MR HYDE IS COMING TO LIFE

[Dr Jkel]

Monday November 28, 2011

Pulled oil pan out, used a bore scope thingy to check inside the pan to ensure oil pump tube has enough clearance......Matt sure does have a bunch of tools. Guess that is why he is a mechanic.

Noticed when the key is turned on the fan continuosly runs. Matt check this out while I remove brake lines, undo zip ties that connect fuel lines to electrical harness and take TONS of pictures.

It was determined that the fan relay switches I purchased were installed wrong and the way it was done will not be good for me if it breaks while on the road unless a Summitt or Jegs is close by. Matt is goin gto redesign this madness.

Matt looks into why the power electric radio antenna does not work and the radio functions do not work. The amp was not hooked up properly and the anteena powewr wire was never hooked up. This takes some time since he has to take apart a few things.

Getting late and 4:00 am comes early so we quit for the day at 9:00pm

[garcmol]

The fan in my '91 stays on all the time as well. Fan 2 would do it too if I hadn't disconnected it. I'm running switches inside the car to control mine.

I think you have the truck in good hands now.

[Dr Jkel]

Tuesday November 29, 2011

Since I get off of work earlier than Matt I finished removing the brake lines and all the zip ties I could find since the electrical harness, fuel lines and brake lines will have to be re-mounted properly as not to cause any problems in the future.......Thinking to myself why I ever paid this guy to do this, of course get extremely mad but at least I have my truck at home in my garage.

Installed rear roll pan, 2 of the 4 mounting holes do not line up. Need to-re drill new mounting holes. Install the rear bumper brackets. Brackets were cut to allow bumper to be pulled up to the body, they are only tack welded and not complete. I also notice that he only used on brace for each side when it was designed as evident by the roll pan only have one notch on each side for a bracket. There is no lateral stability in this and could cause a potential problem if hit in the rear since the gas tank is right behind the roll pan.......New body shop will fix these issues..

Installed the rear bumper. Bumper site about 1" farther away on the passengers side than the drivers side, bumper is not centered on the rear of the truck needs to be moved about 1 1/2" to the drivers side. Body Shop issue.

Ckecked the bumper for level. Bumper is level. Problem is that the tail lights that mount to the bed are not even. The drivers side sits down abot 1 1/4" lower than the passenger side. Maybe that is why the bumper was not put on.

NOTE- Bumper has not been re-chromed, called bumper shop and they said they never received the bumper to be chromed. I was told for 9 weeks that the bumper was at the chromer, I even paid a shipping charge on an invoice in September. Hmmmm starting to see a pattern here.

Matt installs the new fan control system that he designed and it is much easier and simpler, if a problem occurrs any auto parts store or even Walmart has relays to fix it if one goes out. Install the A/C fan control connection.

Fixed power steering leak- loose fitting into fluid reservoir.

Removed oil filter - EXTREMELY tight- someone was being mean when they tightened this one on. Truck has 6 miles on it/ Got the filter off , installed new filter and added oil.

Hmmm reviewed invoice and realized I paid 90.00 for gas......6 miles and 90.00 doesn't seem real fuel efficient. The gauge show 1/4.

Filled power steering fluid reservoir up.

It was determined that the reason the rear brakes were dragging was the wrong proportioning valve was installed. So an adjustable proportioning valve was bought, old valve removed. New valve will be hidden in frame but is not chrome.

Matt started bending the new brake lines out of a solid piece of Stainless Steel line.
One line is completed.

Besides antifreeze motor is finished, waiting on being able to run it and see how it does. Needs a good cleaning but that will come later.

We are trying to get it where the truck will move by Friday. Need to load it on a trailer so I can take it to Atlanta to get an estimate on the paint and body issues.

Time to quit, frustration is building when I look at everything that needs to be done, think about the amount of money I paid this guy. Boy was I an idiot. That thought resonates through my head but my day will come.........

[Dr Jkel]

Originally Posted by f5journal

I've been following this thread and I am speechless. With all due respect, I sorta thought Dr. Jkl might be "hard/impossible to please". Boy was I wrong

F5 sounds like you think I am too picky , really just the opposite BUT I want what I paid for and when you spend over 100k for something it should be right and not dangerous.

I feel like a total fool at this point for being done this way. The funny thing is when I went to get the truck he begged and pleaded for me to leave it 3 more days and he said it would be complete. He had 9 years, His time is over.

Originally Posted by garcmol

The fan in my '91 stays on all the time as well. Fan 2 would do it too if I hadn't disconnected it. I'm running switches inside the car to control mine.

I think you have the truck in good hands now.

I know a guy who can fix it real easy like From what Matt explained to me the fan controller I bought was OK but the problem was if it ever went out then I was stuck where I was at unless a Summitt or a Jegs was near by.

What he did was use two relays to control it. We inserted a temperature switch into the block 170*/185* degree on and off switch. This controlled when the fan comes on. Previously it came on when the ignition switch came on, now it will come on at a certain temp and go off at a certain temp. So if I have been driving and stop the fan will continue to run until it cools down and then shuts off. The great thing about it is he used a common, everyday relay that can be found at any parts store and even Walmart if need be, so if it does go out then I can easily find a part to fix it pretty much anywhere.

