Automotive Mens Shed (Someone to learn from)

Scoone · 31-10-2012, 02:19 PM

All,

I am a complete car novice and want to learn more. Does anyone know of any Men's Sheds (located in Melbourne's West) that pass on automotive knowledge? Most of them just do woodworking, gardening, etc.

Option 2: Should I just find someone who is doing up a car in my area and offer them a free set of hands?

Option 3: Just jump in the deep end and buy a car and learn as I go?

How did everyone here get their knowledge?

Thanks.

Psi-Pop · 31-10-2012, 02:41 PM

Jumping in the deep end can be a great way to learn, but before you do it that way you need to realistically set out what you want to do and a budget. Start with something that's already registered and rwc if possible and fix bits and pieces up as you go.

Don't get stuck in a project where you lose sight of the end goal because its just too much work. With doing bits and pieces you can drive the car and learn on how replacing this and doing this has effected its performance etc etc.

zilo · 31-10-2012, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scoone

All,

I am a complete car novice and want to learn more. Does anyone know of any Men's Sheds (located in Melbourne's West) that pass on automotive knowledge? Most of them just do woodworking, gardening, etc.

Option 2: Should I just find someone who is doing up a car in my area and offer them a free set of hands?

Option 3: Just jump in the deep end and buy a car and learn as I go?

How did everyone here get their knowledge?

Thanks.

hey mate, if you are in the west just go to pickles auctions in tullamarine most tuesdays.

they auction off damaged cars for very little money.

get it home and pull it to pieces to your hearts content.

you may even find one the same as you are driving now and you'll get heaps of spare parts as a bonus.

thats what i would do to learn a bit about cars.

you just need a bit of room cause there will be bits everywhere after a while.

Franco Cozzo · 31-10-2012, 08:54 PM

I took up an apprenticeship, bought a project car and I bastardise my daily driver occasionally.

sneaky · 31-10-2012, 09:03 PM

buy something cheap and pay attention while pulling it apart, then see if you can remember how to put it back together

mik · 31-10-2012, 09:21 PM

option 2 sounds good, while it can be fun working on a car, you can get in over your head in a lot of ways, safety being one of them, attempting jobs that your not equipped for in tools or knowledge can also end in tears.

coupedup · 09-03-2014, 01:09 AM

I have seen info on Men's shed and I agree with you, they seemed to be all about woodwork.

An automotive arm of a Men's shed would be a fantastic idea. All the replies so far are good.

I once read that technical people, which is what many of us reading this are, tend to underestimate the time it takes to do a job. They then have to rush like hell to meet a deadline. I am guilty of this & I am sure others can relate to it. Message is - doing some things often takes a lot longer than you initially think it will.

Good tools are costly, and if you are only going to use them once, not justifiable. Cheap tools may get you by. Specialized tools that you only use once in a lifetime are sometimes needed.

You need storage area for car parts during a restoration or the like - they take up a lot of space when not all together in the form of a car.

Label everything. Label everything. Label everything.

Finding someone to help is a great idea to learn. Learning percentages are roughly 70:20:10. 70% on the job, 20% observing and 10% theory/books/courses.

Have fun, and remember, that everyone who has ever had anything apart has, at some stage, had nuts and bolts left over after putting it back together.

Pedro · 09-03-2014, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coupedup

I have seen info on Men's shed and I agree with you, they seemed to be all about woodwork.

An automotive arm of a Men's shed would be a fantastic idea. All the replies so far are good.

Label everything. Label everything. Label everything.

Have fun, and remember, that everyone who has ever had anything apart has, at some stage, had nuts and bolts left over after putting it back together.

Most veteran restorers group bolts and smaller items into plastic bags and label them as coupedup mentioned. If you don't do it, you will never remember where they all go.

Franco Cozzo · 09-03-2014, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coupedup

Have fun, and remember, that everyone who has ever had anything apart has, at some stage, had nuts and bolts left over after putting it back together.

All of Victoria's Ambulances are put together with odds and ends because everything just gets lost as it goes down the line

**thefargo** · 09-03-2014, 01:05 PM

option 2 sounds good, particularly if you wish to move to Adelaide, in particular the southern suburbs. I could use a spare set of hands on automotive projects, most weekends.

XBv8mmm! · 09-03-2014, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scoone

All,

I am a complete car novice and want to learn more. Does anyone know of any Men's Sheds (located in Melbourne's West) that pass on automotive knowledge? Most of them just do woodworking, gardening, etc.

Option 2: Should I just find someone who is doing up a car in my area and offer them a free set of hands?

Option 3: Just jump in the deep end and buy a car and learn as I go?

How did everyone here get their knowledge?

Thanks.

I'm a qualified mechanic, 3 1/4 years as an apprentice (time off for high marks at TAFE) 8 yrs as a tradesman.

Been off the tools for 18 years, hate the job now, best I can muster for my self is pad replacements and oil changes. Way out of date tech wise as well anyway.

However, if what you are after is some knowledge but you don't want to do a trade, then contact your local TAFE and see if they do any automotive familiarization night classes. It will probably be very basic stuff but you will get to meet like minded people and possibly get to join in with some of their projects or they with your project. And the course instructors will also be the same instructors that teach the apprentice courses so these blokes will be tradesman as well and will possible have contacts also.

Just an idea, hope it gives you another option.

Cheers.

Franco Cozzo · 09-03-2014, 04:39 PM

^ Kangan Institute (sounds like a mental institution) has good facilties down at Docklands, they do a pre-apprenticeship course which teaches you the entire first year of an apprenticeship.

One of the big things is they teach you how to pull apart and put back together a 5sp manual box, might be worth doing and a lot of other things.

It touches on electrical too.