MR HYDE IS COMING TO LIFE

[NEGXXIS]

Glad to see things are progressing

[Dr Jkel]

Originally Posted by EZ SPEED

Glad to see things are progressing

Slowly but surely but most importantly....CORRECTLY.......maybe by the spring you will see it running around town.

[Dr Jkel]

Garcmol ( NORM) posted this in his thread and it made me think so I copied and pasted this for my thread. It really brought to light how insignificant things really are especially a truck when people are dealing with things like this. Thanks for sharing Norm.

http://camaro5.com/forums/showthread...63#post4227363

hmmmm........

Well, I let John in on it, but not all. Maria received 3d degree burns to her left foot on 19 Dec. We've been back and forth in and out of the JMS Burn centers in Austell, GA and Augusta since. Yesturday was her (hopefully) last graph in Augusta and got home around 12:30 a.m. She's resting now and all doped up. I went to work just to catch up some and will be heading out soon. We have to go to Austell, GA next week for some follow up.

While in pre op, I saw people in the center that were so hurt. I talked with one man that was burned on Christmas eve. He was alone and, I assume scared, and kept talking with the nursing staff. So much so, they were slipping on their rounds. He was a curtain away so I spent most of my day just shootin' the bull with him. Soon the curtain was pulled enough that Maria, this gentleman and I were all talking. I don't have a point to this anecdote. I found myself overwhelmed not only by this gentleman's "hope" that he would be fine, but by the number of victims coming in to the clinic. Children all ages, young adults, elderly........ just never ending. I believe there are 7 doctors on staff and they rotate between Austell, Augusta and Valdosta and their day's run from...... well, it never ends.

When we got home last night, our neighbor's house was engulfed in flames. No one was home but it was a total loss.

Life's short, don't take anything for granted. I feel blessed that I have what I have and the accidents in life have not left a gaping hole in my life. Some aren't as fortunate and I saw it these past few days.

[The Stig]

That's a frowny face, but yea it does put things into perspective

[Dr Jkel]

Wednesday December 28, 2011

Made the final check over the wiring harness to make sure we had everything installed....alot easier to do out of the truck.

Then we installed the harness into the truck, got it mounted to the firewall and ran where it needed to go....Of course we had to cut some of the wires because they were too long but that is better than being too short.

While Matt was zip tying the harness up and getting it mounted I took the front area harness out of the truck....this is the harness that will run from the firewall forward that goes to the lights, park lights, turn signals, horn etc........ to say it was a mess would be an understatement but was in-line with the rest of it....there simply is no method to the madness...there was fog light relays on the headlights???????? I have no clue why.

We got everything inside the firewall ran, wires cut, grounds routed etc...... We will have to drill the firewall bulkhead hole, drill holes for the grounds, and make connections but that is pretty simple stuff compared to where it was. It is amazing to look at where the instrument cluster goes...how neat it looks. I guess it is true what they say that no one will take care of your stuff like you do even if you pay them.

It was kinda getting late but before we quit we started thinking of LED lights...I had a 18" strip so we turned out the lights and kinda placed the strip at different locations around the truck....this is going to look killer at night...There are so many places to hide LEDs on this truck...Of course they will have to be installed after it is painted so we are quite a ways away but just thought it looked pretty neat.

[Dr Jkel]

December 29, 2011 Thursday

Ordered a new headlight switch connector....the old one was really jacked up, had the wrong pins inside so I just got a new one.

Didn't really do much on Mr. Hyde last night....Matt had an emergency repair for an out of town person traveling home from Christmas and my brother came in for the weekend. So we visited and will probably do a little on Saturday............

Good thing is the harness is tied up and secured to the firewall.

[NEGXXIS]

Originally Posted by EZ SPEED

Glad to see things are progressing

Yeah, cant wait to see it on the streets!
btw.. I dropped off my new hood for the SS at Robbys shop the other day for him to paint

[Txmxracer]

I just read this entire thread and I am honestly floored at what that rotten man has gotten away with. You sound like the nicest guy in the world, and you don't deserve what has happened.
I know restorations take a long long time, as my father and I restored the Camaro you see in the sig. It took around 5 years from start to roadworthy. It will never be finished. There is always something to fix, but that is part of the joy of owning the car. Being able to complete the work on the car with some friends, and then taking a cruise is the most gratifying aspect of owning a classic.

[Dr Jkel]

Originally Posted by EZ SPEED

Yeah, cant wait to see it on the streets!
btw.. I dropped off my new hood for the SS at Robbys shop the other day for him to paint

Speed- Robby will do a great job- he painted on my stripes and they are buried, no edges and looks great.

Originally Posted by Txmxracer

I just read this entire thread and I am honestly floored at what that rotten man has gotten away with. You sound like the nicest guy in the world, and you don't deserve what has happened.
I know restorations take a long long time, as my father and I restored the Camaro you see in the sig. It took around 5 years from start to roadworthy. It will never be finished. There is always something to fix, but that is part of the joy of owning the car. Being able to complete the work on the car with some friends, and then taking a cruise is the most gratifying aspect of owning a classic.

Tx,

I appreciate the comments. In a way I kinda blame myself for all of this in that I should have ended this long ago.......BUT when you have a family vehicle that you have dreamed of for years you want it to be perfect and I knew I could not make it that way.

