NastyZ28.com

OK, I need some advice. I dropped off my 71 at the paint shop on July 5th of this year. The shop owner and I agreed (on paper) that he would finish final bodywork and paint the car within 60 days. I gave a down payment of $1500 to get things rolling. The remaining $3500 would be due after the job is finished.
Very little has been done to my car. The whole car has been sanded and that's about it. It has been over 90 days and all I get is excuses. It looks like he is having trouble keeping employees and maybe even keeping the doors open. My car is covered in body shop dust inside and out. My interior is brand new and now covered in thick dust. The engine is also covered in dust. They pulled the rear windshield off for paint and did not bother to cover it. Only one employee remains and is doing all the shop work.
My worry is that his shop is going under and that I will show up one day to find the place permanently locked and closed and my car will be trapped in red tape and court...

I've been trying to get a smog check on my 2002 Corvette for the last week. The weekend before the smog I (stupidly) disconnected the battery to replace a headlight motor forgetting that it would reset the ECM. Failed smog due to non readiness... my fault.

For the last 8 days I've been trying to get the god-dammed O2 heater to go ready. Done the drive cycle/warm up cycle (cold start, 2 min idle with AC/Defrost on - 55MPH drive for 3 min etc... )every day. Everything else is good. Even the EVAP which is supposed to be the tough one clicked over yesterday. No MIL's But HTR icon sits there flashing on my scanner.

I'm just venting - I'm sure like many others I'll drive the car for a few more days and for some mysterious reason the O2 heater will go ready for no apparent reason. Seems to be how it goes with Early 2000's GM's.

I guess I got spoiled by other cars where you just drove them for 50-ish miles and everything went ready with no drama.

<Sigh>

When I had my driveway replaced a month ago, there was a little “accident”.

My garage door got bumped and two of the panels were damaged.

I happened to get the name of a guy with years of garage door experience from a landscaper a couple of weeks earlier.

I called him, got an estimate and agreed to have him replace the 25 year old door.

He didn’t want any help as he has his own methods of doing this job.

He unloaded the new door, disassembled the old door, tracks/spring system and loaded them into his truck.
He then installed the new tracks and door, made final adjustments and had the entire job finished in UNDER THREE HOURS!

Mind you… This is a 68 year old guy working completely by himself!

I’m working from home so I didn’t get to see much of his procedure but I checked on his progress every half hour or so.
I was dumbfounded as to how any one guy could get so much done in those brief periods of time.

I am completely overwhelmed with this guy’s manners and...

I ordered tires for the Blazer project yesterday morning around 9 and had them delivered about 11:30 today. That's crazy fast. I never buy tires from Tire Rack but the price was too good to pass up (wasn't going to get rubber until November), I guess they are on the list of places to look now.

I put this job off for years but I finally pulled the trigger on replacing my 40 year old driveway.

HUGE Improvement visually.

I just hope the hill doesn’t get too slick in the Winter.



4500 Sq/Ft of black to assist global warming.

My Camaro is trapped in the garage for at least a week.

I’m not planning to drive on it for two weeks, just to be safe.

I bought a fuel rail from Ebay for my Blazer project. I'm using an aftermarket manifold and I had to try two different fuel rail sets to get something that will work. I need to put a push connect fitting in the end of on rail and they are ORB fittings on the end of the rails. I measured and the closest match was the -10AN ORB, it was too big. I bought a -8AN ORB and it was too small. I have no idea what the hell I'm looking for now. I'd prefer a fitting to go to the 3/8 push connect but at this point I'll take a plug and drill and tap a NPT hole if that's that it takes.

I'm not sure how well I explained that, let me know if I can clarify anything. Any help is appreciated.

Pictures in case it helps.

I don’t own a torch so I’ve needed to get more creative, on occasion.

A dremel and sawzall have been my “go to” tools, several times.

Any one have recomendation for a good brand on a water heater. Not real impressed with this Bradford White POS that came with the house.

It's no secret that prices are going up fast. I'd like to know how you guys feel it is affecting you. Food and fuel seem to be the two biggest things that affect us every day. For me, the increase in food prices hits me the hardest. I can cut back on driving and that cuts back on gas costs, but cutting back on food isn't as easy. Yes, energy prices for heating and electricity are up too, and again that is difficult to cut back on. I did some serious energy saving changes to my house 20 years ago, so that helps, but I can't do much more.

Any of us "old" folks saw this same thing 40 years ago and we managed to get through it so I don't see any problem getting through it again this round. The economy has its ups and downs, and if you are lucky enough to live long enough, you get to see it multiple times.

So, I just try to cut out the unnecessary things and buy my food wisely. I won't starve to death, but I might complain about prices. As long as I have meat, potatoes, and ice cream...

If anyone on the board owns a Kia or Hyundai... Beware of the "Kia Boys"!

Car thefts have gotten totally out of hand in the upper Midwest because these punks have figured out how easy it is to steal these cars.

Pop window, break column and turn a switch.
It takes mere seconds to steal these cars.


An elderly couple's car was hit by one of these stolen cars and the woman was killed couple of days ago.

They are almost always juveniles and they are being released to the "custody" of their parents, in my county.
They are back out on the street the next day, stealing more cars... Just for kicks.

Up for sale is a 70-73 right hand side taillight for standard Camaros (non-RS; no chrome ring). This has the pillow style reverse light. $25 plus the ride. SPF!!

I have an Oak tree that's dropping the "honey dew" all over my car. I need to remove it from the paint on my daily driver. I'm looking for something quick an easy. The stuff is stuck pretty well. I used a razor blade on the windows and it took a bit of effort to get it off. It's my daily with 220k+ so I'm not looking to win any trophies but I'd like to keep it looking nice. Any suggestions on a product to help get it off?

Currently on hold with Summit for the last 10 minutes trying to see how they want me to handle this. I ordered a pair of axles, I can tell by the weight one is completely gone.

No... It's not how some of us leave the line at the strip.

It's a small-satellite launch system currently undergoing testing.



I can't understand how this thing wouldn't tear itself apart once the "projectile" is released.

Wouldn't it be easier to launch/release TWO at the same time?
(One up and one down. )

Interesting idea.
So much simpler than a 100% fuel propelled launch from the ground.

25 years ago, Bismarck got a big snowstorm in April that left us with 17" of snow along with high winds. After the storm the local parking lot of the shopping center looked like this.

Today, we are getting a similar one expected to last two days. The current forecast is for 12-24" of snow this time with 50 mph winds to pile it up. The parking lots might look like this again soon.

I'm trying to figure out just what the wheels are on the Blazer I bought. The numbers on the back of the wheel a 18x8.5 jj et13 I got the 18 by 8.5 part, just not sure if that's telling me the backspacing or if I need to measure it.

If you are using Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge, be aware that both of them have a serious security flaw. Make sure you upgrade to the new "fixed" version to safeguard your system.
Google had a flaw in Chrome, and since Microsoft built Edge from Chrome, they inherited the same flaw.

Crazy news

It should go without saying but I gotta say it. If the swap meet ad does not concern you (buying or selling the parts) stay out of it. Good deal, bad deal anything short of fraud and you are not interested in buying the parts we don't need to hear your opinion. If you would like to discuss a specific part, modification etc, please start thread in the corresponding section.

It's not just the polite way to act, it's the rules here.