Mostly excuses, the only good reason was that I was out of town for a week of that time.
Been reluctant to go out scouting for shops 'cause the Jeep's been acting contrary and I wasn't into pushing my luck but today I went out to find one of the shops that Kathy's friend recommended. I didn't go to the one she felt might be most likely to help, because I didn't exactly remember where it was, and I had a good idea about where the other one was.
Anyway I pull up in the parking lot of "Badd Attitude Custom Motorcycle Shop" and am greeted by a guy in dusty khakis and a white v-neck t-shirt sitting on a "hover-round" in the doorway. I tell him my problem and ask if he can help and he tells me he's just hanging out and I should go inside and talk to the guy in the office.
The guy inside looks more like he belongs; t-shirt with the sleeves cut off, dew rag with skulls, leather vest, long goatee, and ear rings. You know.
I tell him a friend said he might do some machine work on a motor-cycle engine (she said he'd work on anything) and he wants to know what it is and what I want done.
When he hears I might want the cylinders bored on a 34 year old Honda, he says, "You need to go see Rick C."
"Is that the same Rick C. that used to work at General?" I ask.
"You know him?"
"Used to know him pretty well" I say, "haven't seen him in years though, he still in that log cabin?"
[his wife once gave me a bunch of biddies that turned out to be mostly roosters]
"No he's up the road a bit from there now."
After several futile attempts to tell me where he's moved to, he draws me a map and sends me on my way.
It's up the highway past the big long building, then 4 houses, and then there are "two 9-1-1 signs" and that's the road. "The shop is on the left and the house is at the end of the road. Drive past the shop to the house and knock.So up the road I go. I see what I figure must be the big long building (cause it's pretty long). Then I count the next four houses (trailers count as houses right?) but I don't see the "two 9-1-1 signs". I drive until I'm sure that I've gone too far...though I doubt that the map is to scale...and turn around. So now the "two 9-1-1 signs" should be the first thing I come to.
Now I've driven this road many times and I honestly can say I've never noticed any "9-1-1 signs". (Problem is I just didn't know what a "9-1-1 sign" was.) So...what am I missing? Is it possible that those refflective signs with house numbers on them that the Boy Scouts and some churches sell for fund raisers are "9-1-1 signs" because they help emergency vehicles find you...
One more time big building, 4 houses, 2 address signs on the same post, turn there.
There's the shop, 2 bay cinderblock building '65 Toyota on blocks, '75 Ford Ranger, and a big ol' Chevy pick-up all just sorta stranded around outside. There's the house, ring the bell...no answer. Look in the window...house is empty. Oh well, so close.
On the way out I stop at the shop which appears closed up and is very quiet. On the side door there is a note held on with a magnet that is turned so the writing "Be Right Back" is not visible. Try the knob it opens.
Right inside the door is a pile of crankshafts about waist-high and about 6 feet long. Engine blocks everywhere, must be 40 of them. Back in the back, behind a drill press is Rick C.
"You look familiar," he says.
I told him who I was and we gabbed for a while about who we used to like and who we thought sucked and then he asked me how I found him and why was I there.
He said he could bore anything I wanted but he checked and didn't have specs for anything that old. I told him I had the specs but the book was at home. He asked if I had brought the cylinders and pistons, said he'd look at them.
In his opinion the cylinders looked good. He mic-ed cylinders and pistons and said the clearances were good. He wrote the measurements down so I could check against the specs (pistons were right on for standard bore.) He checked end clearance and said I needed new rings and said if I really wanted to I could get a hone and run it through the cylinders, but he said he didn't recommend boring the cylinders because they looked pretty good to him and if I did then I'd just have to find that many more parts and he reckoned parts were probably hard to find for that model.We talked a little longer and I left feeling happier and $$ ahead.
