*waits for gasps to end*
Okay, well to be fair it was from one of my friends who asked me if I could do some work on her car.
*waits for nobody to be surprised*
Really though, this was an important landmark in the history of my friendship with not only her, but anyone I've met here at Iowa State really. See, the thing is, is (is this grammatically correct??) that up to this point, people have just assumed that I'm actually somewhat mechanically adept, and I sort of am, but I've never actually had to prove it to anybody, until now.
This was it, my time to shine. I had to prove I wasn't just all talk. If I failed, my street cred was gone, and around these parts, street cred is everything.
This was my moment in the sun.
Here's how it went.
My friend Marissa asked if I could replace the spark plugs in her car because apparently her car wasn't working right and the spark plugs were to blame, much like my inattention to detail is to blame for buying an exhaust system with a 4 inch tailpipe or in other words its freakin' loud. Anyways, I told her I could do it and she explained that I would receive a payment of cookies after the job was completed. SCORE.
I showed up with the proper tools to remove the plugs, but was woefully unprepared to deal with the 4 bolts connecting the plastic cover to the engine because why would I think to bring a toolbox? I drove back to my apartment and grabbed my toolbox, returned to the stricken Hyundai to attack the plastic with all my mechanical ability.
Since the Hyundai was built in Asia, it, like every other car built there, uses 10mm bolts because apparently Asia decided that the number 10 was the god-king of all other numbers. Guess who doesn't have a 10mm socket because he lost it working on another asian car? I ended up having to use some janky-ass combination wrench thing to get the bolts loose, but I was successful. 20 minutes in and I've removed some plastic. I was impressing.
Now I bought some spark plug removing tools prior to taking on this WHOPPER of a job, and they seemed like they would work well, that is if you aren't an idiot. I removed the first spark plug without much trouble, screwed the new one in, probably cross-threaded it so hooray for me, and then tried to extract my ratchet from the hole. Theres an innuendo here. Long story short, there was some rubber piece that was making it difficult to remove the tool and it refused to come out of the hole (my god this is getting sexual isn't it?). Eventually I had to remove the plug, pull out the rubber piece and then reseat the plug. It worked and i finally had the first plug in. 45 minutes deep and I've replaced one spark plug and cursed the korean people about a million times. Best mechanic in Ames.
Eventually I had to use janky-ass combo wrench again (thanks dad) to remove the coil packs and replaced the rest of the spark plugs without much issue. I bolted everything back up, put the stupid plastic back on the engine, bolted that up most of the way because the janky-ass combo wrench is bigger than Rick Ross and wont fit anywhere or work at any angle, and stood REAL far back when she went to start the car.
Fortunately the car didn't blow up, Marissa is still alive and apparently the car is still running. 4 spark plugs, an hour and a half, some korean people bashing and a little elbow grease and I had finally earned the reputation I had bragged about.
This was my moment in the sun.
And I shined.
So now you know, if you ever need any help working on your car, you can always just call me. I wont have the right tools, I'll take longer than expected, I'll curse like a sailor, and expect my payment in cookies. But I'll get the job done.
Unless you have a Hyundai. Then you can just forget it.
