Side Job That Was Crap From Beginning

this is why i dont do many side jobs.

Cover your ass and take pictures before it goes. Probably should have taken them when it arrived, too. Maybe even make a video of it running. This guy sounds like he's the type to it up and then he might try to bring that back on you.

Glad to hear your headache is over!

Why did no body complain about posters spelling and use of periods like you alway do to me :'(

foxna6, you should have written, "Why didn't anybody complain about the original poster's spelling and use of periods, like you always complain about mine?"

just sayin'...

I think almost all of have been there. Typically we think "it wont be to hard".

About 2 years ago I found an ad on Craigs List where a kid was parting out his rolled over 1990 LX 5.0. I went and looked at it and determined I would like to have the whole car. As it turns out, he just wanted the HO engine to put in his truck. So, in a stroke of ingenius I offer to make the swap for what was left of the car. I ended up having to rewire his injector wiring harness, wait for him to bring parts and basically kick, scream and cuss at this POS truck for a week. I finally get it put together and the transmission is shot. Kid is all but broke. He goes to a junk yard for a used tranny and I put it in with my brother inlaw for $100. I drank more than $100 in beer during this project.

I like to help out my friends, but sometimes a project becomes a little bigger than I'd bargained for. I try to limit my time with things. I'll only do most jobs on Saturdays, and if I can't do it in a few hours on Saturday, they need to take it to a shop.

But most of my friends know nothing about cars, so most of the jobs are small. Change a headlight, flush the radiator, change brake pads. Alot of them are college students scraping by, so it's either having someone like me doing it for the cost of parts, or not being able to do it at all. Then there's "safety" inspections, where a cracked exhaust gets red stamped as death for everyone else on the road, and suddenly my friends are without transport. I can't let that happen.

Also, I have several young, attractive female friends, who have other young, attractive female friends, who might need some help someday...

As for this kid, though, I'd've just encouraged him to do it himself. If it's a project car for him, he can afford to teach himself.

I only offer technical advice. They can come to my house and use my tools, but they have to do the work themselves. They must also bring a Haynes or Chilton manual. If they have a problem that they can't figure out then I'll help. It keeps everybody away.