Exhaust Leak Story
April 10th, 2011, 03:28 PM
#1
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: South Texas
Posts: 70
Exhaust Leak Story
I was told I had an exhaust leak by two different mechanics/garages. It seemed they were correct and one of the garages didn't want to mess with it and the other said the motor should be pulled because the bolts were froze. Low and behold I searched on and found it was the only the choke tube assembly gasket. Boy did that put a smile on my face.. $8.00 is all it cost me.
April 11th, 2011, 04:33 AM
#4
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Maryland
Posts: 1,665
Sounds to me like one of two things occurred with these shops:
A) The people you dealt with need to close up shop and rent out that cranial space between their ears for condos.
B) You presented them with a problem with an "old" car that they didn't feel like working on so they gave you a story about what it would take to "fix it" knowing you wouldn't go for it and it would be enough to make you go away....which you did. In the end, both parties were happy.
I'm hoping it was B but one never really knows.
A) The people you dealt with need to close up shop and rent out that cranial space between their ears for condos.
B) You presented them with a problem with an "old" car that they didn't feel like working on so they gave you a story about what it would take to "fix it" knowing you wouldn't go for it and it would be enough to make you go away....which you did. In the end, both parties were happy.
I'm hoping it was B but one never really knows.
April 12th, 2011, 04:05 AM
#11
Yep... Just like the parts kids behind the counter... If it isn't on their computer, it don't exist. Hard to find any professionals in the field anymore. You know if a dash light on a new Cadillac goes out, you are supposed to replace the entire instrument cluster? Nice thought behind that...
April 12th, 2011, 10:57 AM
#12
Registered User
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Colton Ca
Posts: 682
My old school mechanic would not touch my exhaust manifolds unless i had a good set of spares. He told me the metal can get brittle and if it broke they are a bear to find. This was about 3 years ago and even on ebilbay they were not plentiful.
April 12th, 2011, 08:07 PM
#13
Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 2,703
The best laugh is to go into a parts store and ask them to get you head gaskets for an '83 Corvette (didn't exist) and tell them you'll continue shopping while they look...when you go to check out they'll still be looking for the car in the computer. Just tell them you'll get them from a real parts store later.
April 13th, 2011, 04:35 AM
#14
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Maryland
Posts: 1,665
The best laugh is to go into a parts store and ask them to get you head gaskets for an '83 Corvette (didn't exist) and tell them you'll continue shopping while they look...when you go to check out they'll still be looking for the car in the computer. Just tell them you'll get them from a real parts store later.[/quote]
I got out of this phase by the time I graduated from high school. I get frustrated when the poeple who work at these parts stores, many of whom are nice people, don't seem to understand the older cars as well as I do making it difficult to get rather generic replacement parts from time to time. So to go into a parts store to intentionally try to screw with someone seems just plain stupid. Hopefully the next time you do this someone will know that a Corvette was not produced in 83 and you'll be the one who looks like the idiot especially when they realize you never had a need for head gaskets or whatever the joke of the day may have been. Most of us here want to be good stewards for this hobby and our Oldsmobile and other classic cars so I suspect there may be others who fail to see the humor in your suggestion. Maybe you need to post such a suggestion on kidfun.com. Sorry if my response seems a little harsh but I just din't find this to be funny at all. Or mabe you caught me 30+ years too late.
I got out of this phase by the time I graduated from high school. I get frustrated when the poeple who work at these parts stores, many of whom are nice people, don't seem to understand the older cars as well as I do making it difficult to get rather generic replacement parts from time to time. So to go into a parts store to intentionally try to screw with someone seems just plain stupid. Hopefully the next time you do this someone will know that a Corvette was not produced in 83 and you'll be the one who looks like the idiot especially when they realize you never had a need for head gaskets or whatever the joke of the day may have been. Most of us here want to be good stewards for this hobby and our Oldsmobile and other classic cars so I suspect there may be others who fail to see the humor in your suggestion. Maybe you need to post such a suggestion on kidfun.com. Sorry if my response seems a little harsh but I just din't find this to be funny at all. Or mabe you caught me 30+ years too late.
April 13th, 2011, 06:53 AM
#15
Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 2,703
High School seems about right, on the 2 occasions that I ever did ask for anything for an '83 Corvette it was in High School. I guess when recalling a memory from 13 years ago I should have specified in my post that you can't really go around asking for fake parts...I should've used telepathy to know that "69442C" would be reading my post and would take the world (and internet posts) literally.
My "suggestion" was merely an example of how lacking the modern day parts store attendant is. In your era 69442C, it seems that car guys would work at a parts store to feed their passion for their cars. In this generation, most guys seem to go to work at a parts store to learn about cars. The interest is there, but there is no real concerted effort to get your hands dirty and really learn something.
Anyway...however bland your personality may be, let me explain that I also have memories of those two occasions sparking up conversations of automotive history and the gentlemen learned that not everything automotive can be found in the parts store computer, as mentioned above. The "joke" was merely a way into a conversation to help said parts attendant learn a little about the automotive world. A salesman would call it "building a rapport"...But, then again...the parts store attendants usually have retained some sort of sense of humor and could laugh about the whole thing. I'm sad to see that in your "30+" years you have lost yours.
P.S. For those of you still interested in this post...there were actually 44 Corvettes that had a 1983 Vin number. GM used them for performance testing, engineering, and safety testing among other things. They destroyed all but one vehicle, it is on display at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green KY.
My "suggestion" was merely an example of how lacking the modern day parts store attendant is. In your era 69442C, it seems that car guys would work at a parts store to feed their passion for their cars. In this generation, most guys seem to go to work at a parts store to learn about cars. The interest is there, but there is no real concerted effort to get your hands dirty and really learn something.
Anyway...however bland your personality may be, let me explain that I also have memories of those two occasions sparking up conversations of automotive history and the gentlemen learned that not everything automotive can be found in the parts store computer, as mentioned above. The "joke" was merely a way into a conversation to help said parts attendant learn a little about the automotive world. A salesman would call it "building a rapport"...But, then again...the parts store attendants usually have retained some sort of sense of humor and could laugh about the whole thing. I'm sad to see that in your "30+" years you have lost yours.
P.S. For those of you still interested in this post...there were actually 44 Corvettes that had a 1983 Vin number. GM used them for performance testing, engineering, and safety testing among other things. They destroyed all but one vehicle, it is on display at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green KY.
Last edited by ah64pilot; April 13th, 2011 at 06:57 AM. Reason: Additional Information:
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
