different kind of roadkill

jacek

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I was wondering about a Freiburger style roadkill stories where a car is purchased for peanuts with a problem or after a long hibernation, then fixed on the street with basic tools, against background whining self-righteous dicks that always complaint about grease monkeys in the public for no particular gain or reason other that the "rules" After all said and done you got a great deal on a good car and fixed it for peanuts, aggravation notwithstanding. I for one find it alluring after all these years, especially dicking with the dicks ;-). am I weird?
Here is mine:
Rare convertible out in the desert town that the owner started a timing chain replacement on and (the owner) passed away. It was then purchased by a hoarder "collector" with no mechanical skill to fix it. After dragging it around storage yards for 7 years, paint with sun damaged clear coat by now, parked next to a burning RV at one point that melted the rear bumper corner and the taillight. He finally gave up and I ended up with it. Called AAA and had it towed 150 miles to a friends shop parking lot in an industrial park. Amazingly most of the parts from the removed timing cover were still there. Checked the leak down on all cylinders- all good. Then purchased the gaskets and some minor missing hardware, set the timing, assembled the front, valve covers. By now few days have passed and I noticed the tenants from the park started giving me the "look". Next thing i know there was a note on the car that working on it was illegal. My friend took it on the chin and told them it was his car and he needs it fixed before he can move it. As usually, it was not so simple: the fuel pump died after about 5 min running. My ghetto repair attempt to just replace the pump and not the whole assembly in the tank was a total fiasco. Now the property manager is getting pissed and starts bugging my friend, apparently there are more complaints, the dropped fuel tank must have spooked the passers by. I ordered whole assembly from amazon and got it the next day in the locker. That day was a dead line for the car being towed. I replaced the pump assembly , started the car and made it out of there in the nick of time.
FYI I own a house with a garage and small portable lift in it, but this time wanted to go back to my roots and remember what it used to be like.
any more roadkill stories? post them here...
Mods I'm not sure if this is the right forum, but roadkill seemed appropriate. If you decide to move this thread to the cafe t is fine with me...
 
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DSG2003Mach1

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Haha, dick
Once....I thought I blew my 02GT Procharged engine so I had it replaced. Come to find out, I blew the spark plug out the head and that was all that was wrong. Not proud of that...but there you have it.
Had the fan on my Mach fail at the seam and make a horrible noise after a pull, thought for sure it was uncle Rodney


As for the op, seems like anything like that I’ve ever found they still wanted way too much for the amount of work and potential expense
 

CobraBob

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(y) Cool that you got it up and running before you were "assaulted". Might have been easier and more considerate to just do the work in your home garage, lift or not. Just saying. I'm surprised your friend didn't suggest that, unless he didn't expect the blowback from other park tenants.
 

jacek

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It was the thrill of living the past fixing my car under bridges when it rained more than anything else. Most people will not get it, granted. This is my version of roadkill, so it it Freiburgers, after all these years i have at least few allies .....
 

DSG2003Mach1

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It was the thrill of living the past fixing my car under bridges when it rained more than anything else. Most people will not get it, granted. This is my version of roadkill, so it it Freiburgers, after all these years i have at least few allies .....

possibly having to thrash on things in the pits or on the road during these week long drag and drives is definitely part of the fun but outside of that Im doing this shit in my garage. The quick jacks aren't on par with an actual lift but still pretty damned nice
 

CobraBob

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It was the thrill of living the past fixing my car under bridges when it rained more than anything else. Most people will not get it, granted. This is my version of roadkill, so it it Freiburgers, after all these years i have at least few allies .....
I totally get why you wanted to work on it outside. The thrill of working out in the elements. I well remember back in the '70s when I worked on my '71 Duster 340 in the driveway. No lift. Just a floor jack and ramps. LOL. Sometimes I'd be working on the motor for 6-8 hours straight. Back then, my favorite smell was a new Holley carb just out of the box. LOL.

I was just wondering why you did it at your friends, maybe knowing some of the other tenants might complain. Couldn't you have worked on it outside at your house? Just curious, that's all.
 

DSG2003Mach1

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There must be some incredible roadkill stories from the pits....

if you're on FB go follow Sick The Mag and theres plenty of stuff from the drag and drive's on there. People rebuilding cylinder heads in a parking lot, junkyard motor swapping an 8 second car etc.
 

jacek

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You're right we did not expect the tenants to get so antsy so quickly. For me it was just convenience- it is easier to work on it during the day as my work is close to my friends industrial park location. Had I known the blowback I would probably do it at home....
 

CobraBob

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Makes sense. (y) Do you have a couple of photos of your convertible that you can post? I'm really curious what it is because you said it was a "rare convertible".
 

01yellercobra

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Once....I thought I blew my 02GT Procharged engine so I had it replaced. Come to find out, I blew the spark plug out the head and that was all that was wrong. Not proud of that...but there you have it.
The last time I drove my 70 Mustang was on a drag strip where it died at the end. I had to get pulled back to the pits. We thought it was an ignition issue, but couldn't figure it out. Ended up getting the car towed home. I don't remember what lead to me thinking it was something in the cam, but after I had the timing cover off I discovered the roll pin in the distributor had sheared. A lot of work for a few cent part. Well, since I had the timing cover off my freshly rebuilt engine I might as well throw in the lumpy cam I picked up. Unfortunately that cam went flat during the break in and trashed my engine.

As for random repairs, I've done it on the side of the road, in the desert, and on water. I don't miss it. If I can drag it home to fix it I will.
 

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