Oh no! I come to procrastinate on HN and find my own site at #2. After many years, it's still not ready to share!! I've got so much more I want to do with it.
Even though I'm sure it looks abandoned, I have been working hard on getting back into this. The last couple of months I've been developing a 3D viewer for mechanical components that lets you disassemble/rebuild/step through processes. I wish I could share it but I'm not there yet. Babylon JS is amazing though.
EDIT:
I'll throw down some random notes because I've never really talked about this:
- I've learned a LOT over the three years since I made these videos - about cars, life, boats, love, fabrication, quaternions and myself.
- I made these videos in a backstreet garage in Budapest. A personal situation arose and I left Hungary and tried to get going again back in the UK.
- I built a new garage/studio in the UK and kitted it all out in preparation.
- Then lockdown struck and I had to get involved in a real-world business that I co-owned. The people who did my video production couldn't travel, and when they could, the UK had become so difficult that they had no desire to stay. So I had to find a new team which wasn't easy.
- I also had to rebuild my own life and that took a lot of time and effort. I didn't have the energy to go back into videos - it's something that I did at a certain time of my life, and I knew that I needed to be stronger to revisit it or I would risk my own happiness.
- I feel a combination of emotions - I am immensely proud of what we achieved with this, and I'm embarrassed by my failure to finish it. That said, I don't think I've ever been more excited by this project.
I bought this course a year or two back and I don't feel short changed whatsoever, I really enjoyed it and thought that something will have caused the projec to drop off as the passion and knowledge is there in all your content.
Thanks for the work you've done on it so far - and super excited to find out that the passion is still burning to make it even better.
I'm so happy to hear that. The initial 20-hour estimate was just guesswork really. I made 14 hours so far and we haven't even got through the engine, never mind the transmission, steering, suspension, fuel, ECU, brakes, and so on. Probably be more like 50 hours in the end!
To be honest, $25 lifetime seems like a steal for this.
Maybe it's the value of the current content, but consider raising prices for new subscribers after some more content is finished, maybe to $40 or something.
Or you could also try location-based pricing if you want to keep it affordable/accessible to people outside of first-world countries
Thanks! When I get more progress then I'll probably increase the price but in all honesty it makes enough money to cover the production cost and that's good enough for me. Regional pricing is a good idea!
Hey Alex, I bought the app a few years ago when I first found the website. Just opened it up for the first time in a while, and saw I can buy the course through the app. But wanted to let you know (in the low chance you aren't aware) that purchasing the course through the app is only $20 instead of $25.
Drop me an email and I'll sort it out manually - mostly it works but it's not great. The app ecosystem for this isn't worth the hassle any longer and I'll retire that app when I get the new version out.
I bought the course a couple years ago, really happy to know that there's more content on the way.
PS: I could never had imagined that the acceleration pedal controls air intake and not gas.
Hah, I remember disassembling a motorcycle for the first time and in the process figuring out that the throttle cable just opens a valve that I had just taken the airbox off of, I was mind blown!
To anyone that's looking to get into wrenching on your own stuff, I can definitely recommend getting started on a motorcycle if you have space, money or time constraints. It's a lot more accessible initially.
I had pulled back for quite a while working on cars, then bought a 2006 Chrysler 300C with a dead engine last year.
The LX platform is incredibly easy to work on. Rear wheel drive, nothing too complicated to understand, good parts availability from places like Rock Auto. The big Hemi 5.7 is easy to rebuild and very rewarding. I grew up working on small japanese cars and Alfa Romeos, the Hemi reminds me a lot of the Alfa "Nord" engine despite the pushrods.
I had an MX-5 and loved it, but the LX cars are affordable muscle cars that even a modest workshop can make something fun out of.
Bringing it back to the author, I've heard that the MX-5 is about the easiest car to work on that's still readily available. And Saturns. Saturns are like Lego.
Saturn cars are incredible. I had a 92 SL2. Drove it for 14 years and 350k miles. Sold it to a guy who delivered newspapers and saw it still running two years later. That plastic body that didn't rust was incredible. Sucks that GM just killed that car line.
The course that's linked in this post is excellent for the price. Pretty much all of the engine stuff carries over to motorcycles. Everything else I pretty much learned by looking up specific instructions for my model along the way, either on Youtube or in the service manual for my bike.
