The Lug Nuts: Episode 1

I, personally, have never done much work on cars. I’ll occasionally detail a few for 20 bucks, but I’ve never really gotten into it. When I heard the idea of learning the ins and outs of these beautiful, slick, cold-steel machines of movement, I was incredibly intrigued. How I heard this idea you may ask? Let me tell you. 

We chose to work on learning how to repair cars for our senior project. Terin Snyder, one of our group mates, has always been really keen in the realm of automobiles, but me and my other group mates (Andrew Priest and Nate Paradis) have never really part taken. Terin has always enjoyed it, and lately, he’s really been trying to get us to join him. Eventually, we all gave in and decided we’d give the whole “car” thing a shot. 

For our first car, we turned a beaten-up 2005 Honda Odyssey Touring edition into a beautiful vessel with three rows of wonderful leather seats, 4 working doors, a trunk with new automatic hydraulics (childproof), working AM/FM radio with speakers that roar like a tsunami, but are gentle like an angel’s touch, and a jaw-dropping peecock finish that reminds me of the ocean’s deepest slate. We plan on selling it soon to fund our next project.

As a group, we set 3 goals for our project. The first is to learn the basic maintenance and cleaning protocols of cars. We have started working on this by making minor repairs to the 2005 Honda Odyssey Touring Edition. We have also cleaned it to the point where it looks like a 2022 model. Our second goal is to learn how to buy and sell cars in the second hand market. By second hand market, I mean anything that isn’t through a car dealer (i.e Craigslist, used car lots, etc.). Lastly, our third goal is to work on applying teamwork to real life situations. Working on cars is not easy, but with intimidating determination, some elbow grease, and 4 brilliant minds, anything is possible.


Jake N.

Comments

  1. escalonaeMay 22, 2021 at 8:51 PM

    Oh Jake, I love that picture of Nate as the "captain" of the vessel! I also loved seeing you on Terin's picture while washing the van. Super fun! I hope you are all exploring and learning a lot about cars. It is fun indeed. I still remember my first car and how every weekend I had to take out the carburetor (injection cars were still rare) and boil it!!! (you're hearing right). The build up was that bad, otherwise it didn't hold idle on neutral (all cars were stick shift at the time). It was fun nonetheless. Looking forward to hearing more about this wonderful van!

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  2. pamplemousseMay 23, 2021 at 8:37 PM

    Jake, it sounds like the four of you are having a great adventure together, and that you are learning all kinds of practical skills. Can't wait to see how the sale goes and what the next vehicle will be. Wendy

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  3. VeronicaMay 24, 2021 at 11:36 AM

    Congrats on your success with this car, Jake! Amongst your group, are each of you becoming specialized for certain types of cleaning/fixing tasks, or are you all collaborating on all of the different aspects of the work?

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    Replies
    1. AnonymousMay 28, 2021 at 6:55 PM

      For the van, we mostly focused on cleaning it because there weren't too many fixes to be made regarding the mechanics of the vehicle. However, once we got a more beat-up car, we all started working on different parts of the car and taught others how to do the job if we needed help.

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