Your'e too nice Bats

Normandy Trasmission & Auto Repair

 

Hey Bats! Forgive my ill directed point of view concerning the mech (I use the word mech in it's loosest form). I better than a lot of the respondants to the thread know your health issues and understand why you have gotten to the point you have. Fix what you can fix but when it starts to mess with your physical well being "it just ain't worth it." Please accept my apologies for what may very well be seen as sticking my nose in where IT didn't belong. It doesn't matter what you decide as a course of action, I for one will and do support your decision on all concerns.

 

Bravo James

 

OK, I must be getting stupid in my old age, but did I just read that they changed the alternator, but they didn't work on the charging system? Now, I know I am not an expert on automotive electrical systems, but I thought that my alternator IS what charges my battery. So, either what is quoted above is pure unadulterated , or someone is going to have to clue me in on what my alternator is doing and what provides the electricity to charge my battery.

Also, in my opinion, there is no defense for the use of the zip tie and connecting a carb spring to a hose clamp. I would be embarrassed to have anyone see that as an example of my work under a car's hood, even though I am not a professional mechanic trying to generate business by referral.

 

Coop,
I value all opinions and view points...doesnt mean they are right for my situation but I do respect them all,
The only thing I have zero time for is the lame poking at me which like I said very few are doing...

I am going to be out there in a few to fix most of the stuff so I can run the car all weekend and just see what it will do,

This has been a nightmare I do want to place it behind me,
I have lots of personal issues to deal with like the falling out with dad,
My dad can't seem to get past the sarcasm...he will say that the right thing is to take it back for a refund knowing good and well all the reasons that wont work for me,
He went as far as to say...being rather nasty and sarcastic that if all I want is the parts to make the stuff I am "nit picking" right I should hire a lawyer and sue them, knowing that is asinine,


Coop you know from our deal and F-boy ruining the engine how I feel about being fair about things...
When all is said and done all I wanted was the parts I was promised and then the extra stuff to fix the jury rigged shade tree carb set up,
What I got was in the most basic form is a shop blaming me for their shoddy finish work and a falling out with dad that even when we do patch things up our relationship will never be the same.

So you can see why I am done with it as much as can be,


PKguitar
Yes, you are on target... like I said her reply did as much to prove my side than anything I can say or do besides posting the carb pictures.

I didn't expect some engine build that would look like something out of CC but did expect something safe and reliable to drive home and to be able to raise my hood without being embarrassed,
The carb rigging not only looks bad but the banjo fitting leaks and the spring rubs the fuel line so it's dangerous...my dad says "well, it works dont it?" and that I or anyone who sees anything wrong with it is just "nit picking"

When I too made a case that when a shop changes an alternator in this case to one wire that part of the job is checking the charging system even more so since I asked over and over was the car fit to drive home.

Since you bought this subject up allow me to share more Idiocracy,
Phil never said a word to me about the battery or charging system,
But when my dad went out there to the shop ( yeah, affter telling me he wants no part of this mess ) phil tells my dad the battery was bad.....then why in the hell didn't phil tell me, why let me set off 150 miles with a bad battery.

My dad then goes back to the parts store where I bought the new battery and buys back my core in some plan to make me look bad,
After much testing my dad said the battery was GOOD of course when I asked did he tell phil the battery was good...he said he didn't remember if he had tested it at that point,

I found the short in my car killing the battery, it was the wiper motor,
So my dads argument is that because the wiper motor wasn't something phil was working on the short in it wasn't his fault, no, the short isn't his fault but making sure the car was working correctly was his paid to do job.

My reply was...well, what about me asking if the car was fit to drive home, in my way of thinking with a dead short killing the battery in a few hours that isnt safe to drive home,
Dads reply was..."that's beside the point"

So you see what I am dealing with....I hear the theme song of the three stooges playing in the background.

 

Hey PK! Maybe she meant to spell Alter Nadar as in Ralph Nadar since the car is pre-1975 and pre-unleaded fuel. So maybe it's just a spelling error on her part and she is actually referring to that carb job which doesn't have a roll in charging the battery other than keeping the engine running to turn the belt to spin the altenator. Your point is well taken here!

 

Bats- Do what YOU need to do to the car for safety and reliability. This was a bad experience to put behind you (I know it will take some time) and start enjoying the vette you searched long and hard for to have fun with.
I would call the shop to do this:
Demand they put ALL your old (Junk) parts in a box and stick them in a corner somewhere until you get there to pick them up (I doubt Dad would do it at this point). Any requested, disputed parts should also be included that were paid for.
I think this has run it's course and time to move forward on your vette build. Have fun, that will help your health!
Glenn

 

Bats, sorry about ripping on you about your dad. I do feel that he is out of line defending Bubba when you have photographic proof of the pitiful job they did with your car.

