I am planning to take some mechanic classes this time next year so I can do more of the work on my car. My question is are there any schools that will teach a class like this? I don't want to have to pay to become ASE certified. This is just for my toys and for my own knowledge base.

The great thing is that the company I work for will help me pay for my classes in anything I want to do. Since I'll be done with my pre-req's and waiting to start the program I thought this would be fun and handy. Not to mention someone else can pick up the tab.

Any suggestions would be helpful.

 

Check out local JC's. I'm lucky in that the JC I go to has a top-notch auto program.

 

Find out if the local VoTech or JC will let you get a certificate rather than a degree. You wont have any required classes that dont pertain to working on cars. If a degree would help your current job, then that is different. If all you want is the knowledge to fix anything on your car bumper to bumper top to bottom, then you only need the technician classes.

Make sure you choose a school that has lab work rather than academic, hands on is much more valuable than simply reading it in a book. The VoTech I went to in Nebraska was 90% lab, had to build a certain number of transmissions, do a certain number of alignments/brake jobs, and had to prove I could rebuild engines. I got credit for the engine courses by building my drag engines, I paid for the credits and used the heated shop at school to do the work. Everything I did at school was in the lab, I had one semester in the classroom, doing the basics like proving I could read a micrometer and knowing the difference between a half inch drive socket and a screwdriver. I even got credit for the alignment on my drag car done at school. If the school is mostly academic in the classroom stuff, you wont have a place to work on your car, and you wont have hands on experience.

However I do recommend an English class or two. Far too many people dont know the difference in brakes and breaks, duel and dual, then and than, and a host of other things that if done improperly makes you appear to be less than intelligent when writing on a forum. How you write makes a huge difference in how what you say is taken. At the very least it will make your ebay adds appear to be written by someone who isnt sniffing glue.

 

A group of us from a local car group arranged a welding class through the local Jr. College a while back. I think the 3 hour course cost us all of $10 each.

Best bet though is to find a buddy that runs a shop and then help out for free every chance you get.

 

So incredibly true.

 

I have noticed the english language seems to get butchered more on the web. Thanks for the suggestions I'll check around.

If I could find something like what Thumpin had I'll be very lucky.

 

Central Community College in Hastings Nebraska. It was work at your own pace and I was getting 12 credit hours done in 5 to 6 weeks, sometimes I would get 26 crh in one semester, I used to be pretty fast working on cars. GI bill paid me to go to school, and I could take whatever I wanted. Full time paid the best so thats what I did.