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Reasons to work on your truck yourself...

dremu

dremu

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somebody -- I'm fearful the professional I paid to install my crate motor seven or eight years ago, before I knew about CK5 and learned to wrench -- *trimmed* the lip on my valve covers to make them fit better.

Never mind the fact that using the CORRECT, thick gaskets would solve the problem ... they randomly hit the lip with a saw and a grinder to shave them down.

:mad: AAARGH. :eek1: I mean, walter tango foxtrot?

No wonder the lip bent up and was leaking like a sieve. It was when I started to bend the lip back down that I noticed the cut marks ... oy.

Anyway, gave me an excuse to order some other stuff from Summit, get some new covers. :rolleyes:

-- A
 
if you get new valve covers, and they look cool, ull get an extra 10hp, or if you get some trick aluminum ones, its good for at least 20hp....:laugh:
 
shaun89 said:
if you get new valve covers, and they look cool, ull get an extra 10hp, or if you get some trick aluminum ones, its good for at least 20hp....:laugh:
Click to expand...

Yeah, well, the local parts places only sell the chrome ones, which I refuse to do. Not least 'cuz they haev a reputation for leakage, but also 'cuz they're chrome, which I don't do.

So I ordered some nice black steel ones. No extra hp, no extra leakage neither. :deal:

-- A
 
I put on a set of cast aluminum M/T covers and took 3 seconds off of my 1/4 mile time!:haha: :haha:
 
i hate valvecovers...you dont need them...theyre overrated!! haha. Maybe this is why my motor leaves oileverytime its parked longer than 2minutes...:doah:
 
dremu said:
somebody -- I'm fearful the professional I paid to install my crate motor seven or eight years ago, before I knew about CK5 and learned to wrench -- *trimmed* the lip on my valve covers to make them fit better.

Never mind the fact that using the CORRECT, thick gaskets would solve the problem ... they randomly hit the lip with a saw and a grinder to shave them down.

:mad: AAARGH. :eek1: I mean, walter tango foxtrot?

No wonder the lip bent up and was leaking like a sieve. It was when I started to bend the lip back down that I noticed the cut marks ... oy.

Anyway, gave me an excuse to order some other stuff from Summit, get some new covers. :rolleyes:

-- A
Click to expand...
i'm always scared of that.no one looks at JR with the same love as me.they see junk.so its me or ck5 members only.;)
 
454k30 said:
I put on a set of cast aluminum M/T covers and took 3 seconds off of my 1/4 mile time!:haha: :haha:
Click to expand...
i have a set of gold anodized MOROSO valve covers i bought new in 1976.(no kidding). they have never been on an engine.they are lighter than cast.did i mention they are gold!!you could shave another 2 seconds off easy.:haha: :haha: :haha: :haha: i'll get a pic tommorow.they are in the original box.i was 16 when i bought them.:laugh:
 
damn....i had to trim the ones on my GM crate motor...even with the thick gasket. damn intake manifold made overseas. owell, im getting an edelbrock manifold real soon, and some more vc's too.
 
dremu said:
before I knew about CK5 and learned to wrench --
Click to expand...


I am in the same boat..

in 1997 I paid someone to lift my truck...
only because
1. I was new to lifted trucks
2. internet wasnt like it is today
3. NJ lift laws are picky...

I walked in and said I want a 8" leaf lift on all corners.. while walking through the yard I saw a truck with 12" leafs and he said he would hook me up..

well he did.. $500 for 4 x 12" leafs... so he said 2 weeks to have the truck lifted... well it took 3 months... by then NJ changed their lift laws and the truck was illegal. So I called him and said just drop it off and I will pay you the $180 I owe him.. he said.. ummm you owe me more than that.. so I asked him how much and he said $580... I was like WTF!!! he said he gave me an estimate.. could be higher or lower... so I paid it and the truck sat from 1997 till 2004.
my bro in law needed a motor and I heard he had 1991 caprice police cars and selling the motors.... real clean motors too... so I bought one... too... he told me 260+ hp... well since the internet has evolved.. I did some searching... 195hp/295 ft lbs torque... ok so screwed again.. I will never deal with him again...

now I have lowered my truck and fixed sooo many booger welds and hack jobs that he did....

I just fixed my rear spring hangers.. he put 56" leafs on a 52" leafed truck!!!!
all in all he gave me the oppertunity to do the 56" leaf upgrade....

so yeah I do my own stuff if I can now....
 
That's right. Nobody cares about your ride except for you.
 
This is why I quit being a mechanic. I couldn't hack up someone's car just because my boss needed the bay and we didn't have the right parts in stock. I remember him telling me to put small rotors on the front of a subaru that required the larger high performance rotors, there was less than half the pad contacting the rotor face. I walked out of the shop and he ended up putting them on. I'm suprised he hasn't been sued yet, there are so many things I can think of that are either unsafe or immoral. There are very few shops I would ever trust doing work on my car after working for a place like that.

By the way, the shop was Meineke in Chicopee, MA.
 
one of the reasons i do all my own stuff is becuase it is such a frankenstine and it now has push button start and manuel glow plugs.... unless i show them how to do it, they call and are like... um we cant start your truck, so we are going to test your starter and batteries, 3hrs later i get another message telling me i need a new starter... F that

you have to know the owner of the shop to get any kind of service or for someone to care about teh quality of the job.
 
I net less than $2k a month and have a fourth kid on the way. I'm too cheap to pay someone else to do what I can figure out in my driveway. If I havent worked on it yet, I wait till it breaks. Cant make it worse if its already broken......

Plus I have CK5 to help me out :D THANKS GUYS!!
 
i do it myself. i do all my own oil changes but i see $10 dollar oil change spots everywhere. i'd save money but i also drive that chance back and forth to work everyday. i figure a few bucks or my life? chances are they're gonna mess with something that could take that away from you
 
2 of my favorite quotes- "Since I'm the one doing the work, I'm in charge of quality" and "You are your own warrantee station" :)
 
FWP said:
2 of my favorite quotes- "Since I'm the one doing the work, I'm in charge of quality" and "You are your own warrantee station" :)
Click to expand...

Yeah ... when I go into the parts place I hafta blame "some redheaded idiot who worked on the truck" =)) [NB: that's me!]

-- A
 
Wow I do the same thing.

I have one shop that I would trust to do work, and the only thing I have ever had them do was rebuild the alternator and starters on my vehicles. Anything outside of that, I would rather do it myself. If I screw it up, at least I know it is screwed up, too many shops wouldn't even tell you there was a problem. Right down to one shop that lied and said they had replaced the head gasket on my Cavalier without having to pull the power steering pump. The bolts came out of the pump in two days, and they said they didn't do it. I will never again trust a shop to do work that I can do myself.
 
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