Check Out What We're Up To

Joe, a second year student painted a motorcycle tank in his spare time.  As you can see, the tank looks great.  The second year students have been extremely busy performing live work.  We are studying weld-on panels, sectioning, door skins, and adhesive so we will be ready for these types of jobs as we get them.

The first-year student just started welding.  We spend six weeks performing lap welds, butt welds, butt welds with a backing plate, and plug welds.  Each student must perform each one of these welds in a flat, vertical, and overhead position that must pass a destructive test.  This sounds scary to many students if they have never welded before, but we have a lot of time to get it right.  If the student shows up every day and practices these welds repetitively, they will have no problem when it comes to testing the welds.

Check back and we will keep you posted with our progress.

You Know That You're Old When......You Do Not Know If You're Capable To Drive The New Cars

I always like to check out the features on the new cars, but I seriously do not know if I would be able to drive this car.  Check it out and let me know what you think.  It's Different! 

Safety First – Says Who?

You always hear safety first at safety meetings, but many technicians think safety is a lot of hype and ignore the safety policies. So is safety really that important?

Let’s Talk CarsFirst, since we’re all about cars, not safety, let’s talk about restoring an awesome car. Let’s say we have an unlimited budget to build a million dollar ride. You know, a car like Chip Foose at Foose Design would build. Of course, it would take hours and hours of labor and thousands of dollars to get it there, but the end result would be well worth the wait and money. Could you imagine having a ride worth one million dollars? I’m sure that you would take a lot of pride in it. I know that I would. Would you take car of it? What about storage, would you keep it in the garage or put it out back in the weather? I’m sure that you would do everything that you could to protect the car from being damaged.

Another Question

If someone offered you a million dollar car like this, would you exchange it for you eyesight? What about a leg or would you trade your life for it? I am assuming you answered no, as these things are priceless to us. I would not want to even exchange my eyesight or life for a billion dollars. While most of you would agree, we are quick to ignore safety and grab a grinder and start grinding, weld without a welding helmet, paint without a paint respirator, or many other things that could affect our health without thinking twice about it. If you’re willing to take good care of a car, do you think you should take care of yourself?

Over ExaggeratingWell, this is over exaggerated. Is it? There are many eye injuries and painters that have to leave the collision repair industry every year due to becoming sensitive to paint chemicals. It really happens, but the good news is that most injuries are preventable.

How To Prevent InjuriesIt would take a while to explain all of the PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) that needs to be used, but I will highlight a few of them.

1. Eye Protection – Most schools require eye protection to be worn at all times in the shop area, but I see a lot of body shops that do not require eye protection. However, I would highly recommend that you get in the habit of wearing eye protection. Eyesight is too valuable to lose.
2. Dust masks – When sanding or grinding wear an approved dust mask. This will prevent you from breathing all of the products be sanded and other debris that is not healthy for you.
3. Respirator – The catalyzed clears and primers that are out there should not be taken lightly. They have chemicals that will mess you up. Wear an approved respirator when spraying any coatings.
4. Gloves – Chemical resistant gloves should be worn when working with chemicals. This will prevent the chemicals from entering your body through your skin.
5. Hearing Protection – You may not need to wear hearing protection at all times, but if there is griding, air chiseling or other loud things going on, protect your hearing.

Say Who….You Do!There are many other PPE and safety procedures to consider before working in a shop area. I hope when you question who is saying safety first, you think of yourself. Forget about the policies and procedures, keep yourself safe……. you’re worth a million dollars after all!

That's The Way We've Always Done It - Not With Today's Vehicle

For years we have repaired vehicles the same way, but that is not going to work on modern day cars. There are too may variables with all of the different types of metals and composites used, all of the electrical, air bags, and many other things to consider before repairing a vehicle.

For instance, if you try to weld on a radiator support on some of the Ford pick-ups you may find the pick-up on fire as the radiator support is made of magnesium. Many of the parts are made of ultra high strength or boron steel. It is not recommended to repair or heat these steels by many auto manufactures. Therefore, repairing a part made of ultra high strength steel may weaken the part, which could cause an unnecessary injury if involved in an accident.

Using universal methods or “that’s the way we’ve always done it” is not going to work on modern day vehicles of today or the vehicles of tomorrow.

How Do You Know How To Repair Modern Day Cars

Well, it is hard to memorize all of the different parts on every make and model, so what you are going to need to do is find out what the auto manufacture recommends. You can do this with collision repair manuals or with online databases like AllData Collision Connect. They will have all of the information that you need to identify recommended procedures to perform the proper repair or replace method.

Here is a list of some of the materials used to make car parts:

• Steel - Mild Steel, High Strength Steel, Ultra High Strength Steel, Boron
• Other Metals - Aluminum, Magnesium
• Composites - Carbon Fiber, Sheet Molded Compound
• Plastics - Many Different Types

Each material has a specific repair or replace recommendation so it is easy to see that you will need to do a little homework before starting repairs.

While were talking about doing it the way that you have always done it, read the end of ham story.

“A young woman was preparing a ham dinner. After she cut off the end of ham, she placed it in a pan for baking.  Her friend asked her,"Why did you cut off the end of the ham"?

And she replied ,"I really don't know but my mother always did, so I thought you were supposed to."

Later when talking to her mother she asked her why she cut off the end of the ham before baking it, and her mother replied, "I really don't know, but that's the way my mom always did it."


A few weeks later while visiting her grandmother, the young woman asked, "Grandma, why is it that you cut off the end of a ham before you bake it?"


Her grandmother replied, "Well dear, otherwise it would never fit into my baking pan."

Are you sure why you do all of the things that you do?