Work out of my garage/driveway
- Thread starter ORVietVet
- Start date
Several months back, my shop owner friend and I did a Ford crate engine and local transmission build on my neighbor's 2006 Ford F150 5.4. Here are the first oil analysis results from Speediagnostix which is a company owned by Lake Speed Jr. and he is all over you tube.
Cadillacmak
Well-Known Member
That's the only way to fly! I do have electric choke, deluxe 8 track, a backup camera, and power brakes and steering in my 75 F250, but other than that its manual all the way!
At 90 he needs p/s and he listens to music on his smart phone. He is quite computer and smart phone savvy. He has a back-up camera that came on the Wrangler and does use it.
Without it, it would be "back up till you hear glass or smell blood".
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May 1, today, met at 3:30 with my Primary Care Physician at the VA. I do have a double Inguinal hernia and right side is the worst of the two but there is nothing showing "coming thru" and even the right one was very hard to find. So, they said that if I keep doing "strenuous" mechanical work, I will need surgery. I may need surgery anyway, eventually, but I may be able to just go about the rest of my life and never have to have the operation. Basically, I can still do mechanical work that is not strenuous, like oil changes and changing spark plugs but stay away from doing water pumps and brake work, where I would have to handle taking tire and wheel assemblies off and back on. These are just examples and I will just have to learn to be picky and keep on doing what I want to do.
Also, I do have arthritis in my right hip and that will limit some of my movement.
I also have a prostrate problem and they are going to do a "consult" with a urologist. I gotta go in when they set up the time.
At this point, it looks like I can decide to have double hernia operation and 2-3 months recovery later, I may be ok to go back and work on what I want but will still be limited with the right hip. That can mean hip surgery and that will mean that I will still be limited after that surgery.
At this point I am going to talk it over with my girl and I may be selling my big Snap On box and lots of some tools and specialty tools. I would be keeping my US General roll around cart and some basic tools for light duty work.
Just thinking out loud at this point. It may take some time before I make any solid decisions but I am just putting it out there.
Also, I do have arthritis in my right hip and that will limit some of my movement.
I also have a prostrate problem and they are going to do a "consult" with a urologist. I gotta go in when they set up the time.
At this point, it looks like I can decide to have double hernia operation and 2-3 months recovery later, I may be ok to go back and work on what I want but will still be limited with the right hip. That can mean hip surgery and that will mean that I will still be limited after that surgery.
At this point I am going to talk it over with my girl and I may be selling my big Snap On box and lots of some tools and specialty tools. I would be keeping my US General roll around cart and some basic tools for light duty work.
Just thinking out loud at this point. It may take some time before I make any solid decisions but I am just putting it out there.
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99Sierra2500
Well-Known Member
Sorry to hear that about your health, and thinking about selling your tools.
Well, I did just talk to my friend that owns the shop just outside of town in Junction City, Or. He wants me to come work for him on a part time or daily basis and he will initially talk to customers and collect their money but needs me to do all the rest of the in between stuff.
Take his info he gets up front and what his diagnosis is and build the work order, look up and price out all the parts and labor and fees and keep up with the flow of work order info as it works thru the repair process and eventually get the ticket ready for him to collect and talk to customer at the end. I can do most of this at home. I will call parts houses and arrange for parts delivery. If I need to fill in a little on a mechanical job, he is aware of my limits. Any of my existing customers that I bring in to the shop, I will get a percentage of the ticket on top of my other wages.
If I need a week or so off for a trip with my girl, no problem at all.
Cadillacmak
Well-Known Member
Sounds like your a smart man who knows how to bend with the wind a still stay rooted. You will have to start a just rolled in thread if you go to work there.
The good thing about all this is that after I learn the system for the repair orders, I will be doing most of the work on my computer at home or on my cell.
99Sierra2500
Well-Known Member
Happy to hear you found yourself something.
