Auto Mechanics

September 2012 - Present

Overview

While working on the reef inspection project in Hawaii, I was complimented by the Biology Department Chair who was supervising the surveys. Referring to at BYU, he said “you can throw a rock and hit a smart person but finding someone who is smart and handy is hard to come by.” I impressed him with my practical skill set as I speedily reassembled the robot after it had to be completely dismantled for shipping, but these practical skills go far beyond using a screwdriver and wrench.

When I was 16, I bought my first car, a 1998 Ford Mustang GT for $900. The catch, the engine didn’t work. Previous to buying this car I wouldn’t even help my dad change his spark plugs, I wasn’t interested because it was his car. But when I got MY car, I couldn’t stay out of the garage. I would read the Chilton Repair Manual on the bus to school I was so eager to learn. Evenings of my sophomore year of high school were spent in the garage as I pulled everything off the engine in preparation to pull it. I found a used replacement engine locally that was still in its car, and the owner said he’d give it to me for $100 less if I pulled the engine myself. My dad helped a lot as I pulled the first engine, but for the 2nd engine I had a friend over and we pulled it in just a couple days. From there we put the engine into my car and to our delight, everything worked. I now had a working car that I drove throughout high school.

The only downside to having a working car was then I had nothing to work on. So I bought a go kart and modified it’s little stock engine to go faster. That was fun to work on, but didn’t last, so I bought a 1983 Porsche 944 to work on. It had a working engine, but the entire interior was removed. It presented a new challenge. I spent a lot of time working on that car, but sadly as time went on and I got busier in high school and with my life after high school, the Porsche continued to sit in the garage. We eventually sold it having never finished it, but I still learned a lot working on that car. I changed my first timing belt on that car as well as redoing every o-ring and gasket on it besides the head gasket.

Since becoming an at home mechanic, I’ve done several miscellaneous jobs for friends. From replacing brakes to radiators to AC compressors. I’ve done a lot. I’ve replaced timing belts on my and my family’s car and consulted for friends with car questions. I won my then girlfriend's, (now wife's) uncles and dad over when I replaced her car’s wheel bearing when we were visiting for Thanksgiving. I love to work on cars and tinker through each problem they present. To me, working on an engine is like a big puzzle, each piece fits in a unique way and I love working through the problems until it's done.

Things I Learned and Skills Developed

Working on cars has strengthened my mechanical thought process which has complimented my math and programming focused engineering mind. While working on the reef inspection vehicle, in a group full of software engineers, I was more than qualified to rework the rigging of the cameras and design parts that made the vehicle all around easier to use. When diagnosing where a leak was coming from on the robot it was just like I was replacing engine gaskets and O-rings.

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