A few years ago my son took a year in high school of auto shop at the local tech school. I wasn't sure how much of that sunk in until recently.
When he got to Ft. Benning for IBOLC last October he bought a 4Runner that had been sitting for years with fuel delivery related issues. I think he paid $500 for it or something. He was able to check the compression on the motor which tested well before taking it home.
Several months later and a few used bits from Craigslist he has a running woods/hunting rig. He has sorted many issues, including recent problems with fuel pressure. Bought a used tank from CL, cleaned and sorted the fuel injection system with some youtube video help, etc.
Technical training is sometimes hard to come by in our school system. He was glad this was available to him but it wasn't really accessible to many. He was lucky that he didn't need the credits to graduate, had his own car to get there given it wasn't on his HS campus, etc. I think we're doing our kids a disservice not having more tech programs for those who don't want to go the 4 year degree route.
I guess he learned quite a bit :-)
