Free mechanical work... hell YES!!!

[Stallacrew]

Ok so I started my stroker build back this summer and worked on it little by little by little until it was in and ran poorly. I still have some work to do but it is 100 miles from where I am all year for school and can't work on it.

Driving home from college today with my sister, she inquired when my blue Jeep (XJ) would be done ( I am currently in my black ZJ) and I said I couldn't work on it anytime too soon since I Just got two moles removed. If they had just cut off moles I would be fine, but they removed two half dollar sized pieces of skin on my chest and shoulder. My other sister ripped her stitches open from the same kinda removal while twirling baton in the band back in high school and I don't want to stretch while wrench and have the same.


Well my sister asked me why I didn't just haul it to college and have her school work on it. She works as an English teacher at a near by highschool which has an automotive department. They need things to occupy their time and I need work done since I dont have enough time. All I have to do it pay for parts, fluids etc, and the work is free (although likely slow going).

Friday I will be renting a tow-dolly, hauling my XJ down there and leaving it at the school to have the timing chain taken off, and adjusted, along with the distributor indexed and tuned in general over the next three weeks.

(Then Saturday I get to see Alabama whoop Auburn)

I am gonna see if they will re-gear too while it's there. I was a little skeptical about the whole thing since snot-nosed teen-aged kids who don't give a f--k would be working on it. BUT then again, they do get graded on this, and obviously wouldnt be in the class to begin with if they didnt want to work half their school day on cars. And my sister re-assured me that the instructor has a BIG hand in helping and oversees everything.

So, I get my stroker running right soon and possibly re-geared. VERY excited. I would love to finish it myself, but I have no time and really no interest to pull that TC cover AGAIN.



Anything else I should get them to do while its there? They don't do body/paint or anything interior wise I don't think.




Super stoked.....thanks for reading.




--Alex

[srimes]

let us know how it turns out

[besthaticouldo]

uh....hrm....

i fear for you...

[SeansBlueXJ]

oookkkkaaayyyy....... one it's not some beater its your project, two they may mean well but it is a bunch of 16 yr old STUDENT mechanics.

[MoparManiac]

Just keep in mind that you get what you pay for.

That's not to say they won't do a good job, but that's not to say they will either.

[igotanxj]

NO WAY would I let a bunch of highschoolers touch my shit... but thats just me. :)

Id say give it to a friend of yours who's taking an automotive class in college. Same stuff, more mature kids.

[Stallacrew]

I had reservations about letting the kids get a hold of my stuff, but they did bring my brother-in-law's S10 back to life from the dead. It runs really well now. It's also a small class and they are there to learn. This isn't AG class in high school where all the slackers took it to be emo all day and not have to take real classes. I think this is kinda like vocational school.

The teacher heads everything and won't let students do a job if it's too much for them. And my sister said he keeps the vehichle for several days to check and make sure everything is alright. Then after all the work is done that was prescribed, he tells you anything else that is wrong or may need fixin.


I have two DD's although I would rather be in the XJ so I am willing to take a shot to get it back on the road.


Wish me luck and thanks for all the optimism :):):):)

[besthaticouldo]

im optimistic but i am weary of leaving my truck in the hands of high school students.

what if the teacher doesnt know what hes teaching...what if he doesnt check it?

i mean good luck...but i fear for you

[MoparManiac]

Good luck man!

Keep us posted!

[Crusher16]

I think it'll be fine seeing as how the teacher keeps tabs on everything. I took auto tech my junior and senior years. In my class, there were a few slackers but they wouldn't even touch cars. The people that actually enjoyed working only used the slackers to get tools for them and clean the shop. Most of the time the slackers would sit there and talk all day or sleep. Wish my teacher would have just flunked them but oh well.

But like I said, seems like the teacher keeps a good eye on everything so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

I would have other period classes finish a couple jobs we couldn't finish on my Jeep in my class period alone (power steering pump replacement, brake pad replacement and cut rotors, brothers shocks on his S10, and an engine pull, rebuild, and replacement of the engine in my dad's MG B) and never really had any problems.

[four_shot]

As long as the instructor knows his sh*t and keeps his class in line, I wouldn't worry.
good luck.

If you can, you may want to stop in often and check on it. but I'm not sure where the campus was in relation to yours.

[XJ98Jeep]

I don't really have a problem leaving my junk in the hands of highschoolers considering I AM a highschooler and I consider myself mechanically able, but I would be wary of the gear setup. That isn't something I would let we teenagers handle.

[Imjosh]

Did anybody follow this build on Pirate Highschool built (http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=637559), Good luck with it.

[rag]

I had the liberty of attending training courses in the same building as a votech/highschool auto classes. I was in a program that was once sponsored by ASSET but we ditched them in favor of county college sponsorship

when i would look at the shops around us

some students are there because they enjoy hands on activities

other are there because they enjoy the automotive hobby

and some are there because they need to fill a schedule and because its a very hard class to flunk

and then there were the typical scum that we all knew and loved when we were young. you know, the ones that didn't give two turds about education and were shoved into the vocational program because it's the law until they turn 18.

I personally saw the teams next door do some pretty good jobs and even finished a D.A.R.E. drift beemer for the township. they overhauled an aging E-series into a 4x4 camping toy.

but

we also received some of their vehicles that they had given up on.

a ranger they dropped a socket downt he intake runners...

mustang they never set the distributor correctly

that E-series toasted a trans due to the incorrect fluid, we overhauled it

they forgot to install the thermostat in a lumina or something

leading and trailing brake shoes in the incorrect spots

i could go on...


i think it's worth a shot, if it doesn't come out as planned it's an opportunity to learn a new skill yourself

[ehall]

Timing chain, distributor and tune up over a couple of weeks is something they can handle, anything more than that no. I would be leery of the timing chain work actually.

[xjtrailrider]

I wrecked my car in Nashville while I was attending Nashville Auto Diesel College. They have a body tech school as well so I pocketed the insurance money and dropped the car off with them to get it fixed free of charge. I was side swiped and just some minor cosmetic damage that I could have fixed myself with bondo and paint but wanted it fixed fast and right. I got it back 6 weeks later and the side of that car had more waves in it than the Bearing Sea.

This was done by 18-21 year olds with an instructor standing over top of them:dunno:

They also did not use base/clear so the side of the car faded in a year, and of course no warranty!

I'll never do that again. I'm all about helping kids learn but just not on something that "was" nice or means something to me.

Good luck and use good judgment, pop in and check on it every so often at least.

[w_howey]

Umm.. yea... I remember my autoshop teacher in High School..

Thought everything was manufactured by GM....

Kept insisting that the because the engine from my 76 CJ-5 was a Pontiac Iron Duke my transmission was also....

Not to deride the kids as most of them probably don't have much more automotive insight than what they get in class. But I wouldn't want anything that has specific needs and requriments like a Jeep being worked on by people that may not have the required knowledge. And that doesn't even factor in the added complexity of the fact its a stroker project....

[Ba-Riedo]

Driving home from college today with my sister,

Pics of said sister?:laugh:

-Alex

[Silver60th]

Pics of said sister?:laugh:

-Alex

I no he di'nt!