The CF Bedford Bitching and Moaning
Before I start, I'd like to firstly say a special thanks to my mate Bruce, without his support the van wouldn't be what it is today. I really appreciate him letting me use his workshop, listening to me bitch and moan and inspiring me to do more. Thanks dude. Also to my brother for letting me build it in his garage as well, and lastly my neighbour Murray McQuoid for letting me use a corner of his workshop to store it for a while. Thanks.
We all bitch and moan, so here is mine - all to do with the van.
Lets start at the beginning
Buying the first van, we drove down in the middle of the night, got there about 1am but weren't meant to be there until about 6am, so by the time we found a place to park, I only got about 4 hours sleep, dang I hate mornings.
My biggest pet peeve is people that let you down. If you say you're going to do something, then f'en do it.
Just about finished the first van (around the time I found the bent rail), I phoned and made appointments with two engineers, so they could check over what had been done ... The first was a guy by the name of Neil Fraser, his answer phone message kind of insists you are reliable and leave a message ... but is himself is very unreliable, made an appointment with him and he never turned up, never phoned to say so either, a week or so after we was meant to turn up he phoned and said he was in the area ... I told him he was unreliable and would find someone else. The other was a guy called Mark Stokes, this guy is meant to be the guy, but is very unreliable, made an appointment and he never turned up or phoned. Since doing this van, sorting parts etc you talk to a lot of people, apparently Mark Stokes is well known for being unreliable and has a bad name around the car scene. Avoid these guys if you can. One guy (engineer) I will recommend is Lance from Freelance Automotive, I made an appointment with him, as you do, and he was to arrive on the Thursday, some time after lunch, lunch came and went and I thought 'Oh god not again', but then my phone rang, he apologised he was running late and wouldn't be able to make it, but would be there the next day. True to his word he was there the next day. He was also very helpful and his knowledge was freely expressed. Have never heard any bad things about this guy around the car scene. Top marks to Lance.
It's amazing peoples comments when something new is visible, you know, the "wow that looks good" or "is it worth it" or "you haven't done much lately aye". Most of the good stuff is hidden, and nobody realises (or cares) how it was done, just that it's done. Oh well, life goes on.
Don't you hate it when you agree to buy something off someone and when it's delivered they change the rules on you and want extra for a part on it, grrr. Then they turn around and make you out as the bad guy. I was already getting the bad end of the stick yet they wanted more. I should of brought it when I had the chance (this probably means nothing to you and has confused the heck outta ya - tough ;) Am sick of being a nice guy, as it means people try walk all over you.
Next time I see someone on the footpath (sidewalk) I'm not going to avoid them, it's my foot path ;) yeah yeah keep on the road ... (This last part is a joke in case no one got it)
How's this. I won some mag wheels on ebay. I paid the guy straight away and he was fine sending them to New Zealand (it cost me). Usually it takes 6-8 weeks by sea as airmail is real expensive, 10 weeks go by and no mags so I email the guy and a week or to later he replies "I'm so sorry, I got my cousin to send them for me but he didn't, I just checked the shed and they are still sitting there, I'll send them now". Just want I need, so I wait a few more weeks, still nothing. Then I get a letter from MAF (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry saying a parcel from the USA has been detained because they contain [quote]insect infestation sign and seed contaminant[end quote] and they want $70 NZ to clean and reinspect the mag. This is only ONE mag wheel. A couple more weeks go by and this wheel turns up at my place, still having dead spiders and stuff on it (guess they sprayed it with fly spray lol). You'd think if you were going to send something to anyone, any place you'd at least give the thing a quick wipe down. But this story hasn't finished yet as I have no idea where the other mag is (were sent in separate boxes due to size and weight). Oh and they were sent airmail :roll eyes:
Well the other mag finally turned up, what a nightmare.
Seems I have the worst luck when buying from online auctions, this time I brought some Hella LED indicators (for the rear), long story short, I paid for them, they were sent but I never got them - they got lost in the post, grrrr. The guy I brought them from was good about it, he refunded my money and claimed against the courier company. (I was sent a letter for confirmation so I know they were sent).
Above I have mentioned Freelance Automotive, When I wrote that I was only dealing with Lance (the engineer), but since then I have pestered Lance with many questions and Jason (the guy most likely to answer the phone when you ring and/or greet you) who also deserves a mention as he too is also very helpful and a good guy to deal with. I haven't had much to do with the guys in the workshop (Lance also gets his hands dirty) but I have seen their work, awesome stuff, you can tell they enjoy their work. So here is a free plug for Freelance Automotive. If you need your project certified or want a custom rod made or modified, this should be your first and only stop. Remember this wasn't my first engineer, the others let me down badly, Lance and co. have been there all the way, I had never had anything to do with them before this van and am not getting anything for this plug. Contact them, you wont be disappointed.
How's this for rough. I do a conterdeal with a mechanic friend. I had a 350 V8 that was rebuilt but had been sitting for many years, so deal was he strip it down, check it out and I pay for parts etc, in exchange for me working on his t-bucket. I give him the engine before Christmas and in Jan when I go see him he looks me in the eye and tells me it's done. I go around there to pick it up and he hasn't even started it. He does this twice (lies to my face) and a few times via text message. Long story short I go to pick up the motor and he has painted it black. WTF? The engine was painted nicely in Chevy red, it even had a chrome timing chain cover which he also painted. His reason was he thought he was doing me a favour. I worked out later why he painted it, to hide the fact he didn't do squat on it. He didn't take off the heads. He told me he needed $350 for parts (lifters, gasket set, bearings and oil pump), then when I picked it up he told me he only got sump gaskets, big end bearings and oil pump kit. He wasn't there when I went to pick it up by the way, scared I reckon. After scratching some paint off the cork sump gasket I find red paint on it, so I query him (all this via text messaging), his reply is there was nothing wrong with the old ones ... So he is still lying to me, so I query the rest and then he claims he had spent $280 on parts and the other went on second hand rockers and push rods, even though there was nothing wrong with my old ones and he would not reply as to where the old bits were. Lies, lies and more lies. So now I'll have to strip the engine down myself as I can not trust him as to what he says he has done. If only he had been honest with me and explained the old stuff was ok. Some people ...
Life's a beep, then you build a hot rod then you're broke ...
It's strange how the younger generation wants everything yesterday, the middle generation don't mind waiting over night yet the older generation has memory loss to deal with so takes longer.
Over a year ago I asked to buy some rear lower quarter panels, sure, deal done, except I had to wait for the parts. One month, two months, three months, six months ... and as I had told some other people I had found some they also wanted some, but luckily I asked them to wait until I got mine first. To cut a long story short, 18 months later I am still waiting. The story has had a few twists, his mate has them, his mate left them in his workshop, can't find them, they are on there way, they have been stolen ... In the end he got a pair made up for me, great you'd think, I did until I tried to fit them. Put it this way, after slicing it eight times each side I managed to get them to fit. This was for the standard CF, not the custom CF.
It's amazing how dents can appear, no one knows anything about it yet there they are. I know no one is perfect, we all screw up from time to time, why can't people just be straight up and say "hey sorry I accidently dented your wagon" of course it wouldn't be on purpose. It's like the supermarket, do people get points for denting cars, maybe it's a game or something I am unaware of, or maybe an addition. I can just see it now, two people at a therapists office claiming they are down to 3 dents a week.
Hopefully this wont be continued ...