It is a central concern. An employee who skims is a liar. That is enough to disqualify him, IMHO. That he lies to the people he sees every day at work makes it even worse. I want nothing to do with that sort of person.

Okay lets extrapolate this area a little. Individual a and b have about the same income each year. There are many possible reasons individual a lives a lot better than individual b.

One possible cause is individual a knows how to spend his money in the most effective way. Individual b just always pays the going or asking price for everything..Also he usually lives at or beyond his income level as a direct consequence.

Individual b may not even know his true cost when he spends. The item is say ten dollars. He does not stop to think that ten dollars has been pre taxed. Adding on actual costs of earning it as well.

So really the ten dollar item may be twenty dollars in reality and he does not realize it. There are things that the purchaser can really do little about. At the same time there are also areas they can do a lot. You just have to stop and think for a moment and be aware.

When I put say 60.00 in my gas tank. I am all too well aware that the reality is otherwise. I do not fixate or dwell on it rather it is just an awareness. I cannot have any input basically is also an awareness. Those things that are impossible to maneuver without more effort than it is worth of course I just pay the price.

I think in this area I might be self educated. I missed a couple of life changing opportunities when quite young that where very significant. Tom would have loved one of them. Two to three million for eighty thousand.

I realized at that point you had to learn to observe better than the average person. It also taught me that the vast majority of the population do not act fast enough on real opportunities even if they manage to identify them. That they cannot even identify them is a serious shortfall. The only good side if any of that situation is they do not know what they missed. It is my personal belief that on average the individual has opportunities present he does not recognize. Like pool if you scratch you loose over time.

So in a way over time you develop a different vision when looking at things and problems..I always wanted to see this area taught or at least explained in schools but it never has been to my knowledge. Amoungst my aquaintences is a real master of what I am talking about. We are not what is defined as tight either as it is an applied science and we both spend a lot but just more effectively spent perhaps.

Another local aquaintence got fixated on the dollars and is now just becoming a billionare. From my perspective that's not what it is all about. He does have the self learnt vision I refer to in spades though. I on the other hand do not want or desire an awful lot of money. I think I sought freedom instead and the challenge perhaps. I tell young guys they should start somewhere. The penalty for not starting is heavy.

This - I wish to be an honest customer, and I desire an honest merchant.

The truth is that I should have cornered him and asked whats up. I fully believe that private machine work gets spottier and spottier each day so I understand the cost cutting move even if I dont agree.

If he is skipping taxes (and I pay him to work) there is no evidence of wrongdoing on my part (due to no reciept) but nor am I totally unassociated with the situation either - my hands are not totally clean (Trust that I have plenty of ways to dirty my hands if I so choose...)

I'll look around for another place, and see what they charge, and ask them "why would another shop... ?"

Thank you guys for the insight. I have 12 hours into the car (just disassembly...) already, so it wont be running anytime soon. I'm not even sure I should have removed the engine in the first place (topic for another thread)

Oh, and the mirror- word on the internet is that small glass mirrors are poured or cast in a way that makes them perfectly flat (or at least more flat than anything else found around the house. You would use the mirror as a flat surface, glue some sandpaper (start with 220, end with 600) and sand the sealing surface of the head on the flat sandpaper -> ensuring that you dont 'sand in' any low spots.
You'd do the same for OM616/617 valve covers if they get warped - you guys need to read more in Diesel Discussion (except valve covers probably have a warp spec greater than .002)

Link is right - the best check is me, with calibrated tools, checking it myself.



-John Grube

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2009 Kia Sedona
2009 Honda Odyssey EX-L
12006 Jetta Pumpe Duse
(insert Mercedes here)

Husband, Father, sometimes friend =)

Let's examine further why he is being told this. The basic premise is this: "We provide little to no customer service at this establishment, now bend over and take it like we give it to you". Who needs or wants that? He should walk away and find another machine shop who will step forward with a 'customer first' attitude. I have a long list of businesses I have placed on the loser list. The first time they kick me in the nuts, I carefully analyze the situation.

I think to myself, "Well Husky, perhaps they were having a bad day, or perhaps the guy is behind on his rent and suffering from stress, whatever". I then will normally give them a second and a third opportunity to step up to the plate and play PROFESSIONAL baseball. If they continue to drop the ball, I drop them.

Did you tell him it was for a Subaru?


He's probably quite familiar with their reputation for head / HG issues from that era and doesn't want to be held accountable for a repair that may be fraught with repeated failures.

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Maybe, but why not just say that? Why the "Cash only, no receipt" BS. Very non-customer service minded. Walk away while you can, more trouble will come from this relationship, GUARANTEED.

When the OP returns to answer, I'll pick it up from there......thx.

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'06 E320 CDI
'17 Corvette Stingray Vert

If I screw up the heads, I toss them in the garbage and swear I never saw you in my life. What heads? Dunno. What this means is that besides avoiding taxes or simply running an operation behind the boss's back, it means that if they screw things up, they forget they ever saw you or heard of you. You have NO recourse and probably no heads since they can toss it and say that they never heard of you in their lives. Thanks but no thanks. Reputation or not, that deal sounds crazy. I'd pass

__________________
01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

And likely he would respond with 'go ahead and get on outta here'

Seems like a number of machine shops I have used were about the same way.
Great reputation, no advertising, no signs, no receipts.

If you don't know them enough to trust that they will do the job right and stand behind it, then go somewhere else.
Best for both parties.

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On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

Quote:

Originally Posted by HuskyMan Let's examine further why he is being told this. The basic premise is this: "We provide little to no customer service at this establishment, now bend over and take it like we give it to you". Who needs or wants that? He should walk away and find another machine shop who will step forward with a 'customer first' attitude. I have a long list of businesses I have placed on the loser list. The first time they kick me in the nuts, I carefully analyze the situation. I think to myself, "Well Husky, perhaps they were having a bad day, or perhaps the guy is behind on his rent and suffering from stress, whatever". I then will normally give them a second and a third opportunity to step up to the plate and play PROFESSIONAL baseball. If they continue to drop the ball, I drop them.

Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out

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On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

That's f'ed up.

I"ll walk out alright and then go straight to work steering mucho grande business AWAY from them or, if someone I don't like asks me if I know where they can find a high quality machine shop I give them a direct referral so they can get some real bad machine work performed on their tin can cars. Either way, I WIN.

theres a local mom and pop shop near me that does it the same way. some of the better machine work comes out of that shop and on the cheap.

to answer the bathroom mirror question, glass is perfectly flat unless it was manufactured otherwise. using a piece of glass and feeler gauges can help determine if it is warped.

myself, if i take the head off, its getting machined. if it came off because of a blown headgasket, it gets pressure tested before machining.

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have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it

Call it what you will but no documentation puts me at risk. Would be nice if we can all work on a handshake.

__________________
01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

You really think you wield that much clout?

__________________
01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow