Date: Sat, 7 Dec 2013 21:08:11 -0800
Reply-To: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Speedy
In-Reply-To: <8676110.733995.1386471828176.JavaMail.root@vms170019>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
If someone brought you a broken Vanagon and said fix it and make
it right, you have to ask yourself (and perhaps the client) "How right
do you want it?" You can oil things and straighten out the wiring,
clean grounds and check the running gear, etc etc....and that would be
reasonable, but you wouldn't go taking the body down to bare metal to
restore the paint, or re-working the tranny, if the only broken thing
was a leaky water hose or a faulty fuel pump....you wouldn't pull the
motor and re-do the heads, or give in an alignment or rework the
brakes and clutch....though all that stuff would good to attend
to...How far DO you go? If you get a great client that has the
inclination to spend money and wants things right 100%, that is great
for you both...You can do the work right and he can pay you for your
time. On the other hand, when someone comes along with an average van
and has a specific repair in mind, you can't go fixing everything else
that you personally like to fix....unless you have unlimited time to
give away and don't need to be paid. And the client would be bummed
if you billed him out for a couple of days work, saying "Well, I also
fixed and adjusted the _____, and the___________, and the _____needed
some attention so I did that too, and ____" when all he really
absolutely needed was some 'slam dunk' parts exchanging...
I often tell my clients "I can make it just as nice as you can
afford" I did a very nice and pretty fancy house for Charles DuPont
in Jackson, Wyoming and a neat little log cabin for my neighbor in
Wilson, Wyoming...Both cost just what each decided they could budget
for their structures....Charlie's place had a squash court inside,
Judy's cabin had an enclosure out back for her trash can...they each
got as nice as they could afford and my best effort went into
both...At every task it is incumbent on the worker to work as quickly
and as accurately as possible and to pay attention and learn so the
next time he/she can do a similar task more quickly and have an even
better result...Give the clients their money's worth..
On Sat, Dec 7, 2013 at 7:03 PM, David Bjorkman <ddbjorkman@verizon.net> wrote:
> Come on, Scott. A bug motor removal includes all of 7 wires and 4 bolts, if
> I remember correctly. We did it for fun. We would not just remove an
> engine that needed work and replace it without fixing it first. Which
> included lubing, greasing, various testing, coating wires with dielectric
> grease, and all the little tweaks. Lighten up.
>
> Dave B.
>
>
> On 12/06/13, Scott Daniel<scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:
>
> I could care less about speed..
> I am interested in quality.
> when I do a dash or heater box..there are nearly endless little tweaks..
> adjusting things, lubing things, addressing corrosion, improving things
> ..gluing weather stripping back on etc.
>
> Speed itself isn't worth jack unless it's an emergency, IMO.
>
> I have spent countless hours re-doing poorly done work on Vanagons. I almost
> specialize in it, or did.
>
> Scott
>
>
> On 12/6/2013 5:35 AM, David Bjorkman wrote:
>
> Wow Jim, that's pretty quick. Reminds me of the times (way back) at Small
> Wheels shop when we used to compete to find how fast we could pull a bug
> motor, drag it 30 feet out and back, and reinstall it.
>
> Dave B.
>
>
> On 12/05/13, Jim Felder<jim.felder@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
>
> I can do a dash out, bust open box, replace
> heater blower, seal box and reinstall dash in four hours.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jim
>
>
>
>
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