"THAT GUY" rant

[jays67]

I built an engine for a guy in our club
good guy means well just not that bright
410 chevy small block aluminum heads t ram (he wanted)
he has a problem and instead of figuring out whats up he throws parts at it and changes no less then 3 items at a time , Distributor takes a dump he changes coil Msd box distributor etc...

so he has a bobble at cruise speed
reads and asks all the "Car show" people
he changes jets, power valves and timing ,because thats what they said to do takes it for a cruise 50 miles from home on the thruway and it dies 60 pounds of compression on all (had 185 before)

he stops this morning and tells me he pulled the front of the engine apart (instead of figuring out whats wrong) but found nothing

this car was running 7.60's in the 1/8 when I got done with not realy any tune up in it but he has to touch everything all the time.
WHY CAN PEOPLE NOT LEAVE THERE HANDS OFF WHEN IT IS RIGHT?

oh my guess with out looking at it is he leaned it out on the thruway but we will see when I get there to look

[SpiderGearsMan]

Re: "THAT GUY" rant

sounds like the Franks

[jays67]

Re: "THAT GUY" rant

sounds like the Franks

???

[SpiderGearsMan]

Re: "THAT GUY" rant

2 friends of mine
work on their cars for free ,always asking around , even sending letters to the magazines

[jays67]

Re: "THAT GUY" rant

Ahhh you know him lol
ya that sounds right and when I get everything right he has to touch it lol pisses me off

[Runner1972]

Re: "THAT GUY" rant

You can't help people like that. Been there with some people and they just want to tinker.

[IRONHEAD]

Re: "THAT GUY" rant

maybe the guy wants to learn.
but is gettting info from the wrong sources, and if you act like your post here, he might feel that asking you anything will only piss u off, because you feel it's "right" whan you handed him the keys..
don't know the guy or you, but he might want to tinker with it, and might want to learn as he does, maybe after you fix it this time,,tell him to come see you with ideas or problems..

[jays67]

Re: "THAT GUY" rant

maybe the guy wants to learn.
but is gettting info from the wrong sources, and if you act like your post here, he might feel that asking you anything will only piss u off, because you feel it's "right" whan you handed him the keys..
don't know the guy or you, but he might want to tinker with it, and might want to learn as he does, maybe after you fix it this time,,tell him to come see you with ideas or problems..

That is why I am venting here I am always nice to customers/friends
he has asked me what to do whit things on it
like after we ran it and started to tune it
I suggested that when we were changing jets to get it jetted right taht we change jets make a couple runs then read the plugs
so he runs it (I was out of town ) makes a run changes the jets and timing then runs it and repeats
he asked me why he could not get it to be consistant I recomanded he change one thing at a time till he sees how it reacts

he does like to tinker and I am fine with that . he did this when we built it he said he wanted his tunnel ram on it so we built it for that then borrowed my super victor intake sold his carbs and intake and bought a 950 alky carb with out telling anyone and showed up at the track and asked why it won't run right {mind you it is a gas engine) we sorted it out then 3 weeks later he calls and says he sold the carb can I borrow you t ram i sold mine
but what if it was you?
everytime something like this happens with it I tell him we will figure it out and we do but it is hard when you do something and you go back the next day and he changed it
lol of and as for the keys
I do it at his place so he has the car the whole time

I will help him again but man . Oh and if you think I sound Pissed off now you should see me when I am Pissed off lol

[A/Fuel]

Re: "THAT GUY" rant

I once had to threaten a certain driver that if he tried to put that morphidite intake on his 5.30 car I was going to hack saw it in two and throw it in the pond behind his house.
Sometimes you just have to get tough with them.

[milner351]

Re: "THAT GUY" rant

Frustrating for sure - some guys are thier own worst enemy.

as long as you are getting paid on time for the work you are doing for him, and not loosing money on the parts you are selling him - then I guess you can try to convince yourself it's good to have a repeat customer???

If you're doing the work for free - shame on you. ;)

[jays67]

Re: "THAT GUY" rant

he paid me when I built the engine and bought his parts I tuned it the first time for free
now that I have got to know him he has become a friend I would help anybody if they asked but I feel I need to make it run right as my name is on it
I have not charged a dime to tune the last 2 times I know but i did not my name ya know?
as for parts he buys his own even when wrong lol

[SuperBuickGuy]

Re: "THAT GUY" rant

I once had to threaten a certain driver that if he tried to put that morphidite intake on his 5.30 car I was going to hack saw it in two and throw it in the pond behind his house.
Sometimes you just have to get tough with them.

hijack .... uses nitro and has a way with words.... lmao @ morphidite


I have the same problem with a few those I help, I've given up getting irritated because (most of the time) what they do wrong is just so funny.... the last time - "why did you remove the transmission to replace the starter." :D

[milner351]

Re: "THAT GUY" rant

You've GOT to protect your reputation for sure.

But - you're not in business to fix other people's stuff for free right?

It's a fine line I realize.

I hope you can get it worked out - and hopefully the guy will learn to trust you - and turn out to be an asset instead of a liability

[TC]

Re: "THAT GUY" rant

This is one of the reason's I got out of working on cars for a living. The final straw was when I build this 383 for a guy and after I gave it to him, he tore the whole thing apart, so he could make sure I put it all together right, problem was the dumb #### didn't torque any of the bolts after he put it back together. Then the next thing I know he comes to me saying the motor is making noises. I asked him what he did(jokingly), and that is when he said all I did was take the motor apart to make sure it was put together correctly, and that is when I told him, it's your puppy now. To this day that guy is still the biggest idiot I know and I told him I will never work on one of his cars again.

[A/Fuel]

Re: "THAT GUY" rant

Oh, that's the reason why......Really, I was wondering that!