You know you're 'maturing' in the garage when...

Lets see, in the past week Ive:

• Burnt my hand on a soldering Iron...twice
• Stabbed myself pretty badly in the palm (about an inch from one of the burns) with a flathead screwdriver that slipped while being used as a small prybar
• took off my safety glasses after grinding, so I could see where I was spraying the PB Blaster...which was right into my eye
• gauged my fender with the rivets on my jeans while leaning into the engine bay

If this is any measure of my maturity level, Id guess Im not quite out of 3rd grade yet in terms of my garage savvy.

I want to be a racecar driver when I grow up

In reply to mad_machine: who cares what people think. if your comfortable i say go for it.

my garage maturity i do not like to speak off tho. there is still a tq wrench stuck in the wall

I go with the flow.

If the engine, vehicle, tools, weather etc don't wanna cooperate I simply shut down the garage and come inside... and drink beer.

Beer always cooperates

To the OP:

You're a better man than me. I'm still in the "throwing tools/inventing curses" stage.

KATYB wrote: my garage maturity i do not like to speak off tho. there is still a tq wrench stuck in the wall

How many foot-pounds is that?

The key to my shop van kept falling out of my pocket while I was sliding under it to work on it in the shop. Last time it fell out I was so fed up I kicked the key out of the way. Right into oblivion. The new key stays in the ignition when I pull the van in the shop now...

I scraped the ever loving crap out of my '69 Olds backing it in to the garage (hit my rolling cart). I got out, assessed the damage, called my wife on the cell phone, calmly told her what I just did, swept up the paint chips, put away my tools and closed the garage door. She told me later how proud of me she was for not going nuclear and pounding the rolling cart into a flat panel with a sledgehammer. Ten years ago I'd have turned over my rolling box, kicked the cart, cut down a tree with a spoon, and thrown half my tools across the yard while screaming. I guess I've mellowed out.

KATYB wrote: my garage maturity i do not like to speak off tho. there is still a tq wrench stuck in the wall

Torque wrenches cost way too much money for that. Breaker bars would just as well anyway.

mad_machine wrote: I have worn a kilt... if they were more socially acceptable (read even somewhat acceptable) I would wear one all the time.. I found it extremely comfortible

Do it anyway. Life's too short not to wear a kilt when you want.

As for my garage maturity, I now realize that Chuck doesn't need or want my help there, so I just stay out of the garage. It ain't easy, but that's why it takes maturity to do it.

KATYB wrote: In reply to Ian F: never had a problem with an 02 sensor..... but i think thats more a having all the interesting 02 sensor wrenches and sockets one can imagine.

True... the result of hurling wrenches during my younger days has me buying every new fangled o2 sensor wrench that comes on the market, whether I need it or not. I think I have a 1/2 dozen at last count... which I suppose is a bit silly since I don't do this for a living...

Which reminds me I need to order some truck-brand sockets in sizes that for some reason aren't included in consumer-oriented sets...

In many ways, I suppose maturity for me was remembering I wrench on my own cars as much for fun as for saving money. When something stops being fun, I step away for awhile. Granted, I'll admit "awhile" has turned into months - such as when the rocker arm broke on the E30 around Sept of 2010 and I didn't get the car running again until June of 2011.

Ian F wrote: <In many ways, I suppose maturity for me was remembering I wrench on my own cars as much for fun as for saving money. When something stops being fun, I step away for awhile. Granted, I'll admit "awhile" has turned into months - such as when the rocker arm broke on the E30 around Sept of 2010 and I didn't get the car running again until June of 2011.

Exactly.. that is why I do an hour or so and then lock up. Just long enough to get something done, but not so long that I start to get frustrated. I basically set a goal, do it, and go home

MG Bryan wrote:

KATYB wrote: my garage maturity i do not like to speak off tho. there is still a tq wrench stuck in the wall

Torque wrenches cost way too much money for that. Breaker bars would just as well anyway.

At least if it broke she has a new breaker bar.

i dont know if its broken or not. but it makes a nice place to hang the coveralls. its a 3/8's torque wrench not a 1/2 inch.

slefain wrote: ...cut down a tree with a spoon...

Funny how when your really pissed rationality goes out the window.

I'll be damned if I haven't done some timber harvests with a damn spoon...

Friday night while replacing the front LCAs on my mom's 96 corolla the driver's side left me far more frustrated than I've been in a long time. I slid out from under the greasy POS cursing like a sailor with Turett's and grabbed the first thing I could find to throw at that god-forsaken hunk of Automotive detritus. It turned out to be the just-removed passenger side LCA.

It was very satisfying.

But I know I'm maturing because I aimed for the bumper instead of the windshield.

I already commented, but I'd like to add that a couple of months ago, I was re-doing essentially the entire suspension on the Saturd. It really really sucks. At one point I got very mad, picked up a nearby ball-peen hammer, and swung. The car being plastic, it made a hole rather than a dent, popped almost a perfect 4"x6" rectangle right out of the fender.

Co-worker sees it the next day and asks: "Why is there a hole in your car?"

Me, calmly: "I hit it with a hammer."

Co-worker:

I'll say I've matured, but I still throw stuff (like my old Volvo's stock jack that cant hold the car up for two seconds on the side of the road with out falling over). It's a huge step up from about 9 years ago when me and a roommate each pitched in $125 and bought a decrepit IROC for the sole purpose of beating the hell out of it when things went tragically wrong in the garage.

Quite satisfying actually...

I've matured to the point that I've been too lazy to start working on the car.

How much does one of you want to charge to come do the entire Miata suspension rebuild?

PHeller wrote: I love working on the motorcycle. Mostly because it has no dashboard to put wiring behind, so I don't spend 93% of my time upside down, flashlight in my mouth, neck getting creased by the clutch pedal, getting ready to black out from blood redistribution.

FTFY

I grew big fat beefsteak tomatoes for the sole purpose of hurling at the back wall of the house. Saved wear and tear on expensive things, and washed off easily with a hose. I guess you could say I've matured somewhat since then.

z31maniac wrote: I've matured to the point that I've been too lazy to start working on the car. How much does one of you want to charge to come do the entire Miata suspension rebuild?

E36 M3 i'd do it for cheap.

In reply to z31maniac:

how much do you wanna pay. ill consider any reasonable offer. and remember im actually local.

I enjoy wrenching. I am kinda pissed I haven't got to do it in a week or so. When something isn't working, I grab a beer and move to something else.

KATYB wrote: In reply to z31maniac: how much do you wanna pay. ill consider any reasonable offer. and remember im actually local.

Keep in mind what's sitting in the garage:

New bushings for all control arms Hubs, brakes, lines, master cylinder (NB Sports)
Coilovers Sways and end links

I'll get to it at some point, I just can't seem to get motivated. PM me if you want to earn some extra cash though

Hungary Bill wrote: I'll say I've matured, but I still throw stuff (like my old Volvo's stock jack that cant hold the car up for two seconds on the side of the road with out falling over). It's a huge step up from about 9 years ago when me and a roommate each pitched in $125 and bought a decrepit IROC for the sole purpose of beating the hell out of it when things went tragically wrong in the garage. Quite satisfying actually...

that don't sound like a half bad idea, actually.

When I was about 14 II had a stepfather that mistakenly told me that if I was angry at him I should just take it out on his pile-o-crap 72 Impala that was blocking my mom's driveway and hadn't run in months.

I totaled his car with an aluminum baseball bat. Took a whole weekend.