background: motor and EFI are from a 1990 Mustang donor My luck has to be the worst in the world when it comes to paying somebody to do something on my car. The work is usually done icorrectly, not at all, or as in this case, something that causes another problem. (And no, Ed - I'm not talking about you. You da man! ) A couple of weekends ago, I had my front end aligned. First off, I was told that instead of the normal $69, it was going to be $100 since it was a "special" job (because it has drag springs, Strut Tower Braces and Monte Carlo bar). Whatever... It needed to be done. I drove the car home (only a couple of miles away) without any problems. The steering didn't feel "incredibly" better afterwards but there was the "feel-good" feeling that I'd had it professionaly done. The engine ran okay (I never went WOT). Fastforward to today: I decided to remove my Rev limiter (6K) and DiabloSport chip and make a quick run to see how it compared to the Diablo's tune and how it felt to go over 6 grand. One mile away from the house and one WFO sprint, the car dies on me. I check the fuel pressure - its good. Coil is is providing fire to the distributor. I pull #1 plug and roll the engine over - no spark. I then happen to see where the Monte Carlo bar was pressing up against the distributor and had caused the distributor to become 'flat' at that point. Sure enough, I take the cap off and the rotor alignment detent is sheared off. It was hitting the contact where the flat spot (deflected area) of the distributor was. So, there I was - stranded on the side of the road. I called Susie to come get me. I ran to the house to get some tools, and the parts store to get a new cap, rotor and adapter (plastic piece between cap and alumnum part of distributor). $50 total. When I get back to the car, I know I have to take the tension off the Heim joints to allow the Monte Carlo bar to spring forward (toward it's 'un-sprung' location). Man, they must've cranked on the Heim joints (turnbuckles) until they got tired of turning them - and then had thier buddy turn it some more. There comes a point when the tightening of the Heim joint deflects the Monte Carlo Bar to the where - to use a technical term from my profression - "you're just farting in the wind". Anyway, after the tension was off the MC bar, the cap and rotor installed, it cranked right up and sounded great. Not to make it a total wasted trip - I just had to go WFO one time (on the same 4-lane, no traffic road you saw before - safe, blah blah,) before putting it away for the night. Now, how did it run without the chip (that isnt' tuned) and no rev limiter???....... and ! I have high hopes for it when I eventually get it tuned. All it takes is money! In hind-sight, I guess I should've noticed that the distributor cap was coming into contact with the MC bar - but if everything feels okay and is running okay, I suppose I didn't feel it was necessary to check it. Maybe I should go check the right rear side marker to see if it's cracked or not.
Rick, that is exactly why I dont let anyone touch my car. I have learned to do most everything from the fact of not being happy with shops working on my cars. Especially the paint and body end of it all. Sometimes the learning curve of it all is overwhelming. But if something is screwed up on my car, it is my fault, and I learn from it. That makes me better and then I am ready for the next level of whatever torment my cars throw at me. Glad you got the car running and glad you have Susie to bail you outta messes like that, Judy is my support too. Aint we lucky? Dan
i first started reading this thread and thought i messed up th mc bar. they must have really tightened those heim joints. glad you got it going.do we need to do something different with the mc bar?
yeah i agree with T.L. on this one , i have never herd of a special job, thats a lot of bs IMO , also i work on my car all the way around , i would rather mess it up myself and learn something, then have some shop do it and screw it all up, rick, glad to see you got everything back to working order eddie
Rick, where did you find the intake tube from the TB to the MAF. Ahhh, you're not running an EGR spacer!
I won't be. Another "Custom Built" over-priced part (by a local speed shop). I dunno. I think I might slot the MC bar holes and move it forward about an 1/8". Yes, they cranked hell outta those heim joints. I can appreciate that, but this is an alignment - you know, "State of the Art Laser Guided - Smart Bomb" type equipment. Harbor Freight was all out of 'em. Dan, please give me Judy's number in case I can't reach Susie next time (did I say "next time" :confused: ). "Que Sera Sera! "
Thanks, Erick. If I had it to do all over again, I'd use the "gloss" paint instead of the flat black. It's also still a work in progress too. I still have to put on Split Loom and some Heat Shrink once the Nitrous is wired in ('who knows' when that will be).
My first question would be why in the he!! were they adjusting the bars in the first place. All the adjustments are under the car. Did the guy just want to mess with something that he saw there? I guess he said to himself "hey there is some adjustable stuff up here I guess I will mess with it" What an A$$. Unless you have done some serious lowering or have something bent there should be enugh adjustment room for the alignment. As for the extra $$$$$$ for the alignment, I think they just wanted to make some easy money. I would take the broken parts and the recept back to them ask them how much thier hourly wage is add how much time it took you to fix the car and give them the bill. Ignorance is excusable, incompetence is not. If you were here I would align your car for free, just because I dont want all alignment guys to get a bad name. What he did to your car is just wrong. Sorry to here about it. Glad you figured it out and are on the road again.
