Only five mechanics made the final round, where they had to diagnose and fix a late model GM V8 engine, which was also a little bit of a curveball, since most techs there don’t have brand new engines rolling into their shop. They were simply told there was a problem with it, they had to perform a compression test and leakdown test, and then request and install the parts needed to fix it. (Ultimately, the passenger side head gasket was split, and the driver side had a blown out lifter.) They had to get it all done in two hours, about half the book time.
It all came down to a single bolt. Another guy finished first, but forgot to put a bolt back in the high pressure fuel rail. That led to a deduction from the judges, which made Brown the winner.
“I felt bad for that guy,” he said. “The most difficult part was there were cameras in your face, a big clock, announcers, a crowd. You had to get it done fast and do it right while tuning all that out.”
Today, the big novelty check is sitting in his basement. When he gets the real thing, he plans to invest it for now.
Brown grew up in the same area where we works now. “Everyone in my family’s some kind of car nut,” he said. He got a job changing tires when he was 12. In high school, he took a shop class and taught himself how to weld. He eventually enrolled in the auto tech program at Lebanon County Career and Technology Center, and has worked in the industry since. His training has been occasionally offered through his employers, and he does a lot of his own research when a job comes up he’s not familiar with. He’s been at Cisney’s for a few years now, where he does a little bit of everything.