Today I...

[scarebird]

that is what the shop gets, you get 12/hour and all the cancer causing chemicals you can snort.

[Ok-TA1977]

that is what the shop gets, you get 12/hour and all the cancer causing chemicals you can snort.

Its not too bad if you wear the proper PPE.
 

$40/hour is great if the work is good.

Finished up the cam swap on the 71; quieter and smoother.

Screw college, I'm becoming a body man now, 

That was the lowest i could find, everyone else was at least $50 an hour.

[Casey]

Or open your own shop and then you get the $40 an hour, but then you have to cover all the overhead and take all the risk.

Yeah $40 an hour is a pretty fair deal provided the service is good to great.

[Casey]

$40/hour is great if the work is good.

Finished up the cam swap on the 71; quieter and smoother.

Screw college, I'm becoming a body man now,

Actually the thing to do would be to go to technical school and get on with a dealership as a service technician and work your way to becoming their Master Tech.  That or start as an oil change tech and show initiative and that you know cars, and you can even get the dealership to send you to school to become a service tech.  If you get in with someone like VW and you get all of their certifications you won't have to ever worry about losing your job over something trite, as VW requires all their dealerships to have at least one fully certified VW technician just in order to run a service shop.  With cars getting increasingly more difficult to service at home the demand for skilled mechanics is only going to go up.

[scarebird]

Actually the thing to do would be to go to technical school and get on with a dealership as a service technician and work your way to becoming their Master Tech.  That or start as an oil change tech and show initiative and that you know cars, and you can even get the dealership to send you to school to become a service tech.  If you get in with someone like VW and you get all of their certifications you won't have to ever worry about losing your job over something trite, as VW requires all their dealerships to have at least one fully certified VW technician just in order to run a service shop.  With cars getting increasingly more difficult to service at home the demand for skilled mechanics is only going to go up.

not quite.

That may have worked 20 years ago but the service tech nowadays do not make the money they used to - not even close with the way billing is set up.  I have several close friends who wrench for a living and they are darn glad they are retiring soon.

[Casey]

I guess it depends if you get paid by the book hours or hourly.  My uncle is a master tech for Toyota and is paid by the book hours on jobs completed and averages around $100K a year, not bad for not having gone to college.  I could understand though if you're only getting hourly pay as with on the book if you're good you can do things faster and still get paid for the listed hours, then turn around and do another ticket.  I suppose most dealers are getting away from that system for obvious reasons.

[Ford5of5]

Today I got quotes to repair the T-bird. I went to 4 places and got 2 quotes from each, one for the repair with blending and a second for the repair and full paint. We already purchased a new door and fender, $550 delivered; we use Pat Wilson for T-birds parts, I can't say enough good stuff about these folks, they are simply fantastic! The first shop said 9k and wouldn't give me a quote for just the repair. They didn't want to put their name on a sub par repair and made sure to tell us they had 4 cars in the World of Wheels and that we wouldn't get the car back until June!. Next place gave me a price of 3k and 7k. Third place, 1500 and 3800. Fourth place said 1400 and 3500.

The first shop has done insurance repairs for us in the past. Body and paint wise, they do nice work. BUT with a few glaring exceptions, my Dad wanted an aftermarket grill on his truck after I rear ended a box truck. He bought one that literally bolted on top the origional with hidden fasteners. For some really odd reason they cut out the factory grill and grafted the new grill onto the old mounting flanges. I have no idea why that was done; it looked good so we never questioned it. Also, they messed up the door locks and broke the windshield wiper washer bottle and pump. Their mechanic had the balls to tell me the washer bottle and pump must have got hit in the front end collision. They weren't, the pump worked and bottle held liquid, I know because I used it and had checked the bottle when checking for leaks. Also, they left out maybe a half dozen plastic rivets. They took care of all our complaints, so we never really put up much of a fuss. Basically, for body and paint they are excellent, for anything mechanical they kinda blow. Now that we're talking about 9k, that stuff does matter.

I went to the 4th place based on the recommendation of one of my customers who uses them for his DD's and Corvettes. They do mostly insurance work and some custom stuff. The examples I've seen of their work are excellent, a '65 Vette respray and his rear ended Lexus. The shop owner said he can take the car right away and have it done in 2-3 weeks as long as there isn't another big snow storm. Funny thing is the third shop said the exact same thing. lol

[scarebird]

I guess it depends if you get paid by the book hours or hourly.  My uncle is a master tech for Toyota and is paid by the book hours on jobs completed and averages around $100K a year, not bad for not having gone to college.  I could understand though if you're only getting hourly pay as with on the book if you're good you can do things faster and still get paid for the listed hours, then turn around and do another ticket. I suppose most dealers are getting away from that system for obvious reasons.

