Things that make me worry and scratch my head!

[mag2555]

On another automotive site I participate on someone who has 4000 k in a aftermarket V8 block and likely some 2600 or more tied up in ported aftermarket heads just asked what size bolts are used to mount the oil filter adapter to the block.
Now this guy is going to use many of the same size bolts he needs to mount the accessories to the face of the block and heads, there 3/8s course .

How the heck could someone not be able to determine what is needed, I mean even if I was 16 years old and new to all of this I would be ashamed to post up such a question!

Is it just me or what?
I mean even if he knows there 3/8”, you can’t figure out they need to be course or how long is the max that they can be, Gezz!

I will add this, I would want to ride as a passenger in that car if this guy is doing all the wrenching at more then 25 miles per hour, lol!

[modok]

Tried to order time-serts at napa, they thought it was a type of headlight.

[Nut124]

I will add this, I would want to ride as a passenger in that car if this guy is doing all the wrenching at more then 25 miles per hour, lol!

I have asked a number of seemingly dumb questions myself. Perhaps the guy was ordering bolts n stuff?

Why would you want to ride along if you do not trust his wrenching? Just to witness the destruction?

[Geoff2]

Mag,
I know the thread you are talking about...........& I was pretty stunned too!

[mag2555]

Sorry for the confusion, I wanted to say that I would NOT want to ride along for fear of personal harm.

[modok]

Googleing wrong.
If the auto parts store guy does not know what a time sert is, .....they need to google it, and learn what it is.

If you buddy wants to become a mechanic, he needs to learn how to size his own bolts, and you should be just a google away and absorb that knowledge, but maybe NOT yet. or he's lazy, but maybe he isn't.
Still perfecting it. this internet thing is amazing, it's enabling people to be both smarter and stupider than ever before.
I can talk about threaded fasteners all day long, but it might be rude if nobody asked, not to mention talking to myself looks kinda crazy.
I bet people are afraid to ask.
I would like if this site had a section were you can go ahead and ask the tough questions, like, how to use bolts.

[mag2555]

I could not agree more with your comment of becoming smarter, yet a dumb lazy at the same time!

[TEROL]

I am 68 yo and the change in our education system I have seen makes me sad and concerned for the generations to come. The youth is pushed thru school with little regard for the end product. It seems the mentality is that if you can't reach the bar we will lower it for you. The case in point, I know of a youngster that graduated from high school with "honors at their level". This person thinks they will be involved in a trade requiring an amount of math ability yet can't read a tape measure nor tie their shoes!!!

[Ron E]

A guy approached me in a motel parking lot when I was installing a starter on my car. He asked me "How many 32nds in an inch. i cracked up. He then told me of the 10 applicants applying to a machining class he was teaching 4 gave wrong answers. And, they wanted to be machinists!
Our education system is broken.

[TEROL]

Sad state of affairs it is. Hopefully the six that had the correct answer will follow through with their desire. We as a country desperately need people for all trades.

[MotionMachine]

Believe it or not, I had a semi famous Harley builder (he designed and sold aftermarket parts) asked me one how to convert foot lbs to inch lbs. Had I not heard it first hand, I would never have believed it.

[Jer73]

Years back when I used to be a fleet mechanic I had a driver pull in with a Kenworth powered by a Caterpillar C10. The guy hops out, looks me in the eyes dead serious and states "Hey it's running kind of rough I think it needs new spark plugs". I forget what the actual issue was but it sure as hell wasn't spark plugs! I knew most of the drivers they hired at this company were special but some were certainly more special than others... It was no wonder the truck shop was always so busy, all the drivers ever did was tear up the equipment and expect us to take care of the destruction. I don't miss that job one bit!

[smeg]

A guy approached me in a motel parking lot when I was installing a starter on my car. He asked me "How many 32nds in an inch. i cracked up. He then told me of the 10 applicants applying to a machining class he was teaching 4 gave wrong answers. And, they wanted to be machinists!
Our education system is broken.

This reminds me of a time years ago when I had a work experience kid working for me, this boy had passed year 12 math and without a calculator, he could not tell me what half of 30 was. I was dumfounded.

[bobmc]

I went into my insurance agents office to add another vehicle, the young lady could not find the check number on the check I wrote, I assume she had never written or seen a paper check

[GimpyHSHS]

The nice part about being fairly competent but also young enough for the internet is that it makes life simpler. Depending on where I am working on my car at, I either have 5 5-gallon buckets of bolts and some sorted ones in a metal bin...or I have a parts store down the street to choose from slim pickings. I spend a lot of time doing research online and planning for engine builds and anything else, especially on slow days at work. The guy could've probably figured it out, but sometimes it's easier to ask if you aren't at the car. Mine is way across town, I'd rather see if someone remembers something off the top of their head before I drive over so I can pick it up on the way.

But I can understand the annoyance it causes sometimes. I work in an office with mostly old farts (all but me and one other guy are 45 and up) that SHOULD know how to use a computer by now...but I still get called over to someone's desk to fix a problem daily. Usually, it's just a minor glitch...they were clicking where they should've been double-clicking, or the program froze up and they didn't know how to CTRL-ALT-DEL and kill it, or the computer just needed a good old dose of turning it off and back on. But it can be a little irritating that these older people can't figure this stuff out!

Googleing wrong.
If the auto parts store guy does not know what a time sert is, .....they need to google it, and learn what it is.

If you buddy wants to become a mechanic, he needs to learn how to size his own bolts, and you should be just a google away and absorb that knowledge, but maybe NOT yet. or he's lazy, but maybe he isn't.
Still perfecting it. this internet thing is amazing, it's enabling people to be both smarter and stupider than ever before.
I can talk about threaded fasteners all day long, but it might be rude if nobody asked, not to mention talking to myself looks kinda crazy.
I bet people are afraid to ask.
I would like if this site had a section were you can go ahead and ask the tough questions, like, how to use bolts.

This is a solid post! I was halfway decent at finding people parts even on oddball things because I can google it. People ask me questions all day long and if I don't know it off the top of my head, they say, "Well that's ok, I hadn't been able to get this XXXX to do YYYYYYYY the entire time I've owned it." Then I search a little and they're impressed that I found a solution, even though it only took me 5 minutes on Google. That's money in the pocket instead of wasting time trying to find a unique solution for something that SOMEONE has very likely run into before.

That's a real skill that's come in handy for me. If I can solve a problem by googling how someone else did it, I can solve it faster than busting out a meter. Sure, you can remember all the bolt sizes for a particular application (I have the common 302/351 sizes committed to memory by now), but there's a lot of things I don't bother remembering because I know I can find it in 2 minutes online anyway.

It's a balancing act.