Installed a wire to the A/C compressor so that when the A/C comes on the fan comes on.

Pretty simple once you see it work.

Luckily I have a friend like Matt to help me on this , too bad I didn't know him a lonng time ago.

[f5journal]

That was just a superficial assumption on my part Jkl. As I said I am now speechless. I cannot believe the magnitude of this situation now. I also did not pick up on the 9 yrs part. I thought this was the result of an 18 mo or so build misunderstanding. Cheers...I want to see this thing running

[Dr Jkel]

Originally Posted by f5journal

That was just a superficial assumption on my part Jkl. As I said I am now speechless. I cannot believe the magnitude of this situation now. I also did not pick up on the 9 yrs part. I thought this was the result of an 18 mo or so build misunderstanding. Cheers...I want to see this thing running

No worries my friend. He played me along with lies, promises and pretty much anything he thought he could get away with.

He made me believe that he was the only one who could finish it, I know but the problem was he never really finished one thing completely, to this day nothing is totally complete.

I bought parts that disappeared, paid for things that are not done so not to mention the 9 years.

It is kinda funny that he did give me the owners manuals for most of the stuff I bought. Last night I looked at the A/C book from Vintage Air.......the thing is stamped witha date from Vintage Air....2003. Boy I bet the compressor will work after sitting on a shelf for 8 years, LOL, well it ain't funny.


Strange how things work in life though......I met Matt the Mechanic when I bought my Camaro, shortlt after I bought it and modded it locally I had issues. My nephew who had built a hot rod Mustang with 850 Hp introduced me to Matt and Matt suggested Vengeance to fix the issues. He was right about that.

Over time I figured out Matt knew his stuff. He fixed my 2006 GMC 2500 hd after many tries at the dealer.

He heard about the truck and the issues I was having, so he decided to go over to the shop with me and called the BS card on what was going on and we basically called the shops bluff. Matt said he could finish it mechanically in January of this year but I decided , being a nice guy, listening to the crocodile tears that I would give them one last chance.

So on Nov 18 I had enough and went and got my truck, the shop owner was still crying and begging for me to leave it.

Matt has a grand idea but I do not think I am going to do it. He wants to get it running and put it in the World of Wheels in Birmingham at the beginning of the year. Make huge sign, like show sign that every one does who has show vehicles and simply put.

" The name of the shop, owner, and location" When people look at it I am sure his business would suffer tremendously. Nothing negative, nothing derrogatory, just letting people make up there own mind.

Wouldn't that be a sight.

[Darth_Emma]

Originally Posted by PQ

It's almost like you sent your truck to Savini.

[Dr Jkel]

Wednesday November 30, 2011

Started tonight by finishing up the water temperature sensor. Had to get a fittng so that it would fit into the block. This is the sensor that controls the fan. So fan is complete and works properly, works when A/C comes on, and when water temp get 185* ( tested with a heat source) and shuts off when cool.

Added antifreeze and filled with water- need to check once truck gets hot and circulates through the motor.

Re-threaded the drivers side spindle and had to re-tap the spindle not - this was a pain. Once it was done re-packed the bearings with grease and installed the hubs/rotors and calipers.

Bent the second brake line going to the proportioning valve, re-installed master cyclinder and ran brake lines under truck. Located a place for the new adjustable proportioning valve, drilled new holes and attached the valve to the frame.

Re-checked all of the fluids for leaks- oil, power steering and radiator appear to have no leaks, but will check them again when we crank it up and run it.

While waiting for Matt I took another look around and under the truck to make sure that we had not missed anything.

I pulled a couple sets of wires that were hanging on the back of the motor and they were labeled water temperature sending unit and oil pressure sending unit. After talking with Matt it was determined that these wires were supposed to be hooked up. These wires go to sensor that go back to the computer ECM. The sensor for the gauges were hooked up but the ones for for ECM were not. When the transmission comes out this and the other wiring issues will be fixed- it is just easier to do when the transmission is out.

I also noticed that the idler arm does not have a grease fitting installed but has a hole for one. Subsequently no grease is at that joint. Matt will bring the tap and die set to do this.

There are several places that pictures will not pick up on camera, I guess because of the lighting but it looks like they tried to touck up areas and where they taped off you can see distinct lines, also noticed a couple of buffer burnt places.

I checked the entire truck over again and found that the door hingers are missing two bolts, one on each hinge on the passenger side door.

Plan is to get it movable( Not really drivable) by Friday evening so that I can load it on a trailer and take it to get estimates for paint and body.

Once all the running around is done we will take it and drive it on a remote road to check all the mechanical functions. Really do not want to drive much until the transmission is out and rebuilt, and the ECM wires are hooked up and properly working but need to check things to make sure they are working properly and to adjust the brake valve.

Tonight was not that bad, at least I only found a grease fitting missing and it seems that what we are fixing is starting the road to completion and not just uncovering more items to fix, Thank the LAWD, AMEN.

