What's the job that you *WON'T* tackle yourself? What do you farm out to have done?

You know, this is a pretty decent "Who Are The People In Your Neighborhood" threads... I say folks should post what they DO do, and what they DON'T do. Could be useful if some services need to be traded later on down the line between any of us.

For the price of two-way shipping, two folks could come out pretty well!

~Jason

 

WONT tackle anything that has to do with wrenches, ratchets or screwdrivers
or anything to do with a torch, welder, plasma cutter, lathe or mill, also no sandpaper, bondo, primer or paint of any kind.
no sewing machine no material or foam, no dragging jagged rusty stuff out of a sink hole. no buffing compound or wheels, no dirty face.
nothing... i just do the thinkin.
i want to have a vision and have the 'masterpiece appear!

if it dosent involve a lazy boy chair and TV remote or a computer mouse im out!
then i dont have to hear how my hands feel like they went through a meat grinder. the permanent grease on my hands will be gone and i can look down without seeing anymore bondo blobs on my shoes at church.

i guess i just want to drive and polish! yep just cruise around and drop it off for an oil change.

 

I'll try to do anything that doesn't require large and expensives tools to accomplish the task. Or if I can have someone do it cheap, then I'll let them do it.

The major things I won't do are paint, machine work, and automatic transmissions. The last one I plan to figure out before all is said and done as it doesn't fit in the criteria for requiring large, expensive tools. I pretty much suck at body work, too. I plan to get better though. I need to learn to weld, too. I've mostly done restoration work on my Barracuda's. So, welding hasn't been required.

I suspect I'm going to have a time of it when I start on my Model A with trying to do some of the fabrication work that will be required. But, I'll just ask a lot of dumb questions and try to get by with what I have in the garage.

 

I never work on cars, I just collect all the tools.

 

I farm out the garden.

 

I don't paint or build gear units. Give me chassis and suspension fab work, I enjoy it!

 

I won't (can't) weld frames or anything structural that could break and cause me bodily harm.

 

I almost do it all, just not on the "professional" level unfortunately......but very safe & functional. The "almost" is the stitching......Flower does that, she is a real whiz on that sewing machine but she said "NO MORE BLACK INTERIORS" after she did the sedan......said it was like working in a dark cave.

I always seem to acumulate tools and equipment as I go along.

 

Engine machine work is the only thing that I send out, and I'll assemble the engine myself.

 

If you ever do, keep it a secret - or everybody you know will be heading to your house because you have a tire machine.

~Jason

 

auto trans HELL NO . I was 16 had one built and thought I could put a shift kit in it! I thought wrong after I got done no rev. Ball bearing (check balls ) all over the palce. I no now that its not that hard but the HELL NO not doing them. motor machining i don't do everything else I do in house. paint, body, frame, wire, mounts, motors, ect....

 

I work too much and have lost patients through the years. Call me a crotchity old bastard! Beside some of the pros do it better than I but I still tinker. Mostly bolt on stuff. Pulling an engine or trans? I just don't have the place for it anymore. And the association rules and reg’s not to mention the environmental laws here, my hands are tied compared to what I was able to do when I was a kid.
Give me wiring anytime.

 

Engine,lower end,,I can do it but it's intimidating and I always worry I did something wrong

and won't touch an automatic transmission ( insides ) don't know and don't want to.

 

pretty much do everything, and what we don't is only a phone call away. been at the same location for 20 years, you build a good relationship with other car guys. plus i try to keep my unemployed friends busy if i can. i appreciate the help and they appreciate the coin!

 

I don't paint. Don't have the room and that shit makes me sick. I am going to do upholstery this year.

 

I'm poor so I do everything I can't afford myself, or I do without. I reemed and installed my own kingpins, set up my rear gears, made a transmission adapter, cut out the IFS for a straight axle, narrowed the axle myself, did my own alignment, and built everything else I couldn't afford or find. Have yet to rebuild the motor, but that will have to go to a shop for boring and decking when the time comes. I'm still deciding if I should rebuild my T-5 or take a chance on another, either way I can't afford to have it rebuilt.

 

. Back when I hada broken leg, I had a trans shop rip of my 71 rocket 350 turbo, and replace it with a "metric trans from the 80's." I picked the car up wondering why it had no power. and a broken downshift cable! Yes, that was a broken ,dragging on the ground after waiting 2 weeks for a 2 day job, downshift cable. Avoid that transshop south of toyota park on harlem / chicago.
I also took my 69 Lemans into a "Squirrlins" muffler shop, where I commission'd them to replace the headpipes, since nobody sells them. They talked me into Glasspacks with the correct angle outlets which turned out 10 times louder than the "thrush glasspacks" which sounded great.
The real Kick was, I had asked to inspect the car on the lift when it was done, but they parked it outside. We'll, upon inspection I found they laid one head pipe right on the starter so it would overheat, and I'd have to drop the pipe to change the starter. Also 1 side of the exhaust was welded, while the other side was clamped...
How cheezy is that? Two lousy employees, the owners a good guy though, said he'd fix it once I take the car back outta storage....someday, I hope.....

 

Bending exh. pipes.

 

I farm out all machine work. I usually farm out upholstery, although my wife and I can do that part in a pinch. I do most of the bodywork, but I have a lifelong buddy who lays on paint as well as any of the big names I've ever seen -so I do the bodywork until about 90% blocked, then let him finish blocking and paint it. Anything else, I will do/try on my own.

 

the only thing that isnt done in my garage is engine machining, but my dad and i have full access to our friends machine shop, so the shop isnt doing the work for us.

 

Giving birth!!!!

 

Don't do machine work or upholstery, do everything else. One of these days I'll find a sewing machine I can afford then I'll do that too.

 

Upholstery,never learned to sew and have no intrest.

 

I do everything but upholstery, transmissions and machine work.

 

I look at any job and figure if I can buy the tools and do the job for close to what someone wants to do it for, I'll buy the tools and do it myself. At least that way I can only blame myself if it gets screwed up, and if it works, I have the tools to do it the next time. One example, I bought an upholstery machine a while back for a smaller job, and recently redid the interior on the wife's car. Machine cost me $500, I was quoted $1300 to do the car and materials on that job were less than $200. So I paid for the machine and materials for almost half of what was quoted and my wife loves the new look.

 

machine work, I dont have the equipment, I do most everything else myself (freinds help sometimes, we have a good little network, ) I can do my body work, and paint, mechanical work ,etc. early automatics are easy,I worked on late model autos for a living , .

most of the times I have farmed things out , i have gotten burned!


I would like to learn to stitch someday, I hope to get a machine and learn how.


I always figure that sending it out doesent teach me anything, I look back on the things I have screwed up, and think how easy they would be today.

I rebuilt the cruiseomatic in my 65 f250 twice before I found out that it started in second if you had the shifter on what I thought was drive.


jon