How bad did I drop the ball?

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Yes...I &*$#ed this one up bad. I dropped by the shop Saturday morning...and the car looks exactly like it did a month ago...and a month before that...and a month before that. He can't get the driver's side bar out of the k member. Says it must be twisted in the pocket. He's working on cutting the bar and turning it with a pipe wrench to try and get it out. A job which would have taken me oh...half an hour, tops, given a decent hacksaw. But he's got a new tank of oxygen for the cutting torch. Maybe the car will be outta the shop in time for my 10 year HS reunion in three weeks...
 
Pahrmboy it's not really your fault. I've ran into guys like this before too. The drivers side torsion bar was stuck in pretty tight on my Cuda when I took it apart but nothing a good ole bfh didnt' take care of. As far as his comment of it being twisted in the socket, I don't know how that would be possible. Both are very hard steel and don't strip easily at all. Does he have the adjuster completely backed out and is he using a torsion bar removal tool? You have to make sure not only the adjuster is backed completely off so there is no tension cause if there is it makes it grab and hold tight. The removal tool helps greatly. The first one I did was before I knew much about them and I clamped vise grips on the torsion bar and beat it out. Needless to say I had to reposition the vise grips several times because they kept slipping and I ruined the torsion bars doing it. Learned a hard lesson to spend the money on the removal tool.
 
i did the scarebird conversion, 10 in drum to celebrity discs and calipers, and then put the "addco" sway bay on (Just Suspension)...stops straight and turns well, no bumps, grinds or banging noises....1000 miles approx (68 abody)
 
Fishy...

Yeah, he's got the removal tool...since I bought him one. And he's backed out the adjuster. He said it was turned all the way in to start with. I'm just growing exceptionally tired of this situation. Guess I should never have said there was no rush. He also said to use the later MC that he's going to have to cut/reflare the brake lines...he's had the car for almost 13 weeks...should I be that concerned about something that'll take him maybe about a half hour?
 
Jeez, as a kid of 18 or 19, I rebuilt everything but the LCA bushings in about 2 days, and the one bar didn't want to come out, just beat the LCA back and forth till it broke loose. Must be totally unfamiliar with Mopar and won't admit it.

Yeah what pittman said...bring it over and it'll get done.
 
Make sure the adjuster all the way loose, make sure the clip is removed from the rear of the torsion bar, remove the big nut where the lower control arm goes through the k member, remove the nut from the strut rod, hold a piece of wood against the LCA stud where it comes through the k member and whack the wood with a hammer. I'm assuming that the LCA is already unbolted from the spindle. The whole assembly should slide toward the rear of the car. Easy as pie. He needs to remove the LCA anyway. Slide the LCA and torsion bar backwards, and then separate them.
 
ive found if the t bar dosnt want to come out with the ajusters all the way loose..the remove the bump stop off the upper c arm will make it easier .....the shop manual even says to do this in the t bar removal section........it lets the lower c arm drop just a little more....that may be all you need .........good luck
 
pharmboy said:
Fishy...

Yeah, he's got the removal tool...since I bought him one. And he's backed out the adjuster. He said it was turned all the way in to start with. I'm just growing exceptionally tired of this situation. Guess I should never have said there was no rush. He also said to use the later MC that he's going to have to cut/reflare the brake lines...he's had the car for almost 13 weeks...should I be that concerned about something that'll take him maybe about a half hour?
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TOOOO fishy, This situation could go from bad to horribly wrong if your aren't careful. GET THE THING OUT OF HIS SHOP before he wants to charge you $*** amount more due to "un-quoted" work. We've seen it happen before on this board where the shop/mechanic basically holds the car for ransom.
Price what it would be to flatbed the car to your house and see if it's doable.
Do you mind me asking what you are paying him? or if it's by the job or by the hour? ask him what your current bill is...watch the reaction and I hope you don't need a defibrillator standing by for when he tells you.
 
player1up said:
TOOOO fishy, This situation could go from bad to horribly wrong if your aren't careful. GET THE THING OUT OF HIS SHOP before he wants to charge you $*** amount more due to "un-quoted" work. We've seen it happen before on this board where the shop/mechanic basically holds the car for ransom.
Price what it would be to flatbed the car to your house and see if it's doable.
Do you mind me asking what you are paying him? or if it's by the job or by the hour? ask him what your current bill is...watch the reaction and I hope you don't need a defibrillator standing by for when he tells you.
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Yes, the $40,000 paint job. Remember that one? Pay him for what he`s already f**ked up and move on.
 
And here I was thinking I was the only one who had great luck at finding the slowest craftsman in any trade.....hope you get it conquered soon.
Best of luck with it, we feel your pain.
alan627b
 
I agree with the guys that you should get a flatbed and get it out of there before he really hammers you hard. Even though he'll probably want more money than it's worth for the work he's done so far it's better to pay it and get the car out of there and to someone that knows what their doing.
 
