Timing is Everything

Thanks to my excellent Hayes manual, I figured out what this timing stuff is all about. Timing is what coordinates the crankshaft and camshaft and in some cases the oil pump. It is controlled by the timing belt. When you take the timing belt off, the sprockets on the end of the cam and crank are free to move around independently and get out of sync. When you put the timing belt back on you have to line up the sprockets with timing marks, to get everything coordinated, then the belt goes back on and runs everything in time. If the timing is off, valves will open at the wrong time, the pistons could come up too soon and smack them, then we're in a whole world of hurt. So yeah, a little important.

Top Tier Gasoline

One of my Auto Mech Professors is really adamant about the importance of using good quality gasoline. He says its well worth the extra 10c or so a gallon. So I got online, did a little research and found some of the most familiar top tier gasolines:
-Chevron
-Shell
-Texaco
-Conoco
-Phillips 66
-76
-MFA Oil Co.
-Entec Stations
-The Somerset Refinery, Inc.
-Tri-Par Oil Co.

all information was retrieved from http://www.toptiergas.com/ . You can check out the website and get more info about the advantages of running your vehicle on top tier gasoline.

Reference Material

My professors keep hammering home the importance of using reference material. I always thought that good mechanics could just start tearing things apart, then put them back together. According to the guys who teach at my school, that is not necessarily the case.

I need all the help I can get, so on their advice, before I started pulling the valve covers and heads off of my engine, I decided it would be a good idea to purchase a Hayes manual for my truck.

Manuals like this one are based on a COMPLETE breakdown and rebuild of the specified vehicle. It has all your torque specs and tolerances. Invaluable!

To find a manual for your vehicle, check out half.com or amazon.com.

A Couple Useful Acronyms

I'm thrilled that I'm learning so much important information in my automotive classes.

C:racked
H:eads
E:very
V:alve
R:attles
O:rings
L:eak(ing)
E:xhaust
T:ube

T:ake
O:ff
Y:our
O:versized
T:ires
A:sshole

F:armers
O:nly
R:eason to
D:rink

J:ust
E:mpty
E:very
P:ocket

F:ix
I:t
A:gain,
T:ony

P:oor
O:ld
N:inny
T:hinks
I:ts
A:
C:adillac

G:overnment
M:otors

Special thanks to the guys from AC/Heating, for these little gems!