[speaker001:] are you a TIer
[speaker002:] uh yeah I am yeah yeah I've been uh
[speaker001:] oh good yeah uh she had a hard time getting a few folks uh I thought well every all these TIers have gone home uh at one o'clock on Friday
[speaker002:] I uh it is Friday yeah that's for sure well uh I guess I'm trying to think the last thing I did to a car
[speaker001:] I I I do it a lot I have I kind of worked my way through college as a mechanic as a kid
[speaker002:] oh wow okay
[speaker001:] uh so and my father and brother were in it and and my brother's still in it and I had periods when I didn't do anything but in the last ten years I've uh my car doesn't go to a shop you know it it I just do it all do I uh there's hardly anything that other than putting tires on that I'll do I did take it to a transmission place to put in a new transmission but I change the oil and transmission and
[speaker002:] uh-huh yeah sure
[speaker001:] uh uh I just essentially do it all I don't know uh uh if there's anything specific in fact I could advise people uh I happen to be a M E besides but I do it for fun really and to save money and I guess that's diversion uh
[speaker002:] uh-huh right right
[speaker001:] I I've I've tried a few groups uh you know where you I can recommend it for people to take their cars Like I think Sears is probably the best place because I've heard when I used to go there
[speaker002:] yeah yeah
[speaker001:] and when I I just overheard what they did for me very little because I didn't take it that much but what I heard them tell other people was always right
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] you know when I sat there I you know I dropped my car off for tires or something like that
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] and so I respect they seem to actually have mechanics there
[speaker002:] yeah yeah
[speaker001:] I was pretty impressed with Western Auto but they didn't do a great job of changing my transmission uh oil last time and when when I did it the next time I realized the filter was loose and everything and I didn't like it So I'm just doing it all myself I I
[speaker002:] really yeah that's that's the aggravating thing yeah I I try to do as much as I can I uh I grew up on farm so I've got that uh you know take care of yourself attitude and uh oh I've done
[speaker001:] you had to do it yeah right
[speaker002:] I've done various things I've got an I've got an eighty three T Bird and I've I've changed out uh heater core and uh oh timing belts and things like that um
[speaker001:] oh uh-huh
[speaker002:] um I guess the last thing I took to anybody to have done was on my wife's car um when we went in for inspection it didn't it didn't quite pass so we had to have uh that's uh that's a Mustang with a two barrel carburetor on it
[speaker001:] uh-huh yeah uh-huh
[speaker002:] they had to do some adjustments on that and of course it had never been adjusted so they had to pull it off and pull all the plugs out to get to it and uh
[speaker001:] oh yeah well you like Fords apparently huh
[speaker002:] yeah yeah I've uh I'm kind of stuck on them right now I guess but you know that's it's partially because I can work on them that's uh that's that's that's a big part of my decision but uh yeah we ran into some problems with uh
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] having them to work on that carburetor I mean they get they got everything tuned up right you know but they we got I got it home and uh and they had left the uh oil filter uh cap off and it was rubbing on a belt and it rubbed a notch in that little little things like that that really start to aggravate you that that's a lot of the reason I do my own stuff
[speaker001:] really my goodness yeah I wonder always wonder when you have little things like that happen why even here at TI why we don't inspect I'm in facilities why we don't inspect areas and and guarantee it so to speak uh
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] we always fix things and put things in and walk away we there needs to be a time of inspection and check out and and some thing like that with a car there ought to be someone there that inspects it before it's turned there ought to be an inspector inspector or quality insurance guy after after an oil change you know just in case uh they didn't put the oil in or whatever I I always wonder about that when when someone does repairs or little things like that uh
[speaker002:] sure sure that's right sure yeah any anything that gets that that's in uh gets to be an an assembly line type operation you're you're always risking that if there's too many people that get their hands on one little project you know that things they're you get you you miss that overlap sometimes and and they miss things yeah I've I've had a hard time
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] finding anybody I can trust like like you say it my old transmissions things like that I'm obviously I'm not going to I'm not going to tear apart a automatic transmission try rebuild it
[speaker001:] no no I don't either I don't either yeah
[speaker002:] but uh it it's it's real stressful to try to find anybody that I think's going to do me right and and uh you know have an idea of what's going on
[speaker001:] yeah you need to really uh I I do uh a lot of the simple things I I think I do most of the things better than the average person you you have Fords and I I uh I have three Chevys which
[speaker002:] uh-huh okay
[speaker001:] I worked my way into having the same engine I don't know how long I'm I like a V8 and I'm I'm sold sold on small block Chevy V8s and I I bought one car new and I almost accidentally
[speaker002:] yeah oh yeah yeah
[speaker001:] got the next car although I was kind of looking for it when I got a used a used car with the same engine
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] well then the next the truck I got next I definitely looked for the same engine so I buy filters you know three or four at a time and essentially the engines are different you the cars are different years but the same Chevy V8
[speaker002:] sure sure uh-huh
[speaker001:] and the part the carburetors is the same almost everything is the same the the course is two are eighties and one eighty six you know so you can learn a lot that way I there's no way I could I could fix every car in the world you know
[speaker002:] uh-huh well yeah that that the biggest you know that's the three biggest things to me you know I I number one you've got to have the tools around if you don't have the the special tools or
