My Midget lived in my favorite mechanic's shop for the best part of 6 months
while he did a rebuild and put in a new gearbox. He had not worked on British
for nearly 25 years and the conditions for doing the work (at a price I could
afford) were that he could take his time, and that I would find the parts. I
handed him British Auto Part's card and every time he called the answer was "In
stock, be there in an hour". We never get that kind of results with our
American
vehicles. The parts are consistently cheaper too!!! My total bill, less parts,
was $400.
Thecarguru@aol.com wrote:
> <What Toby said:>
> No way, on the new cars, that are computer controlled, you buy a "dignose"
> computer that you plug into your "black box". Since the computer you got is
> so cheap, you count the flashes and/or the beeps it produces and look up the
> right code in a yellow page size book. Fun Fun Fun! I think car manufactures
> and mechanics are in cahootes. (sp?) no longer can you work on modern
> cars... its really a shame.
> Toby Atwater, Santa Barbara, CA, tob@taltec.net
> 1969 Austin Healey Sprite, mk 4 "noname" (in restoration!)
> 1971 FJ-40 Toyota Land Cruiser "BEEF" (daily driver.. stock everything)
>
> My FAVORITE part of being a tech- when you get all those codes,verfiy the
> wiring, find the defective part, and relate to the customer that yes- we can
> get that. ITs only a few hundred bucks, and one day away. Thats usually about
> the time that they notice Im driving an MG and they say something like " I
> used to have one of those, it cost me an arm and a leg to keep running" and I
> laugh. Its almost an evil laugh.
> Its not my favorite because the part is easy to replace and costs a bundle,
> but that I will (hopefully) never have to spend that much cash on a little
> electronic gizmo for my daily drivers just to keep them running.
>
> Did I ever tell the story about the six months it took a Ford dealership to
> track down and fix a brand new (right off the truck) Mustang with 3 miles on
> it??
>
> Gary
> 75 Midget daily use
> 75 Midget project car
|