how to get my mechanic to install my motor after 4 months

[cosmo]

My new 351 and my truck have been at a mechanics shop for 4 months and there has been no movement other than removing the old engine.
I visit the shop every 2-3 weeks and it has come to apoint where they wont look me in the eye when i visit. I know the mechanic, but he has become distant. Other cars are coming in and getting repairs ahead of me.
I still think he is the best around, and he has otherwise been outstanding, so I dont want to make things worse.
I am starting to blame myself, and second guess every thing I say to him.
Bottom line is that I need some advice from those who have been a a similar situation, or those who are mechanics ... on how to respectfully get things moving again
thanks
Cosmo

[therealjoeshmoe]

typical mechanic / body-paint man... they do the easy money jobs first.. not much money in restoring old trucks... they want the insurance jobs cause they pay more and they are easier.. i ran into this with my ford.. I just decided if you want somthing done right (if you can) do it yourself..

I know that dont really answer your question..

where are you if your close id help ya put it in.. we dont need no stinkin mechanics..

[bird55]

^^Yes, to all of this and more.

But nonetheless you did hire him for it. Go ahead and give him a deadline and gently remind him when he he get it out of the way he can bring in a quicker type of repair job to do.

As we know our trucks are old and take some tinkering to get going.Not a way to make money, usually. Which is afterall why he is in business!

I try to do stuff like this myself.

[LM14]

I would politely talk to him. Explain that the truck has been sitting the whole summer and ask for a completion date. Let him know you are tired of waiting and make him set a date to get it back.

The flip side of the coin would be to walk in and set a date you need the truck back in your possession. Take it done or not and look elsewhere to get the work done if you aren't capable of doing it yourself or with a friend's help.

Pretty common scenario at most shops in the country. Get the project in the grounds and then start something else. Usually have to bug them to get them off dead center and they may reach a point where they just want to be done so they don't have to explain themselves to you.

Joe, since you can't come to Slick Stock, you could run out to Maryland instead and help him put in his engine while we party in Altoona!

SPark

[therealjoeshmoe]

Maryland?? dang, he might as well be in Australia lol sorry dude

[LM14]

If he was in Australia, we would make Alan do it!

A little trip to Slick Stock looks like a better option now doesn't it!?!?

SPark

[therealjoeshmoe]

SO WHAT DAYS IS SLICKSTOCK EXACTLY?

[ICEMAN6166]

SO WHAT DAYS IS SLICKSTOCK EXACTLY?

its next week

some arrive sunday and monday, others trickle in during the week. by thursday most are there with a few more showing up late friday.
look in the ss2014 page for details.

[skidoorulz]

Had a similar situation for the body work for my truck. Took it to a body shop the week of Memorial day 2013. Had a tentative timeline of 6 months agreed on by me and the shop owner. Keep in mind every thing was already blasted and all rust repair was done. Extremely well I might add. 6 months came and went. End of Nov 2013 the cab was no even painted so I went and asked him to give me a completion date. Shop owner said 1 31 14. I told him I would go one better and give him till 2 28 2014. That date came nd went that was his second chance. fast forward to 8 1 14 and the box and hood is not done. I walk into the shop and ask the owner if he can have it done on 8 15 14. Owner said possibly but doubtful. I said you and I know it won't be. You have had it for 14 months and we had an initial agreement of 6 months. I told him I would be back in 2 hours with a trailer and I would pick everything up, that I was done with him. Two hours later I hauled my stuff home.
Now I am going to tell everyone who asks where they can get some body work done. I will let them know where not to go. Long story short everything is in my shop unfinished and I am now looking for someone else to finish the paint

[foodstick]

Friday 22 and Saturday the 23 are probably the biggest days for obvious reasons...

[sgettin]

Cosmo, from reading your post you sound like a nice person. Ask him why he hasn't gotten it done. If he stares at his feet and comes up with a stupid reason you can jump his ass and still be nice about it which is what needs to happen.
He has the engine out of your truck so if he starts to say you can just take it home be ready to inform him he's gonna be liable for expenses.

[ICEMAN6166]

sadly this is becoming a rather common thing these days, more in body shops but its getting into the mechanical end too.
the one word that tells the whole story is "insurance"
in the body repair end its pretty severe
i talked to several body shop owners about this back when i was towing
all of them told me they would not take private jobs over the higher paying insurance work especially older vehicles.
mechanical shops these days want only to plug in a computer to the car or truck ,and replace spendy parts because of the fault code.
a lot of the new engines are not rebuildable like they used to be, when something serious happens the engine is just swapped out.

i wish you luck but at this point i think you will be getting your truck back as is.in addition they probably will want payment for removing the old engine.

best scenario is you have some type of written contract that you can use either to negotiate with the shop or as basis for legal action if they try to charge you excessively for any work done.

[charliemccraney]

If you are paying someone to do work and it is taking an unreasonable amount of time, you have every right to be assertive and tell them to get it done or you'll be taking it elsewhere.
If you've known the guy a while, you might make sure that he doesn't think he is doing the job for a "friend." It's ok if you are friends but those type of arrangements don't always work. Whenever I have work done by friends, I ask that they treat me like someone who just walked into their shop for the first time, no special price or treatment. That way, they're getting top dollar and the incentive is there to get it done.

[DV65CustomCab]

all of them told me they would not take private jobs over the higher paying insurance work

I wish someone would tell my body shops this. All they do is complain about how little we pay.

Trying to get body and paint work done on restorations has become nearly impossible. It's a vicious cycle...they don't want to do it because they believe they can't charge what it actually costs (thousands), and the customer can't find anyone to touch it at any price. I always thought a business of just doing body repair and paint to a bare shell, then returning it to the customer, would be successful.

As for an engine replacement...geez, that's probably the easiest job to do on these trucks. I can't comprehend someone's reluctance to get it done...probably could be finished in two days and out of his shop. I'd consider firing the guy and taking it home. Find someone else, or even ask the local car club guys if there's someone who would do it as a side job who is competent.

[ThinLizzy13]

When the engine on my 66 died it spent maybe 2 weeks at my mechanics. And the only reason it was that long was because I was searching for a new engine. Once I found a new 300 and dropped it off he popped the old one out and dropped in the new one. It was there for only about two days for the actual job.
I know my mechanic pretty well so that could've helped out, but still 4 months seems way too long. It'd be nice if he could give you some sort of explanation for what exactly he's waiting for.

[TxStang2010]

I would show up and pick EVERTHING up , if you paid up front your basicly screwed for your money but at least you wont have to deal with him anymore .