HowACarWorks.com - great primer I wish I had

[smacknab]

Hi Friends,

Today I stumbled on to a site called howacarworks.com - which honestly should've been the first thing i googled when I bought a 20 year old volvo with the intention of teaching myself how to fix a car - nevertheless it seems to me like a great general resource to pair with the more model specific information I've received from this site and RSPI/RobertDIY. It's got a ton of great illustrations scanned out of some old car magazine and more recently a series of videos where the guy tears down a Miata and breaks down every part of the car. He also talks about some of the physics a la Engineering Explained.

Seems like there are some free videos or you can buy the whole course, which is currently $25 and at this moment has 14 hours of videos. Seems like they're still working to add more to it, so the $25 is a intro price. I decided to spring for it and it also came with a 250 page pdf of all the illustrations which are super cool.

Anyway, for anyone starting their shade tree mechanic journey, or getting into a more complicated car project and would like a better understanding of what they're about to take apart, this could be a worthwhile resource.

(also while I'm making plugs; contribute to MVS and become a RSPI/RobertDIY patreon contributor)

[volvolugnut]

Another 'old gray hair' and I were talking a few years ago about when we learned some of the things we knew. We could not remember. Not that we were that brain fogged, but we learned some of these mechanical concepts so many decades ago. Some of what we knew likely came from a high school shop class, hands on learning from another person or early job training. The problem is when us 'old gray hairs' forget that not everyone knows the basics needed to make repairs.

This looks like a great resource. Other resources are old books (like from those high school shop classes). Even other brand vehicle manuals can have explanations that can make clear how something should work.

volvolugnut

[smacknab]

Another 'old gray hair' and I were talking a few years ago about when we learned some of the things we knew. We could not remember. Not that we were that brain fogged, but we learned some of these mechanical concepts so many decades ago. Some of what we knew likely came from a high school shop class, hands on learning from another person or early job training. The problem is when us 'old gray hairs' forget that not everyone knows the basics needed to make repairs.

This looks like a great resource. Other resources are old books (like from those high school shop classes). Even other brand vehicle manuals can have explanations that can make clear how something should work.

volvolugnut

That's a great point and a big part of why I decided to share. I had a vocational high school education and a very hands-on design education in collecge so I'm just grateful to have been taught that it's possible to fix and make things myself. But still I would be lost if it weren't for my friends (most of whom had their dads teach them how to wrench on cars), youtube, and the community here.

[volvolugnut]

We all stand on the shoulders of giants.

volvolugnut