What's everyone's background?

[5EFE]

I work in a Kodak X-ray film factory. Most of my coworkers are robots.

[markz]

Millwright, certified welder, Fitter/Fabricator

[dennyt]

College: Formula SAE. Suspension, Frame, Drivetrain design/build/drive/break/fix. Had a lot of fun with CNC mills and lathes, and a little bit of welding.

Post-college: working on private spaceflight. Climbing & mountain biking a lot. Just got access to a garage, so I'm starting to do some car projects again after a 4 year hiatus.

Loving this site, for the ideas and the inspiration.

[PolarisDan]

Lifetime motorhead. Usually focused on HP/performance, on the budget end of things. Got involved with a girl who likes the opposite end of the spectrum, and have found the challenges of living with a smaller footprint fun and new.
Moved north of Fairbanks, Alaska, onto 40 acres, in 2008. Living in a 320 sq ft "house" (ok, cabin) in the woods, off-grid. Total heating bill for last winter was within $5 of $150. Not bad in an area that is guaranteed to see -40 at least a few times every winter.

Currently driving a 2009 Silverado 1500. Considering the homestead lifestyle, a pickup is a near necessity and certainly nice convenience. NOT nice when it comes to 50 mile RT commute, currently getting between 12 and 13 MPG. Have lots of hills, and cold temps.

Summer brings out the 1988 Honda HawkGT bike. move up to 50 mpg on the hwy, and sure I could get better with smaller rear sprocket. Unfortunately, weather here is not conducive to riding the bike often. It's COLD in the morning till late May, and again in Aug/Sep, with lots of afternoon (commute time) rains in July/Aug.

Work for State Gov't, as a Windows Network Admin.

[Jesse]

Injection Molding setup technician is my trade, can't do it anymore thanks to an injury... New job sucks ass, but don't know what to go to school for since I no longer believe the "economy experts".

[mazinger_z]

welder

[lacole725]

Student at Chesapeake College, current major is Mathematics. Transferring to the University of Maryland to major in Physics. Hopefully going to graduate school for Nuclear Engineering.

Originally studied to complete the Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) Certifications. Found out I really didn't like working on the average soccer mom car every day, so I shifted interests.

[epa5epa]

MD, Environmental enthusiast, Hybrid & EV fan

Interests: Biochemistry, Physics, Green power

[Jim-Bob]

My background is a bit odd, but then again so am I! I have delivered pizza for 14 years but have also been working on a mechanical engineering degree on and off for a while now. I enjoy studying theory and read every technical thing I can get my hands on as well as learning from the technology and construction of vehicles in junkyards. As for cars, I started out as most kids do-modifying them to make them faster and better handling. I've built several along the years of varying descriptions (mostly musclecars) but have wanted to build the ultimate in practical transportation for about the last 7 or 8 years. My original idea was a B16B1 powered Austin Mini with a tall gear ratio, but it would be too cost prohibitive for a person of my limited means. I have instead settled on building a 1992 Suzuki/ Geo Metro for maximum fuel economy in a city driving environment. The projected cost is about 20% that of the Mini with better fuel economy and cheaper parts as well. In ultimate form, it would be powered by a 660cc kei car drivetrain up front and an electric drivetrain out back. Both drivetrains could be used independently or in tandem when needed. That is a long way off however as my present project is just putting it on the road in a mostly stock form so I can start saving money on fuel costs. The more elaborate plans will have to wait for better economic times and probably another car to experiment on.

As for skills, I can build damn near anything I need to. I do some of my own welding ( some a neighbor of mine does for me), build engines and suspensions, do all my own paint and body work, some upholstery work and plan to rebuild a 5 speed for the Metro once I find it. I never could afford to pay for labor so I have always just had to learn how to do it myself. The biggest obstacle is always money. Everything else is easy to figure out.

[kamesama980]

Did technical theater in high school, did it for 4 years at NIU for a major then decided it had no future and I'd had enough. Certainly wasn't going to exercise my brain other than patience. Of course we had to take lighting, costumes, scene design, acting, history/theory stuff but my main thing was building in the shop, rigging, and started to get into automation. It did give me a slightly different perspective on things than most mechanics, usually along the lines of they say "it'll be fine" I say "what if..."

Speaking of mechanics, that's what we're here for. I started dabbling with my cars as soon as I had a car to dabble with, I've always needed something to keep my hands busy and never had the money to pay a mechanic to fix them. the rest is history. After I got out of NIU I spent a semester figuring out what to do before going to the nearby community college for auto tech, got my Associates, now I'm working on my Bachelors at SIU in auto tech.

While I was going to com. college I was working in a shop (farm and fleet (not fleet farm) for fellow midwesterners). It kinda sucked because of the corporate bs associated with it but I've stopped by a few times and it's gotten 10x worse since I left (cameras, new rules, enforcing bs rules). Partially because of corporate partially because I'm not there helping lol. They're supposed to fire you at 3 write-ups (late, didn't do vacation time correctly, wasted 10 seconds to stand up and stretch) and I would have had 7 or 8 if they actually wrote me up. *wink wink* but anyway, it was a good learning experience: I don't want to spend my life wrenching in a shop which is why I'm (still) in school.