73Resto: Final touches

[larry47us]

Chris:

I think that it is appropriate for you to have another mechanic verify the work that is done, especially if you are non-technical, as I am. An honest shop shouldn't argue about it.

The arguments may come when the "list" is presented. But it is like the punchlist on a new house. You will show it to your shop, and wait to see their reaction. There are likely to be issues that they will agree are not completed or are completed improperly. But there will be things that they won't agree on.

In those instances, you will have to negotiate a settlement with them. There are things that they will do at no charge, things they will do with a small additional payment from you, and things they won't do. You have spent a lot of money with them. My guess is that they will want you to be happy. There is nothing better than a happy customer referral, and nothing worse for business than the passed word of a disgruntled customer.

And Sandy -- Gotta disagree with you. There are a number of instances where I have asked another "expert" to check out what I hired the first expert to do. If I am not an expert, how am I to verify that the guy I hired did the work that was contracted?

larry

[JCR]

I hope the B2BF realizes, this is a golden opportunity to improve their reputation in the early 911 community.

We're all watching - flamethrowers held at bay.

[silver911]

Larry you beat me to it.

SandyI I must disagree with you.

The PPI and its results are the 'punchlist' as you call it on a new house.

If you regard getting the car done in the same way as getting the house built then the reason comes clear. You would not buy a house without getting an expert to look it over first.

The same applies to the car. Afterall whilst yopurp has managed the cosmetic issues to his satisfaction the mechnaical ones are not within his abilities and desires.

A shop which tests leak downs, rolling road, braking forces and efforts, tracking and alignments etc will produce data which is within spec or not. Hopefully that will bottom out many issues.

After that there are subjective issues as to the feel of the car.
That's where the potential problems lie...the more experience yopurp can gain of other good 911s....can you help him out guys, then the more valid his comments will be in addition to those of an expert.

What you have to avoid is the expert saying...'Well, that's not how/what I would have done....' That will sow doubt and anger intot the mix. Each expert has a particular approach based on knowledge and experience. Others may disagree but if it works then that is the bottom line.

Sorry to be so long winded but as mentioned before, professionally I'm the expert and Clients (like yopurp) can make a huge difference to how well this stage of a project goes.

All the best.

[yopurp]

Geez,

Didn't expect such a maelstorm on this topic. Sandy, I appreciate where you are coming from but I don't think it applies in this case. It's too long of a story t o start at the beginning (I probably shouldn't have taken this to the bboard anyway, not the best medium).

I've got all the opinions and will take it off line from here. Assume all is well unless you hear otherwise. Again, thanks for the support guys.

[SandyI]

I guess I dropped into all this mid-restoration. I missed the detail where you had this final 3rd party inspection built into your agreement with Born2BFast. Good luck with the car. I'm sure it will be AWESOME!

[gruen911]

Hi Yopurp,
I understand from your earlier postings that you are not too mechanically knowledgable about Porsche cars, and there have been some questions raised as to whether you can get an objective opinion from a third party mechanic when attempting to do a PPI before making your final payment. However, leakdown and compression numbers on an engine test are really not subjective. You either have good compression and leakdown or you don't. As for the rest, you can pretty much tell iof it's right by driving it. If the tranny feels good and there is no grind, then it is good. If the brakes are crisp and don't pull then they are good. Brake pad wear is easy to see, and a new master cylinder is easy to tell when looking at it. It will look new!
As for rust and body work, have him lift the car and look at the undercarriage. Put the car under ultraviolate light and look at it then. You will be able to see immediately how good the bodywork is. Also, check the gaps. If you spent alot of money on the retsoration, you should expect to be fully satisfied with the work before you pay them and take possession of the car. Goos luck.
By the way, with all the money you have put into the engine and MFI, make sure that you have youyr tank sent out and cleaned.
Nothing worse than finding out you are pumping rusty gas thru a new engine.
By the way, I am also just finishing restoration on my 73 911E sunroof coupe which is also silver. I should have mine fullyoperational by next week. It only took 2 years and 2 months. I have been involved in it's restoration every step of the way including engine and tranny rebuilds as well as complete body strip and repaint. I also strepped up and had my dash restored by Just Dashes. They do amazing work for $600. **** they charged me $115 just to do my speaker cut-out.

[yopurp]

Gruen,

Yeah, tell me abou tit. The car didn't make it home (30 miles). Hopefully its a small thing (see Technical Board)

As for the body work - I saw the car down to bare metal, no rust anywhere. Some metal repair work to patch AC hole, and redo read speaker panel as someone had cut holes for mid-80's box speakers. everythign else was totally clean, rockers, sunroof drain hoels, etc... (places you'd expect rust). Now I just need to figure out what the heck's going on w/the engine (see post on technical board).

Regardless, I'm having it towed to Modderman in the morning.