Special Thanks

So, now that I'm done with everything, except the product presentation, I'd like to give a special thanks to my close friend, Yareli Castro because with out her my senior presentation wouldn't be possible. The reason I say this is because I was in jeopardy of getting kicked out of iPoly because I didn't have mentorship or a mentor. She talked to her uncle and hooked me up with a mentor and mentorship. So thank you Yareli. I owe you a lot. 

I'm done!

So, today I had my 2 hour presentation and successfully met speaking time and overall presentation time. I guess I'm graduating now! 

Senior project reflection

1) I'm most proud of my activity 1 because it was teaching the people in my presentation how to properly do an oil change by finding the filter and the oil needed for their car using a makeshift oil pan that I made. 

2a) P

2b) P

3) My mentorship worked for me the most. 

4) I would go back and change the date that I started my mentorship. I would have asked my friends if they knew anyone that I could do mentorship with because Yareli was actually the one the got me my mentorship. 

5) My senior project has mostly helped me with understanding cars, how they work and how to fix them. I learned all of this through my mentorship because I actually got to work on cars and gain first hand knowledge and experience about how to repair cars, which will devotedly come in hand in the future in case I decide to go into auto mechanics as a a career or just decide that I want to work on my car. 

Ceramic Engines?

So, apparently they're thinking of making engines out of ceramic now because they would be able to operate at higher temperatures which would lead to better efficiency, less pollutants, and better fuel economy. The only problem is that the sensors integrated into the engine wouldn't be able to withstand such high temperatures of heat, so scientists are figuring out a way to make it so that the sensors can withstand that type of heat. You can read more about it here.

Blog 25: Mentorship

Literal:

Click here to view my log of up to date mentorship hours.

Mentorship: 

Daniel's Auto Center

Jorge Ramos

(626) 814-4694

Interpretive:

I would have to say that the most important thing that I gained from my experience at my mentorship would have to the all the knowledge that I gained from the hands-on learning that I did at the shop. The reason for this is that, not only did I learn a lot, but I also got to put all that I learned to the test. I learned a lot at the shop that I could have learned from articles or books on automotive mechanics, but I learned it a lot faster by actually doing what I taught. I think this is important because all the knowledge that I gained from my mentorship is something that I will carry with me my whole life and that will help me throughout my whole life and even more if I choose to go into auto-mechanics for a living. 

Applied: 

Everything that I did at the shop helped me answer my EQ because everything that I was learning was auto-mechanics and I was learning about all the important parts of a car and what a car can't and can go without. I found two of my answers from paying attention to what customers brought their cars in for and learned what parts give people the most problems and which of those problems can become deadly for the car's mechanical life. The other answer, I got from my mentor from what he told me about engine oil, which was also at the shop. 

Blog 24: Exit Interview Questions

1) What is your essential question? What is your best answer to your essential question and why?

- My essential question is, what is the most important factor in extending the mechanical life of an automobile? My best answer to my essential question is regular oil changes because, as my mentor, Jorge Ramos, said: "Engine oil is like the blood of a car." Engine is what keeps your car running. You can have a prefect engine, a full tank of gas and any additional parts you want to increase horse power, increase efficiency, etc. but without oil your car won't run. Engine oil keeps all of the metal parts in your car lubricated so that your engine doesn't blow up from the friction cause by the parts. This is why, when compared to my other two answers, engine oil comes out on top. You can keep your car in almost perfect condition by replacing parts at certain miles and always making sure that your sensors are working but without properly maintained engine oil, your car's engine will be at risk. 

2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer? 

- The process to arrive at this answer wasn't very long, it was the process to arrive to the conclusion that regular oil changes was the most important factor in extending the mechanical life of a car, that was long. To find this answer, I simply asked my mentor what he thought was most important in a car. He said the fluids of the car were most important but he didn't specify what fluids. I later dug deeper into my research and paid more attention at the cars that customers brought into a shop to see what caused people the most problems when it came to their cars. I found that faulty sensors caused a lot of problems as well as parts that need to be replaced every so often miles. These two became my other two answers for my EQ. I then took these three answers and weighed them out and started looking at what the consequences of each were and came to the conclusion that you can change mile marker, or milestone, parts as often as you want and you can have your sensors in tip top shape all the time but if you don't keep your engine oil clean and healthy, your car will not last you and new sensors and mile marker parts will have been for nothing. 

