Dave,
If your in college, then the following few things are
a given:
(1) short on dollars
(2) long on time
(3) able to read text and apply what is written.
If you want to spend money, then invest in two things
(1) tools and (2) yourself. If you do a half-a$$ job
on the bondo, then you'll spend as much money to fix
the problem at some later date.
I taught at the college level for 3 of the last 4
years (chemistry). During that time, I realized that
much of what I was teaching was information that
students could get on their own. Treat car repair as
a college course, the final examination will be to see
if any one ever notices the repairs that you did to
your own front fender. If nobody ever asks you, then
you got an A.
I am a self-taught mechanic. Much of what I have
learned came from owners manuals, shop repair manuals
and books from the library (usually city not
university). The rest came from talking to experts (on
this list, at car shows, in body shops . . etc).
A wise friend once asked me "Why do most Americans
implicitly trust the advice of doctors and a car
mechanics, but the doctors make 100K/yr and a car
mechanic makes $5.10/hour? If the doctor 'screws'
you, then you may have a few months to live. But if
your car mechanic 'screws' you, then you can't get to
work tomorrow morning!"
Needless to say, I didn't have an answer.
Bottom line . . . read how to do it and empower
yourself.
Cheers,
Jeff Mathys
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