Matt is a pretty smart guy.....don't know what I would do if he wasn't helping me on this.

I did notice last night it was about 29 degrees outside, but ws nice and toasty inside my garage.....BOY am I glad I built this.

All and all progress is being made. Focused more on finishing it and not revenge at this point, LOL.

[Dr Jkel]

Thursday December 1, 2011

One step forward and Three steps back was the theme of today.

Finished running the front brake lines - rear lines is all left to do on this.

I tried to adjust the rear tail lights. When trying to take the actual tail light apart wires just fell out of the connector. This was a sign of things to come today.....Got the mounting bracket adjusted so the lights are proprortional which is good.

Thr truck has a problem starting. You have to turn the motor over three times, turning the key off in between each time before it will crank. While this might be normal on an old truck, it should crank right up because it is fuel injected.....So we started working on this since we wanted to hear it run, trying to get it ready for Friday so I could load it on a trailer and take it to Atlanta.

We noticed that the fuel pressure was running about 90 psi, supposed to be between 48 and 53 psi according to Street and Performance specs for this system.....So we started there, really all we needed to do was adjust the Fuel pressure regulator right? Wrong.

While that would do the trick we started by taking the vacuum line off the regulator and of course the vacuum hose did not want to budge. We ended up cutting if off, but we realized that the hose was RUSTED onto the regulator. RUST????? on a brand new chrome piece...Yepper. It was so rusted that the adjustment screw would not turn....hmmmmmmm

So we had to take it off to see if we could fix it. So after taking the fuel rails off and all the things that attach to them we finally get the fuel pressure regulator off and the adjustment screw will not budge because of the rust. ( Remember that the motor was done in all SHOW Chrome to include this regulator because it is seen at the rear of the motor).

After some finessing we got the adjustment screw out...no problem we will just get another screw ....Wrong the rubber baffle inside the unit is broke- best we can tell is it is dry rotted........hmmmmmmm brand new part dry rotted.

Of course this is not a stock parts store product so we will have to call Street and Performance and see what the deal is, see if we can get another one and of course how much it cost......guess it really does not matter since it will not run without this.

Matt then says since the regulator was rusted we need to check all the injectors, injector seals and fuel rails to make sure they are clean and do not have rust deposits in them. Rust in fuel not a good thing. So we proceeded to take the whole fuel injection system aparts to check and make sure everything was not contaminated.

Good thing is that there was no rust in the injectors or fuel rails.

So then we decided since it was dumping so much fuel into the intake that we should probably check the spark plugs. Good thing because they are black with soot, smelled of raw fuel and basically fouled out.

We go to the parts store hoping that we can fing a fuel pressure regulator to no avail and bought some new plugs.

Pretty much did not get much accomplished except to find more problems...so now we have to find the fuel pressure regulator, re-install the fuel rail system once we get it, change the plugs and fix the tail light wiring harness....the list keeps growing and so does my frustration................

Edited to show time spent- 4 hours.......total hours so far is 27 hrs. This is for future reference....

[The Stig]

That's F'd up. I hope you take Mark for everything he's got.

[Dr Jkel]

Originally Posted by stieger

That's F'd up. I hope you take Mark for everything he's got.

Me too...I want so bad to contact him right now and tell him what I think, but this would probably not be wise since I haven't determined everything wrong yet.

Matt said we need to get it to a state where we can drive it and doa drivability test on it.....hmmmm that sounds familiar, this was supposedly done and took 4 days to do it....but somehow with 6 miles I don't think it was done.

Matt stated that once we get everything hot and drive it we will be able to tell if there any real issues with the rear, and electrical issues etc........... we were hoping to do that today but with the fuel system jacked up that ain't gonna happen.

If a court system does not find in my favor I think I will lose my mind.....I am taking a TON of pictures so we will see.

[The Stig]

With everything you're finding wrong I can't imagine a court not siding with you. It's guys like him that give repair shops the image of being crooks.

[garcmol]

You still trailering it up to Atlanta tomorrow?

[Dr Jkel]

Originally Posted by stieger

With everything you're finding wrong I can't imagine a court not siding with you. It's guys like him that give repair shops the image of being crooks.

I think he is the President of that club

Originally Posted by garcmol

You still trailering it up to Atlanta tomorrow?

Unfortunately I will not be able to go tomorrow since I have the fuel system open.



I did talk with Street and Performance a few minutes ago to find out about the fuel pressure regulator and they are going to send me one out today, should be here early nest week, of course for a nominal fee. This one will not be chrome as they do not make those anymore.

I asked the tech why this one went bad and he said because it sat out so long that the baffle/diaphram basically dry rotted from non-use.

I also forgot to mention that the air cleaner on the front was bent up......I just thought it was the filter but it is the whole part and it cost 189.95 for a new one of this......That is going to have to wait for now .....but I am adding it to my list.

So it seems that it will not move fore sure to later next week.

To me all this stuff boils down to negligence, maybe I am wrong.