C Body Bob
Old Man with a Hat
Ok before anyone jumps all over me saying I’m being mean or a criticism on a guy please understand this is just a bit of humor at a friend that I’m trying my hardest to help make better decisions. I see a lot of post on the net were someone reads 3 sentences & thinks they have a full understanding of a year(s) long process. This is simply meant to humor us guys that work on our cars & own a shop & ample amount of tools. So everyone just sit back & read & enjoy & knowing that I’m trying to keep this guy between the ditches. Not trying to tell him how to live his life.
My buddy owns a screw driver set & a socket set & maybe 4 combination wrenches. He doesn’t even know why they are called that. I had to explain that to him. He knows nothing about working on cars but can tell you all about them & which ones are better & why. So a year & a half ago after a year long search he found a Corvette ZR1 on this site called Bring a trailer. $27 thousand. He did all the due diligence & wired the money to the guy. Had the car shipped up to him. He gets the Vette & I stopped by a few days later & could tell he was a little disappointed. Why ? Well it wasn’t quite as nice as advertised. He’s seeing a change in the paint that I can’t see & is concerned it’s been repaired from a minor crash. The tires are dry rotted & the belt tensioner is squeaking bad & it has an oil leak. Cut to the chase. He spent about $2000 getting all that fixed. Now we are at $29 thousand & he’s not driven it much. Goes to move it one day as it’s blocking his daily & it won’t start. Nothing. WEEKS go by as he’s telling me & a mechanic bud of his all the things he’s found on the net to diagnose & has determined it’s the ignition switch. Buys a switch. Can’t figure out how to install it. Finally after 3/4 days gets the switch in car still won’t start. He’s not happy. Been driving a company car all this time. He finally finds a loose wire or something at the alternator ??? and repairs that & it starts up. Two months have gone buy. Now another oil leak. A braided line that goes to the oil cooler. Can’t find one anywhere. Doesn’t want to drive it with a oil leak. Last I checked car is still sitting but now in the garrage and out of the way. In the mean time he finds a tricked out Mustang convertible on Bring a trailer & offers 13 thousand. Seller accepts & sends the car to him. It arrives & I stop by to have a look. He’s all smiles as I can tell he likes this car but wait. There’s a problem. It’s been fitted with quality aftermarket wide body quarter panels & front fenders. Looks kinda cool. Not over done. Has a nice looking roll bar hoop bolted to the floor. Reacaro buckets & 5 point safety harness. It has a 351 V8 with Edelbrock GT40 type heads. Edelbrock EFI Intake. Tubular front engine cradle. Trick Koni struts & Springs all 4 corners & a belt driven Pro Charger but heres the problem. The super charger isn’t building any boost & is bad. Needs rebuilding. The engine has a bad oil leak. He sent a sample of oil to a lab & it came back that it had a high level of metal in it & the lab said it looks like metal consistent with engine bearings. So the Mustang has also been sitting for about a year. He almost put a used LS in it & that's the only time I stepped in. I recommended not to do that to instead rebuild what he has. He doesn’t want to do that. 400 horse ain’t enough. Last time I was over he showed me a 550 horse crate motor. 400 pounds feet of torque at 3000 RPM. $5500 is a bargin & I told him fine if that’s what you want. But I told him to expect another $2000 in labor & misc charges. He said I can sell the old motor & super Charger to recoupe that....so he will be close to or over $20 grand but he will have one hell of a Mustang. So he’s approaching $50 grand & has two cool cars he scared to drive because they have mechanical issues.
My buddy owns a screw driver set & a socket set & maybe 4 combination wrenches. He doesn’t even know why they are called that. I had to explain that to him. He knows nothing about working on cars but can tell you all about them & which ones are better & why. So a year & a half ago after a year long search he found a Corvette ZR1 on this site called Bring a trailer. $27 thousand. He did all the due diligence & wired the money to the guy. Had the car shipped up to him. He gets the Vette & I stopped by a few days later & could tell he was a little disappointed. Why ? Well it wasn’t quite as nice as advertised. He’s seeing a change in the paint that I can’t see & is concerned it’s been repaired from a minor crash. The tires are dry rotted & the belt tensioner is squeaking bad & it has an oil leak. Cut to the chase. He spent about $2000 getting all that fixed. Now we are at $29 thousand & he’s not driven it much. Goes to move it one day as it’s blocking his daily & it won’t start. Nothing. WEEKS go by as he’s telling me & a mechanic bud of his all the things he’s found on the net to diagnose & has determined it’s the ignition switch. Buys a switch. Can’t figure out how to install it. Finally after 3/4 days gets the switch in car still won’t start. He’s not happy. Been driving a company car all this time. He finally finds a loose wire or something at the alternator ??? and repairs that & it starts up. Two months have gone buy. Now another oil leak. A braided line that goes to the oil cooler. Can’t find one anywhere. Doesn’t want to drive it with a oil leak. Last I checked car is still sitting but now in the garrage and out of the way. In the mean time he finds a tricked out Mustang convertible on Bring a trailer & offers 13 thousand. Seller accepts & sends the car to him. It arrives & I stop by to have a look. He’s all smiles as I can tell he likes this car but wait. There’s a problem. It’s been fitted with quality aftermarket wide body quarter panels & front fenders. Looks kinda cool. Not over done. Has a nice looking roll bar hoop bolted to the floor. Reacaro buckets & 5 point safety harness. It has a 351 V8 with Edelbrock GT40 type heads. Edelbrock EFI Intake. Tubular front engine cradle. Trick Koni struts & Springs all 4 corners & a belt driven Pro Charger but heres the problem. The super charger isn’t building any boost & is bad. Needs rebuilding. The engine has a bad oil leak. He sent a sample of oil to a lab & it came back that it had a high level of metal in it & the lab said it looks like metal consistent with engine bearings. So the Mustang has also been sitting for about a year. He almost put a used LS in it & that's the only time I stepped in. I recommended not to do that to instead rebuild what he has. He doesn’t want to do that. 400 horse ain’t enough. Last time I was over he showed me a 550 horse crate motor. 400 pounds feet of torque at 3000 RPM. $5500 is a bargin & I told him fine if that’s what you want. But I told him to expect another $2000 in labor & misc charges. He said I can sell the old motor & super Charger to recoupe that....so he will be close to or over $20 grand but he will have one hell of a Mustang. So he’s approaching $50 grand & has two cool cars he scared to drive because they have mechanical issues.
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