Helping someone learn about cars.

I posted some of this in a back from the dead thread, but I wanted to make a separate thread.

My brother in law came to me a couple of weeks ago about buying his first car. He's 19, and comes from a family that fixes cars by putting gas in them or taking them to the dealer.

His budget was $3000. He had a couple of possibilities off CL already picked out. All of them were high mileage, most of them were pretty ragged out.

One was a 1993 Miata. We went and looked at it and as far as he was concerned it was love at first sight. 140K on the clock, needed a top, tires, a little A/C work and just general TLC but the engine and trans was perfect and it had a new clutch. The guy was asking $2500.

He did some checking on getting the work done and it was blowing his budget so he asked if I would help him fix it. Having been down this route with his brother and ended up doing all the work for an ungrateful worthless pig, I was skeptical but did it anyway. I helped him with the negotiations and he got the car for $1800.

The first thing he did after buying the car was buy a Hayes manual and read it damn near cover to cover. This morning the work started.

We changed the top, replaced a bad fitting on the A/C and charged the system, replaced the radiator hoses, changed the oil and washed and waxed it. I was shocked to find out he had never even washed a car before much less waxed one. How do you get to be 19 and never have washed a car?

The boy worked hard all day and learned a lot. He was so happy at the end of the day it wasn't even funny. I actually had a blast helping him. It was a good day.

I think we have a convert. If I can get him to an autocross I can almost guarantee it. Helping people like that is fun, a lot of work, but fun.

You did a good thing. We need more converts.

That's awesome. The fact he enjoyed putting work into it hopefully means it becomes a lasting bond

You got off easy. Normally, if someone asks for my help and wants to "learn", it's a 7hr marathon part install. Like this past time, when my friend lost a clutch in his S10....Then after finishing it, a few days pass and the "new" clutch master from Advance fails. In under 4hrs, the master is swapped with the old Delco unit so he could go to work in the morning.

In another thread, it is commented that a new top takes 2 days.

In reply to jrw1621:

Yeah, I read that this morning and almost cried. I'm the one that brought it back from 2008.

It wasn't too bad. A little under 5 hours to do the top. I could have probably done it quicker, but I would have had to throw everyone out of the shop to do it.

One of my good friends has been bitten by the automotive bug now too. Makes me happy.
Throughout all the cursing, smashed fingers, broken bones, things you screw up and have to replace, etc etc, working on cars is truly a joy.
Be the master of your universe.
Ride captain, ride, upon your mystery ship.
lol
/dramaticus

That's great. People I have tried to convert in the past had lost interest for whatever reason.

I hope you can get him to an autocross, he will probably enjoy it.

I've always tried to hang out with people that can teach me something. I'm a knowledge whore, so I like to know as much as I can about something, and helping other people with their projects always teaches me something new.

Now, I have my brother in law that's hanging around me when I'm doing car work, and he's taking the same path I did when I was his age. It's a good feeling to pass along knowledge to someone that wants to learn.

i'm pretty good at teaching people how to do things on cars.. i'll hang around and supervise as they do all the work and help out when they get stuck.

i started doing it this way after i "taught" a few people by doing all the work for them..