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#61
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I had moved to Missouri and again got to know a lot of the car club people and auto tinkerers when a fellow that at the time worked for me kept telling me about this old 55 chevy sitting in the woods that was for sale for 400.00. But when he was describing it he would always say it had louvers in the fenders and hood. So for a couple weeks I blew him off thinking he had found one of the old Buicks during the years they were putting holes and other ornaments in their fenders. Anyhow one saturday I`m getting gas at the local station when I bump into my employee, he says the gal that owns the chevy has dropped the price to 300 bucks. I had nothing to do so I ask if he had time to take me to this car that he thought was a 55 chevy and he says yes. As we arrive at this older house trailer way out in the woods, I see the tail of a bonified 55 chevy sticking out of the tree line which was at least 100 ft behind their trailer. I ask the gal if that was the car for sale she says yup 400 bucks. I said well I only brought 300 with me because I heard you had dropped the price. She says well if you take it today I`ll take the 300 for it. So I go look at it. It was a 55 chevy 2 dr hdt. Some one had louverd the hood heavily, but there were no louvers on the fenders as my employee had described. I don`t know where he got that from. Any how every thing was there except for the engine and front seat. Some one had put buckets in it at one time then took them back out. The car had a great body on it and a fair interior. No front bumper. The original 3 speed with a floor shifter was in the trunk. Yes, I scarfed it up and removed it that afternoon.
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#62
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But turned out the power valve was blown in the Holley carb so it wasn't drivable. Likely this is why the goof ball was messing with the distributor, thought he had a timing problem. Told my bro to purchase a carb for it and he would be driving it! Well, buying the car tapped him out, a replacement carb was at least $100. The car sat for months just needing a carb. My brother got tired of it and put an ad in the paper to try to get his money back out. A guy showed up with $600 in hand, and a carb in the other. Bolted the carb on and drove away laughing his arse off. That was about 1986, to this day I still kid my little bro about that sweet Charger he let go over a carb problem. |
#63
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Is this one new to anyone. I just Got My first restoration project. A 1970 Challenger R/T Clone W/ 440 6 pack auto. It Was originally a 340 car. The person I bought it from said he already upgraded to the big block suspension. as I was looking at the rear springs on the car I have to believe him mainly because the springs with the extra leaf are on the drivers side of the car. yay more work for me.
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#64
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I have seen more stories than I can mention............
Sometimes it is out of neccesity and sometimes it is from stupidity. I have seen brake lines mashed flat because the wheel cyc. was leaking. I have seen cornmeal in radiators to stop leaks. I have seen transmissions full of motor oil. My uncle once years ago had a 53 Sedan Deleiver Chevy that had a GMC truck motor in it. Wouldn't hook up so they put a log chain from the back of the head to the firewall.
Among the worse wasn't a mechanic but the factory. Worked as a mechanic in Detroit in 73. A retired teacher came in with his 6 cyc 3 speed Firebird that he had traded a Bonnivile for. He had been there several times complaining how rough the ride was. Everyone thought he was a fool for thinking the Firebird would ride like a Bonniville. Finally they told me to check it out. Pulled it into the stall and jacked it up. The second the car moved on the jack, the wheels moved too. Got to looking and the front springs still had the clamps on them that held the springs together while being installed. Solid front suspension. Could have been an accident but you have to wonder. |
#65
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how about this
My current "project" is a 1972 Duster 340 that a buddy found for me. It still had the original 340 but was missing a lot of stuff. The guy who owned it had a 20 footer paint job on it and it ran but that was about it. The car had no lights, exhaust, or anything else that worked. The car has 59000 miles according to the title, but the car was beat and neglected and missing a whole lot of little stuff. The wheel wells were good and there was evidence that there was some shoddy bodywork on it although it seemed basically solid. I still had a funny feeling about the car but I bought it anyway as my buddy talked me into it and the car was gonna be a gift to me.