3) What problems did you face? How did you resolve them? 

- Throughout the year, I only faced two problems. The first was that when I first started researching for my senior project, I started off with articles that were really technical and had a lot of words that I didn't know, which led to me misunderstanding what I was learning. I resolved this by toning down the academic level of my research. The second was that I couldn't find a mentor. I found a lot of shops that were willing to help me but one of three problems always occurred. One, the shop didn't have enough room for since I wasn't an actual mechanic and would  be taking up too much space in such a crowded work area. Two, I had to take and complete an automotive class before the shop let me work with them to avoid probable and fatal mistakes that I could've made on the customers' cars. Three, liability issues with the insurance of the shop. One of these three was always a problem with the shops that I tried to get mentorship with. I actually didn't resolve this, I got this resolved for me by my friend, Yareli. She asked her dad if I could work with him and he said no, but her dad asked her uncle if I could work with them and he gladly said yes. That resolved my whole issue.  After that, I didn't have any problems because any questions that I had, my mentor answered. Even now, whenever I find that I have questions about an article that is a bit too technical for me, I ask my mentor to dumb it down for me and he does. 

4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why? 

- My two most significant sources were the Engine Bible on carbibles.com and my mentor, Jorge Ramos. The Engine Bible is what the name of it states; it's everything and anything you need to know about how an engine works, the different types of engines, possible problems with engines, how to take care of an engine and informative videos about engines. My mentor was a big help because when ever I had a question about something I didn't understand on carbibles.com or any other article, he'd dumb it down for me as much as possible. He also spent a lot of time with me working on cars and walking me step by step on how to do a job such as changing the transmission fluid or engine oil of a car, replacing the oxygen sensor of a car or changing the timing belt of a car. These jobs helped me figure out what a car couldn't function without and he helped me understand how important engine oil was In a car. So, I guess you could say my two most important sources worked in unison: one gave me written information and the other clarified any information I didn't fully understand. 

5) What is your product and why? 

- My final product is that I acquired the ability to be able to work on my car and the cars of my family members at home. I acquired this ability through the information I learned from articles and the hands on learning I got at my mentorship. Without my research and my mentorship, I could not have learned any of this without taking an automotive class in college. 

Blog 23: 2014 Interview

1) Susie Davidson (East House)

2) I don't know but I really like horses so I was thinking if I could so something with that.

3) There's a stable by my house where I take my horses that would probably let me take them there. 

4) I see that a lot of people are working really hard and I hope to see some really informative presentations.

5) No

Blog 21: Independent component 2

Literal

A) I, Omar Rodriguez, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work. 

B) The sources that helped me complete my second independent component were my mentors, Jorge Ramos, Carlos Ortega and Victor Mendoza. 

C) This is a log of my hours. Hours Log

D) For my independent component 2, I continued my hands on learning at Daniel's Auto Center in La Puente with my mentor, Jorge Ramos. Because I was doing more hours of service learning, I got to get more experience in the field of auto mechanics which helped me in finding my second and third answers to my EQ. 

Interpretive 

During my second independent component, I learned a lot more than I would have through any research article or any amount of research. The reason for this was because I was getting hands on learning with 3 automotive mechanics who always showed me how to complete a job step-by-step. Not only did they show me step-by-step instructions on how to do things, but also gave me an explanation of why certain things were done in a certain order and how to do them. For example, Carlos - one of my mentors - and I were working on the torque tables of a 1991 Chevy S10 Blazer which required a lot of work such as removing the entire intake manifold, the thermostat, and the rocker arms. At the end of this job, we had to put everything back on which required the cylinder head bolts to be torqued to specifications. I didn't know what it meant to torque a cylinder head bolt or even that when you do, you have to torque the bolts in a specific order. Carlos explained to me that you have to torque the cylinder head bolts in order because each bolt has a certain amount of torque to be applied on it that can only be achieved if the previous bolt is torqued properly and if you don't, one bolt will have more or less weight on them than required which will also cause the cylinder head gasket to not seal properly. This is only one example of how my mentors helped me. My mentor, Jorge Ramos, also taught me something really important when we changed the the switch for the headlights of a car (I never could remember the proper name for it) next to the steering wheel. Because we had to remove the steering wheel of the car, we had to remove the airbag in the steering wheel. It was at this time that he taught me that all yellow wires in a car are very vital because when they're covered in a yellow plastic, it means that they are connected to the air bag system. 

