Advanced Reader Poll

[SLowETz]

Just an old blue collar redneck. Superintendent for a large Hi-Rise concrete formwork contractor in Atlanta www.southernpan.com .

Self tought on the automotive side. Been wrenching on my own stuff from the begining. Like most of us, I had to.... it was that or walk.

First V8 was a '70 Cutlass.... 350 Rocket/auto. Nice car.
Fell in love w/the F-body.... bought a '70 Z28.... blew the motor up, and proceeded to become afflicted w/this illness. Put that car in the mid-high ten's before it was over.

Stayed w/GM and countless F-body's through the years.... wrenching/modding all of them. I make my fair share of mistakes, but always get it right before the bell rings.

Currently having this love affair w/my '00 WS6(aka the "pewter pig"), and so far has seen so 2 motors, a few H/C/I swaps, countless transmission drops, rear end/gear swaps, suspension, exhaust, N2o, cage work etc....

Folks think I'm crazy for dismantleing/wrenching on a "perfectly good car", but it's my vice.... it's theroputic, and is what keeps you from seeing me on the 6 o'clock news

[bowtieman81]

My story: graduated with bachelor's in ag engineering (don't see many of them on here) with a specilization in off-road equipment. Bascially it's an ME degree with a couple biology classes thrown in. I took all the required ME classes with my ME counterparts. Took 4.5 years to finish school.

I spent time working on grandparents farm growing up, and did a lot of wrenching on various things. My dad did tractor pulling for many years, and I got to do some go-kart racing and occasional drag racing. 3

Currently I work for Caterpillar as a track-type tractor development engineer. I mainly work on undercarriage. I am 24.

[horist]

25 y/o, dad's been a Jaguar mechanic (also Peugeot, Triumph, MG) for 30+ years, grandpa was a mechanic for 50+ years.

I'm a software engineer (computer programmer) but looking at my hands you wouldn't be able to tell (scarred up from working on my car) ... I mostly enjoy the PCM/computer related aspects, but have done most of my mods myself (torque converter, heads/cam, valve springs, etc... only piece on my car that someone else has done mechanically are the bottom end of the motor and internals of the trans)

[technical]

I'm an oddball that actually has a two year associate degree in Automotive Technology. The local community college had a better program than any specialized school at the time. It was also cheaper to co-op on that program than a tech shool. I also have a four year B.S. in computer science and work as a software consultant now. I wrenched for about 5 years professionally in two Chevy Dealers and one BMW dealer before I went back for th CS degree. If you can think of it, I've probably done it. From paint and body work to replacing ECM parts to everything else mechanical (rebuilds, repairs, fabrication). I've been working on cars for about 12 years all together.

[777]

I voted this "Really enjoy cars and do some wrenching but leave the big stuff to the pro's." However, I'm slowly getting into the category of this "Wrench on everything yourself but not getting paid for it." I am basically doing most everything that doesn't include careful spec clearance's. ie. setting up gears in the rear differential, building a short block (will be doing this myself once I learn a little more). Basically anything that you can bolt-on I can and will do myself. I don't own any measuring tools like a micrometer and stuff so I haven't really gotten into that. Will be doing a lot of research here in the future. Hopefully some books for christmas will get me motivated Plus my mom was talking about buying an old car and having me rebuild it for her

I have only been wrenching for a year or so, but I've always enjoyed stuff like this. I used to take apart things just to see how they worked and then put them back together. Well, I guess I still do I draw houses for my job, so it really doesn't have much to do with cars.

[Red Cell]

I bring the beer

[SLowETz]

Originally Posted by Red Cell

I bring the beer

Red Cell

[krexken]

Industrial machinist/millwright/welder by day, hot rodder by night. I've been modding everything I drive for roughly 25 years. Bracket raced cars for 10 years, bikes for about 5. I've done roll cage/chassis work for around 10 years on the side. I currently work on sportbikes and build their engines on the side. I love building engines. I don't do machine work on engines but I do all my own assembly. I tend to lose interest in cars and bikes once I'm done with them. Definitely more interested in function than form.

[kerryt1]

mechanical engineer in aeropace industry. been wrenching as long as I can remember, trying to do progressively more complex things. i also had about 3 years experience in a quasi-racing environment (Formula SAE) during college.

[LIL SS]

I do everything I can tools premited. I have a very hands on I did it attitude. But like others have mentioned, I do it for fun and would never want to make it a day job.

[GMC_DUDE]

49 years old, electrical engineer. I work for PACCAR, the parent company of Kenworth and Peterbilt. My specialty is electronic control units (ECU's) and vehicle data buses (J1708 an J1939 for our US trucks, K-Line for our European trucks, and now J1850 for my own truck). I do most of my own modding, except for things which require special skills I don't have (e.g. welding on exhaust systems). I also leave the mundane stuff (oil changes, chassis lubes etc.) to Jiffy Lube. I read this forum mostly to learn more about the in-depth details of the LS1.

[Moldmaker]

I'm a 31 yo aeronautical engineer with a masters in aeronautics and a bachelors in manufacturing/industrial engineering. This makes for an interesting list of job duties I've performed over the years.
I currently work for Lockheed Martin as a research engineer where I'm often times split right down the middle in aeronautics and manufacturing disciplines. Graduated from the US Naval Academy in '98 and while aircraft is my 1st love, I have an insatiable interest in IC engines. That brings me to this forum with an open mind and in an effort to learn from people like "The Pipe", "427" and others like them who work in the industry.

Been racing and building cars since around the age of 16. Have owned a number of hotrods over the years and currently own a 2003 Z06 -which originally brought me to this forum- and a RCR Lola T70 project car.

"Why should you listen to me"?