I get the car home and over the next few years begin to work on it. I am no mechanic but I was a very good body guy even though I had been out of it for a long time. I get the wiring sorted out first but it was cobbled up under the dash. The story goes that the gage cluster was stolen presumably because of the low mileage on the odometer, and a "suitable" replacement '73 harness was in place of the original. Then was the time I got some money put into a custom exhaust as no replacement was available. I had the driver's side head pipe and two mufflers and new resonator tips. Ohhhhh they built me a dandy one at that!!! Couldn't make a proper bend for the passenger head pipe so they cut out little wedges made the bend and then welded it back up. The jerk even welded on my new chrome tips (they cost $87.50 each!!). The console shifter was bad to the point where it was hard to select a gear. I took the console out to see why. The shifter had a washer welded to where the pin goes through to make the handle pivot from front to back. A bolt went through where that was connected. they also had ground where the shifter ball was as the detente cable was not disengaging correctly so that it would push down more on the cable to fix that. Replaced the entire shifter to fix that. I had also lost oil to my lifters which was discovered when I was showing off my handiwork to someone who came to town to visit. After I got that fixed (paper from the old oil filter had disintegrated from it being on the car too long and it had clogged up the oil pickup screen) and fixed an exhaust leak, I heard a knocking from down low. I was sick as I thought for sure that a rod was knocking. Turned out that it was a loose converter. Problem was that not only was it loose, one of the flex plate's ears was broken off and the converter hand a stripped out bold hole where that ear was supposed to be bolted up to. Pulled the tyranny and got the converter hole helicoiled. The above mentioned exhaust leak was from the smog heads that the guy had put on the car. I only found this out when I found a correct drivers side exhaust manifold that I needed before I could get the exhaust done. Did I forget the 6 cyl radiator.... the.......... The list goes on and on. |
#66
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Well here goes, in 1981 the fire dept. I belong to sold it's first Engine, a 1947 Mack. It was the first fire truck that rode own, as an 6 yr old little boy. I join in 1987 at 18. Ever since I've heard stories about the old Mack and what it could do. It had 21k orginal miles on it. After 15 years of hearing stories about a group of sought out to find it. We did about 100 miles away. I was in the grocery store when my brother called and said they have it, I started to leave the cart with the groceries in it but he told that they would wait. Not knowing that they wanted to suprise the chief I gave him a call to tell him.The first thing I told him was he needed to sit down and listen, I preceeded to tell him what I knew and the kicker was the price, I told him that I didn't think we could afford it, lol, he ask how much, I told him $ 600.00 he told me to go get the ^#^$# thing now. WE took off and found it sitting in a pasture with weeds growing through it, stripped of all it's fire equipment.
Luckly they placed all the equipment under a barn. After twenty odd years there she sat with our name still on the door, 7 owners later. The owner a fireman himself bought it to make a hayride truck but could not get it running. In twenty years it had never been retitled and had only had a few hundred miles put on it odometer read 21073. this truck had a 510 cid thermodine straight 6 with duel distributors and duel plugs per cly. Now the body had some surface rust but otherwise in real good shape. WE managed to scrape up the 600 bucks and pay for it, then loaded it up and headed home. It took about two hours of work new plugs and wires sanding the points changing the oil and other fluids. The only problem we had was the fuel tank was rusted out so we need to rig up a fuel supply for it. In about 10 mins and a few fittings a 1gal jug we were set with a line running straight to the Zennith updraft carb. the engine turned over three times then busted off and ran. Now the exhaust manifold had a hole in it about the size of a snuff can 4inches from the carb and every now and then would pop out a flame of fire. Thats when I heard the Chief yell shut it down, so we did just to find out that all he wanted was to get all the tools off it, refill the jug and off we went around the station to the fire hydrant. He wanted to find out it would still pump, you guessed it , at a 150 psi it blew the broom stick out that was plugging a hole for the booster line. It shot that thing across the parking lot over the trunk of Highway Patrol car that parked to do some paper work. We unhooked from the hydrant refilled the jugg and loaded up for a "road trip" yes we did. Now the brakes didn't work but that didn't matter cause we had some brake men with tennis shoes on. Now picture this a 1947 mack open cab truck with running boards down the whole side of the truck, the chief driving, asst. chief standing on the running board holding agas can and a jerry rigged fuel supply,(me) the capt. holding a fire exstinguher, in case the truck catches on fire the asst. chief was told to stop, drop, and roll. There are 4 more firemen riding the tailboard as "brakemen" and here we go down the road around the block to the store to get a pizza. The truck has since been restored some 5000 man hours 90 gals of paint and clear coat. Had the wood floor in the bed replace the guages redone, re chromed, everything but the engine. It still has the original engine that still runs like a top. |
#67
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Could not put a link of the pics but google Wilson's Mills Fire Dept. go to the one with patch in it on home page left colume (About) has gallery and link to a video that the local news did.