Here's the yellow wire I was talking about. That's also where the steering wheel is supposed to be.

And here's the steering wheel without the airbag. 

These top two pictures are from that same job. It's a picture of all the wiring under the steering wheel. On the bottom picture you can see the switch hanging off. 

This is the camshaft pulley of a 2001 Chrysler Pacifica. 

And now this picture. This is from one of the most time consuming jobs we've ever had. This is from when we had to replace the heater core of 2001 Ford Expedition. 

This independent post also contains some pictures of my independent component. 

Applied

This component helped me come up with my answers because of all of the time I spent doing hands on work. It helped me understand what's really important in a car, what keeps it running and my mentors helped me come up with ways to word my answers and explain them. 

The Mayor didn't want to work with us...

Today I went back to the shop for a couple hours to kill some time and I found out the mayor didn't want us to fix his car because it was too expensive and he didn't think the car was worth it. I agree with him, though. His Lexus was in really bad condition and needed a lot of work done. The downside of this is that we won't be working on the mayor's car but the upside of this is that my mentor and I won't have to fix the cylinder heads, which means we won't have to work on the car for 20 hours! Whoo!

Kügel Motor Video

So I found this really cool video explaining how the Spherical engine mentioned in my last post works. It goes step by step on how it works and give details of what is really going on in the engine.

Kugel is German for "ball"

So, I found this really cool engine 2 weeks ago. I read about it in a couple of articles (that I couldn't count as an article for RC because they weren't over 750 words) and I found it really interesting. I'm still a little confused on the whole mechanics of it all but I'm going to start searching up more articles about it and get a better understanding. So, the engine was designed by Dr. H üttlin and his team and was displayed at the Geneva Motor Show in 2011. He named it the kugelmotor because kugel is German for ball and the engine itself if a spherical engine. My understanding of it, so far, is that the engine's spherical design gives you the milage of a hybrid engine and runs on almost any fuel. Like I said, I still don't fully understand the mechanics of it. I just thought it was a really cool concept for an engine.

Here are a variety of pictures of the Hüttlin Spherical Engine 

Its not everyday you get to work with the mayor!

So, I pretty important person came into the shop last Saturday. Mayor of Baldwin Park Mr. Manuel Lozano. We're not actually working with him, but we are working on his car. His car is a 1994 Lexus LS400 and it's in pretty bad shape because, according to him, it's been sitting in his garage for about a year. So far, it needs a new timing belt, a new battery, and work has to be done on the cylinder heads which sucks because the amount of work for the cylinder heads is at least 20 hours worth of work.

Well, here are some pictures of Mr. Mayor's car

This is his car's engine

And this is his car on the lift.

And again. 

And again. 

Blog 20: Three Column Chart First Draft

Three Column Chart

Blog 19: Senior Project and ESLRs

1) I think I've excelled most in being an Effective Learner

2) I think I have excelled in this ESLR because I have actually assumed responsibility for my own learning by going to my mentorship and learning as much as I can about mechanics by doing a lot of hands on work on customers' cars and my own car.

3) To check for evidence call 626)814-4694 which is the number to the shop where I do mentorship. Ask for Daniel.

Blog 18: 2-Hour Meeting Answer #3

1) What is the most important factor in maintaining the efficiency of an automobile?

2) My third answer is, you have to know your vehicle.

3) It's one thing to know how your car works. It's a completely different thing to know your car.
Fact: You don't have to be a mechanic to know your car.
Ex: Know what noises your car usually makes, if any, and what noises seem unusual.

4) My mentor and certified mechanic, Jorge Ramos.

