New to the whole course

Hey everyone. Im EastPhilly.
Im new to just about everything about cars, parts, racing, etc. but I want to learn a lot and really get into it.

I was wondering if anyone that would like to help could show me some links of important specs, words, meaning, and generalities of what I should know before even asking a question with the expectation of understanding a good answer.

Thanks to all who can help. Glad to be here.  

Bump  

Dude, whats up? I'm new to everything too so i can't really help you with anything lol  

Thats cool. I was kind of hoping to get a nice response to this but we can share the thread.  

what do you need help with?? are you planning on buying a car? tuning a car? inlinefour.com is a good site for parts (if you got a honda.) streetfire.net has cool videos. greddy, hks, koni, brembo, are brands i choose usally.type those into google and go to there sites and they'll have info on there parts what they do and how it works.  

I agree with TH. The net is full of info and stuff to learn by. Coming here is not the only place to get info, though it is more fun.  
How you drive is your buisness. Remember that you're not the only one on the road!

Hey.
I want to know everything. Haha. But that doesnt help does it?

Well here my background info:
Im turning 20 tomorrow and going for my liscense test.
I have only been driving for about a month but I feel confident in my driving and decisions. But I really want to know how to mod cars, how to tune, how I should go about learning these skills, where I should go, what are good ideas for a first car and what I should look for in sed car.

I like the idea of drag racing, though I dont believe Id ever do it for money, just to try. There is a junior racing school near my home which I will look for info on to see what they do.

Other than that I just want to learn.

edit: And I like American muscle style cars.  

well for sure take a mechanics class or two very helpful youll learn everything you need to know about cars. drag raceing is pretty fun but the time attacks is were its at lol  

You ain't kidding, TH. Time Attack is way more fun and takes a lot of skill. It's like Formula 1, but slower. You know?
As for you EastPhilly, no one can know every thing, but it will be lots of fun trying. Do the tech schools, like Wyotech and schools like that. Getting to know your car with a repair manual in hand helps a lot, too. I have a very, very small library that covers my 04 Sienna, my 97 Rav4 and my 1987 200sx. My goal is to have a large library of books for every car known. I know, it's wishing for a lot. Gotta' have dreams, though! LOL!  
How you drive is your buisness. Remember that you're not the only one on the road!

I wish I could take mechanic courses but right now Im in an EMT certification course for the summer and in school for Physician Assistant studies. I have no money and no time for mechanic courses (or a car/insurance/maintenance/gas.

Ugh. I guess I have to wait till after graduate school to really try anything, but Id just like good reading material to get a heads up and maybe work on my roommates car with him.  

I was in your situation before I did a motor swap on my GTE Turbo IS300...  The best words of wisdom I can give you is to research research research.  Wikipedia is good for a lot of meanings on what does what...  of course as mentioned above mechanics class...but I didn't go through that process

I learned by doing everything on my own...using the internet and researching as much as possible... The best way to learn is to learn from hands on practice..

Start on your car or buy an older car and tear it apart and research on what can be done.  Patience is the key with everything!!!  Research is the knowledge and wisdom of everything!!  =)  

Good luck man and I hope I helped a little bit.  

That's how I started, too, but you can only go so far unless you have some one to give you the "what you can and can't do" of the trade. I would stick with what you're doing for now and and when you have time get into it ty it. Money is tight for every one now and you going to school and learning your trade is better than messing up your hands and making less than what you're going to make in medicine. Being a mechanic/tech requires a massive amount of time with a wrench in hand and though working on and knowing your car is good, once you get yours, it will not be enough to know all the idiosyncratic stuff that is required to do a good reliable job on a car. I've been turning wrenches for a good 20+ years and there is still new stuff coming out in the industry. Medicine only gets better as the auto industry gets more complicated. I'm not trying to discourage you. Learn as mouch as you can about the car you want so that when you are ready to get it you have a leg up on being able to fix it. Take it slow and work on your current studies, though. That's more important than being a grease monkey. LOL! No offense, guys. LOL!  
How you drive is your buisness. Remember that you're not the only one on the road!