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Who has worked on a car from some else??


nick8086

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Guest AlCapone

Who has worked on a car from some else??

Kaiser darrin ..

Not to bash my dad..

Here is the correct spark plug J8C.

Here is what is in the car...CJ8

Nick. I think if you look a little further you will find that Champion CJ8 replaces Champion J8C spark plug. So in my opinion the correct plug is in the car! Wayne

P.s. Don't ever doubt dear old dads because they are usually smarter than dear old sons !

Edited by AlCapone (see edit history)
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 I bought a 57 Corvette  and when I did a frame off, I found all the bolts loose. If there were 6 bolts holding something on, there were 5 different size and threaded bolts.

 

 Lock washers were non existent!

 

 Wood screws were ok for the fan shroud fasteners.

 

 It also didn't seem necessary to fill all the holes where Chevy thought there should be bolts.

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Well GM did not believe in using washers (except captive) or nuts for that matter but sounds like someone was in there first. The assembly lines had big bins of the correct bolts for each station. One might be wrong but not several.

 

Also from the factory one sign is that everything is overtightened, very rarely will something be loose. When I lived in the rust belt you just expected manifold bolts to snap (nice thing about Central Florida is that they don't (unless an import)..

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How about every single old car in the world? Every old car has hack work hiding somewhere inside because at some point in its life, there was a guy for whom "good enough" was good enough. And most of those guys are still working on cars today...

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Guest AlCapone

My dad was a mechanic And a very good one st that ! Sign in his garage stated, I charge double to fix the car that you worked on and could not fix properly! Wayne

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How about every single old car in the world? Every old car has hack work hiding somewhere inside because at some point in its life, there was a guy for whom "good enough" was good enough. And most of those guys are still working on cars today...

 

I've heard that phenomenon called "POS"- Previous Owner's Stamp.

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My dad was a doctor who would tinker with a car once in a while. One day I drove 350 miles to visit with him and show him my 1967 442 cutlass supreme convertible.  I had spent three years on the restoration and every detail was perfect. I had some friends that stopped by to see me and one of them asked what is your dad doing to your car? I ran to the front door and looked out to see dad squirting some kind of stuff all over the windshield of my car. I am sure everyone could see my face turning red as I approached dad and said what are you doing? It was Rain X  he always loved things like that and marvel mystery oil.  

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I always try to do things the right way,  but that being said,  a loose bolt or nut is not uncommon.  Especially if stuff is mocked up first then finished off later. 

Remember too that many of our cars were at one point just a used car with very little value.  Many had get by repairs that surprisingly did the job extremely well until we tore them down to restore them and discovered the "fix".  Some are kind of comical.  

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Factories can screw up also. My new special order '70 GS had so much engine sealer in the radiator that it was clogged (made it a day because was cool out). My special order '72 GTO Wagon had a posi rear - with no lubricant (caught that one at dealer). The '78 V8 Sunbird just had a de-luxe interior instead of the ordered heavy duty battery (never liked plush carpeting) but since I had to put down a $1,000 deposit before the dealer would order a $4k car in south Florida that did not have C60 available he finally ate the difference.

 

And then there is the legend of the car that came down the assembly line as an Aspen on one side and a Volare on the other...

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How about an allegedly totally rebuilt "ready to fire up" 1920 Kissel engine with obviously new pistons, valves, bearings and gaskets but NO rings installed.

Customer insisted we install the engine without disassembling it and checking tolerances, not wanting to spend the extra $.  Luckily I stood my ground. Same engine was missing the float in the carb but in its place was a note "I'm sorry but I really needed this float".

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A few years ago; probably in the late 1970's, when I had my shop open; a customer brought a  GTO in with a transmission problem.  A 4-speed Muncie, that he had run with a leaking rear seal.  I suppose he knew it was leaking; but didn't think about fixing it until it started really howling

 

Well we removed it from the car and just opened it up, took side cover off, and it was burnt blue.   OK,  when he heard the estimate to rebuild it, all new gears, everything; we were saving the cases though, for the build dates and etc.

 

He decided that is way too much and buys another transmission, just recently rebuilt, from wherever.  He said a reputable, high performance Pontiac man.  

 

Just install it, were his orders.  Oh My God, it howled almost as bad as the burnt up one; but only in the lower 3 gears. So good chance the cluster bearings were shot or worse; we didn't touch it.

 

Then the fight started.  He didn't want to pay the bill for the removal, diagnosing the problem and installing the, junk rebuilt one.

 

We had to impound the car, but he eventually paid.  Wasn't welcome back.

 

So even though we had nothing to do with the junk rebuild, he wanted us to take the hit.   You just never know.

 

intimeold

 

Almost as bad as finding a huge surprise, when we buy something that is represented wrongly.  

Edited by intimeold (see edit history)
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I purchased a new '70 SS Chevelle, big block. I put air shocks and larger tires on the rear, and I had huge engine problems two weeks later. The car was in a small college town dealerships repair dept. for over two weeks. They started to repair or replace the carb, fuel pump, distributer, cam, everything under the hood was replaced under warranty with no results. The engine would run, but I could not go over 35 MPH. Frustrated, I drove 75 miles to more familiar dealerships in Minneapolis and as I was describing the problem, a huge puddle of gas was on the floor but the rear tire. The mechanic signing me in got on a crawler and told me he would have the problem fixed in 10 minutes. The air shock installer somehow caused the shock body to pinch off the main fuel line and wore a hole in the side of the return line. Two $3.00 connectors and it ran great. I showed the repair ticket to the small town dealership and they admitted  that the fuel lines were never checked because the car was new. Wow, lesson learned.