5) What I want to do next is get in the car of every customer and listen to what noises the car is making before we fix them and what noises the car makes after we fix them. I want to do this and then ask the customer about it to see if they know their car and if they don't, I want to ask how often their car breaks down. The reason for this is to justify my answer even more.

Blog 17: 4th Interview Questions

1) What is the most important factor in extending the mechanical life of an automobile?
2) What is the worst thing that can happen if you don't change your engine oil when you should?
3) How do automatic and manual transmission oils differ?
4) What is the most difficult part of an engine to take apart? Why?
5) What is the worst that can happen if you don't tighten the cylinder head bolts in the engine, in the order that they're supposed to be?
6) What is the primary function of the racket arms?
7) What effects can a gas leak have on a car?
8) What is the best way to tell if you car has a gas leak without going to the mechanic?
9) What would you say is the most important part of the exhaust emissions system?
10) What effects does a faulty catalytic converter have on a car?
11) What would you say is more important in a car, the shocks or the struts? Why?
12) Do you think that a car will have more resistance when it's shocks and struts are wet or not? Why?
13) What are some reasons that the oxygen sensor is not working properly?
14) Can a car function properly without the body idol? Why?
15) What would you say is the most important sensor in a car?
16) If the OBDII sensor in a car doesn't work, what is the first thing that you should do to figure out what the problem of the car is?
17) What are some of the main reasons a car's check engine light would go off?
18) What is the worst thing that can happen if you use a higher than required octane for your car?
19) Is it bad if a car's manifold vacuum reads higher than the recommended 18-20 in-Hg?
20) Do you prefer to have a longer mechanical life for your car or better efficiency? Why?

It's Only 11:30

So, we had a really funny experience today. The story goes like this: I get to the shop and help Carlos and Victor open up because Jorge was home sick. We have a cup of coffee and a sweet bread for a light breakfast, then get to work. Somewhere throughout the day, Carlos asks Victor if he's hungry and wants lunch. Victor looks up at the clock hanging on the wall and says, "It's only 11:30, wait for it it to be later." So we keep working. Some time goes by and Carlos tells Victor, "I'm really hungry, should we get lunch?" and Victor looks up at the clock again and responds, "It's only 11:30, can't you wait?" So we get to work again and a couple hours go by until Carlos tells Victor that we should get lunch. Victor looks up at the clock again and realizes that it's still 11:30 then Carlos checks his phone and it turns out that it was actually about to be 2:30, one hour from closing. Apparently the clock had run out of batteries and had gotten stuck on 11:30. Poor Carlos, no wonder he was hungry.

Blog 16: 2 Hour meeting Answer #2

1) What is the most important factor in maintaing the efficiency of an automobile?

2) I actually still don't know what my second answer will be because I have my interview 3 with my mechanic on 2/7/13 and plan on getting my second answer from that interview. But, if worst comes to worst, then my second answer will be, always making sure that your tires are good because a lot of people overlook the tires of a car and don't realize how important it is to have your tires - and everything involved with your tires - in good condition.

3) Three details to justify or support my second answer are:

• if your tires aren't at the required PSI, your car could be using more force than needed, which leads to using up more gas.
• if there are any lumps in your tires or your tires are really worn out, you could have a possible blow out or your car's tires may not be rotating as they should
• not only do your tires have to be good but the alignment of your tires have to good too or your car will not run as well as it should

4) Auto Repair for Dummies

5) I plan to continue the study of my answer 2 by checking the tires of all the cars that come into the shop and comparing them all with one another and seeing what difference it really makes to have good or bad tires.

Blog 15: Independent Component 2 Approval

1) I was thinking of just doing 30 more hours of internship at the mechanic shop. 
2) This will meet 30 hours of work because I will be doing 4 hours on Monday,Wednesday, and Friday and 8 on Sautday, just like I'm doing now. 
3) My independent component relates to my EQ because it's auto mechanics and there's no better way to find an answer #2 than to work hands on with what you're trying to figure out. 

Blog 14: Independent Component 1

The restoration of my car.

Literal:

A) I, Omar Rodriguez, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.

B) Sclar, Deanna. "Auto Repair for Dummies." Auto Repair for Dummies. Foster City, CA: IDG Worldwide, 1999. Print.