As for calling them, the pictures you've posted says more than enough. Nothing short of them paying to tow it back to their place and totally go through the engine, complete with pictures and reciepts for parts would make this right. Since Master Mechanic Bubba feels that this is a job that he should be praised about, I just have to wonder what he considers a half-assed job.

It's your right to not take this any further - I know I wouldn't be happy until this menace of an engine repairman was out of business. Still, throwing 3,700 wing-***** down the crapper isn't easy for me and I'm sure it's not easy for you. If doing so means keeping ill feelings at bay with the family and keeping your health from taking a hit, then I guess that the loss of cash is worth it with a valuable lesson learned.

As far as the guy giving me crap about my life, I've got two kids that are the future of America and I have never hit them, threatened them or pulled a gun on them. I'm proud of them and know that I'm a good parent - these kids are respectful, make good grades and have big plans for the future. So unless you're blowing Bats dad, keep your nose out of my business when I'm dealing with somebody else.

And that's the end of what I have to say.

 

Usually I'm very tollerant of ignorance because it, simplified, means only uniformed. Your case however, lessens my tollerance. The comment you made about Bat's (yes your use of the word Bat's requires the use of an apostrophy) dad was inappropriate and an insult not only to me, but also to both Bats and his dad.

As for "your business" you're the one that started whinning about it on the thread. As for your kids, I'm sure they are good kid's but it's not just them that are the future of America, it is all children that create that future and your children like others are an essential part of the coutinuence of the American experience.

Finally, what did you expect when you aired your life's laundry on the forum? The only reason I'm dignifying your last post with a rebuttal is to give you three things you might need to think about in your future.

1. Grow a thicker hide when you state things around the forum.
2. Keep your nose where it belongs and so will most forum members.
3. Have you ever considered some professional help to sort through
the issues from your childhood? I do feel bad for you there if
what you say is in fact true no child should have to grow up in
those conditions.
4. It would be bad to show that part of your life to your children as
saying nothing is better than to drag them into the mess, but as you say
most of this is your business and you have to do what
you see as right.

 

Well........... you FOUND Bubba's shop anyway. (sigh)

-W

 

After reading thread I think this is a classic case of poor communication on BOTH sides. Then, (and I ALWAYS do this) you should have closely inspected the motor as much as possible when you picked it up. You would have seen red flags there and could have discussed the issue on the spot and left it to come back later. At that point, you would have probably gotten a list of work they did and why they supplied that carb and none of this would have happened. Third, fuel filters can and DO leak, we all know that. Change it and move on, it's not part of the engine. Somehow, they got the impression that you were going to supply your own carburetor and they put the Holley on temporarily. Ok, if they only charged you $100 for that, better communication would have flushed this out, rather than ranting and raving. Sometimes communication gets dropped and things happen. But if you wanted a new carb and effecively communicated that to them, my hunch is they would have gotten one and asked you to come back and sourced one. He probably spend $100 in his time just sourcing the carb for you. As for the wires, it looks like they were wire-nutted and it came apart, or was a loose crimp connection. That happens and, yes, I agree with Nancy, they weren't contracted to re-do your electrical system (but if they noticed it, yeah, it would have been in their best interest to bix it because to the average schmuck, they see the motor hic-up and go nuts that it wasn't fixed by the contractor. But maybe they didn't notice it either).

As for the anti-freeze leaks on the intake, give them a chance to make it right. It's not that uncommon to have this happen. The shop on the other hand should have printed you out a complete itemized list. I'm sure it is a lesson-learned for them. They should have sat down with you and went over each and every part they put in there, maybe even given you the old boxes they were shipped in ...or some stickers that came with the parts ..something as proof. That would have served both of you well. Like a poster said before, there are 3 sides to every story and I'm more inclined to lean towards the shop ...provided the guts of the motor check out to what they said.

I work in the contracting business for large commercial projects for a fortune 100 company. Every job has hic-ups of some sort. 80% of the time the customer thinks they are 'owned' more than what was written in the contract. What they see and what they interpret are sometimes different things. The key is a well written contract, review it intermittently with the customer. If you didn't have a well written scope up front, shame on you. You open yourself up to risk. We have regular job meetings on large projects and all the bumps get smoothed out as they come up. Lesson learned -- have a clear written and agreed on understanding on the project scope up front. When misunderstandings crop up, you have to address them right away. That means you too. Email is the worst form IMO to work things out. Things can escelate pretty quickly via remote communications as we've seen. I believe one should go face to face and be professional about it, stay on task and get things resolved. I know project managers that are email monkeys end up going to court. Everyone's a looser when that happens. Guys I know that go and meet face to face and let both sides vent and are determined to work out a solution seem to be able to work out good terms and leave as friends and do business again in the future. I would like to defend you, but after reading this thread I find it hard to when I don't think you gave the shop enough of a chance.