They are, hence why gigs like your uncle's are vanishing.  Another consideration is the work is very hard on your body.

[Casey]

He actually had to have back surgery not that long ago as he's been doing it for over twenty years now.  I was looking into following his footsteps about six years ago and the dealership was still hiring on book pay, but that's quite some time for things not to change I guess.  I would say go into nursing since last I recall there was still a shortage, but it's a demanding job and stressful in its own way.  Eh time to fall back on an old adage, "If you find a job you love you'll never have to work a day in your life".

Today I found a car I want to buy and called this afternoon and presumably it was his wife that answered and said he was at the store and to call an hour or two later.  So that's what I did and apparently was out with the grandkid at that time.  Gave her my number and asked for him to call when he could and judging by the time it's not happening today.  Hopefully get a call back tomorrow, I don't want to have to call constantly and look like some kind of crazy person just to get ahold of him.

[cal30_sniper]

Today I finished grinding out the welds on my driver's side repair patch. I used part of the lower patch panel from Ames to get rid of an area of the fender that had rusted from the inside out. The patch was shoddy, as noted in the Ames catalog. It was a good source of sheet metal, but everything had to be reshaped on it, and the attachment tabs and fenderwell edge had to be formed from sheetmetal separately and welded on. I'd say it's not too bad for my first time every welding sheet metal. Patch was butt welded in.




And, after that, I finished stripping the fender. I used a DA sander with 80 grit pads, and a variable speed angle grinder with strip wheels to get the smooth areas down to bare metal. I used my media blaster to get all the places I couldn't get to with the strip it discs, including the inside of the fender. I also used my stud welder and stud buddy to pull out the various dents and creases that I could find. I left the inner bracings separate and blasted them as well. I'll put a couple of coats of epoxy primer on everything, and then weld the braces back in.




I got the skin of the other fender stripped, but it still needs to be blasted. Hopefully I can finish that up tomorrow and be ready for paint.

[DeCaff2007]

Today I...  Only went to job number one for a change.  Got home, filed my taxes, changed the oil on my fathers HHR, diagnosed a bad water pump on the womans Jeep, and fixed an ABS sensor on my Camry. 

Finally had dinner around 9 and I actually have OFF tomorrow!! 

[scarebird]

Fabbed up a neat little tool to pull the Pitman arm.  Essentially took a piece of 3/8 thick 4" round steel disc, drilled a pair of holes and milled a 1-1/2" slot to slide around the arm, then slid in a pair of 7/16 bolts, hooked into the gear puller and away it went.

[solargold]

Picked up a set of 8 inch snowflakes completely refinished with a new set of 225/70/15 tires, never mounted

[77 TA man]

Today I...Rescued a pair of 1988 F-Body T-Tops out of a guys yard in good condition for $25. I plan to resell them soon.

[Casey]

Tomorrow I'm going to look at a '96 Formula hardtop with the 6-speed.  It's exactly how I'd want one and looks to be all original in good shape, I'm so excited I probably won't be able sleep(then again what's new there).  Hopefully it's everything I've dreamed of.  Hopefully I won't be giddy like a schoolgirl, but I'm not making any promises.

[scarebird]

According to the local weather guys it was supposed to be a crappy weekend weatherwise (we have had the wettest winter ever here in Seattle...).  It was clear with an occasional cloud this morning so I taunted the rain gods further by washing the Lemans.    Motored up to visit another righteous Pontiac brother, enjoying the reinstalled 2801 cam.  Don was considering a 2802 so let him drive the KRE-headed 440 as a baseline (his is a 67 'Bird with a 462 and KRE's).  Met daughter and had lunch and the Lemans growled her way home.

[cal30_sniper]

Finally finished stripping/media blasting the front fenders, and got two coats of SPI red epoxy on them. Came out pretty nice. Next step is to weld the inner braces back in, add the skim of filler I need to smooth it all out, and seal it with epoxy again. Then I'll spray my high build and do the base coat/ clear coat on the edges that will be covered up for final paint.

Unless I find something else hiding somewhere, I can now proudly say my car is 100% rust free. The scale between the inner braces and the outer skins should have been the last rust that was anywhere to be found. Most of it cleaned up very nice after blasting, and I replaced the one scaly part with a fresh patch of sheet metal.

[Casey]

Going to see the Formula, wooo.  Will update with results later, hopefully it involves pictures.

[TA6.6Liter]

Cleaned the remaining interior dash plastic; glove box, vents, kick panels and rear seat side panels.  Next step is to paint and clear.

[Casey]

Today this happened:



Two owner 118k miles and all stock.

[76455sd]

based on the change to your signature line....Congrats and I hope you have good luck with it.