Seems that's what everyone thinks I should do. Bad part is, I'm three states away, and the car's sitting w/ the front end dismantled in the back of his shop. Luckily, he's got plenty of other work keeping him busy while he's not working on my car. I asked what I owed him thus far, he had no idea...he hadn't even figured it up yet. I guess this is one of those expensive life lessons. Plus, I don't know of a mechanic in the area who'd know about mopar suspensions.
 
If I was in your shoes..... :walk:.....I would at least pin him down on $$$ so far. Tell him you think you might be in "over your head". Claim poverty....sob story....

Time for a FABO Mopar rescue brigade........:bootysha:

Sorry this crap is going down.
 
I'm not sure about the Abody kit, but the scarebird disc conversion I put on my Charger had the calipers mounted to the rear. If it's the same design, there's no risk of the calipers hitting the sway bar.

this mechanic is an idiot, and obviously doesn;t know what he's doing. Unfortunately, it doesn;t sound like it's going to end well for you - every time I read a story about a mechanic that doesn't know what the price is yet, means that he's going to charge you a ridiculous amount when it's all added up.

Seriously, all that work if fairly straight-forward easy work that can be done with basic tools - ALWAYS do that stuff yourself, otherwise it'll cost you an arm and a leg every time. You can literally save tens of thousands of dollars over the course of a single resto by learning how to do this stuff yourself.

I was 18 when I bought my first Superbee and I never worked on a car prior to owning one. The factory service manual will be you best friend - especially when you don;t have experience working on cars. Pretty soon you'll realize that the mechanical knowlege you learn is reletively universal even when working on modern, computer-controlled vehicles. After that, you can pretty much work on anything.
 
danmc77 said:
I'm not sure about the Abody kit, but the scarebird disc conversion I put on my Charger had the calipers mounted to the rear. If it's the same design, there's no risk of the calipers hitting the sway bar.

this mechanic is an idiot, and obviously doesn;t know what he's doing. Unfortunately, it doesn;t sound like it's going to end well for you - every time I read a story about a mechanic that doesn't know what the price is yet, means that he's going to charge you a ridiculous amount when it's all added up.

Seriously, all that work if fairly straight-forward easy work that can be done with basic tools - ALWAYS do that stuff yourself, otherwise it'll cost you an arm and a leg every time. You can literally save tens of thousands of dollars over the course of a single resto by learning how to do this stuff yourself.

I was 18 when I bought my first Superbee and I never worked on a car prior to owning one. The factory service manual will be you best friend - especially when you don;t have experience working on cars. Pretty soon you'll realize that the mechanical knowlege you learn is reletively universal even when working on modern, computer-controlled vehicles. After that, you can pretty much work on anything.
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Excellent advice danmc77, a factory service manual for one`s car is essential reading for all Mopar enthusiasts. The best $50.00 pharmboy could spend.
 
Speaking of manuals, get one on CD or DVD. That way you can print out the pages you need, take them out to the car and get them all greasy. Then you throw them away, and you haven't greased up a whole book.
 
Week 13 is gone, and week 14 has started. Looks like my car is still in the shop, and I haven't heard anything. And there's no real way to get a car with no front end out from the very back bay of a garage(about 40' from the door w/ out special equipment...I don't care what my father thinks...
 
pharmboy said:
Week 13 is gone, and week 14 has started. Looks like my car is still in the shop, and I haven't heard anything. And there's no real way to get a car with no front end out from the very back bay of a garage(about 40' from the door w/ out special equipment...I don't care what my father thinks...
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All I can say friend is better you than me.

Don't you hate it when somebody says that. :-D
 
I've more or less accepted that I &$%@#ed this one up bad...At least I'm not around to see the carnage...oh, wait...if I were around, it might get done in some sort of reasonable/orderly fashion somehow...I'm starting to think I should've just sold the car and 'cut my losses' a lot earlier on...oh well
 
pharmboy said:
I've more or less accepted that I &$%@#ed this one up bad...At least I'm not around to see the carnage...oh, wait...if I were around, it might get done in some sort of reasonable/orderly fashion somehow...I'm starting to think I should've just sold the car and 'cut my losses' a lot earlier on...oh well
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Seriously pharmboy ... I really don't feel like this mechanic is being honest with you or knows his stuff. Either way it's not good. I mean you're not happy with the circumstances and it's like this guy is the devil and he just don't care if the car gets finished anytime soon. He more likely will get mad and charge you to much for what he has already done but you really need to get your car out of there if you want to get it done in a timely matter. Man I would like you to find a Mopar knowing mechanic to finish the job. Best of luck bud.
 
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