As for what bike might be interesting, I bought a fuel injected, single cylinder bike. Pretty much as simple as it gets, and a great way to get started with the basics.
Don't be afraid to jump in, you'll be surprised at how easy it comes to you.
The original donor car was (I think) a Mk3 Ford Escort, obviously they are a collectors car now.
There have been a number of revisions now, it's published by Haynes the publisher of many car repair manuals. There is also a whole network of small business selling parts, you can buy ready made chassis and body panels for them.
I was gifted the book in the late 90s as a teenager, always planed to one day build one. And the fact the house I bought a few years ago has a garage with an inspection pit is only making it more tempting.
I too had that very book as a teenager. It's a small world - when I was at uni I was hired to build a website for someone. Their friend then asked me to build them a site and I recognised their name from the caption of a photo of a couple of schoolboys on the back page of that very book. Turns out they built the car at school and went on to build an automotive company.
Amazing, the author was a DT (design technology) teacher at a school just down the road from where I grew up. They would build these in a club at school.
I had to answer this question for myself, because Miatas were outside of my budget (3000€), and a bit rare to find in the first place where I live (France).
I went with a 1st gen Mini Cooper (2001 to 2006). So far it has been the perfect car to learn on, because I went with a working one and did the basic maintenance plus a few not-too-hard parts that needed replacement (of course your luck can vary, I'm very lucky that the one I chose was in a very good shape).
Why a Mini Cooper? My criterias were (1) a fun car, and by that I mean a 100+hp compact car around 10:1 ratio (2) of course the budget, 3000€ (3) the "fun car" part pretty much guarantees it, but good community support (4) I need to fit in it (I'm tall at 1.88m) and (5) must be Euro 2 or better (so pretty much a gas year 2000 or after car)
Compared to the Miata, it's probably a bit less fun to drive, and a bit harder to work on (everything is super compact in the engine bay), but you get a hard-top and small back seats, which to me means more space to put stuff. I actually carry most of my tools in my trunk all the time and work ... wherever I am. I've spent more time working on my car at my parents or in-laws than in my own garage (which isn't super great to work from).
I have to say I don't regret that choice. As for filming (I do record and did a Youtube channel about my tribulations, though nowhere near this course quality), interior has not been a big issue. Filming under the car while working on jackstands is pretty much impossible though (I'd need to buy a wide angle GoPro and more lights to even entertain a passable quality).
Important note: if you go for a Mini Cooper, prefer a 2005 or 2006 year model (post-facelift) if you go for a 1st gen. Going for a 2nd gen is not advised as they have tons of engine issues, and starting with engine work is not a great idea.
My father did an car maintenance course in the 90s with his Mini City (like this one[1]), which involved taking the car apart and reassembling much like in the OP's video course. He said it was a very valuable experience, and that the Mini was the perfect car to learn on as all the parts were easily accessible and uncomplicated in design.
If useful, here’s an answer: The Suzuki DR-Z400S/SM motorcycle. As one example.
It’s not a car! I know! The thing is that motorcycles are such good learning platforms. They’re small, man-portable (in a pinch), there’s almost everything in there that’s in a car – but much less of it and more accessible. Single-cylinder motorcycles are also good for learning because there’s only one cylinder and one set of valves and one cylinder or fuel injector etc. :) One of everything and everything is smaller and more easily accessible than in a car. In short they’re very hackable machines.
The DR-Z400 is reliable, ubiquitous and cheap. Parts are available. Lots of DIY information out there and easy to find.
I knew NOTHING about cars. Got the motorcycle bug. A DR-Z400S was the most bike for the money here. Bought it. And that’s how I got into this by accident.
Now I know how to swap out a carburator for a bigger one and tune it, tune suspension behavior by simulating the hydraulic valving inside the suspension, maintain brakes, replace tires and pick them for what road feel I want, fix flats on the side of the road, fix a stator if I need to, reduce vehicle weight etc. etc. All by chance. Has nothing to do with me being smart or industrious and everything to do with lucking into ownership of a bike that kind of teaches you how to work on it and has a great online community.
This is a great comment because in my motorcycle group of roughly ~60 or 70 people over the years, maybe 25% have owned a Miata. Apparently the motorcycle+miata crossover is huge. Usually along with an SV650 or DRZ at some point as well.
