I've always had an interest in cars since I was a kid, but never had the opertunity to let it grow, even a automotive class in high school was non-existant because it was too small, new and didn't have the facilities (until after i left)
So I jumped into it once I got my first my, my Mx-3 (yes my Mx-3 is my first car, I've had her for over 4 years now). I started out doing stuff i knew how, my CarPC. Although it wasn't totally car related, i heard about the electrical system, how the interior comes apart, feeding wires, making mounts and such.
Eventially I got the temptation to do a KLZE swap, only a year after i bought the car. So i literallly went to the bank and got a personal loan for it. I have a mechanic that was willing to do the work, his only stipulation, I do all the reasearch, get all the parts and he'll do it. So i literally spend about 3 months constantly reading FAQ's and recent swap information. By the time we started it, I had all the info of what was suppose to be done in my head. What also helpped is that I went over after work (he was going this out of his well equipped home garage so he worked on it in the evenings as well) to help him out, put into reality what I was reading. 4 days later, would of been 3 but I didn't know better and didn't order an intake and exhaust manifold gasket, my 200hp Mx-3 was complete. I still remember that feeling when he was giving it a test drive around town, i was in the passenger seat, I though to myself "man, i can't believe this is my car".
Overtime I've upgraded as things went, as well as did preventatibe maintenance (which helps reliability. I've only been towed once, and that was yesterday cause my distrubutor died while I was out 200km away camping), but made sure to upgrade (if possible) instead of just OEM replacements. But my mechanics motto; do the research (find out how to, and what could wrong), get the parts, and let him know when I'm ready. As well, I watch, ask questions, help if I can or needs it. He's been a great teacher. He also likes it too, cause it's stuff would not normally do (he's 20+yr experienced mechanic during the day), so it's fun for him, he gets to learn interesting things and upgrades, without spending the money (or rather making extra money) on a hobby car.
ALso what i learned is that not to be affraid to make mistakes. Sure, there are some things you don't want to screw up, in those cases do research and get professional help, but if you can get replacements, who cares, all it costs is money, but you learn in the end...man, my rx7-style tail light mod i did a few months ago, i had to ruin 2 pairs of stock tail lights to figure out how to remove the lenses without braking them, but also, I did the HEI mod today cause the one on my original K8 distributor died yesterday, and I fixed it all by myself, first shot
It's an expensive hobby, trust me, but if your willing to learn, hands on work with a personal passion is the best way. Although going to school helps, you don't need to go to an automotive course. I went to college for the computer technician program, but about 40% of it was electronics and electrical courses, which some of my computer-originted friend disliked since they would technically be useless in our field, it has helped me for my personal hobbie and actually is that got my job of installing electronics into cops cars and such that I started about 3 months ago. You know what I did before that, a desk job at Microsoft doing tech support. Although some people question the insame amout of money i've put into a car I've paid $4000 for, the knowledge and experience is invaluable and i can carry on with me on any project to any vehicle. And i get something out of it, instead of spending 20k on school for a piece of paper, i spend 20k on a car I can drive and enjoy
