Side Job That Was Crap From Beginning

[lxman]

So this kid buys a 88 gt motor from me and my b303 cam. Then he wants me to put it in his car, well i didnt want to but my wife did. Well he brings me his 94 gt in tons of pieces. So im like holy crap this is gonna suck. Well i put it all together advance the cam 4 degrees engine turns cranks good no problems. Well i go to start the damn thing and the atarter craps out.
at this point im like geez. Well get it started idles fine then around 3000 rpmit falls on uts face and pops througg the intake. So im like just freakin great now i gotta work on it some more. The whole time im working on this kids car he keeps nagging about when will it be done and all this crap. I tell him dud you brought me this thing in pieces all my extra parts gaskets everything are gone now cuz i was nice and didnt charge him for it. Well point is im tired of being nice and working on others people crap just to get taken advantage of. Just wanted to vent. Im a lil irritated. Anyone else have crap like this happen to them?

 

[tca7291]

Used to happen to me all the time. Then I started turning down everybody, telling them "I don't have the time", and before long, nobody was asking me for favours anymore! That sucks that you got stuck putting the engine in the car, I would have just said "pick it up and deal with it on your own". The kid needs to learn how to work on it anyway, might as well not make it your problem! As far as the "popping" above 3k, is it getting proper fuel?

 

[RacEoHolic330]

It took me a while, but I finally realized my time is too important to do charity work for people anymore. Gotta pay to play. Most of the time I just ask people for material costs and a six pack of (good) beer if it's something simple. Typically people just ask me to weld something for them, usually non-automotive related. Just did a fire pit cover and a BBQ smoker a few weeks ago.

 

[Boosted92LX]

When someone asks me to do a job like that I tell the "Sure- $100.00 an hour and you get it when you get it." That usually sends them away. Gotta be careful though, because some people will still accept those terms.. Lol.

 

[lxman]

Glad im not the only one out there. What happened was thus kid put ported and polished e7 heads on his car and it didnt go so well for him. Cylinder 8 looked like a dogs chew toy. Lol. I have to little kids a 4 yr old and a 2 yr old and a wife. I got out if the military to spend morr time with the family cuz i was gone to much. Now i got people wanting me to do stuff like this. Time is too precious to waste. Then the kids wants to know what parts to get so he can go fast have power. Im like dude you to need to keep your car running first.lol
Yeah it got good fuel pressure. Plus i realized this moring that while i was adjusting the timng last night i didnt pull the spout. That could be the problem right there. When you work on cars all day then come home from work tired as hell just to keep doing it still, you forvet luttle stuff.

 

[rd]

Went to help a co worker with a broke 80 something Olds 88 fwd. It was up on the hobbby shop lift, and they called him to come down, so I gave him a ride. Starter was broke, one of the ears broke off so it would not engage.

To get it started, I held the starter motor in by hand while he cranked it, paid, and drove it to another shop that said they could fix it.

Glad I passed on the opportunity to do that one...

 

[91TwighlightGT]

As soon as you saw it was already in pieces, pass. There is always a hidden problem in these situations.

 

[lxman]

Yeah hopefully he will be raking it home tomorrow. I am finished with side jobs.

 

[srtthis]

this is why i dont do many side jobs.

 

[lxman]

Yep lesson learned

 

[FastDriver]

Cover your ass and take pictures before it goes. Probably should have taken them when it arrived, too. Maybe even make a video of it running. This guy sounds like he's the type to it up and then he might try to bring that back on you.

 

[lxman]

Yeah should have. I set the timing on it last night. He came and drove it up on his trailer and left. He said my check engine light is on it wasnt before, i said thats cuz you had me get rid of your emissions stuff. I hope i dont ever see this car again! Lesson definitely learnex for the future! That car was a huge pile of . Now its a good running pile of lol!

 

[tca7291]

Glad to hear your headache is over!

 

[foxna6]

Why did no body complain about posters spelling and use of periods like you alway do to me :'(

 

[FastDriver]

foxna6, you should have written, "Why didn't anybody complain about the original poster's spelling and use of periods, like you always complain about mine?"

just sayin'...

 

[Mr67Stang]

I think almost all of have been there. Typically we think "it wont be to hard".

About 2 years ago I found an ad on Craigs List where a kid was parting out his rolled over 1990 LX 5.0. I went and looked at it and determined I would like to have the whole car. As it turns out, he just wanted the HO engine to put in his truck. So, in a stroke of ingenius I offer to make the swap for what was left of the car. I ended up having to rewire his injector wiring harness, wait for him to bring parts and basically kick, scream and cuss at this POS truck for a week. I finally get it put together and the transmission is shot. Kid is all but broke. He goes to a junk yard for a used tranny and I put it in with my brother inlaw for $100. I drank more than $100 in beer during this project.

 

[StreetsideStig]

I like to help out my friends, but sometimes a project becomes a little bigger than I'd bargained for. I try to limit my time with things. I'll only do most jobs on Saturdays, and if I can't do it in a few hours on Saturday, they need to take it to a shop.

But most of my friends know nothing about cars, so most of the jobs are small. Change a headlight, flush the radiator, change brake pads. Alot of them are college students scraping by, so it's either having someone like me doing it for the cost of parts, or not being able to do it at all. Then there's "safety" inspections, where a cracked exhaust gets red stamped as death for everyone else on the road, and suddenly my friends are without transport. I can't let that happen.

Also, I have several young, attractive female friends, who have other young, attractive female friends, who might need some help someday...

As for this kid, though, I'd've just encouraged him to do it himself. If it's a project car for him, he can afford to teach himself.

 

[Maryland Stang]

I only offer technical advice. They can come to my house and use my tools, but they have to do the work themselves. They must also bring a Haynes or Chilton manual. If they have a problem that they can't figure out then I'll help. It keeps everybody away.

 

[mob]

In my opinion if you do a side job you need to do it in a professional way, let them know they are a customer not your friend. You are doing it for the money, not to be nice. If they don't like your pace or work, they can pay you for what you've done so far, call a tow truck and take it somewhere else. Done. This is why I RARELY work on other peoples cars, luckily I've never had any issues.

 

[5.0Droptop]

I learned to tell people no.

And i have taught my wife not to ing volunteer me for anything.