Archived from the Tools In Action forum (In The Shop). This thread is read-only.
I figured I would show you guys my schools shop. It is 100′ by 110′. There are lifts on one side and regular parking everywhere else other than the alignment lifts. There are two alignment lifts which are both Hunter which are top of the line. In the back there is one big and two smaller hot tanks which is basically an enclosed steam cleaner. We use them to clean up engine blocks and cylinder heads. There is also a tool room which is managed by one of the former teachers. All of the scan tools, testing equipment, and specialty tools are in there. There also is another room that we keep everyone’s toolboxes in that gets locked up at the end of the day. Most of the vehicles are either customer vehicles or the schools vehicles. Right now I am in performance electronics class which mainly covers ignition, fuel injection and drive ability issues.
wow thats a huge place. sounds really interesting what you doing
Very cool nich and very clean shop!
Whats the story behind the race car.
That is a good question Samuel, I really don’t know. All but one of the teachers do some form of racing. The shop usually gets cleaned every Friday since there are so many schools that tour the place. You may think it is huge madman but when there are this many vehicles in there it doesn’t seem that big. I wouldsay there are at least 20 vehicles in there.
Nice shop Nicholas. I hope school is going well!
Really cool! one hell of a setup..
seems like you have a little bit of every vehicle in there to learn on from new to old, cars to trucks, foreign to domestic…
what exactly are you going for? auto body, mechanic, work for a specific dealer/car company, own your own shop, race team, custom??
I never went beyond high school auto class myself but have swapped several engines and transmissions in my garage, done a little bit of body work and tons of repairs and mods.. i have always loved cars/trucks.. hell anything with an engine for that matter 🙂 and really enjoy working on them as a hobby.. i havent gotten to do much of that lately though
NicholasShetley wrote:
That is a good question Samuel, I really don’t know. All but one of the teachers do some form of racing. The shop usually gets cleaned every Friday since there are so many schools that tour the place. You may think it is huge madman but when there are this many vehicles in there it doesn’t seem that big. I wouldsay there are at least 20 vehicles in there.
The mechanics teacher at my school used to race nitromethane cars.
My dad and I went to a drag racing event in St Louis a couple of years ago and they had nostalgic funny cars running 85-90% nitromethane and they still did around 270-280mph in the quarter mile. Nitromethane cars are insane compared to race gas or alcohol powered cars.Samuel L. wrote:
The mechanics teacher at my school used to race nitromethane cars.
I am going for the general automotive option. The auto body shop is in a different building. My first semester I had engines class where I helped my partner build a 383 stroker Chevrolet small block which was a ton of fun, especially seeing it on the dyno and hearing it roar to life. I would like to work for a dealer or at an independent shop. There are a good amount of dealers nearby but not too many decent independent shops.NERemodeling wrote:
Really cool! one hell of a setup..
seems like you have a little bit of every vehicle in there to learn on from new to old, cars to trucks, foreign to domestic…
what exactly are you going for? auto body, mechanic, work for a specific dealer/car company, own your own shop, race team, custom??
I never went beyond high school auto class myself but have swapped several engines and transmissions in my garage, done a little bit of body work and tons of repairs and mods.. i have always loved cars/trucks.. hell anything with an engine for that matter 🙂 and really enjoy working on them as a hobby.. i havent gotten to do much of that lately though
NicholasShetley wrote:
My dad and I went to a drag racing event in St Louis a couple of years ago and they had nostalgic funny cars running 85-90% nitromethane and they still did around 270-280mph in the quarter mile. Nitromethane cars are insane compared to race gas or alcohol powered cars.
Yea we say it must have mushed his brains because the guy cant remember things for more than 20 seconds.
NicholasShetley wrote:
I am going for the general automotive option. The auto body shop is in a different building. My first semester I had engines class where I helped my partner build a 383 stroker Chevrolet small block which was a ton of fun, especially seeing it on the dyno and hearing it roar to life. I would like to work for a dealer or at an independent shop. There are a good amount of dealers nearby but not too many decent independent shops.
Cool stuff.. i remember you posting about that 383, that was neat… if i remember correctly it was for a friends plow truck, how did it work for him?
Im sure you’ll have no problem finding a job exactly where you want.. cars will always be breaking and you are obviously passionate about what you do, which means you most likely do it well, which means you will be in high demand!
Good luck man
I don’t think he has done too much with it yet. It would be the perfect truck motor though as it made over 400 ft lbs of torque. He thought about selling it for a while. I would have bought it but I would have needed to upgrade my transmission and rear end to handle it.
Samuel L. wrote:
Whats the story behind the race car.
Apparently NASCAR driver Mike Wallace donated it to the school. He is from Fenton which is just to the south east of St. Louis. My school is about an hour and a half or so from there.
A lot bigger then my tech schools
Just the size shop that I need.