Was at the Pomona swap meet last month and this guy in his 70s was selling old shop manuals. He told me he rebuilt the TH400 in his 72 Chevelle by himself with just a creeper and a service manual from 1973. Took him three weekends and he said the hardest part was getting the snap rings back in. Made me wonder how many skills like that are just fading out as people stop working on their own stuff.
I used to think WD-40 was basically magic for everything. Stuck bolt? Spray it. Squeaky hinge? Spray it. But last month I was at Pull-A-Part in Phoenix trying to get a rusty alternator off a 2002 Civic and this retired mechanic named Hank walked by. He watched me drench everything in WD-40 for like 10 minutes before he said "son, you're just making it slippery, not breaking the rust." He pulled out a can of PB Blaster from his bag and sprayed it on, waited 5 minutes, and the bolt came loose with a normal ratchet. I still use WD-40 for cleaning and protecting stuff but now I keep a separate can of actual penetrant for rust. What do you guys use for seized bolts that actually works?