? Do you need to be able to generate 1.2g's of lateral force? Is getting from 0 to 60 in three seconds important to you? I used to think that I needed a car that could do all that as my daily driver. But once I built a high performance car for myself I discovered that all that performance is a waste for a daily driver.

Are you in over your head with your car and its expenses? How much of your monthly income is going to support that four wheel money pit in your driveway? Do your car payments resemble a mortgage payment? And does the insurance bill look like a past due tax statement from the IRS?

Those wacky British, they drive on the wrong side of the road. The driver of a car in Britain sits on the right side of the car and drives on the left side of the road. And the British have convinced all of their former colonies to drive on that crazy left-hand side of the road... with the notable exception of the Canadians. The Canadians may have emotional have ties to Dear Old Blighty, but know that their financial bread is buttered on the US side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Is your engine friendly? Is it bubbly and out going? Or is it reserved and shy? Just exactly how would you describe your engine's personality? When I ask about your engine's personality, I was not actually asking about its social skills but rather how it behaves under the hood of your car. Does your engine make lots of low-end torque but run out of poop in the higher rpms? Or does it not make any decent power until the engine is spinning nearly at its redline? The manner in which your engine behaves is mostly dependant on the cam and changing cams can change your engine's personality.

Is Formula 1 auto racing dead in the United States? If it is not dead it certainly is in critical condition following the fiasco of this past weekend's United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. To recap briefly, 14 of the 20 cars entered in this year's USGP withdrew from the race before the race began in protest of conditions they felt to be too dangerous. The Michelin tires on the 14 cars that withdrew were not considered capable of withstanding the strain of racing on the high speed track without a mid-race tire change which is prohibited by current Formula 1 rules. Consequently only 6 cars with Bridgestone tires remained to compete which angered and dismayed 150,000 race fans at the track and racing fans around the world.

Change a car tire? Easy as pie. A basic skill that everyone can do. But it is also the single most commonly messed-up automobile repair that can end up costing you a lot of money if it is not done correctly. And most "professional" repair shops and tire stores get it wrong every single day. But I will give you the secret to doing it right and also give you a measuring stick by which you can determine if a repair shop knows what it is doing with your car.

They don't build them like they used. They build them better. Automobiles manufactured today are better in every way than cars from the "good old days." They are faster, safer, more fuel efficient and more economical than those old cars we often pine for. If I were given a choice between a restored old car in perfect original condition and a run-of-the-mill new car as my daily driver, I would take the new car every time.

Car alarms are a rip off. They are a colossal waste of time and money because the damn things do not anything. Well, unless you count annoying your neighbors when your car alarm goes off, then yeah, they do one thing well.

Back in the 1960's, Uniroyal Tires advertised their "Tiger Paws" automobile tires by claiming that the treads of their tires gripped the road. Today, most people think that the tread of their tires also grip the road and that traction on dry roads comes from good, deep treads. The truth is that treads on your automobile tires has nothing to do with gripping the road. And in fact your tires increase their road traction as the treads wear down.

How many key do you have on your key ring? Only a few right? If you are like most people, you have a house key, a work key, a car key, a key to your mother's house, a safe deposit box key, a garden shed key, a garage key and a gym locker key and maybe a key to your old house that you just never got rid of. Add in those affinity cards that you leave on your key ring to scan at the check out counter or gas pump, plus a flash light, a tiny Swiss Army knife plus an emergency whistle and you key ring is getting pretty heavy.

I love motor sports and if you are reading this posting the chances are that you are a motor sports fan also. As much fun as it is to watch our favorite professional motor sport in person or on TV, we all have a longing to get out on the track and show those guys that we have the right stuff to drive at their level. But to get out on the professional track takes time and money that most of us do not have to dedicate to a full time racing career. Rich people can buy a ride from the depth of their own pocket, but more often aspiring professional race drivers need to spend the majority of their time beating the bushes looking for sponsors.

I am a Ford man. I have not owned a Ford automobile in nearly 20 years and I currently own three Hondas cars, but deep down inside I am a Ford man. I am a Ford man because my automotive consciousness was first aroused by Fords and I was imprinted for life. Frankly, there is only one or two current Ford products that I would even begin to consider to purchase for myself, the majority of the Ford product offering leaves me cold at best. But there is a lingering bit of car DNA within me that still cares about all things Ford.

Tire maker Michelin has fallen on its sword and has admitted that the tires they brought to the United States Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this year were less than adequate for the job. Perhaps the largest and most expensive mea culpa in corporate sports history, Michelin has promised to buy back the tickets of fans and give away 20,000 tickets for nest year's race. Fans this year and were disappointed that 14 out of 20 cars chose to withdraw from the race just before it began rather than risk disastrous failure of their Michelin tires.

Are you running on empty? A gasoline tank in your car that is less than half full represents a danger to a vital part of your car's fuel system and I do not mean the danger of possibly running out of gas on the road.