At the end of this summer, my father-in-law and I got my old International Scout running. After that, I brought it to a shop for fresh motor mounts—I was too scared of handling the massive engine’s weight in my driveway. I also spent some time talking with the shop owner and got some sage advice about wrenching that could probably apply to many intimidating situations in life.
“Before you start, look at your project three times,” he told me, when I explained that I planned to rebuild my OEM fuel vapor recovery system. “The first time, you’re gonna see a whole mess of busted hoses and wires and be like, ‘Ahhh!’ and not want to do it. The second time, it will be less scary. By the third time, it will probably look doable.”
In the case of my vapor plumbing, thankfully, it didn’t look too hard from the jump. I found a diagram mapping out which hoses go where, and a replacement for the non-rubber components. The rest just looks like a universal fuel hose I can grab from NAPA. Now, I’ve just got to brave the quickly chilling October weather, so I can get the truck to stop stinking of gasoline before rolling it into the shop attached to my house.
But I really liked the mechanic’s comment, and I’ve started integrating it into my life when I’m procrastinating or putting something off that I don’t want to deal with. You can try it, too. Next time you’re up against something that feels like an industrial-sized pain in the ass, just look at it three times before you start. Here’s hoping we’ll all feel better about our respective projects by the third peek!
Sometimes I wonder if shops consider me a good customer or not. I usually ask a lot of questions, but I also authorize a lot of work, and always try to pay cash. Anyway, you can’t simply roll up to any shop with a 1975 vehicle and expect the mechanics to drop it into their regular queue of Altimas and RAV4s. It’s not just that the technology is different; conceptually speaking, old cars are far easier to work on than new ones. But old car problems are different: Rust, hodgepodge repairs from previous owners, fatigued parts that might no longer be available, and so on. Servicing them requires some patience and creativity that not every shop, understandably, is willing to deal with.
I found my new guy by luck. I was cruising around and saw, to my shock and delight, a ’70s Scout II sitting outside a tidy-looking mechanic’s place not far from me. I went in, introduced myself, and got to spend some time talking to the owner about his experience with older rigs.
Now, I’m focused on streamlining my fleet—I’m trying to pivot from quantity to quality when it comes to my car collection. That’s going to require more discipline than I’ve had in the past. I guess that’s the next mental hurdle I’ll need to overcome.
Got any other sage wisdom from a mechanic? I’d love to hear about. You can email me at andrew.collins@thedrive.com.
Automotive journalist since 2013, Andrew primarily coordinates features, sponsored content, and multi-departmental initiatives at The Drive.
