Auuug. I am getting very upset with my friend. Those of you that know me, know I was working on my pinto over at my friends shop. He is a mechanic, and since I didnt have a cherry picker and needed to pull the motor, I towed the car over to his shop and we did it there. Well, 1600 dollars and 6 months later, the tranny and motor have been reworked and are now in brand new refurbished condition. Got that bolt out a while ago, and put on the last part.
So all i need to do now is put the motor in and do tuning etc witht he new carb. Except everytime i go over there to do it, my friend cant find the time, OR also because of the fact that my car has become burried behind like 10 non-running vehicles we can barely get to it.
Now I understand he has a business too, and I get that, but I wish he wouldnt promise me like last weekend that we would do it on saturday and it would be done, and then saturday comes around and we end up not doing it because of some reason or other.
I almost feel like my car is held hostage, I mean i know its stupid because he is my bud, but I cant even get my car out of the lot, because 1) I would have to push like 10 cars around and play some kind of crazy tetris game just to get the car out, and 2) even if i did, how would I move the motor, I dont have my own engine stand, and I do not have a truck to haul it, and I dont have a cherry picker.
Its such a small thng too... just drop the motor in, put the motor mount bolts through, and I can do the rest. Its annoying because its like the one thing that I have to wait for him to do, and everytime he says we are gonna do it, he always kinda blows it off.
Just take a deep breath and try to grin and bear it... these are the kinds of things that can destroy friendships! I know you probably went this route to save money but unfortunately, this pretty much puts you at his mercy. Frugality has its price! Garages, tools, hoists, etc. can be rented. Maybe that would have been a better choice. Have you tried offering to help your buddy clear up some of the mess that has you penned in? The problem is while your Pinto might be your top priority, it probably falls pretty low on his list. See what you can work out and try to be patient so as not to lose a friendship. As much as we all love our cars, our friendships are much more important in the end.
Dwayne :smile:
Yeah I know its probably not on his list of priorities. I have been trying to help him in the shop for some of his jobs for customers.
He is my friend, and we get along great, but I have to say i disagree with his business practices. His problem is he just cant turn someone away. Even though he already has 10 jobs lined up for the week, some of them major jobs, whenever someone comes up to his shop with car problems he takes the job, and the problem is we end up working till 11pm and not even making a dent because the flow of jobs is greater then we can work.
Add on top of that that i have MY job, which only gives me a limited amount of time to help him out, and at his shop its just him and his son, and it just seems we are never gonna get caught up.
Bleh.
What he needs is an assistant. If he's getting that much business, then maybe he can agfford a trusted part-time helper.
hello, i dont believe we've met, my name is off some steam..... so when and where is this little shindig you have planned for us kickoff??? :showback:
just thought you could use a little humor....
ROFL.
Yeah, that was very funny. Eh I am just pretty much trying to forget the whole thing, I get to pissed off otherwise.
Besides dont let my friend fool you. I DID pay him for his labor. Albeit not as much as he would charge someone else, but its not like he was doing it for free.
We are friends but im not saying like BFF or something.
It really sucks when the person that one has to wait on, is one's hubby! LOL I do all I can to the cars, then I end up having to wait for him to get time to do the harder stuff, or stuff I don't want to deal with! LOL
I know. I keep thinking, "Damn if I could just get the car unburried and drop the motor in, i could tow it back to my garage and finish it there."
We had a sign at a shop I worked at a few years back. It said, "We do three kinds of work here: Good, Cheap, and Fast. Pick two."
My Pinto sat at a friend's shop for three years once. We did cumulatively about 40 hours of work on it in that time. I'd spend the whole day (usually a Saturday when I had the time off work) to do about thirty minutes of actual work on the Pinto. I feel your pain. Be patient, don't torture your friendship, and one day the planets will align and you'll be done, friendship intact!
Cossiepinto (my two cents)
Look at the bright side, at least you have a place to work inside. i have an outdoor garage..... :smile:
Due to some health issues i have to depend on other people to help with what i can't do alone or simply can't do. it is frustrating sometimes but i have learned to slow down and wait till it can happen. just got to keep on getting on and it will happen.
jim
Ok awesome, i got the pinto unburried last night. Unfortunately now I feel like Im coming down with the flu or something. rotten luck.
Just a thought here, get another one of your freinds and move those cars. He should let you use the lift after that. The problem with running a business is if you turn a customer away, he will not come back. And a true freind will. Take five and punt.
I have a friend who does body work who does the same thing. He keeps taking cars in and starting on one after another and never gets anything done. Sadly I don't refer anyone to him because they may not see their car for a very long time. He does great work and is a fantastic painter, (he helped me paint my car) but he just gets in over his head.
On the other hand, a friend and I work at nights doing side jobs for people, and we are swamped with work. Most of the time there is a two-week wait. We keep a day planner and let customers know when we can get them in. We don't turn them away, we are just up front about it. Most wait. I think that's better than having their car for two weeks and not working on it. You would be surprised at the work we turn out of that shop.
Hopefully you can work something out with your friend. Offer to help him on a number of days in exchange for the time to work on your car. Like you said, it shouldn't take long to drop the engine in. Good luck!