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] well any more the the testers that you know I I don't have a forty thousand dollar diagnostic tester sitting in my garage you know so obviously if it starts
[speaker001:] yeah right
[speaker002:] my car start missing or something like that that it's almost impossible to track that down any more without a diagnostics but at the tools and the space to do it that that can be a big problem if it's if it's under carriage or something like that but
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] then it's experience you know you can you can look through a a Chilton's book or something like and get an idea of how to go about it but you better figure on multiplying that time out about by at least by five or so
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] just just just by not knowing you know how to get to that that one bolt or that one screw or whatever to get things apart
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] that was that was the biggest thing when I did uh the heater core in my T Bird that is got to be the worst location for it and and the only reason I did it I
[speaker001:] yeah I think they're all bad really they're
[speaker002:] yeah yeah the the only ones I've ever heard good good things about are are the old Lincolns and Cadillacs where they had the little door underneath the hood You just open the door and pop it out yeah but but uh
[speaker001:] uh-huh is that right
[speaker002:] I I had I had taken this in to have it done originally and uh
[speaker001:] yeah what did they want to charge you for it
[speaker002:] oh it it was it was tremendous well it was about seven hours labor so it it was going to run about four hundred dollars or so
[speaker001:] yeah yeah
[speaker002:] and they looked it over and they they they thought they could patch it up a little bit you know and what not so they
[speaker001:] this is your little water uh heater in there for the uh the heat inside
[speaker002:] yeah yeah yeah and it was it was leaking inside the car in the condenser unit so uh they they did a little patch on it
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] and it last it held for about four to six months and I finally went back in and started looking at it myself and it it's a matter tearing all the dash out and all that kind of stuff but hey it was not
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] uh it was not a seven hour labor job for me it was about a week before I finally through
[speaker001:] yeah did you get it inside or outside I I took one off my little Buick I had and I pretty much took it loose on the inside but it came out from the you know underneath the hood it came from yeah
[speaker002:] yeah oh really no this this was the only thing that sticks in inside the engine compartment on this are the two uh hose fittings
[speaker001:] maybe you're right maybe you're right I it's been a long time since I took one out
[speaker002:] yeah it it's I I've never heard a good story about uh
[speaker001:] course I broke mine you know so I'm always very careful when I change hoses on it I don't know whether you did yours
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] not to really pull on those I when I take those hoses I cut them off
[speaker002:] right okay
[speaker001:] very gingerly because if you you know pull on that and I've always done that as a kid you know just yanked on it and they must have been stronger and heavier copper at the time
[speaker002:] yeah uh-huh sure
[speaker001:] but I broke one on my on my Buick and I always remembered it was my own fault and I thought well I'm going to to going to carefully take those hoses off
[speaker002:] you bet well that that's what ended up being the real problem on this was the uh it the the pipe wasn't busted but the it wasn't soldered in good enough and it had it had broken loose enough to where
[speaker001:] oh really yeah
[speaker002:] if it got hot
[speaker001:] It it spread out yeah
[speaker002:] and and not just normal driving didn't do it but if if if it was an especially hot day the pressure would get high enough and it would start blowing the water out inside
[speaker001:] yeah yeah
[speaker002:] it was real aggravating but uh I I couldn't even even a week's a week's time is is worth a whole lot less than four than four hundred dollars to me you know than to have somebody else do it
[speaker001:] yeah sometimes if you're a tinkerer you luck out My wife's
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] uh Chevy uh it was a Caprice air conditioning stopped I I just heard it I realized that the air conditioning wasn't cutting in
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] and I went out there for five minutes and I just pushed on the wires And sure enough just pure dumb luck that the connection over by it's not the evaporator the big filter on one side
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] I just pushed that in and I heard it click
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and so sometimes you have dumb luck I I was you know you could have taken something like that and thought well the compressor's not working or it would have taken me all day probably if I didn't do that but sometimes you have some dumb luck If you have a little curiosity
[speaker002:] right that's true
[speaker001:] and you have enough knowledge to check things out I know I feel bad for people who just when anything goes wrong a fuse you know they just have to take it And I know that's tough if you don't uh at least give it a shot I've got girls daughters and
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] I've always said I'd teach them And my my one daughter was fairly interested And I really haven't gotten around to I learned because I I just uh learned you know and I feel bad about not at least showing them some of the things And I'm going to do that I I told my daughters in college this year
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] I said This summer we're definitely going to spend a little more time on the car I said so you can learn the basics you know
[speaker002:] well yeah and and and not only from a from an economic standpoint just just pure safety you know if you can if she can get yourself out of a bad situation
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] without having to to go to a phone booth and stand around and wait it it it can it can save a lot of time and trouble
[speaker001:] right I have the there's one expression I don't like uh the country expression you know if it ain't if it ain't broke don't fix it