Advice for all you car people!

To say "There are no stupid questions" is nice and polite but come on...There really ARE stupid questions. People ask them every day. The best that one can do is to be polite and answer with as much detail and simplicity as you can muster.
At 17 years old, I thought I knew enough to replace my points in the distributor. I pulled the old ones out and put new ones in. I had no idea that they had to be set to a specific gap. I cranked and cranked on it until the battery was almost dead. Back then, hardly anyone had a battery charger. I had to call a friend to ask for help. He was amazed that I didn't know about how to set the points.