Fiona's Letters TAFE Motor Mechanic Training Course for Girls Week Five Hi Everyone, Another same-old week for most of you - another week of adventure and learning for me. (Just thought I'd rub that in a little). This week we did have NRMA come along to officially 'launch' this semester's class and welcome us all. Representatives from their Jump-start program - who are the ones sponsoring the course - and PR department were present as were TAFE officials. Our course co-ordinators were VERY nervous - naturally, the class was relaxed and charming in the regulation blue overalls and black steel-capped boots. Our course supervisor, Ann, tried to break the ice by announcing to the room her diaphragm was split - the reaction was mixed with most of the class trying to either not laugh or be sympathetic. She did explain further that it was in her car's carburettor....... A couple of reporters from the local Blacktown paper were also there to take some pictures and ask a few questions on the day. Copies of the edition featuring us will be forwarded soon, we are told. Again, it was unfortunate that there were only 6 of us to represent the class originally signed, hence the anxious course co-ordinators who were hoping to make a big impression on the corporate sponsors. I suggested that we dress up one of our teachers, Peter, as one of the class as he is about the right height but he thought, perhaps, his nuggety frame and deeper voice might give him away. No sense of adventure.............. As promised, we did get to pull engines apart again. It would have been easier to reassemble them straight away but we didn't until after lunch so that made things a little harder to remember - there were a few times when my buddy and I were trying to put things on backwards but we figured it out and got there in the end. More work was also done revising carburettors before getting onto fuel injection for diesel and petrol motors. We spent quite a bit of time identifying different parts of the fuel system on various engines and we did manage to remember some of it, I'm sure :) We received good news on Friday - we were granted extra money so we can do the electrical module and be able to seek out work experience in the next week or two. The electrical module we got started onto straight away, the work experience is yet to come. I am still amazed at the 'tribal' aspect of the motoring planet. Naturally, desk graffiti is largely divided between GMH and Ford with a little of the Subaru's and the occasional Mazda logo thrown in. Volkswagen doesn't seem to rate highly here nor does Volvo. Hmm, strange, that. I'm sure the Byron Bay hippies would riot if they found out! These two brands of car would be dead in the water without the unerring support of the dread-locked and vegetarian alike. It's always struck me as funny that a group of people so dedicated to saving the environment would: #1 be seen dead in a car at all. #2 be driving one of the most polluting rust-buckets known to mankind. But I digress........... Perhaps I should start planting "VW's rule" and "Volvo's do it for me" graffiti on the desks just to see the response. As long as they don't track it to me, I should be safe :) Just for you, Dad, I'll even throw in a "Mini Cooper S forever" for good measure. I forgot to mention the other week that two of the girls copped quite a zapping from the ignition system. We were testing the firing order on an old inline 6 motor and during the hour one girl had her hand too close to a spark-plug lead and the other held the ignition lead out of the way so she could see better. Needless to say, they both leapt and yelped tremendously and will be more careful next time. Here's hoping they don't try to test a battery with their tongues :) Until next week - have fun! Cheers, Fi xx ;) Go to first page - Index - Next page

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