O.K. , it's been a long tough road for me here as the painter is really good but flat out doesn't care what you , the paying Customer wants , he lost or threw away many irreplacable parts and cut up and discarded the never dented original paint cab that many people had asked me to save *perfect* parts from , this is inexcusable in my book . I hope the glassine paint shows well here as it's simply amazing ~ way better than even the new GM show trucks had back in 1969 . Some here may not be aware that factory show rigs are always ringers , not much like what you'll find at your local Chevrolet Dealer . The day I picked it up *SO* pretty ! . Pushing it outside .
More Because You Asked Six of the seven hubcaps he claimed I never brought..... View attachment 14780 The high dollar Southern Hard Pine bed he ruined ~ surfboard paint (or whatever the hell it is) glossy like a mirror , you cannot see the wood grain m a thing we discussed in detail then he lied to me and did this . View attachment 14781 Great for a worthless show rig I guess , this is my SHOP TRUCK dammit . One hub cap he half heartedly tried to mask off for painting , he lied yet again , showing me an old airbrush gun he claimed he'd been using for detail works for 30 years..... View attachment 14782 I guess I'm supposed to be happy he ponied up my hub caps after trying to tell me I'd never brought any .
Free at last... Wow, Nate, that really looks good! Glad you got it back. Now just get that pretty refurbed six in it and good to go. I could not open the pictures of the hubcaps. I think the policy on loose parts at any shop should be to bring them home immediately. It could be the owner is righteous enough, but, has thieves in his crew. This exact thing happened with my cousins 68 Camaro. Two complete doors walked away from the body shop, and he had to buy repros. Body shop guy didn't have any answers. Same cousin owns a trailer building company. They were having lots of inventory discrepancies. Come to find out, an employee had quite a trailer parts Ebay store! I hate thieves. P.S. I would like to see the wood in the bed, just throw a rug on it for your hauling needs.
Replies Interesting as I too had troubles with the hub cab files... If you take the loose parts away , the body shop then gets backed up waiting for you to return them etc...... This guy simply DOESN'T CARE . I really don't think he steals , maybe his employees do (that might have happened to a gas cap I've not seen in FORTY YEARS) but who knows . The main thing (IMO) is : he managed to blow off THREE MORE high dollar paint jobs , easy jobs that require very little body repair . This is beyond stupid because : the primary business of business is : BUSINESS ! (duh) so pissing off Customers , especially those who asked you in advance and then warned you that if any B.S. occurred , I'd go all over the internet killing his reputation , is simply bad business . I thought everyone was waiting to see my photos , not many have .
I've been interested, and waiting since you took it in. I think this forum is at low tide. Summer, I guess. I have to go pull the trans., clutch and flywheel on my KW now. Rear main seal just started leaking, and I don't think it will heal itself. I'm getting too old for this...
Whoa ! Stev e ; Are you planning to pull a Road Ranger or Allison tranny out of a KENWORTH ?! . Jeezo-Peezo man ! I was whining last week 'cause I had to rebuild a turbo charger , the first day was hot and muggy , the second day it was raining , a real down pour , something we don't often get in Los Angeles . I was grumpy but fine as I replaced the canvas on my canopy ~ I have no indoor place to work . I'm going to be off duty Thu. ~ Sun. and had planned working on my Moto , some injector service and so on , maybe a hot LOF on SWMBO's Mercedes as it <magically) gained 3,000 + miles since I've been driving it . Trouble is : the forcast is for 97? ~ 101? F and high humidity .
Yep, Nate, it's a 13 speed overdrive "roadranger". 800 pounds of transmission. Heavy duty driveline with carrier bearing. Super duty clutch, big a$$ flywheel on a 3406E Caterpillar. It's a job I've done many times, over the years. I would hire it done if I could find someone who would do it to my liking, and had the time, but, the labor alone around here is $1500-$2000. Just seems to get harder as I've gotten older. And, it's been in the 90s with about 100% Indiana humidity. All that labor to change a $77 seal.
OUCH ! . I've forgotten what it was but there's a much better clutch kit I used to get the guys in the shop when doing clutch jobs on our Pete 372's . Those here who think that big old Muncie SM420 was bad , have NO IDEA what a bad clutch job is .
Nate, The Truck looks really good. Sorry to hear about the parts vanishing. Have you started putting the engine in yet?
Progress However Slow I re assembled the engine and tranny , his ' mechanic 'installed it to the frame before (?) they buttoned up the front end sheet metal . I don't know if I posted pix of it , I laboriously wire brushed and stripped off all the old paint and rust before re painting it then I re painted the various engine accessories , new water pump and so on , hoses , spark plugs etc. ~ their eyes bugged out when I took it to them for installation . I didn't think it my best work by far but it looks nice and I test ran it etc. . I'm saddened he didn't seem to care what I wanted , as you alls know so well , original parts are always the best ones and often have minor cosmetic details that cannot be replicated . I'm giving him one more chance to find the gas cap and hand it over before I go ape shyte on him over the Internet . I have two more cars I wanted him to paint but if I can't trust you , I won't give you any work . I need to do a basic ' make run ' as it's in my tiny short driveway (shorter than yours) and I need to be able to move it in and out so I can work . I'll be lucky to get it finished in less than one year .
I do have a canopy Charles . I just replaced the canvas with a nice green one , it seems cooler under there now . Still lots of dust and tree sap makes it to the paint . Oh well , it's a work truck anyway .
Nate, the truck is awesome. Love the color, the white bumpers... everything. That's too bad about the hubcaps, gas cap, over spray on the motor, etc. Seems to be par for the course in today's society. But you do have an awesome truck, with an even more awesome paint job... congrat's! _____ John
Not Done Yet There wasn't any overspray on the engine , I took it and stripped , cleaned then re painted it , he and his whole crew came out and googled as I unloaded it , looked pretty nice if I say so my ownself . The huib caps eventually turned up but *not* the ding dang gas cap . Words fail to explain how royally pissed off i am over that . He lost / discarded a _LOT_ of unobtanium original parts , broke a *PERFECT* original outside rear view mirror then LIED to me and said it was a Chinese replacement , I don't think he'd ever seen such a clean and original rig before . few have , only the rust holes forced me to take it apart . Sigh . Hey you kids ! GET OFFA MY LAWN !! .