The Apprentice's Garage

3rd year apprenticeship, things for sale

2012-01-10T07:22:00.001+08:00

wow cant believe it now already in my third year. time does goes by fast.

Just a little update, my little girl is going fine, moved house yet havent quite unpacked yet lol.

if anyone is in perth and is reading this, i gotta few stuff to stell LOL

* used differential (opem) off an e92 335 manual.
* full set (front, rear, side skirts) of C-West body kit to suit an R34 GTT, un painted, unused.
*standard rx7 FD rims, i think was off a series 6
* Toyota Landcruiser 2001, 300000+ kms, manual, 1hz
*Cannondale f8 mountain bike, size 7 i think
* Honda Today 50, less than 500kms on the clock

Wow I have too much unwanted stuff lol. If anyone in Perth is intrested please leave a comment with a way for me to contact you.

lack of updates

2011-06-25T08:21:00.002+08:00

Hi guys,

Yes i realise i havent been updating much, thats cause my hooked on a new game hahaha

Anyway all is good just been cleaning the house, etc. Wife is pregnant and due on 19th of july. A little girl =)

Just the short update for now.

Dealership Options

2011-04-20T22:44:00.001+08:00

People when buying a new car usually shop around to find the best deal. Either between the same make or even different makes. Is it only price that matters?

Some of the things that happen to your brand spanker when it comes off the boat is that it gets PD-ed.... PD stands for pre-delivery. Basicly we check over the car, make sure it has all fluids topped up, check tyre pressure, take it for a road test, etc. to make sure it is ready for you to drive it. This is done because human mistakes happens and happens at factories too. It may be a little thing but its there. We also fit little accesorries like blue tooth, tow bar, bull bars, etc. Why are these fitted at the dealership you ask? Well I dont know the official reason but its probably because dealerships keep stocks of cars and different people want different things and they want it NOW. Most of the cars are not produced in Australia so if accesories are fitted at the factory then people will have to wait months for it.

So whats all this got to do with choosing dealerships? Well again it goes back to the fact that people are fitting these accesorries in dealerships; so if you hear a bad rumour about new cars comin out of a certain dealership then its probably best to stay away from that place. Even if that dealerahip have the cheapest price... it might cause heart ache in the future.

Lamborghini And Sledgehammers?

2011-04-10T15:01:00.000+08:00

One of the panel beaters at work was talking about a guy in china who got pissed off because his Lamborghini broke down and hired a bunch of guys to beat the #@$ out of it with sledgehammers......I didn't really believe him at first....but wow its true

And heres a full article on it at one of Top Gear's Blog.

Don't Trust That Mechanic!

2011-04-07T18:34:00.000+08:00

Why is it that mechanics have a bad name with customers. The only mechanics people trust are if they are friends or family. People when coming to a new workshop / service place / dealership generally approach things with a little apprehension. If they do give them their trust it is easily lost. One tiny little mistake will get you thinking..... hmm.....he/she is probably conning me, etc.

Yes it is true that places like workshops and dealerships will try to get more money out of you by selling things which you don't really need; but they are a business. Of course they are going to try to sell you things / services. Doesn't most business do that? For example, a person walks into a department store and has a look at clothing items, etc. They try it on to see how they look and comes the sales person. They usually comment " Oh how nice is that top/shirt/skirt/jeans/shoes on you. They make you look thinner!", and they go on to lie to your face! What do you do? Do you suspect something is wrong? Nope. You buy that item, most of the time. Of course this doesnt happen with everyone....I mean not everyone is as gullible. So what am I saying? That service advisors lie? Well that will differ from person to person and so many other variable but the point is that people already come with this mind set that they are going to get ripped off.

Another reason as to why service advisors / mechanics will try to sell you things/ services is to cover their behind. Example. Your brakes a pretty low but would probably last until your next service. They will try to sell you new brake pads or at least advice you that it is low and might / might not last until your next service (everyone drives differently and has different habits which will affect how long the pads will last). If you choose not to take it then if anything happens down the road they are not liable for anything as they have advised you that it might not last.

I think its pretty ridiculous that people would trust sales person at department stores about how they look but don't trust service advisor / mechanics on their advice when it could affect your life or those around you. It just shows how wrong our priorities are or how ignorant we are to these things sometimes.

My First Bushes

2011-04-06T18:30:00.000+08:00

Wow, just did my first set of diff bushes today... took me almost the whole day ahahha ah well hopefully I'll get better as I do more of them...if they let me do more hehehe.....

Alot of the work is pretty much the same with a little variation here and there so I think the more I do of the same job the better I'll be at it. These diff bushes were only supose to take 1 or 2 hours.....and i took...about 5-6 hours? wow....I have a long way to go.

Alot of the time also comes down as you have more of the proper tools. Im not talking about a specialized tool but just little things that make a difference like having a 10 mil in a deep socket would make a lot of difference. Having the right extensions and the right "wobble" sockets, etc. You would cut alot of time from trying to do it with other tools or looking around to see if anyone has one you can borrow.

