I had my Evolution of the Automobile class last night. We started with a video on transportation from the 1940’s. The theme was that roads are important, and that we’re the best country in the world because we are so mobile. It was sponsored by the trucking industry, and meant to undercut arguments presented at the time by the railroad industry that taxes paid by railroads were subsidizing highways. The trucking industry claimed to pay 1/3 of the total cost of building out America’s roads. Truck drivers were friendly, and met exacting physical and emotional standards.
My classmates thought that having the truck driver leer at a young girl in the video didn’t fully support that part of the message.
Next, we looked at more oil. Oil comes from three sources: animal, vegetable, and mineral. Grease is basically animal-based oil with talc or clay as a base. Kroil and Marvel Mystery Oil are both vegetable oils. After this, we examined the innards of several oil filters. Between 60 and 80 percent of all filters are made by the same company. They do vary in filtering capacity, durability, and seals. Mr. Lee , our instructor, says, “Usually if you have trouble with seals you should throw them a fish”.
If you change your oil filter every few months, and you’re not a racecar driver, the cheap filter is just fine.
We did have our quiz. It focused on shop safety, and car batteries. I did ok, but won’t ace it. One question asked for the two major causes of shop accidents. The first cause is carelessness. The second is… me?
After the quiz we headed into the shop. I sandblasted my alligator clips wire holder, then painted it red so it matches the motorcycle I’m rebuilding. Then, I practiced soldering pipe. Next week I’ll get graded on the wire holder, and we’ll cut a cross-section of my soldered pipe & see how I did on that too.
John.
