55Brodie
Well Known Member
I recently took my '62 to a local shop that "specializes" in hot rods and classic cars repair. I visited beforehand and toured the facility which was quite busy and had 3 or 4 classics in for work. The owner made all the right noises so I made a date to drop the car off.
Specifically I needed my leaky and noisy M21 transmission replaced with my freshly rebuilt M20 along with flywheel, Zoom clutch, throw out bearing and fork. Also remove headers and replace with 2-1/2" manifolds (thanks Tooth) and new Show Cars down pipes. I also wanted to ditch the dropped spindles and get 4 new tires of the same size on all corners
I fully expected some mission creep and was not disappointed. New ball joints and front and rear springs and incidentals ensued.
Anyway, a month and $ 4600.00 later not counting parts i got my car back.
Poking around the driver's side of the engine next day my hand came up covered in grease which I traced to a torn boot on the steering shaft coupler at the base of the column. So I called the shop and was told to bring it by and they would look at it. I asked what good would that do as I had already explained the problem and had provided use of the 1961 shop manual and 1962 supplement as well as the 1962 assembly manual, none of which were apparently consulted. The owner then told me he had worked on countless GM steering couplers and he knew what he was doing. It was then I decided to "fire" him.
So I ordered the new boot and spent about 4 days pulling the column out to access the coupler (the only other option being remove the steering gearbox) and replacing it. None of which is easy when you're an arthritic cripple.
The car is much more enjoyable to drive with the M20 and stock front suspension.
Thanks for enduring my rant.