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#68
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The president of the local R/C Rock Crawling club just recently picked up an old '46 Willys CJ with the flathead still in it and painted like a military truck for $350, and the previous owners even fixed the rust in the tub, as well as weld it to the frame, they also half assed a 12v conversion, and it wouldn't start when he went to pick it up, turns out water in to the cylinders. He ended up WD-40ing it to get it to start then going back and went back and honed the walls. Once he got the cylinders cleaned up he had a chance to get it moving, stopping was another matter........he hit the brakes and the pedal went to the floor. He's actually planning on making a trail rig out of it, believe it or not, he's planning on putting later model drivetrain from a 4 cylinder Jeep in it.
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#69
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Okay here's my story. Around six years ago a buddy of mine purchased a 73 camaro. He was working on the road and didnt have time to wrench on it so he dumped it off at my house. I would turn wrenches and he would supply the cash. It all went really well for a while. We would make little changes and take it to the drag strip every other weekend. He picked up the car one week and took it home, i said i had noticed that there wasnt a ground strap from the engine to the frame, it had already gorund itself throught the shift cable once before. He said no problem he would put one on it. Couple weeks go buy and he brings the car back to me with a load of cash and wants new cam, intake ,carb, and rear gears. Not a problem i order parts and start working on it. I got it all put back together the night before he was to be home and we were supposed to take it to the strip the next day. I started it up and took it to my uncles to get the timming perfect,(another friend had busted my timming light).We got it right and as i was leaving he told me to get on it, so i did, i staged it right there in front of the house and and away i went. running it hard through all the gears. I let off the gas, but it just kept on pullin, i stomped the gas, and it just kept pulling more. I started to Freak out a bit so i shifted it into neutral. it was bouncing of the rev limiter like crazy!!!! I didnt wanna blow the motor so i shut the key off......Well the steering wheel locked as soom as i did and by then it was much too late. i braced my self for impact. I hit a pine tree at around 85mph... I had forgot all about checking to see if he had put a groundstrap from the motor to the body. And it ground itself through the throttle cable. Not his fault though, i was the jack leg that had been working on it and should have double checked every thing before i took it out. It could have cost me my life.
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#70
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Reminds me of an account a guy told me about his "hot rod" days. He had a 70 Chevy Chevelle with a 454. He JUST picked it up from the paint shop and was driving it around town. He was passing a large building with mirror glass, he looked over to admire the new sharp paint. He looked back at the road just in time to slam in to the back of a delivery truck. Totaled the car not 1 hour after picking it up. Moral of the story, Chevys make you stupid---- |
#71
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#72
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My local oil change guy told me I had a grease fitting broke off on my 2000 Grand Caravan. I figured ok, no biggy, bought a new grease gun, swiped a fitting off of some old suspension parts I had laying around and jacked up the minivan. From the looks of things the front suspension hasn't been greased properly for at least 2 years, last time I went through it! What he had forgot to tell me is they apparently have been charging me for grease that I didn't get! I plan to go through the front suspension in the spring, however the ball joints are still surprisingly tight for 205K miles so I may hold off on that awhile. I'm buying a lift next, but that's it, no one else is touching my vehicles with a wrench except me!!
It's no wonder mechanics get a bad reputation, I'm mad at them and I am one!!! Something is wrong when you can't even get the easy stuff done properly..... |
#73
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Some of the new generation mechanics don't even know how to grease a suspension due to so many suspensions now days not having grease nipples.
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#74
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#75
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That's because most modern suspensions have the majority of the greaseable parts sealed. This helps the factory because it'll keep those parts greased until the vehicle is out of warrantee plus avoids the hassle if a technician over greases and bursts the seals. Not so good later if you're trying to keep a used car operable, however. I wouldn't be surprised if the parts with grease fittings are aftermarket replacements, though I won't swear for sure that all grease fittings from the factory have been eliminated.
