This is me in the middle of doing a timing belt replacement on an Audi A8 I used to own:
I am not a pro mechanic. It worked when I was done. I rest my case.
Posted on 11/12/2026 1:56:59 PM PST by grundle
Do you know someone who can fix anything, even when everyone else has given up? Their ability may reveal a hidden kind of intelligence that traditional IQ tests were never designed to measure.
People who are good at fixing things often think differently, notice details others miss, and find solutions where others see impossible problems. This video explains the psychology behind their remarkable problem-solving abilities.
Most people believe intelligence comes from academic achievement, high IQ scores, and being good with words or numbers. But practical intelligence involves much more than that. You'll discover how systems thinking, functional fixedness, tolerance for ambiguity, tacit knowledge, and diagnostic thinking shape the minds of natural problem solvers. We'll also look at mental simulation, spatial reasoning, locus of control, self-efficacy, and the surprising role of attention in developing exceptional practical intelligence.
If you've ever struggled with mechanical problems, felt confused when something broke, or believed you weren't naturally good at fixing things, these psychological skills may change how you see yourself. They also apply to everyday decisions, workplace challenges, creative problem-solving, and situations where you need to think differently instead of giving up.
What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever fixed, or watched someone fix, with something that definitely wasn’t made for the job? Share your experience in the comments.
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
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I watch a young man on youtube, Parker Edmonson. He fixed his model T, a vintage 1920’s stove, and an ancient washing machine. He is pretty amazing.
It’s called “growing up on a ranch”. Or “working in the oilfield when the price of oil is too low”.
I have fixed lots of stuff with wrong parts many times. Yesterday I fixed a windmill with a broken tent pole, epoxy, and some tape.
Sometimes I even make it look pretty if my wife has to see it.
I am an engineer, but my mechanical innovation skills come from necessity and making educated guesses at what stuff does.
My son has an Accounting degree and is an electrician now. He loves construction.
As a computer nerd, I can say that it’s a matter of trial and error, knowing what didn’t work, and not doing that again. I also build antique British motorcycles. The Prince of darkness makes the wiring very confusing.
A lot of firefighters I’ve worked with over the years are like this. It’s not just the extensive training they get, but experience and the knowledge that there is no one else that is going to show up to make it right and they’ll try everything until they succeed. It’s amazing to see the things they can work out and the persistence, professionalism, team work, and calmness they display while going about it.
My hubby is one of those people and he trained our sons to be the same.
I've seen prices car + repair joints want, over $80/hour! OW~!
I must have driven my parents crazy because I had a habit of taking things apart to see how they worked, then I never put them back together.
One time I took the family television apart because it was causing interference to an AM radio that I depended on. I attempted to shield some of the internal wiring with aluminum foil, and made an easily corrected mistake that rendered the set non-operational. They had to call a repair man to take care of the problem.
I'm amazed they never punished me for it, maybe my scientist dad saw in me a future engineer (which I became), and wanted to push me in that direction. For Christmas one year, instead of giving me normal kid stuff, he gave me an assortment of tools, batteries, wire, switches, and light bulbs and let me loose to play and experiment. I still have most of those tools.
Another time, my dad bought a new car. This being the late 50s, it had enormous tail fins. I looked at them and told him that they were a waste of material, pretty remarkable for 9 year old kid!
Even today, I see the results of other "fixers", some of which were disastrous. I bought an old tube amplifier at a flea market to restore, and I discovered that a "Mr. Fixit" had been into it and fixed a blown fuse by bridging it with some heavy wire. That destroyed the power transformer at many times the cost of fixing the real problem.
A veritable Crazy Train!
Great video, thanx!
I had a ‘66 VW which wouldn’t start on occasion. It turned out the ignition switch wouldn’t operate the starter. I solved the problem by installing a separate starter switch on the dashboard. It worked fine, I saw no point in going further, and it cost me nothing.
The best kind are those who can "break" things without actually breaking them. Just long enough to miss out on that important 3-hour meeting or team-building session. Sorry, Boss, our invoice tracking system is down, gonna be about a 3-hour fix.
It’s called spatial intelligence, and it differs from book learning and academic writing. Some people can just visualize mentally how mechanical objects fit together and interact.
I doubt it. They are born with that ability. So, computers have no impact on those abilities.
This is me in the middle of doing a timing belt replacement on an Audi A8 I used to own:
I am not a pro mechanic. It worked when I was done. I rest my case.
Speaking of Youtube — There are several channels of guys who take beaten, battered, rusty old items and restore them. Push mowers, fire alarms, typewriters — anything you can think of. The process is mesmerizing (no narration or music) and the results are gorgeous, right down to the fancy old-fashioned logos.
In my first house one of the pipes started to leak. It looked like the first of many problems and I realized I should replace the entire plumbing system.
This was before YouTube.
On Friday night I got on my workbench and taught myself how to sweat copper pipe. On Saturday I began by removing a section and replacing it with copper. By Sunday I was about done.
My mentality was that if it worked, I spent $200. If it didn’t work, I’d have to pay some plumber $2000.
While typing this I used a word that if foreign in most young peoples homes: Workbench.
Lucus holds the patent for the short circuit. I like the one where they made the filament in the brake/tailight the ballast resistor for the ignition. Light burns out car won’t start or run.
Changing from fuel injection to a carb is not as hard as one would think.
Most ones I have seen, it’s all in the air intake manifold so replacing that with a carb ready intake is easily done. I do not know the pressures the fuel system ran on, so potentially a different fuel pump would have been needed.
Granted I have not seen anything with mechanical fuel injection, and I am guessing at some point a vw with that same engine had a carb on it.
This is a great video about Yankee In-Jew-new-ID.
“People who are good at fixing things often think differently, notice details others miss, and find solutions where others see impossible problems.”
I know a guy like that. What’s not to love? 😉
Search Google for
תיקון גדול english
And it’ll tell you:
Big fix
Now isn’t that just what everyone’s been saying, like it’s a big problem?
“The fix is In.” 😇
ingenuity
From Latin ingenuitās. Compare genius.
The ability to solve difficult problems in original, clever, and inventive ways; ingeniousness.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ingenuity
ingenuitās f (genitive ingenuitātis); third declension
(originally) The condition of being free-born or noble
noble-mindedness, ingenuousness
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