It was an interesting story but not the same at all.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Yesterday I sold off the engine from my 82 300CD. We pulled it out and I separated the tranny off to keep.

First I found a bolt missing on the tranny. When I got to the flywheel I found that all twelve bolts were only slightly more than finger tight.

This is from when my Indie did the transmission transplant about five years ago.

I am goiing to have to have a talk with the shop owner.

The buyer is going to put it into a jeep. He showed up with a Dodge ram like mine but his has 4WD, a gigantic lift, a package on the engine and a 4 or 5" straight pipe.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Is this the same indie that put brake fluid in the SLS on my old wagon? If so, I'd end with a talk but start with session around the head and shoulders with a couple of feet of radiator hose. What a dope!

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Does anyone believe that a "talk with the shop owner" will accomplish a damn thing?

The only response you can possibly get is that "we're sorry" and "we'll try to do better next time".

If he says it with conviction, you might even believe it.

Can he ensure that his employees perform any better than they do for the next customer? I sincerely doubt it.

In my own business, I've had ongoing screwups in the designs for the better part of 10 years. There is always a statement that they are sorry and that they will try to do better in the future. Sadly, it never happens.

People are internally limited in most cases. The mistakes they make are ongoing and rarely improve with time. The only solution is a different employee, however, that brings the entire training issue into play and the investment of nearly five years is necessary just to determine if the individual can play the game in a decent fashion. Accuracy on every project is never assured.

The average person isn't going to achieve anything better than 90%..........the remainder are "mistakes"............"sorry".

So Brian, where do you fit in?

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

As I get older, my accuracy is slipping a bit. I definitely notice it.

When I was in my '30, I would be at 100% on nearly everything.

In this business, either we produce at 99%, or we're out of business. We build prototypes that must function as if it was a production tool...........right out of the box. The customers are intolerant of any mistakes (which take weeks to repair).

So, if we as an aggregate slip to 90%, we're done.

My guess is they dont give that kid much to do except maintain the shop with supplies and fetch tools around while watching Certifieds make their way thru the days workload .He must have overheard the word project mentioned around your vehicle ,then the word brakes and used that information to get started the next morning to rebuild the brakes to impress the boss. You cant blame new help for trying ,this is a learning experience ,weve all been their before.

Well, I've been doing work with them for 20 years. yes, i think talking to the owner will help. No i don't want to change shops. I know this shop pretty well and while they are not perfect I don't imagine any other shop would do any better and more likely not as well. If the flywheel had come off it would have been a serious matter.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Can you come up with a scenario on how it will help?

Will the employees magically perform at a higher level due to the conversation?

I can see it working only in the situation where he is trying it honestly. A shop owner who actually owns the place, a longstanding customer he knows personally, and if he doesn't alter the mechanics behavior towards the customer, he can at least make it worth his while with a deal of some sort or work on the car personally to ensure quality. If he was the guy who left the bolts loose though, then there can be no improvement.

This happened all the time at a shop I used to work on. The owners good friends cars were always worked on by the owner until you earned his trust as a tech and were allowed to service their cars, and they were always serviced right in front of his office window, but god forbid something went wrong or something unavoidable happened where the owner was embarrassed in front of his friend, that was it for you, you went back to cleaning out the fleet trucks or working on school buses out in the sleet.

I can remember his comments so clearly- "if you make me look like a @#$% a$$, you are on @#$% oil duty for the week, you #$%" very motivating

Any kind of chain its a waste of time. The most you can do at a chain is raise a big enough stink that you either get some kind of compensation or you get someone fired, service will not improve though.

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