How many times have you felt like a fool in this hobby?

How many times have you come up against a problem and had to ask for help only to feel like a fool when someone told you the relatively simple solution? I'm 25 and doing my first car build, all by my lonesome and I just keep coming up to the limits of my knowledge and end up asking for advice. Sad thing is a 54 chevy car is about the simplest mechanical device on earth.

Am I the only one or does it happen to alot of you?

 

most days that i am on the HAMB (everyday for at the very least an hour) i feel like a dumb*** because of the knowledge on this board.

 

Me too!

 

Why? I'm 47 and still ask simple basic questions. The fool is the one who beats his head all day doing it wrong.

 

Most of the "dumb" questions have been asked before, just do a serch and don't feel like a dumb***!

My shop teacher always said "the only dumb question is the one you don't ask"

 

Fair enough

 

I'm ***ertive, absolutely confident about what I know, never have felt like I couldn't ask for help when I needed it, and when in doubt will ask for information in a heartbeat. Felt like a fool once when I just knew she was ready, the slap in the face was a big surprise.

 

I feel dumb around the Edsel all the time. It may be simpler than any other vehicle I've owned or worked on, but simple does not mean intuitive. At this point I can service/modify an o/t car much more proficiently than my old land barge. I learn a little with each episode, but I'm sure I'll never stop feeling dumb. With luck I may feel dumb less frequently

 

Today.

I write tech articles and the like on timing and usually can stab the distributor, set it to the initial timing figure and fire up the engine with no probs.

Not sure where I went wrong, but I had the 32's distributor out and like an idiot the engine wasn't on "0" when I pulled it.

Got it all set up, figured it was on the firing point cuz I'd watched the intake rocker on #1 open and close then rolled the engine to "0"

You guessed it, the engine was on #6.

So, ate a little humble pie - tastes good with wild rice - set the new timing figures and the engine is really running good.

'Cest La Vie....

 

"How many times have you felt like a fool in this hobby?"

Every time I look at my bank account.

Asking questions and research is how you learn.

 

If bank statements made the fool I'd have a pointy cap glued to my head.

 

Guys here know SO much more than me it makes me feel like a snot nosed kid sometimes. What I do know I know pretty well, but at 40 years old I'm not afraid to ask questions...if I were THEN I'd be a fool.

 

Hell at 72 and 58+ years hotrodding I learn every day. Thats the good part about this site as it has about every expert and craftsman worth his salt on here helping out. Its a gold mine of information so ask away when you need to know something.

 

That is always my goal, hurts my ego when it doesn't work. only once or twice.

 

I embrace it. Learning new stuff is one of the most satisfying things you can do.
Your not a fool. Your just looking at it the wrong way...

BTW...You can learn something new from a 6 year old...especially computer stuff! LoL

 

I'm 57, been working on cars since I was 14, still learning. One of the best mechanics I ever knew, a guy who patiently explained whatever he was working on to me when I stopped by his garage after school when I was in junior high, told me that he had just finished building a small block Chevy and putting it back in the car only to run himself crazy trying to figure out why it wasn't getting any gas to the carburetor--until he spotted the fuel pump pushrod that he had left laying on the workbench.

 

Exactly. We have all been there at one time or another. That's how we learn..
Don't over think it, just keep on asking when your stumped and learning from the answers...pretty soon you will be answering questions that will help another..

 

hell how this for stupid..did this about a month ago..duh!

trying to set the fireing order for a SBC..but did it like it was a SBF..

p*** me another beer before i get on this short bus

 

I know. Truthfully speaking, i should have just said

WELCOME TO THE CLUB!

 

"If you don't know the answer its not a stupid question".

"Only a fool refuses to ask a question."

I can't speak for others but this is way more than a hobby.

 

CRAZY but never a fool.

 

My dad and I work on the hot rods almost everyday, and he tells me what a dumb*** I am almost as often...But he's 80, I'm 54, and I have finally learned he is right...He's forgot more than I will ever know....there are no dumb questions...

 

everyday ..the older I get the dumber I get ...if I were as smart as I was when I was 16... he he he ,

 

thank god for your dad, and I sure do miss mine, he had a kick*** 41 willys truck with a pontiac engine etc..in the 60's..man that thing was bad to the bone,hollywood fl. a&p parking lot has not been the same since..lol

 

never .........

 

What is cool is that I have learned more here than I ever have known. Does that make sense?

 

I'm 61 and still learning.
Last week finishing up the new engine in my 93 Suburban ( prior to this I have only owned Fords ) I spent way to much time trying to get the lower radiator hose in with no success, So I look on Auto Trader.com and found an identical truck to mine 30 miles away, went up the next morning to look at it and how the hose went between the automatic transmission lines. got home I still could not get the hose in there.

Finally I tried to install the hose from the bottom and it went right in 10 minutes. Every car I have worked on all my life you could install the lower radiator hose from the top.

 

Never a fool for trying.. the odd time its more lost and out of place than anything..

 

Every time i rush into doing something and then hours later realised i could have done it faster and easier

 

seems like everytime I work on the car