I never had a Miata but I did buy a DRZ and have a blast on it for about 4 hours. The following morning it wouldn't start and after spending all the time I was willing to spend on doing valves/carb/etc, I decided that the 450 kit was to blame, so I just traded it for a 2stroke! I do hope a sumo will be in my future now that I live in a city, though.
Good luck on your Miata endeavors, I'm sure you wont regret it!
I was lucky that I chose the Miata - it was an affordable car which I wouldn't need to cut the roof off to film inside. I knew nothing about them when I picked it but it really was the perfect choice.
It's a car distilled down to its essence and that's why it's popular for kit cars and conversions. The components are tough, readily available and dirt cheap.
I honestly think I might still choose a Miata because you need to understand everything on this car to go much further. If were were to take the engine out of the equation then I'm afraid I don't know - my recent engineering experience has been with boats and diesels, rather than electric.
This is exactly what I've been looking for. Purchased! One request if you get time/ it's easy: can you add a Chromecast option to the mobile app? At least on iOS I don't see an option.
I hope you are doing well these days after what sounds like a challenging journey to get to this point. Thanks for making and sharing this great content.
Just my two cents… if it’s $25 for lifetime access you might want to make that more obvious (I was on mobile).
It’s not that I don’t think it’s worth it- actually the opposite. Hitting the landing page I actually assumed it’d far more, or have a series of upsells, etc. I started to navigate away when I noticed the smaller print.
Anyway, looks like great stuff. And thumbs up for Budapest.
Just wanted to add to the many voices who felt they got way more than the $25 they paid for the content on the site. Wonderful videos, and your passion for cars got me to working on my own car, where I've made several changes since.
The course description and the car is modern, but would this also be helpful for understanding a classic car? I’ve inherited a classic Jag which is great, but being reliant on others for understanding and repairs is sometimes a bit limiting.
It’s absolutely useful for that! You’ll be on a carburettor instead of injection but that’s about the only difference! The Miata really isn’t much evolved from the 60s sports cars it’s based on.
I've got a picoscope and it's not something I use very often at the moment. I've not looked at tablet stuff I'm afraid. It's one of those areas that's probably moving very quickly in terms of tech. The Picoscope is probably superceded at this point too. Sorry not to be more helpful!
> I am asked this a lot. If you just want to fix one thing on a car then you don't need to understand automotive engineering or how things work. You can find videos on YouTube that will show you almost any repair, and you just follow those videos. But if you want to be able to diagnose and fix any car, any engine without spending hours Googling then you want a deep understanding of car mechanics.
"Never spend 6 minutes doing something by hand when you can spend 6 hours failing to automate it" [1] becomes 'never spend 6 minutes searching for something when you can spend 6 hours arguing with ChatGPT on the nature of truth'. [2]
The main problem with GPT is that it will sometimes quite confidently give you incorrect information. It's like a kid who will just make up some elaborate story rather than admit they don't know something. So it can't be considered a trustworthy source. Yet.
I asked GPT about some snorkel trails near my house, as I wanted to know what it knew of them and see if there was anything I didn't know about that I should find out before I snorkel again.
First of all it told me that the area is not suitable for snorkelling, and that it is dangerous here. When I corrected it and reminded it about the snorkel trail it confidently corrected itself, then directed to me to snorkel 6 miles out to sea (where a windfarm is) telling me that the sea is only 2 to 10 meters deep there, and safe to snorkel. This is not true, and it would be a very dangerous place to snorkel there. But its confidence was scary.
> This is not true, and it would be a very dangerous place to snorkel there.
For some reason people have the idea that truth is something ChatGPT optimizes for. Or safety of its conversant. That is absolutely not the case. IIUC, it optimizes for its answers sounding like an answer someone might give in a conversation (or on a web page or whatever). That often coincides with truth and safety, but - no more than that.
Well why don't you tell me about the hiking trails around my house? Oh you don't know them? It's too specific information and you couldn't possibly know that? Ah interesting...
The trick is to ask it only things that are both physically possible and also possible for it to actually know or provide the required extra context from which to deduce the answer. Otherwise it acts not unlike someone pushed against a wall by a guy with a knife demanding info it just doesn't have. It'll say anything.
