Why a diesel
Working on a compression-ignition engine forced me to understand airflow and pressure differently than a spark-ignition engine does. Timing, charge density, and the relationship between boost and combustion all behave on their own terms here, and the intuition does not carry over cleanly from a gasoline motor.
Suspension
The full overhaul was the most instructive part. Replacing the springs and moving from fluid-filled to gas shocks made a difference I could feel and then reason about afterward — spring constants and damping are textbook quantities right up until you have changed both on the same car and driven it.
Controls
ECU programming on this platform is where the software side of my interest started. Reading what the controller was actually doing, rather than guessing from symptoms, is the same approach I now apply deliberately on the Silverado.
