Aspiring Mechanic

first off, yea i cant spell dont trip. and im 16, i want to be a mechanic, EXTREEMLY interested for about 2 years now, and the only thing is, that i dont know much about cars, im taking auto next year, but i want to learn more now, what should i do? a recomended site for learning basics about cars, a book, any thing will do. also what are good schools for being a mechanic? wyotec? i dont know much, but when im this motivated im sure i can pick it up fast. PLEASE HELP, my career is in your hands, in a way. good day.

for the bare basics, you cant go past www.howstuffworks.com . they also had some really good forums happening, i dont know if they're still running, but if they are, there is some great information passing hands.

if they arnt running it any more, this forum is also pretty good on the engineering / mechanical side of it. and thanks to the vigilance of the moderators, its free of all the ego / boasting crap that a car page can seem to forster. if you ask a question here, its likely it will be answered correctly eventually. in 5 years time you can come back and answer some for us!

then theres the real world. if somebody lets you pull anything on a car apart - do it. practice make perfect and its a really enjoyable way to learn how all those parts work in the real world. a good way to begin is to convice your perants that the big end bearing needs replacing and you want to do it. so what if the whole engine needs to be pulled apart to do it??

have fun and good luck!

I learned most of the basics by watching/helping my Dad. He was a "survival" mechanic, meaning that he HAD to fix the car to go to work on Monday - couldn't afford to pay someone to do it.

After that, I read every tech article in every car magazine I could get my hands on. I also had a greater Auto Mech teacher in High School. He had a home-built 34 Ford Coupe street rod (that he started when he was your age) and he made sure we understood basics that apply to all engines. I ran into him at a state-wide rod run a few years ago. He's still driving the same coupe.

Another of the things that helped me was that I always enjoyed reading the Chilton's manual. I know that sounds goofy, but if you're really interested in cars it can be entertaining just to go thru it and look at all the diagrams, charts, read the captions, etc. Visit a swap meet, find the guys selling old books & magazines and ask for OLD Chilton manuals. The new ones aren't nearly detailed enough.

Look for books like Holley's "How to Repair & Tune Holley Carbs" - you'll learn a lot about WHY a carb needs this or that.

One of my favorite magazines for tech was Circle Track. I don't know if Smokey Yunick is still writing for them, he's gettin pretty old, but I'll bet Herb Adams is. Smokey is like a 'god' to racing engine-builders and Herb is an expert on chassis design.