With prompting it knew about the snorkel trail here (it is well documented online and in local media) but blended facts about the snorkel trail, with facts about the local windfarm. Some sponsorship from the windfarm had gone into promoting the snorkel trail, which may have led to the confusion for the model, but they are two very different things in different locations.
What they won't do is pretend they know about them, including mentioning the names of the trails, while mixing up which trails are strenuous and easy while sounding 100% confident.
True, but anything it says is generally easy to verify before you do something stupid. And for things as common and relatively standardized as cars I would expect it to do very well.
But if you add the verification to the asking process you might as well just skip GPT altogether... It becomes a waste of time asking if you have to check every thing you ask it.
This. Asking GPT is basically like asking Reddit or some other "non expert" commentary system that's basically a pool of existing high level information.
It works fine if you want to know how to change a generic wheel bearing on a trailer (wouldn't surprise me if it erroneously lectured you about using high temp grease for disc brakes along the way tho). It falls on its face in almost every case in which the generic "average google result" answer is not the correct answer or there is situational circumstances that make the generic answer inappropriate.
Sure you might get an "expert" answer on Reddit and GPT might scan over the "right" answer to your question in its computation but in most cases the generically correct but wrong in this instance answer is going to be more popular and more prolific and be what gets spit back at you and it'll be faster for you to just dig up the right answer yourself than coax the right answer out of whatever you're asking.
That's a very odd example. I'm sure that if I went into a car subreddit and asked "how do I change a front wheel bearing on a 2006 Nissan 350Z," not only would I get lots of responses, but I'd get many from people who have actually done it, done it recently, and could tell me pitfalls to watch out for along the way.
I'd trust a relevant subreddit far more than I'd trust GPT for something like that.
You don't understand. I specifically chose an example of a part for which there's a generic answer (all old school pair of tapered bearings on a spindle are changed about the same way) that will work in a wide array of vehicles and situaions but which that procedure is also not right a huge fraction of the time (a huge fraction of the cars on the road today).
>I'd trust a relevant subreddit far more than I'd trust GPT for something like that.
My point is I don't trust either. If you're lucky enough to have an enthusiast car or very, very common car you might be able to use the specific sub assuming the owners aren't generally dolts. If you ask how to change the wheel bearing on your Tacoma they'll say take it to the dealer. If you ask the mechanic sub a bunch of 14yos who know how to google will give you generic steps or just link you to the youtube video. That's the level chatGPT is on right now. If you don't know what you don't know it's dangerous advice.
In this case, I paid for the course which includes a PDF. Using Bing I can query the document and get summary information along with page number references. Only a matter of time until we can do the same query for a site and get video timestamps. I don't expect GPT to act like an oracle, but I do expect that it will function as a curator and cataloger of content.
Somewhat related, there's a series of German videos made for kids that show how a car is manufactured. It's mostly the bodywork and assembly, not engine stuff, but it's still a good overview. If you're interested in this stuff, it could be worth watching, even if you don't understand German.
Good stuff, but to do all this "at home" requires ample garage space and a solid investment in tools and equipment. It also helps to have non-busy roads in the vicinity, in order to do "test flights" after the fixes. It is certainly helpful as a guide to understand the basic automotive systems and not get scammed at repair shops, but for most people to start wrenching on their car confidently, not so much.
You can do many small repairs and maintenance activities without much specialised tools and equipment, but to confidently disassemble and rebuild engines, fuel and exhaust systems, body parts, driveline components, etc., requires more than a few hours of videos.
I fly paragliders for fun, but that doesn't compare at all in excitement to starting an engine where I just changed the timing belt.
I watched more than a few hours of video to do that. But it was possible to do with the help of YT videos and VW's official workshop manuals that you can buy and download from their erWin website.
I started from absolutely zero.
I've replaced the timing belt, water pump, alternator, brake fluid, master brake cylinder, removed and cleaned the air throttle body, flushed the coolant system, replaced the radiator, replaced the shocks, replaced the exhaust, removed the turbo and replaced the waste gate, used OBDS CAN software to troubleshoot sensor issues, etc.
It was a gradual process over several years. It was a lot easier since most of it was on my second car that I could just leave in its garage while I got parts or tools or watched another 10 hours of YT videos. But some of the stuff was on the curb.
If you're a software engineer and get paid by the hour, it's absolutely not worth your time if you just look at the money.