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#76
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#77
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When I started stripping down my 74 satellite, I found tons of crappy work done on it in the past. First off, the front left fender was riveted to the body with pop rivets. I had to use a hammer and chisel to get the thing off. When taking out the stero, I found that the tail lights and speakers were re-wired using a trailer light connector. The entire body was covered in bondo, even stuff that did not need it. The rear seat had been pounded into place. The entire car had been repainted with spray paint (obviously sprayed right onto the old paint job) All the patch jobs in the sheet metal had been done with rivets, which were still showing on the underside of the metal. These are just the things I have found so far, I am sure there are many more to be discovered judging by how poor the other work was on this vehicle. It's going to be a sweet ride, however, and it is all worth it.
PS - I also found a bag of old bullets under the back seat - no doubt used during some robbery somewhere along the way.... |
#78
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bought a 72 road runner that some one had put a 383 in they said the engine ran great in the other car but after weaks of work they could not get it to start towed it home put a hot battery on it had good spark but no gas. guage read empty put 5gal in it the guage went up .fired up and ran great.drove it to town 30 min. after getting it home
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#79
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not all thoes quick lubes are bad .I have worked for wal-mart for 19 years we do about 350 to 400 oil changes a weak we have only bought 6 engines in that time, and they got a rental car and a new engine not a used one and one was was driven 2800 miles before the filter suposable came loose. try to get that from joes grage.
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#80
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Quote:
What can I say. |
#81
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Back in the mid-90's I was working at a gas station in Harrison, NE and I did a oil change on a Chevy S-10 pick-up that was very low mileage. After the old guy picked it up he drove by in front and the oil filter went bouncing across the highway. A guy saw it happen and chased him down but he wouldn't stop till the engine died. I knew I had tightened it and we grabbed the filter out of the street. The mounting stud from the block was still securely attached to the filter. It hadn't been properly tightened from the factory. GM bought him a new engine, thank goodness. After that I always checked the mounting stud before putting on the filter. I have found 3 others loose since then on misc brands.
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#82
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Went to a quick lube.....
After they finished I ask if they greased the U-Joints. They replied that they couldn't as they didn't come with zirts. I told them to take it back inside and grease them. They didn't like it but looked red faced after they looked.
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#83
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Not a jack-leg story but.....
A friend bought a 71 Mustang in 73 that had just been turned in from a lease.
A few months after getting it, he wrecked the front valance panel and right fender when a car pulled out in front of him. He put it in the shop and waited for two weeks till they called. The day they called him he called me and ask me to go look at some parts for his 63 Falcon that he was building a 289 w/2-4's for. He came and picked me up and showed me the fine job done. We drove about 20 miles to see the parts and about a mile before we got there, a dog came running out. This was a dog like Coojoe. He must have weighed 150 lbs and was barking as he ran in front of the car. We hit his as it was unavoidable. Sam was backing up to hit it again when I yelled at him that the kids in the yard were running into the street. |
#84
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jackleg O.o sounds like *Eddie* A term we use to describe just about any idiot that *tried* to fix the car beforehand.
Near where i live there is a fairly old business that really should have a clue about what they are doing but i have recently found out they dont. The car had some electrical problem under the dash and they *fixed* it.. Fixed is right they left the old burn wire in harness and bypassed it.. along with the power feed for entire accessory system at same time. But his lights worked! The second car that came from there, in under 2 weeks, the bulkhead melted around the power wire, they shoved new connectors in and a chunk of blue wire but never bothered to find out the original problem.. only good thing on this was that nothing in dash worked since the voltage regulator was toast and really overcharging car. Only thing that saved the guages in it. another car a few years ago came to shop for *inspection* he was told by that guy who put together the car for him, "oh those dodges never charged. Just dont drive at night." aside from the 73 harness in a 68 dart with dual field alternator and orginal *and flattened* voltage regular there was household 14 guage copper wire underhood. One time a friend brought his recent aquisiton that was *fully restored* but his fan didnt work. ok so we took this apart.. 61 windsor they couldnt be bothered with getting a fan for it so they badly cutup the steel plate that holds fan and put in some buick fan used yellow bulk connecters shoved it in bolted it down put duct system back in car cuting the power wire for this fan in process. It was a comedy of errors. another guy came in with his *baby* and couldnt figured out why nothing in car worked, so i opened hood and found two seperate wire harnesses under the hood somehow hooked in there. The look on owners face when i dragged up a garbage can to car and started tossing wiring out of hood into can was cute. two soldiered wires later and some taping and voila his car was working perfectly. he was shocked took awhile to get him to respond. Another car came in where he had gotten his tach rebuilt twice down in states for this *restored* roadrunner. i went under dash and plugged the wires into tach . worked perfect. *restored* cars make me shiver. Most of the time its 3 times the work to fix what other people really have no clue than it would have been to fix the first time. |
#85
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took my daily driver 80 aspen ss "super slow" to local tire/big truck/genaral shop to get ONE ball joint and alined. just didnt want to do it.picked it up said was done.walked out took a knee looked at tie rod end missing carter key, not there.told guy at counter he ask mech O YEA ITS IN THERE. had to take counter guy out to proof it.made them put back on lift for ME to check out work. yes i know im a tight wade.