[Casey]

Thanks!  It's kind of surreal after wanting one for years now and never finding one close enough, the fact it's exactly what I wanted makes it even better.  Drove and rode well on the 90 mile trip home, it's the happiest I've been in some time.

[77 Pontiac]

Thanks!  It's kind of surreal after wanting one for years now and never finding one close enough, the fact it's exactly what I wanted makes it even better.  Drove and rode well on the 90 mile trip home, it's the happiest I've been in some time.

congrats on the find! I would love to drive one of those for daily transport, but with the gas prices around here it is not possible for me to do that.. unless I wan't to spend all of my paycheck on my commute..

[kali_74TA]

Congratz on the find and purchase Box

[Mumbles]

Bad@$$ ride Box!  Hardtop Formula with 6 Speed and Cloth Interior. Perfect!  Congrats man. 

[Casey]

Thanks everyone!  Can't give an official statement as I've not driven it enough, but it seems to get the 26 mpg highway on the sticker sheet if not a little better even.  What's weird is going down the road at 55 mph in sixth gear barely above idle.   Also yes it is perfect for me as a hardtop 6-speed Formula in black was my dream combination, honestly I still can't believe it happened.

[Mumbles]

Thanks everyone!  Can't give an official statement as I've not driven it enough, but it seems to get the 26 mpg highway on the sticker sheet if not a little better even.  What's weird is going down the road at 55 mph in sixth gear barely above idle.   Also yes it is perfect for me as a hardtop 6-speed Formula in black was my dream combination, honestly I still can't believe it happened.

I never use 6th Gear on anything other than Interstate or above 70mph when driving either of my 4th Gens.  Any 2 lane Highway I just leave it in 5th.  I've never tested to see if I loose any MPG, but I would imagine its minimal if anything.

[roadking77]

Congrats on the car Box, my sister has one of those sitting in the barn behind her house. Only hers is dark green with leather. She bought it new, now it just sits there collecting dust!

[Casey]

When I first started on the way home I was using fifth but I was like I wonder, so I dropped into sixth and surprisingly it'd still gain speed pretty decently without fuss even at that low of an engine speed.  Yay torque!   I will say it's weird, in a good way, having a V8 with a stick shift.  I'm so used to V8's always having an auto behind them, and only having a stick on I4's.

Thanks, and that's a shame it's just sitting.  My mom had a '95 that was dark green metallic, but had tan cloth if memory serves me correctly but it could've been leather.  I'll have to wash it sometime this week or weekend and get some better pictures of it.  After an 180 mile round trip I was like, "These will suffice".

[Ford5of5]

Today I, well last night around 11, was diagnosed with meningitis! I'm going to become a complete shut-in. All you people are diseased!

[DeCaff2007]

Today I, well last night around 11, was diagnosed with meningitis! I'm going to become a complete shut-in. All you people are diseased!

Treatable I hope?

[Ford5of5]

Returned to the Doc and he downgraded it pneumonia after testing came back. I got a bunch of antibiotics and inhalers.

[pancho400cid]

Box:

Nice car! Congrats


Ford5of5:

downgraded it pneumonia

Well.... you KNOW you're sick if what you have gets "downgraded to pneumonia".

Hopefully I'm preaching to the choir, but take pneumonia very seriously, and regard fighting it as an "all in" effort.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

[Casey]

Thanks!

Also it is pretty bad when you're like, "Woo close call, thankfully it's ONLY pneumonia."   Get better soon!

[Ford5of5]

Meningitis was diagnosed at hospital, partly because I mentioned I was having back pain but that's because I ruptured a few discs some years back. When I saw my primary Doc he said no. This is the first time I was ever delirious due to body temperature. I turned 40 last November, so it's time to start taking care of myself. In my youth I was rarely ever sick and even then only for a day or 2. It seems like the last few years I've got bronchitis and now pneumonia. Thanks for well wishes and right back at ya.

[Jack]

40 is old? then I should have thrown in the towel long ago take care of yourself Mr. Ford.
and congrats Box.

[Casey]

These days 40 isn't that old, heck even 60 isn't really all that old when you think about it.  Also thanks Jack.

My brother(one with the car lot behind the bird ) is already pushing for me to do mods like exhaust and such to it, but I'd kind of feel bad about changing anything on it since it is so hard to find one that's all original.

[Casey]

Went through the glove box today and found the owner's manual and roadside assistance pamphlet along the build sheet and window sticker.

[Casey]

If you're getting run ragged I'd think about giving it up if you can make it halfway work financially.  It sounds like all you do is work and get a little sleep, that's no way to live.  Perhaps can find something else to make money on the side that's more conducive to your life.

[roadking77]

I will change the tone of the present convo. Today I took my engine to the speed shop I told him I wanted the car on the road by this coming fall, he said he would have the motor in by late spring Lets hope this isn't another one of those promises falling short story.