What has gone wrong so far...

[TonyJZX]

qv. nismogemini's thread in rants qv. dyed carpets

i'd have had a mental breakdown by now!

[arcane]

Kudos to you for sticking to it, Hoonboy.

[HoonBoy]

I offered to help you make one...

Gaz

I had trouble getting a proper thickness steel, so I used thicker stuff which made it painfully slow to make. I gave up after two solid days of work and having a basic shape with all of the bolt holes in it. It still needed trimming on all of the "scraping" bits which would of taken a bloody long time! The good new is they have made and sent the crankscraper, I even have pics of it! It should be appearing in the sequel of Castaway when it goes missing in transit...

[GAZ914]

Mine ONLY took me a week :knock:
But I did learn a lot if I ever make one again.

Thats a nice bit of kit though - better than my "one side of an oven" derived attempt

cheers
Gaz

[phreeky]

I've developed a little rule for which places to buy shit from:
- if they say "they can get anything", go elsewhere
- if they claim they know more about your car then yourself, go elsewhere
- if they raise an eyebrow about having: a) a car they're not familiar with/haven't heard of, or b) has an engine conversion........go elsewhere

So far I've only been fucked around a couple of times, luckily, the rest of the time I was smart enough to actually go elsewhere.

Suspension sucks arse for parts, I've thankfully (and surprisingly) had good luck with a place that let me take parts home and see if they fit, and if not just to bring them back in.

I've also found the biggest pain is working on the car you use for transport, it's hell. Thankfully my girlfriends car is now often available as she has a work car, an absolute life saver!

[AlexinPerth]

With regards to turning up, and the workshop not expecting you, can I suggest the following:
* Make sure you're speaking to the manager
* Arrange a time to do it, make sure you make it clear you are "booking in" the work
* Ring the day before, speak to the manager, confirm the booking
* Ring before you leave / as soon as they are open, confirm the booking again
* Make it clear that if they don't honour the booking, then you will take your business elsewhere (maybe mention their local competitors if you're feeling really nasty).

It'd be good to deal with everyone as if they were a mate and trust them, but in the end, you will get screwed over time and time again by people who either aren't organised enough to use a diary, or people who just aren't interested in your business.

Alex.

[HoonBoy]

That would be a great way to piss off the workshop before they touch your pride and joy...

[AlexinPerth]

Not really, it's being professional. It's not uncommon to confirm appointments in other industries..

You're letting them walk all over you mate.

Alex.

[HoonBoy]

I have no probelm with confirming appointments, in fact better places ring you and confirm a day or to before hand, its this comment that I was referring to:

* Make it clear that if they don't honour the booking, then you will take your business elsewhere (maybe mention their local competitors if you're feeling really nasty).

This is making the assumption that they are going to stuff up before you even get there. I am not dealing with places that are struggling to make a profit and after they stuff up, they have no issues with me going elsewhere. Doesn't work if there is nowhere else to go to locally either!

[AlexinPerth]

Yeah, fair enough. I personally wouldn't do that step, but I might feel differently after what you've been through. Kudos for keeping at it.

Alex.

[HoonBoy]

Woohoo!! Crank scraper just arrived!



Whats the bet it doesn't fit

[F|sh]

I'll Take A $5 It Does

[Eeyore]

From that list you sure have endured alot of frustration and disapointent. However like most people on here I'm keen to see the finished result... it's a very cool, unique project Good luck!

[HoonBoy]

F|sh, you owe me 5 bucks...


It needs a hole drilled for the dipstick and one of the sump bolt holes needs to be elongated to line up. I'm glad I got the teflon scraper, without it I think it would of been out by a couple of mm to one end.

[F|sh]

Hoonboy,

I'll buy you a beer for your troubles