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Guest AlCapone

[

My dad was a doctor who would tinker with a car once in a while. One day I drove 350 miles to visit with him and show him my 1967 442 cutlass supreme convertible. I had spent three years on the restoration and every detail was perfect. I had some friends that stopped by to see me and one of them asked what is your dad doing to your car? I ran to the front door and looked out to see dad squirting some kind of stuff all over the windshield of my car. I am sure everyone could see my face turning red as I approached dad and said what are you doing? It was Rain X he always loved things like that and marvel mystery oil.

In retrospect I'll bet if you had to do it over again you would have smiled and thanked him instead of getting red in the face. Cars can be replaced but Dads can not ! Wayne Edited by AlCapone (see edit history)
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I am thinking about not working on vehicles I touched,I had been chasing down a loud rattle in my 66 Ford p/u without much sucsess fixing every possible cause except for the one I was looking for and then found out most of the front sheet metal bolts were loose. I had the complete front end off doing body work and when it went back togather I forgot to go over and tighten all the bolts after I got it aligned up.

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Guest AlCapone

The local NAPA store had 6 in stock today...

.

look up the plug on the Champion website and you will see your dad was correct! They ( Napa ) may have the old plug in stock but the replacement is better suited! Wayne

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And then there is the legend of the car that came down the assembly line as an Aspen on one side and a Volare on the other...

 

I special ordered a 1983 Firebird that came with FIREBIRD script on left fender and CAMARO on the right. Refused to accept the car, reasoning that such a minor oversight might be indicative of worse assembly goofs. Dealer didn't like it but I stood my ground and made them order another car.

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Factories can screw up also. My new special order '70 GS had so much engine sealer in the radiator that it was clogged (made it a day because was cool out). My special order '72 GTO Wagon had a posi rear - with no lubricant (caught that one at dealer). The '78 V8 Sunbird just had a de-luxe interior instead of the ordered heavy duty battery (never liked plush carpeting) but since I had to put down a $1,000 deposit before the dealer would order a $4k car in south Florida that did not have C60 available he finally ate the difference.

 

And then there is the legend of the car that came down the assembly line as an Aspen on one side and a Volare on the other...

That Volare / Aspen was my Company Car in 1968-69 !!  no joke, and that was probably one of the least offensive things about it.

 

Then again, back in the winter of 1968-69 I worked night shift at the GM Assembly plant in LInden, NJ (still with IBM in mid-town Manhattan daytime). I drove newly-assembled Buick, Olds, and Pontiac models off the end of the Assembly Line (The Gate). They were driven to a receiving lot, and then groups of cars were driven across US-1 to a lot behind Linden Airport for loading onto Anchor Motor Freight trucks to be taken to dealers. I can tell you about the Cutlass without the steering wheel, or the Olds 98 with no linkage between the gas pedal and the carburetor - and that was only the beginning. Working two jobs back then covered a really good engagement ring for our marriage the following June. The new '69 Pontiac Custom "S" Tempest is long gone, but the marriage is in its 47th model year.

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Nick. I think if you look a little further you will find that Champion CJ8 replaces Champion J8C spark plug. So in my opinion the correct plug is in the car! Wayne

P.s. Don't ever doubt dear old dads because they are usually smarter than dear old sons !

Love Dad.. but he was old school... Use what you have...

 

One more..Before - part found-  installed.. Time line 1 year..

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Edited by nick8086 (see edit history)
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That Volare / Aspen was my Company Car in 1968-69 !!  no joke, and that was probably one of the least offensive things about it.

 

Then again, back in the winter of 1968-69 I worked night shift at the GM Assembly plant in LInden, NJ (still with IBM in mid-town Manhattan daytime). I drove newly-assembled Buick, Olds, and Pontiac models off the end of the Assembly Line (The Gate). They were driven to a receiving lot, and then groups of cars were driven across US-1 to a lot behind Linden Airport for loading onto Anchor Motor Freight trucks to be taken to dealers. I can tell you about the Cutlass without the steering wheel, or the Olds 98 with no linkage between the gas pedal and the carburetor - and that was only the beginning. Working two jobs back then covered a really good engagement ring for our marriage the following June. The new '69 Pontiac Custom "S" Tempest is long gone, but the marriage is in its 47th model year.

Am I missing something here? Volares and Aspens didn't come out 'til MUCH later than 1968-69....more like late 1975 for the 1976 model year....

Edited by keiser31 (see edit history)
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I had a Buick Nailhead rebuilt by a reputable shop. It wasn't till it failed, making a horrible knocking noise, that I found that they had forgot to measure, or couldn't read Plastigauge properly, all the main earnings.  That was a Large $$$ mistake and unfortunately the shop was out of business by the time I got the engine running.

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Back in the 70s I worked on a `65 GTO that had a full pedal but no brakes, even the emergency brake didn`t work. After checking it out, someone had put on wider brake shoes which cut thru the side of the drums, all four wheels. Also the owner had squirted oil all over them, because they "squeeked"..   Tom

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  • 2 months later...

Had a VW Westphalia. Had the engine completely rebuilt by a reputable place, new cyl/pistons, align bored, whole nine yards.

First frosty morning started it up al let idle to get some warmth. After 30 seconds it froze. Had to winch into garage. Removed and took back to shop. Checked it out, replaced the bearings, polished the crank, reassembled.

Next 30 degree morning same-same.

Bottom line "somehow" (never figured that one out) when the block was align bored they got the center main a couple of thousands off center. Fine at 70 degrees but at 30 it would bind and freeze at idle.

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