Changing a Tire 101

Once I’d decided to start gettin’ my hands greasy – the first thing I went for was the tire. It couldn’t be too hard to take a tire on and off, right? Right! Changing a tire is as easy as 1-2-3!

Wrench like a Girl: Video #1 – Changing Distributor Wires

With so many fun things to do lately, I’ve had trouble doing the writing for the little mechanic issues that have come up with Stude! And since creating a resource for you ladies (and gentlemen) who might also want to work on cars or understand them better is important to me – I thought I’d give videos a try. Let me know what ya think about this format!

Grease Girl Diary #1: Engine Boogers

I’d been looking forward to Monday for weeks. Yep, this Monday I got to work down at the Studebaker Parts & Service. This is usually a weekly occurrence, but because of another job commitment, I’ve been gone about a month. So basically, my boys down at the shop could’ve given me anything to do and I would’ve been happy!

This week there was a rear-end and an engine block waiting to be cleaned.

All Sorts of Workin’!

This past weekend has been busy! First of all, I would like to introduce you all to MyRideIsMe.com – who I’ve been lucky enough to pair up with! It’s a super cool site that lets you connect with other car folk from near and far. Grease Girl articles will be featured over on MyRideIsMe.com - we’re just unveiling my first introductory piece, check it out!

Other than writing, I’ve been doing LOTS of working this weekend too. Many preparations came down to the wire getting ready for Viva Las Vegas. At home there’s been outfits to sew (gotta look good!) and in the garage the transmission needed switched out in the Stude and the headliner finished. I had wanted to get a little pinstripping done, but I think that’s gonna have to wait.

Believe it or not – everything was accomplished! Well…everything but that vintage-era bathing suit I wanted to make. So click on over to MyRideIsMe.com and check back soon for the finished Headliner How-To as well as a Transmission 101 article!

And you know where I’ll be next weekend!!! I hope to meet lots of you then, but if you can’t make it to Viva, you know where to find pictures of the shenanigans and crazy rockabilly custom cars and rat rods afterward!

Air Filters 101

This sucker's dirty!

Now – I know that this is totally basic – but I wanted to take the opportunity to show you the air filter that came off my car today. Generally when I think of basic, routine car maintenance, I think “oil, tire pressure, transmission fluid, and is anything leaking.”
As I was at the shop today (P.S. I got the headliner completely finished and the new tranny will be going in tomorrow!…check back soon for those articles) I popped the hood to show off my engine (which is horribly dirty still from when the radiator blew…it was pointed out to me that a guy wouldn’t stand for the dirty-looking engine.)
Sitting there shootin’ the breeze, someone noticed my air filter, so we unscrewed the top and took it out. Evidently, the way to check if you need a new air filter is by holding it up to the light and seeing if any of the light shines through. Not counting the spots where there were holes in mine, there was absolutely no sunlight shining through this sucker. Handy to be offered not one, but two air filters (I love my shop guys!)…we exchanged the dirty one for a clean one. Changing this thing out is as simple as unscrewing a bolt.

Shiny and new!

Since I don’t know how often these things need changed, I looked it up and found a helpful article online. It says to change it every 20,000 to 30,000 miles (or when dirty). Although I’ve logged thousands of miles during Stude’s first year on the road – her milage is much closer to 10,000 than 20,000. Something tells me that between the extra exhaust my engine spouts out combined with what I’m guessing is probably increased air intake due to increased engine size – my car’s air filter will need to be changed more often than the average car. Thank goodness my car’s not average!
Tommy likened a dirty air filter to someone putting a cloth up to your mouth and telling you to breath. It would be hard. And the extra work makes for less-effeciant fuel milage – which I had been experiencing…AH-HAH…hopefully now I can get that extra 3-4 mpg back!
So there it is ladies and gents…the low-down on air filters!
Happy Trails!