This matter of having all the right tools though.....I dunno, I want to.....I guess thats why alot of apprentices or techs owe alot of money to the tools guy hahahahaha but also sometimes.....you buy things which you may need but you never use it.. Its funny though cause you get all excited when you use it the first time. But also sometimes other people would borrow it first as they need it first before you. That kinda makes you feel crap. Gotta have the right balance of having alot of the tools and owing the tools guy money. No point owing him thousands of dollars if I only make minimum wage hahaha. Maybe when Im qualified...maybe...

Cars I've Owned

2011-04-05T17:55:00.001+08:00

I wasn't really interested in cars until I got my license...and that was back in year 12 high school....took me 4 goes! to get my P plates.. Always got nervous when Im in some kind of "test", what ever test it is......Did my test in auto aswell so I was driving around on my automatic license for a while. Was my mom's car a little 4 door green Toyota Corolla.

After that dad got me a Hyundai Coupe...in red, cause we all know red goes faster. This car was a manual too so i learnt on this car. Even after I knew how to drive manual I still rolled around in an automatic license though. Too lazy to do it again and also cause of the fact that I get too nervous on tests.

My first real car was an s15 (Nissan 200SX). Another red one, not by choice...just what they had at the dealership floor and I couldn't be bothered waiting... This car was an awesome car. Came standard with a viscous LSD abd 6 speed manual gear box. You know what this means. Its my first taste of sideways action. No proper drifts but I did alot of powerslides, etc. Once I fit 5 people in it (including me). If you ever seen the inside of this car you know how tight the back seats are and they are meant to be only for 2 people as the middle sorta rises up to make up 2 "bucket" seats at the back. I had some fun in this car, even got on TV once witht he Silvia WA club on a track day. Was just a short clip of me taking the last corner at Waneroo raceway but still....I looked awsome hahaha, and was just a local WA Tv channel which is now dead.

My....second? third? car was a Z33 (Nissan 350Z) Track in black with black leather seats. Man this car was so torqy compared to the s15. It also came standard with brembo brakes! This car was also a lot of fun as it was also rear wheel drive. I fitted an Apexi exhaust on it (well not me personally as I didnt know how to then) and it sounded awsome. Not as deep of a note as the s15 but more of a higher pitch as the v6 revved.

After this I wanted an import, I wanted the car every Nissan enthusiast have owned or want to own. The Nissan Skyline. So I went to the local import place and started looking at the cars there. Even though I wanted a Skyline, an RX7 cought my eye. it was one of the later models probably a series 8. Looking at the back seat though I decided to keep the original plan and got my self an R34 (normal Skyline not the GTR which is the BNR34). It was white in colour and was a manual. This car went a little further than the other cars in a sense of modifying. Got it to about 300kw at the rear wheels and had nice light weight Enkei wheels in gold and 10" wide at the rears. I was running an Autronic ecu as an engine management but kept the original ecu to run aircon, etc. The point when things went sour was when I bought a pair of leather Bride seats. Man they were tight. Sitting in the car felt like Inwas wearing tight skirts while driving, not that i know how that feels. Maybe it was because Im overweight, maybe it was the wrong seats for me. After a long time driving my erm...dangly bits... would be sore because if how tight it was. After that I also started having electrical problems so I sold the car.

I guess I wanted some comfort after this as I bought a V35. This is a newer model of skylines which now as the VQ series engine. It had a V6 3.5l engine. Very similar to the one in the Z33 (probably different tune, etc.) It was a black 4 door with the CVT transmition. This means that it doesnt actually have gears. It would take too long for me to explain it and too much typing so if you are intrested go to HowStuffWorks.com and they have a very good explanation there with lots of pretty pictures. I drove it around for a while but was a little boring after the R34. Theres a video of this car on my Youtube channel right after I waxed it, panting in the video while showing through the car.

Saw an ad for an R33 and it was cheap. Had a look and bought it while I still had the V35. Didnt keep it very long though as one of my mates asked me to sell it to him even though I wanted to make money from it. So I did.

Wow this is getting very long. I think I will continue the rest of it some other time =)

Tyre Tips

2011-04-04T19:15:00.001+08:00

Tyres are something people dont think about often but these rubber are the only contact points on the road. And only a little bit of this piece of rubber actually touches the road. when these things are considered you begin to wonder how people can neglect their tyres and or buy cheap tyres, etc.

So many times when doing services on cars you find tyres under inflated or over inflated. Other times when tyres are nearly bold you recomend a new tyre but customers do not want to spend the money. But i guess they might get it done else where, that we cant really know.

Tyres with wrong tyre pressure is not just unsafe but also cost you money. It can cause uneven wear on tyres shortening its service life. It also makes your car drink more.

In saying that though tyres in Australia are really expensive. You could get tyres imported from the US delivered to your doors cheaper than you buy here. Tyres are not the only thing though....specially with the dollar this way.

Eeeey MmmmaAAAaaaaann!

2011-04-03T17:13:00.001+08:00

heey fellas!! welcome i guess. yea im too lazy to do proper punctuation and capitals... sue me

anyway hopefully on this space i will put my ramblings on just about anything, some automotive related and some not...cant guarantee ya lol

im currently a second year apprentice in automotive mechanics. working at a ford dealership. wont give too much details....anyway...

yea....