He is a good friend and knows of my knowledge and capabilities when I can physically do the work. I have helped in his shop several times. I have seen where he can be elbows deep in a repair and then someone walks in needing info/help. He would have to stop what he is doing and talk to that person and sometimes, he would lose an hour. With me being there when he could use another set of hands and knowing that the computer work can get done, it allows him to go from a typical, billing of close to 55 hours a week to billing close to 80-85 hours a week. He is that good and that knowledgeable. He is especially good at tuning, electrical work and tracking electrical problems/shorts.
Like I said in here before, go to autotech.life on instagram and check him out.
Allowing me to be flexible with my work hours and where I work, is gonna make my girl happy, who gives me crap about doing what I do when I am supposed to be retired.
99Sierra2500
Well-Known Member
I will bet you are golden for him, helping diagnose stuff, and write up the orders. That is half the battle running a shop. Also not the fun part, not like being elbow deep in a rig. Much rather be turning wrenches. Electrical is special. Working for a shop in the early 90's, my boss called me over: "Here's an 86 fiero needs a harness." Oh no ... lol It just takes patience though, carefully tracing stuff, not parts cannon. Though that has kind of been my feeling about everything, find out what is wrong before buying parts.
If you look at that autotech.life on instagram, you will see a video of a vehicle with a/c blowing hot air and shows that on an infra-red gun. after he verifies that it is full of refrigerant he then prints out the system wiring diagrams and shows how he tracks the problem to a failed relay and then the fix and a pic of the infra-red gun showing blowing cold air. I have watched him track electrical problems like that many times. He is also a diesel specialist on top of gas engine expertise.
99Sierra2500
Well-Known Member
Being a good AC and diesel mechanic are aces as well, sounds like a great shop, those are the best to work for.
If you go to this FJ Cruiser Forum and look this thread up, you will see all the pics of the extensive work both of us did on a 2010 Toyota FJ Cruiser for an American Legion friend of mine. To this day, we get responses from members at that forum that tell us that thread is the most detailed thread ever for that work and it is looked at all the time for pointers.
We have a member of that forum that is bringing his 2010 FJ Cruiser from southern Ca. to get the same work done. He is driving up to Oregon, flying home, when done flying back to Oregon and driving home. He would have been here already but the fires down there damaged some of his families homes and he is delayed. He assures us, he is still coming for the work.
In all the time I have known this friend of mine, I have not ever seen or heard of a comeback.
99Sierra2500
Well-Known Member
CB's are the worst. Finding a good mechanic is golden, I see the struggle all the time. I read the thread over there, it is really good.
We actually were surprised of the response at that forum. There is some members there that "seemed" to be the go to guys there and when this thread was being posted, we continually had members tell us how amazed at the detail they were seeing and even some of the "go to" guys came there and complimented us for the attention to details and explanations of why we did what we did.
We had a couple of naysayers that were saying we could avoid this or that if we circumvented established correct steps. We explained that there is no substitute for the correct way of doing the repair. The naysayers shut up after that.
99Sierra2500
Well-Known Member
I saw that, you guys are right, there wasn't any way to not be a 100% on that job and cut corners. It is the way to be.
My shop owner friend is 42 and I am 72. I wish I was 30 years younger and know him and could open a shop together. But, he is entrenched in his one man shop at the moment and I am gonna go help him with the running of it while he will then be left with the mechanical side of it. He recently wanted to make a repeat customer happy that Progressive Insurance was paying to have his Ford Super Duty diesel fuel system completely redone because of some a*s*shole putting something in his fuel tank. The entire fuel system was being replaced. He was deep in it and Progressive called and asked progress on the job. My friend told them of some delays because of parts availability but the final parts needed did show and he was going back to work on it. Normally he closes shop at 6 pm. He felt bad for the delays. He closed shop at 4:30 and worked till 4:30 in the morning and then went home and ate, showered and slept for 2 hours and came back and had the truck done by 2:00 pm that day. Progressive told him to put in request for extra pay because as it turns out, some of the delay was caused by a couple broken bolts that he had to deal with and make right. Progressive stepped up and paid in full and the customer was very happy.
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