But it can be a fun hobby, and I really like knowing how the car works when it's starting to make weird noises on long distance vacation trips. Just know that it's not that hard in theory, but in practice the wrong bolt will shear off just as you have to put things back together and drive off with the car. So always have a plan B, especially if it's your daily driver and you can't just leave it for a week or two.
Having said all that, if you're interested in cars, then this video course is excellent. I paid for it a couple of years ago, and don't regret it.
So, reading my original comment and you response again, I can see how my comment came across as "it's easy to replace the timing belt, just watch a few YT videos". I agree that that's definitely not the case.
> especially if it's your daily driver and you can't just leave it for a week or two.
/me remembers jumping on his bicycle and riding two towns over to the Toyota dealership (in pre-Amazon days) to buy a rear spring hanger pin because I'd just spent 4 hours cutting the old one off after taking the day off work to get the truck fixed. This after making multiple bike trips to the industrial supply shop to buy more Sawzall blades that kept dulling as I tried to cut off a hardened steel pin!
It does require more than a few hours, but certainly starting with a few hours of video to understand the basics of automotive engineering is incredibly useful when you want to learn to fix cars. I taught myself years ago starting with a basic Time-Life book and worked my way up to factory technical manuals and research papers. I learned the theory first from books and then the practical later by getting my hands dirty and eventually being mentored by others who knew what they were doing. What I discovered from this path is that many of the mechanics out there have never really learned the first part, and while they're good at repairing what they know, they get stumped when they actually have to diagnose something new because they do not understand the underlying theory.
This is true - I can only speak about Europe but almost no young people have feasible access to either the space or tools to do any of this unless it's their career or they have family. I wish I could solve the space, tools, and money situation but I can at least help with knowledge.
Exactly my point. It is probably feasible in rural and sub-urban parts of the US, but unthinkable in certain parts of urban Europe where parking spots are hard to come by, let alone spacious garages and long driveways.
> requires ample garage space and a solid investment in tools and equipment
Not really although it definitely helps. I started working on cars in a garage that barely fit a Miata with a basic set of wrenches and sockets piled up in the corner. I think you'd find that's how a lot of people start out in this hobby.
Specialty tools can be rented from auto part stores in the US or you can buy them relatively cheaply from Amazon or Harbor Freight.
> requires ample garage space and a solid investment in tools and equipment
This isn't true. You need just enough space to walk around the car and without a lot of traffic, preferably a spot with a little shade.
As for the investment in tools, you need way less that you think. You don't only buy what you need when you need it. Best advice for tools is to buy the cheapest version the first time you need it, and only when it breaks or doesn't work well buy a better quality.
Finally, you don't always need the "proper" tool to do a job. Those tools are often very expensive and are only used for that one thing. A little ingenuity (and car forums) will get you a long way when doing car work.
> requires ample garage space and a solid investment in tools and equipment
On that note, Autozone and OReilly's in the US offers free loaner tools, which would allow you to do most DIY-able jobs. The only tools you need to buy yourself is a decent socket set and a few screwdrivers, and the tools would pay itself back in money saved vs. taking it to a repair shop.
That's true. You need a lot of special tools for modern cars. When you acquired the required tools you'd best stick to that manufacturer with future car purchases or you'll have to buy the whole set again for your new brand.
For situations like this I find www.automotivespecialtytool.net to be particularly useful. It's a peer-to-peer car tool rental community. So if you have a rarely used, very specific tool you can rent it out to others; similarly if you need such a tool you can just rent it without having to buy it.
This is untrue. Yes there are specialized tools, even some per manufacturer, but in reality 95% of the jobs people will be doing can be done with a standard mechanics toolset.
I'm curious if anybody would be interested in this sort of cliff's notes breakdown of any other mechanical engineering topic? My dad's a retired mechanical engineer and many of my cousins are also mechanical engineers. I'm media savvy. Should I prompt them to doing something like this? Auto engineering seems much more broadly appealing than, say, fluid dynamics in ventilation systems. Maybe more youtube-channel-level appealing than pay-for-lifetime-access appealing?
Yes, and yes, there's an argument to be made that if something shows up on HN and it's engineering related, it's going to attract a certain amount of eyeballs... "if you build it, they will come"
The thing with maintenance is that it tends to be very vehicle-specific. e.g., the procedure for removing brake pads, while generally similar, can have points where if you don't do it exactly right for that particular vehicle, will break something.
