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The 2001 LTS Ignition Workshop.
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“I had a shocking experience in Lindernapolis”
was the theme of our weekend ignition
workshop that was held on March 10 & 11. The workshop was a huge
success with over 205 technicians attending from 25 different states
and Canada! Technicians came from California to Delaware and from
Florida to Canada!
Classes were held at Lincoln
Technical Institute near downtown Indianapolis. Saturday morning
began with a brief introduction from Jim Linder which then rolled
into a 1-hour class on “The Standard”. “The Standard” is Jim’s
proposed way of viewing ignition current ramps in four distinct ways
and was the focus of our December
2000 newsletter. Jim then introduced Mike Dale of Visteon
Corp. who did a great class on ignition coils. From an engineer’s
point of view, he explained how ignition coils are constructed and
how they work. Lunch was next on the agenda. We served over 200 box
lunches with a sandwich, two cookies, cheese cubes or fruit, a small
container of potato salad and a small container of baked beans. The
group also consumed almost 40 two-liters of soft drinks! After
lunch, Jim Linder did a brief class on inductors. He was followed by
the shocking one himself, Mac VandenBrink who led a class on
secondary diagnosis with a current probe. Clean up hitter for the
day was Jim Garrido from Saturn of Winston-Salem, NC. He did an
excellent job explaining the new Saturn compression sense ignition
systems to the group. His knowledge as a technician made him very
popular during breaks. It seemed that someone was always “picking
his brain” during every free moment!
Saturday night was the cookout at our shop on
Gasoline Alley. Ever wonder how much it takes to feed over 200
people? Here’s a start: 250 Ribeye steaks, 125 Brats, 25 lbs.
Shrimp, 12 Gallons of Beans (specially made by Patty Green, click
here for recipe), 270 Assorted cookies and a lot of ice! The
festivities wound down around 10pm and the last person was out by
11pm. All in all, a very well-behaved group!
Sunday morning was once again started with Jim
Linder and an overview of the GM Cassette Ignition System. John
Thornton was the final speaker for the weekend and brought the house
down with his presentation on diagnosing cars with primary current
waveforms.
We owe many thanks to the staff at Lincoln
Technical Institute who offered their facility to us and set up
a classroom for 200 people complete with two projectors, two giant
screens and two TV’s. They were on hand all weekend to make sure
things were going smoothly and to help us with anything we needed.
We also owe a big thank you to the MANY extra helpers that pitched
in during the weekend. Several wives and girlfriends of the
attendees were always willing to do whatever was needed to help
things run smoothly. Also, thanks to several of the technicians who
pitched in during various times to help set up, un-load trucks, etc.
Click here for
pictures from the weekend.
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