Auto Hobby Shop

Auto Hobby Shop
When I was much younger than today I owned a 1968 Pontiac Firebird; it was a roughed up beast all covered in brown primer and Bondo. I cut my teeth fixing that car, day after night night after night underneath the car laying in the snow banks hack sawing off the rusty headers under the moonlit night. Freezing cold pouring rain didn't matter I was bound and determined to make something out of it. One time I had it towed to the auto Hobby shop on the Air Force Base. I got off to an early start, when they opened the doors at seven o'clock in the morning I open my toolbox and began. By 12 o'clock noon I had the engine and transmission removed and the whole front clip taken off the car. From there I rolled it into the paint booth and began with cans of primer spray painting the suspension on the front frame. I set the fenders aside and painted all the parts. When everything was painted I began to work on the engine.
The engine had a knock in it, so I began to tear down. Our removed the oil pan and began to remove the crankshaft and connecting rod bearing caps. It wasn't long before discovered the cause of my problems. The engine was suffering from a spun bearing. I sent the crankshaft out to have it turned. It took about a week to machine the crankshaft, so in the meantime restoring the interior of the car. When I got the crank back from the machine shop I reinstalled it. It was the first time I've ever had the bottom of the engine apart and I was very concerned about over tightening the bolts. I worked carefully and methodically using a torque wrench and the instruction manual to ensure I did not undo the work I which I just paid for.
Since the motor was removed I decided it was a good time to install a new clutch pressure plate and throw out bearing. I also had the flywheel resurfaced so the clutch would work like a champ. I reassembled the engine to the clutch and transmission and put the whole unit back in the car as one piece. This made it heavy but clutch alignment was a thing of the past. I cleaned, repaired and rerouted all electrical wiring under the hood as a measure of preventative maintenance.
I reinstalled all the body panels. I began with the front fenders and the core support, and work my way to the valance panel and the bumper and grill. I needed a hand to position the hood as I installed the screws. This was a tremendous undertaking and I did at all in just a week. I was thinking about this today and wondering where has all my energy gone. I still like mechanics and still like to get my hands dirty but now a tune-up was a full day's work.
Piece of advice: take advantage of your youth while you can.