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#86
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the starter solenoid crapped out today on my 78 d100 with a 440 so i stuck my key in the starter power wire and touched it to the solenoid and it started up in a shower or sparks
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#87
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I don't feel so bad now after reading everyone's tales and can only say I've learned some damned hard lessons the hard way too both my own fault do to lack of experience and the fault of so called professional meckiknecks as I call jack-legs.
First off my first I can do this right rear flat tire change on a 69 Fury 3 for this lady(comon guys think good thoughts here I was(wink) in the middle of a blowing snot slingin 20 below snow storm no problem I mean I have my first ride sittin next to it follow this folks 68 Sattie clonin to a RR so I know the right to loosin and left to tighten right? Except that I totally went brain freeze here and after 20 mins fightin these damn lug nuts that wouldn't loosen I jump back in my SatRRLight to warm up when she ask's is everything ok and I'm really froze here now and stutter yes Mam (She's a few yrs older then I) the lugs are just a little harder to break loose in this cold weather(Light bulb goes off in my head dumba@#%% right to loosen and left to tighten Duhh) I get back out of my car break the lugs loose put the spare on tighten the lugs good like Pop taught me let the car down put everything up start her car to warm it up jump back in mine inform her tires changed and she can go home she thanks me gives me a kiss on the cheek and $20 for my time. I was 16 at the time and had my SatRRlight for 3 yrs by then as I worked at the family junk yard and dragged this thing in on the wrecker(I started driving the wrecker when I was 13 Pop had a beer habit and wouldn't drive after 1st beer) after the owner found out his wife wanted a divorce and half of what the car sold for which Pop gave him a $100 for it in 1978 all the body work was done all new front suspension and rear suspension with a 8 3/4 loaded with a 3.91 sure grip diff. and interior all changed to black with buckets,console and set up for 4spd. The owner didn't say a word to Pop other then get it outta there before the Bi@&ch show's up. So that's 2 tale's in one and I still get razzed by Pop to this day about that tire change. I'm sure most are wondering do I still have the SatRRight and no I don't I sold it in 1985 when I went in the Navy on a deal with Mom&Pop they cosign on a new 85 Mustang GT which they bailed on me because they thought the Mustang was to much for a 19 yr old man I did get my Mustang GT though it was 1982 and sold that for a 1985 GT in 1987. The kicker here the SatRRlight had a 440+4 4spd when I sold it and the Mustang was to much ? The worst thing that happened in the SatRRlight was a blown clutch after launching at 2,500Rpm !! Wheres the time machine I wanna go back to 1985 !!!!! |
#88
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I don't know if I'm in the right post, but has anyone ever successfully installed the Fat Man Cavalier rack and pinion kit in the early indepent suspension Mopars? It requires bending the spindle's steering arms, one up a little and one down a little. Fat Man says to heat the arms to facilitate the bending. I was always told that anything that has been heated red hot (enuf to bend) is no longer as strong as it once was. Is anyone familiar with this kit? Have any tips? Advice? No GM subframes please
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#89
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dodgy panel repairs,
i've found beer cans, to shoe soles stuck under bondo |
#90
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finally found all the right pullys and a power steering pump for my 72 satellite it works so well I cant even drive down the high way it is way!! to sensitive maybe the pump came off a snow plow ??
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