I find that vehicle model-specific forums are really helpful for this kind of thing. And many times the posters themselves have made videos of the process.
Loads to do! I am working on it. I have a pot of money set aside from the sales and my plan is to hire a production company and rattle through it in one long shoot, rather than do one video at a time and then do all the production.
Not to steal thunder from the OP site but WeberAuto has amazing YouTube videos on a LOT of EVs, systems, transaxles, motors, gearboxes, and everything.
Are you looking into fixing the drivetrain or the "car stuff" around that? I'd rather not fiddle around with the 400 V system of my EV, but I think most of the other things are still the same.
Any similar course for EVs would start with high-voltage safety. If you're doing any high-voltage work, you'd start by physically isolating the high-voltage battery from the rest of the car by pulling the main isolation fuse. Then, you'd check everything with a voltage detector just to be absolutely sure. And you'd wear electrical insulating gloves whenever touching anything that could potentially be live.
All high-voltage components in your EV are well protected and clearly marked in bright orange: there isn't much danger of accidentally running in to them when working on anything else.
There's an aura of mystery around EVs (e.g. people assume they're all some self-driving black box magic), so it may be useful to teach how they work even if people aren't going to do DIY repairs.
OMG, I had no idea Tim Hunkin was churning out YouTube videos these days! I was exactly the right age to appreciate the Secret Life of Machines, and it looks like I have several hours of quality stuff to watch there.
Oh wow, this looks really good! Just preordered as I have been meaning to learn more and I like your style from the video. No rush though in finishing it all.
Some questions if I may ask:
Is it possible to order the How A Car Works pdf in print?
Also did you actually write all of it? It looks like an old fashioned instruction manual. You know one of the good ones that explain concepts well. I only read a few pages and love the style.
It was $20 when I first started and about three years ago I put the price to $25 because I felt like I’d made a lot of progress. That’s the last time it changed.
In my area, they offered such a class as a technical program that high school students could attend off-site at the technical school which also had classes like cooking and childcare.
sick. i've been wanting to learn about engines. seems like a better use of my time than learning how to code better with the impending ai job displacement!
Lots of posts on HackerNews are adverts. That's what the "Show" tag is (partly) for. People aren't sharing their startups on here out of altruism, they want signups and conversions to paying customers. This isn't a show post, because the author didn't post it, and I don't think it's astroturfing. There are also plenty of posts for things that you can buy, because we (as hackers) think they're interesting. I think that kind of targeted advertising is OK.
On pricing, compare this to how much people charge for programming courses and textbooks. Not unusual for people to upwards of $200 ("Best Value!") for an ebook and some sample code. I have no idea who buys those, but presumably the payback is good enough and maybe for professional development it's worth it. For 14 hours of professionally produced content, even if incomplete, 22 Euros a great deal.
i literally laughed out loud when reading this comment. this entire site is an advert for yc and their portfolio companies. it's also a job board with restricted access.
Even though I'm sure it looks abandoned, I have been working hard on getting back into this. The last couple of months I've been developing a 3D viewer for mechanical components that lets you disassemble/rebuild/step through processes. I wish I could share it but I'm not there yet. Babylon JS is amazing though.
EDIT:
I'll throw down some random notes because I've never really talked about this:
- I've learned a LOT over the three years since I made these videos - about cars, life, boats, love, fabrication, quaternions and myself.
- I made these videos in a backstreet garage in Budapest. A personal situation arose and I left Hungary and tried to get going again back in the UK.
- I built a new garage/studio in the UK and kitted it all out in preparation.
- Then lockdown struck and I had to get involved in a real-world business that I co-owned. The people who did my video production couldn't travel, and when they could, the UK had become so difficult that they had no desire to stay. So I had to find a new team which wasn't easy.
- I also had to rebuild my own life and that took a lot of time and effort. I didn't have the energy to go back into videos - it's something that I did at a certain time of my life, and I knew that I needed to be stronger to revisit it or I would risk my own happiness.
- I feel a combination of emotions - I am immensely proud of what we achieved with this, and I'm embarrassed by my failure to finish it. That said, I don't think I've ever been more excited by this project.
Edit 2: Go and watch Tim Hunkin's Secret Life of... series @ https://www.youtube.com/@timhunkin1 You'll be glad you did!