That friend of a friend that works on cars!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday I recieved a call from a customer asking all kinds of questions about our services. The questions got kinda bizarre and I felt like he was trying to get me to say something that he wanted to hear. Finally he said he was just gonna cut to the chase as to why he is calling. Kinda glad I didnt really have time to play games on the phone. He stated that I pressure tested and surfaced a cylinder head he brought in (95 ford contour 2.0 Dohc) and he is still having a water problem. First thing I always ask is did you use new head bolts and what did you torque them at. He said he used new head bolts and gave me the correct torque specs. So I asked him what exactly is the problem. He stated that with the valve cover off he is filling the radiator and he could see water filling up and running over through the top of the cylinder head. It was filling up through the lifters and pouring over the valve cover rail. Now this dude has my attention and I am trying to figure out how much of a bonehead he is because I pressure tested that head and know It has no cracks. He told me he already took the head off so I told him to bring it in and I will re check it free of charge. About an hour later he brought it in and this dude smoothered the mls gasket in high tack gasket sealer!!!!! I asked him why the heck did he do that and his reply was " i wanted it to seal real good" hahaha are you serious dude. He still didnt understand how the water was getting in the head. So I scraped the surface clean and he said he wasnt gonna use the sealer again. Good job buddy. Way to go. This is why you dont have backyard mechanics or that friend of a friend that works on cars work on your cars people. There is a reason why they are only charging you a hundred bucks to R&R that cylinder head. Perfect example of IT AINT EASY BEING A MORON!!

Only on 4/20

Today was a busy day just like it is most of the time when im working. Got some news that the manager in our Fresno shop put his two week notice in. Kind of a bummer, I really liked the dude. Never met him but talked to him on the phone lots during the week. Once he leaves there is only one guy left in the shop because my work laid the other machinist last month because business was slow there. I guess they are going to re hire the dude they laid off last month and starting on monday he is coming down to Visalia so my boss and I can train him. Sounds real fun.

Got a call from an irate hillbilly today. She was stating that a repair shop who was working on her buick century told her that they brought the heads to us on april 7th and we are slow and havent touched them yet.  The funny part is I didnt have any 3.1 buick heads in my shop. When I told her that she was friggin pissed, because the repair shop was lying to her and she said she was gonna go kick his ass. Haha. An hour later the shop brought them in.

Around 4:00 today, smelled smoke all the way in the shop and started to head out towards the back when I saw a dozen of the warehouse and delivery people looking towards the street.  There were 6-7 feet flames shooting out of our recycle bin and a couple guys with water hoses and fire extinguishers trying to put it out. I couldnt stop laughing because I know some pothead started it to symbolize todays date. I mean come on, this is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. 420 is gay. Its childish at best. I was in amazement as flames were shooting out and didnt even think to take a picture or video until after the fire department came and put it out.

It aint easy being a moron.

Theres always a first for things, and this was definately one of them. A customer dropped a set of small block ford heads off and the more i looked at them the more something wasnt right. Yep thats right, someone put valve stem seals over the rocker studs. Somedays it aint easy being a moron.

Corvairs have to be the worst engine ever made!!!!!!!!

First off I just want you to know how much I hate working on corvair heads. I would rather take a kick to the gonads than work on these things. OK, it all started about a month ago when this customer came in wanting to rebuild a set of 140hp corvair heads. After a few minutes talking to this guy I realized he was special. He wanted these heads to be perfect. I'm talking he just didnt want them within specs, he wanted everything within a thousandth of an inch. The hair on your head is two thousandths thick, so yeah I'm thinking I already don't like this guy. Not that I cant fulfill his requests, I'm thinking to myself why the heck should I. Its a friggin corvair.

So after I let them sit collecting dust for over a month hes calling my boss pissed that there not done. I guess its time to start on them. So I spent two days machining on these things making sure they are perfect. The valve job was cherry, I fly cut the cylinder bosses perfect. They were within his specs. I set the installed height for the customer and gave him spring shims because he wanted to assemble the heads. The customer wanted to check my work to make sure everything was up to his standards.

After a couple days of them sitting on the counter, all done, the customer decides to show up and was a little pissed at my boss because I didn't install new valve guides. I measured them and they were at the maximum allowed specs (still within specs) and wasn't going to change them because they are a pain in the butt to change. So today I spent 3 hours trying to change the valve guides and havent even changed one yet. I'm really considering about asking my boss if we don't do these heads anymore.

 See how ugly these things are!