Broken promise after broken promise, the lies and all the things that I am finding now I realize that I basically got screwed. Hopefully the legal process will do something about that though.

LUCKILY I have a friend who can help me get it running and mechanically sound.

My plans are to make it mechanically sound, everything installed and everything working then have it painted and undercoated

Did not get much done this past week with the holidays and my brother coming for a surprise visit last Thursday. I did get to order the things I needed and do not have alot left on the wiring.

Need to add the terminal ends, extend 2 wires ( purple 12 ga), install the 2 bulkheads and we should be good on the wiring.

[Dr Jkel]

January 3, 2012 Tuesday

It was really cold today here...did not get above 38 and was more like 28 when it got dark down into the teens.

It never fails that the more I do the more I find........We drilled for the bulkhead connector on the firewall. The hole is about 2" and is basically a main disconnect for the front wires for the truck. The firewall has so much bondo on it that a piece flaked off when drilling. Now here is where I am really confused...I know a little bit of bondo is acceptable but the firewall is brand new metal so there should not be much.......something else to have fixed.

Anyway we got the bulkhead installed and the inside wires sealed, pinned, soldered, and inserted into the connector. Mounted the fuse box...again more flaking of bondo.

Started terminating wires with terminals. We are soldering each wire to the terminal, and adding shrinkwrap at the terminal ends so the possibilty of and corrossion or moisture is highly unlikely. All the exterior connections are being made with weatherpack connectors and they are by design waterproof.

We finished the dash pretty much except the instrument cluster wires, but the ignition, CEL, Wiper, LED light switch, Cigarette Lighter, and headlight switch are finished.... finally something finished....hopefully everything works Did I say that? Still have to add one hidden switch for the electric cutouts but that is really simple.

We tapped and installed the dome light door switch and added the wires.

We installed the door wiring connectors for each door. These wires are for the door light, power window switch, speaker wires plus a wire for power door locks if I decide to do that in the future. Got all the wires connected, soldered and installed into the connector and ran into the doors.

That was pretty much it for the night. It seems to really go slow but I guess stripping adding the seals, terminal ends, shrink wrap, and soldering each wire just takes time.

I think we are kinda over killing some of this BUT I want to do this once and be done with it. It does look alot neater especially with the grommets installed.

I have to add two 12 ga purple wires that are about 2 feet long....can you believe NO ONE has purple wire around here so I have to order a roll of it tomorrow.

BUT progress is continuing.........After seeing the bondo flake off on the firewall I have decided to get everything working, all wires ran, exhaust finished pretty much a complete truck.....THEN take it all apart takes everything out of the truck- motor, wiring, fuel lines, brake lines and basically have a rolling hull then send it to the body shop. Once they have the body work done and the cab painted and back on the frame then we will take the motor, tranny etc... to the shop and install it then they can finish putting it back together.......... Seems so far away at this point, but at least we are moving forward, and doing things correctly.


Too bad I didn't know Matt 9 years ago.

[The Stig]

Sorry to hear John. Can we get some pictures of the new pretty dash?

[Dr Jkel]

Originally Posted by stieger

Sorry to hear John. Can we get some pictures of the new pretty dash?

Yeah I have been slacking on the pictures....I want to get some areas finished...kinda do a before and after thing. My only problem is that when I took the chip to get the pictures printed they deleted the chip and didn't make me a CD. Gotta love Walmart.....

[The Stig]

Originally Posted by Dr Jkel

Yeah I have been slacking on the pictures....I want to get some areas finished...kinda do a before and after thing. My only problem is that when I took the chip to get the pictures printed they deleted the chip and didn't make me a CD. Gotta love Walmart.....

ouch, I'm sorry. How's the whole legal thing going btw? Still on track?

[Dr Jkel]

Originally Posted by stieger

ouch, I'm sorry. How's the whole legal thing going btw? Still on track?

Yepper......It is taking a little bit because I have to get some estimates on paint and body work....since it does not move right now I really can't take it any place.

The shop owner from Atlanta said he would try and come over to my house but that he couldn't come during the week.

The lawyer said we have time.....He will file a "Deceptive Trade Practice" lawsuit after we send him a letter. He will have 15 days to either agree or refuse.

I think once presented with picture evidence he will have to agree, but if he doesn't then a formal lawsuit will be filed. The bad thing for him is if the lawsuit is filed and he is found guilty then a couple of things are mandated by this law.

1st the D/A and States Attorney General will have to be notified and in some cases based on the value the US Attorney will have to be notified. The work will b done during the civil portion of this so that a criminal prosecution will be relatively easy.......Kinda a reverse process in most cases.....Civil then criminal so to speak. He will then have to pay for the attorney fees as well since it is part of this charge " DTP". If he does not pay then his assets are seized but during the civil part his business records will be entered into evidence so that he can not just go file for bankruptsy or say he doesn't own anything....Basically his little house of cards gets blown down.

My hopes are than in the next couple of weeks I can get it running enough to take it around and get some estimates...then present the lawyer with that estimate and the mechanical report along with 8 x 10 pictures so he can submit him a letter. Just takes a little bit of time......