C) It's the link above this.

D) My parents bought me a car on the condition that they got to choose the car and that I would do any work that had to be done to it, myself. So, they came home one day with a 1996 Honda Accord LX that didn't run at all. It didn't even have an engine. So, I took that car and got it to run. Now, I take it everywhere.

Interpretive:

My component demonstrates 30 hours of work because it was the complete restoration of the engine of a car. Not just the engine, though, but also the installation of the master cylinder, the timing belt, the hoses, the radiator, and oil filter. If anyone has ever tried to do any work on a car that requires you to work with the engine, then you know its very time consuming. My evidence is the pictures my cousin took of me working on my car.

The first thing I changed were the brakes, because they were the easiest thing to change. Here are the old brake pads. As you can see, they're really old.

These are pictures of the motor mount the engine we found in the junkyard had. 

This is the motor mount that I put in as a replacement. 

This is the really busted tensioner for the timing belt. 

Here's the replacement tensioner installed. 

This is a picture of one of the most important parts of the car - the fuel pump. This is the old fuel pump. 

This is the fuel tank without the fuel pump. 

This is me working under the car. If I remember correctly, I was changing the fuel pump pressure sensor. 

Here, I'm working on the EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) valve. 

Here is the old EGR valve that I finally managed to take out after about an hour's struggle. 

Here is the old crank sensor of my car. This little part caused me SO much trouble to take out. 

Here, I'm working on taking out the oxygen sensor that's part of the exhaust emission system. As you can see, the tip of it is really old and rusty. 

Here is the old and rusty oxygen sensor in full view. 

Here is the replaced oxygen sensor. If you look at the tip, you can tell that this one is actually in good condition. 

Here, I took out the track rod of the car. It was a pretty big achievement. I had been struggling to take it out for maybe about an hour and a half. 

This is the newly installed track rod. 

And all of the above are all the pictures I was finally able to get from my cousin's phone. 

Applied:

My topic is auto mechanics and the restoration of my car was nothing but. I don't see how I could explain it even more.

Mentorship Should Be Fun...

So, today was my first weekend of mentorship and I really learned a lot and got to spend a lot of time getting to know my three mentors. One thing I'm sure to never forget is this. My mentor and I were doing an oil change for a car and, in a really serious voice, my mentor tells me, "It can get dangerous working with cars, so incase you ever need it, the fire extinguisher is right over there." and points to this. I look over and all three of my mentors bust out laughing. These guys think they're funny, so it should be a good year. (It turns out they actually have a fire extinguisher at every door, so there's five in total.)

Finally Got Mentorship!

So, after going almost a full semester without a place to do mentorship, I finally found a place that was willing to take me and it was all thanks to my good friend, Yareli Castro. Check out her blog here! My mentor's name is Jorge Ramos. He is the owner of Daniel's Auto Center in La Puente. I also met Victor Mendoza and Carlos Ortega, who were also willing to be my mentors and help me with anything I needed. They seem really outgoing and funny as well welcoming. I think I might have fun this semester.

Blog 13: Rough Draft of 30 Minute Presentation

Rough Draft

Blog 12: Third Interview Questions

1) What is the most important factor in maintaining a classic muscle car?

2) What is the most important part of an engine?

3) What is the most crucial part of a car that needs to maintain in good condition on the outer part of a car?

4) What do you think is the biggest difference between the maintenance of a classic muscle car's engine and a modern muscle car's engine?

5) If you were a muscle car owner, would you want to keep the car looking good or working well? Why?

6) When you see a muscle car, what is the first thing that you note about it?

7) How do you feel about restoring a classic muscle car? (is it worth it, do you think it's pointless, etc.)

8) In general, what do you think is most difficult about being a mechanic? 

9) What do you feel is the most difficult part in restoring a classic muscle car? 

10) If you had a classic muscle car that needed restoration, would you restore it? 

Blog 11: Mentorship 10 Hour check

I still haven't been able to find a mentor because everywhere I go, they tell me that I'm not covered by the insurance, I have to take a class and complete it before I start working with them or they don't have any room for me. I have an uncle in East LA that can help me out because he owns a mechanic shop, but that's my last option.