Mark G

 

Seven pages and counting...........what's the bottom line??????
Who's right? Who's wrong? What was promised? What was implied? Who was..........what's the difference at this point?
The bottom line is after spending $3700.00 there is NO DEFENSE FOR THE THROTTLE CABLE!
I don't care if everything else is perfect and the motor is overbuilt. If I'm the manager or owner of that shop I'M WRONG. I need to do what ever it takes (within reason of course) to make things right. After looking at those pictures the first words out of that shop should have been I'M SORRY. :bb Please let's discuss this and see what we can do to make things right. I feel confident that if that's how this thing would have went down this would have been settled for not a lot of money and very little grief. While the shop is not going to loose any business from this forum they still if nothing else they have been embarrassed. That is of course if they have any pride in calling themselves professional. In their reply they admit to having a bruised ego. What's that old expression? "Discretion is the better part of valor" That might have been the better way to go in this case. I'm done.

 

I think his initial intent was just to look for support from his fellow C3 enthusiasts and to vent from a situation that he was angered by and felt wronged. There seem to be more replies that try to tell him what he should or should have done and how he was wrong for allowing them to have such a loose leash and poor communication. That does include me. None of us are in his position, nor have been in this particular one.
Bats i feel bad for the position your in, and wish it upon nobody. Good luck with getting your car to where you want it to be.

 

Mark thanks for your reply while I value every opinion and view point yours is the zenith for misinformed, confused and just plain wrong...since you stooped to the level of defending the shop AND trying to toss rather pointless insults at me I will leave you will this picture and the advice....



If this carb set up looks good to you by all means take your car to their shop....



Thanks...great reply.
I have been done with it then a post like Marks your yours asks me more questions....
I tried to solve it in a calm cool way and when they call me back they start on how mad they are I didn't praise the build.
They never offered to fix the things that no one except a fool or two believe are the right ways to do a job or rig a carb.

I am done with it...TodayI was working on it myself to fix the little things,
I would have thought for less than 150.00 the shop could have made this so right.


BWH76
Thanks man!
You get it!

 

I think it sucks how you are being treated by what appears to me to be a "backyard mechanic" and even though your dad might have been trying to get you a "good deal" and "help out" a friend of his by getting him some work and money....the guy failed you and his attitude or not wanting to talk to you is BS. I must say though that even though you were pissed and rightfully so....by you hanging up on his wife accomplished nothing as well....life is too short and speaking from someone who was never given bad adivce but rather having lost my dad when I was 10 years old I'd say that you are lucky to have had your dad as long as you have and not letting this linger should be priority #1 with you.

The car can be fixed....I myself would do my homework when having work done on either of my cars and perhaps wanting to apease your dad by taking it to his guy was the wrong thing? I'm not sure if you wanted to do that or because it might have been a less costly job (at least on the surface?) but I guess in the end...it's nothing more then a learning experience but you need not let this rift between yourself and your dad linger any longer then it has to.

I'm sure he was only trying to help you and do what he thought was best by having you take it to his guy and I bet he feels bad too? i'm sure he wouldn't knowingly steer you wrong...good luck to ya.

 

[COLOR="red"]We are talking but not about this situation, [COLOR="red"]

 

You missed my point, Bats. I'm saying that the the shop was wrong on several fronts. I am not exonerating them in any way. However, we all (including myself) need to ensure we take proper steps to ensure we get what we pay for. Part of that is good communications, part is writing things out. I realize it's easy to look back and say 'should have done this, or that.." I've been there too, trust me. Thats why I do my own work ..and am like a hawk on work I farm out. Now, if the internals aren't what they say they are, that's fraud, and yes, with the harmonic balancer, that borders on fraud. Again I never said the shop was at no fault or responsibility in my post. They should have protected themself by giving you an itemized list on the internals. On the leak, have you postively identified that the leak isn't coming from the hose or thermostat housing. I looks like in the picture that it's wet under the hose. That's easy to have happen on a motor install.

Well, anyway, good luck with it. Sounds like you're getting it worked out and I hope it turns out in the end to be a good motor and you and your dad get back to square 1.

Mark G

 

Mark G, you can't win this one.

Really? Because out the hundreds of hoses I've replaced and prob. 30 odd intake manifolds, I've had exactly 0 leak on me. Yes, 0, and I don't do this for a living. I would be ashamed of myself if I ran a shop and let a car in that condition drive out of my bay.

 

Thur the years I have been involved in countless situations that I replaced the radiator hose and I too have ( knock on wood never had one leak )
Perhaps it's just a case of how much care the builder takes....