A Prerequisite for a Learner's Permit

My son will be old enough to get his Learner's Permit in two months. Driving will come shortly thereafter. Today he takes his first steps towards satisfying my requirements for driving a car.

We're performing a major sevice on our old pickup truck and he's going to do all the work. I've got the manual and the tools and I'll stand by to interpret the hard parts, but he's going to do the work. I don't expect him to remember how to do this, but I hope he learns not to be afraid of working on cars. At least ones without all that electronics jazz. Those scare me.

My truck is from the early 80's and has very little in the way of smog equipment and nothing in the way of computerized stuff. It's also a rusted out piece of junk that we use for emergencies when our normal sedan won't run or when we need to take things to the dump or get big things from Home Depot. It's the perfect vehicle for a beginning auto mechanic.

Photos and stories later.

Update: We got a late start because my main man was a bit under the weather. Once we got going, we installed a new battery and then tackled the tools. It had been a while since I had worked on my cars and my hydraulic floor jack didn't work any more. There was some kind of leak in the piston. We tore the jack apart only to find out that a plastic part deep inside the piston had broken and the piston had been assembled permanently. The parts went in the trash and we go to Cosco today to get a new one.

The day was a succuess, by and large. My son enjoyed the experience and we learned about batteries and disassembling things. I caught myself intervening a few times and was able to stop. I had a great time, too. I had forgotten how much I loved working on cars.