I haven't a clue. I'm a young guy in comparison to some of the old farts from another thread but I do know enough to say that I've learned from people of all walks of life. When I hear good advice, it's still good advice regardless of that individual's degree or lack thereof in a particular field.

DanO mentioned in another thread that he did not want to tread in areas that had already been covered so well. That -in my opinion- is going to be near impossible considering that most anything of possible discussion in this forum has been covered by Charles F. Taylor, Ricardo, Heywood, et al. If we want to get into the roots of engine theory then personally, I'd prefer a link to an article or perhaps an SAE article number. Those of you in the know should have no problems lending your expert advice to the applicatory side of this subject matter. That's the real bonus to having a forum like this as I see it.

As for the screen name, moldmaking and desktop cnc is a hobby of mine.

[gwj]

I guess I'm just a "Technician" type. I rebuilt my first small block
at 16 with no help, got my info from car mags mostly.
I've been a welder, done light machine work, built driveshafts.
Built and raced m/c (many, many years ago).
Have a Cisco Network certification just for S&Gs.
Worked since about '89 as a Lab Tech, first R&D, now just
quality crap mostly and some microbiological testing.
Anyway, jack of all trades, or "technician" LOL.
I have no doubt of my skills, just haven't been put to good
use much since I hit my '50s-that and lack of a garage.

[treyZ28]

I checked "automotive engineer" but i'm still a student. almost done though!

[treyZ28]

Originally Posted by Moldmaker

I'm a 31 yo aeronautical engineer with a masters in aeronautics and a bachelors in manufacturing/industrial engineering. This makes for an interesting list of job duties I've performed over the years.
I currently work for Lockheed Martin as a research engineer where I'm often times split right down the middle in aeronautics and manufacturing disciplines. Graduated from the US Naval Academy in '98 and while aircraft is my 1st love, I have an insatiable interest in IC engines. That brings me to this forum with an open mind and in an effort to learn from people like "The Pipe", "427" and others like them who work in the industry.

Been racing and building cars since around the age of 16. Have owned a number of hotrods over the years and currently own a 2003 Z06 -which originally brought me to this forum- and a RCR Lola T70 project car.

"Why should you listen to me"?

I haven't a clue. I'm a young guy in comparison to some of the old farts from another thread but I do know enough to say that I've learned from people of all walks of life. When I hear good advice, it's still good advice regardless of that individual's degree or lack thereof in a particular field.

DanO mentioned in another thread that he did not want to tread in areas that had already been covered so well. That -in my opinion- is going to be near impossible considering that most anything of possible discussion in this forum has been covered by Charles F. Taylor, Ricardo, Heywood, et al. If we want to get into the roots of engine theory then personally, I'd prefer a link to an article or perhaps an SAE article number. Those of you in the know should have no problems lending your expert advice to the applicatory side of this subject matter. That's the real bonus to having a forum like this as I see it.

As for the screen name, moldmaking and desktop cnc is a hobby of mine.

Interesting. Just had an interview with P&W.

[cm02WS6]

26 years old, have a bachelors and masters in Mechanical Engineering. I work for Caterpillar as a powertrain engineer on the Motorgrader product family, designing rear axles, final drives, and brake groups.

I do all my own work. Started out about 10 years ago when my brother bought a '49 Chevy truck that we started to restore. I was the paint guy because I read the instruction manual. Since then, he and my dad have collected about 10 old cars, mostly 60's Pontiacs. I've done a lot of work with them, and probably the coolest job I did was last winter when I rebuilt the T-10 and a bunch of other maintenance jobs (timing chain, rear main, oil pump) etc on my dad's 1960 Tri-power Bonneville.

The things I'm most proud of on my Trans Am are the torque arm and true duals I built myself. There's threads on here about them both. The torque arm was fun because I designed and built it myself in my spare time at my old job. I did a bunch of FEA on it and learned a lot about how inefficient other aftermarket designs are. Then last winter I built my true duals from scratch. They turned out really good, which is prompting me to think about building systems as a small side business.

[DaddySS]

I'm a 52 year old gear head and have been a car nut as far back as I can remember. Started working on cars (come from a big family so there were plenty available) at age 14 and did my first engine overhaul on a 327/300 Chevy small block at age 15. Worked as professional mechanic for 10 years specializing in German and other foreign cars and under the apprenticeship of a wise old Mercedes trained German where I had lots of opportunities for engine and cylinder head work. I then left to join the ranks of field engineers for IBM at the beginning of the computer revolution. Kept all of my tools and updated them over the years, as I did most of the work on my personal cars myself. Started a family, and finally reached the point a few years back where I could afford a muscle car like the Camaro SS as a fair weather cruiser. I do all my own work unless I'm short on time due to a good deal of global travel for my work. So I am computer and network manager now with a strong automotive background and a love of all things cars - except rice!!!!

[firefighter]

Was a Chevy Light line tech for about three years straight outta high school decided I was born to be a Fire Fighter and here I am I know/remember enough to keep shit from blowing up and still keep up to date on the new stuff and I've built a number of performance motors over the years and some just get it running ones too. To me the best and most important thing about me is that if I don't know I'll tell you and I can listen and learn (you're never too old for that) I'm in the middle of building a F/I 383ci SBC and should get about 500hp at the fly.

[ss rally red]

I manage a maintaince/repair facility in Ga. And although turning wrenches is not my the primary focus in that capacity I have installed cams/headers/heads/motors/gears etc. in 50-60 F-body's from the Atl. Ga and surounding areas over the last couple of years.

[treyZ28]

Originally Posted by ss rally red

I manage a maintaince/repair facility in Ga. And although turning wrenches is not my the primary focus in that capacity I have installed cams/headers/heads/motors/gears etc. in 50-60 F-body's from the Atl. Ga and surounding areas over the last couple of years.

chirst! bored much?