New Member

[Dennis]

Hi there. My name is Dennis. My drinking buddies call me "DAWG". I've been a member for a few days now and feel like a kid in a candy store! I've been a mechanic by trade for over 30 years. I'm 52 but thanks to my healthy life style (beer,cigarettes,fast food and bending wrenches into the wee hours of the morning) I don't feel a day over 85. I got a couple of 03 4TECS that have been really good to me. I was happy to see the engine management on the 4TECS wasn't much different than a car. It didn't take me long to learn my way around the system. I know enough now to keep myself in trouble just most of the time instead of all the time. Well, enough about me.
Thanks for having me, DAWG

 

[seadoosnipe]

Welcome DAWG!

Glad to have you here in the forum Dawg!....It's nice to see someone in here as young as me! Like you, I've been mechanic'in about 40 years. Not counting the B & S or Tecumseh's, my first real engine to work on was a 1949 flat 6, mopar. From there, it just continued........just too curious to stop. Back then, they called us "shade tree mechanics". I don't know if they still use that term or not, but I was called "monkey". There wasn't any space under a hood I couldn't fit.
Reading your post brought back old memories of making sure I had a book of matches on me so that in case my 283 died out on me, I could pop the cap and use the striking surface to sand the carbon build-up off my points. Then the world of electronic ignition came in.
My two most loved engines to build were the 327 and the 350. One in a Camero and the other in my C-10. Yeah, I'm a Chevy man. My most expensive was the 350, with my Offenhauser 6" intake and my 850 Holley double pumper. Yeah, I had the 202 heads with 486 cam (combined lift and duration). And of course, headers with cherry bombs (glass packs).
Oh the memories!..........man, those were the days.
Again Dennis (DAWG), glad to have you as a member of the Seadoo forum. Have any questions or just got something on your mind, start a thread!...Feel free to send a PM to me if you prefer..........

Louis

 

[Dennis]

Thanks Louis

My first car was a 52 chev. I was 15 and took anything and everything apart on that old car that I could because I was fascinated by the mechanics of it and absolutely had to know what made it go. By the time I had my license I had broken,repaired and learned all I could and had a blast doing it. I drove the wheels off that car. After that I was hooked on mechanics too. Still am.
Book of matches. I would use the matches cover to set the point gap. Dwell meter? What's that? The match cover would put the dwell at 30 degrees (or close enough lol) every time.
Cherry Bombs.....was there anything else? Not as far as I was concerned.
I sure miss the innocense of those days. That's probably why I got into working on jet ski's.......they make feel 15 again.....young, dumb and full of curiousity.
Thanks, Dawg

 

[kustomkarl]

Hey Dawg, welcome to the friendlest, informative, and fastest growing Seadoo forum on the net! It look s like were almost neighbors... lol. I have a strong watercraft, motorcycle background with Kawasaki and Honda. I found the seadoo's fit right in with my experience from the days I worked in a repair shop back in high school days. The theroy's are the same...just the parts have changed.
Karl

 

[seadoosnipe]

Yeah,!

You forgot one thing Karl.......the ability to see a small set screw or down into a darkened corner without the cumbersome use of my bi-focals!...
What a drag. Hard to work on stuff you can't half way see!....:rofl:

 

[Dennis]

Pain

I feel your pain Louis! I use the word "feel" because I"m for sure not able to see it anymore. My wife says I'm stubborn cause I refuse to get glasses. Hell, I'm just now accepting the fact that I use reading glasses and I've been using them for 5 years. I've got those things everywhere! Did you know that Sam's Club sells those things by the six pack? Just the fact that I have that knowledge at all tells me that I'm not getting any younger. It seems like just yesterday that if the words "six pack" came out of my mouth I had to be either talking about beer, carbs or both. Usually both.

DAWG

 

[Dennis]

Thanks Karl

Thanks for the welcome Karl,
There's no substitute for experience. I've solved many modern day vehicle problems using my 60's, 70's.etc knowledge. Using common sense does'nt hurt either. Hey, I bet you know how to get to ACTION POWERSPORTS in Venice.
Thanks again, Dawg

 

[D 5UPE]

Howdy Dawg!

Lots of guys in this place just like you.
Age is experience when it comes down to stripping engines.
Having a box full of parts, putting it back together then finding you have bolts left. But it still fires up.

Bloody marvelous.

Hell I remember my first gearbox strip down on an old CZ dirt bike, when I was 12 on a New Years eve.

I crawled into bed at 3am in the morning with oil on my hands and face.
Then got a smacked arse of my Dad in the morning.

Memories eh!

 

[JoeZ]

Just wanted to give a 'sup dawg