Evil Mechanic

[clbolt]

My mother-in-law had a little Mercury Capri convertible. Some time early last year the fuel pump quit working, so she had a mechanic they knew tow it to his shop. He was a guy who played golf and poker with my father-in-law. They also asked him to install a new convertible top while he was at it. Last summer he was caught cheating at poker, so they kicked him out of the group. He then quit returning calls about the car.

My in-laws didn't follow through, and I didn't know the mechanic or where he lived. We all assumed the car had been scrapped or retitled till last week. The mechanic called, said he was moving to Oklahoma, the car still didn't run, and they had to pick it up. They went out to check it out yesterday, and it was worse than they expected.

The guy never finished installing the top, and the car had been sittng outside with the windows down for a year. Who knows where the new fuel pump went, but it's not in the car. My mother-in-law just told me to drag it to the junkyard.

Sooo... Today I dragged it home and checked it out. The seats will clean up nicely (glad they weren't leather), as will the door panels and dash. The carpet may or may not be salvageable, I'll just have to pull it and see. All of the electrical accessories work, which was a relief. I figure I'll get it cleaned, finish installing the top, and then get it running. Somebody's bound to want a little convertible about this time of year.

[clbolt]

So, the carpet cleaned up very well, and the rest of the interior is beautiful. Today I went to my buddy's junkyard and picked up a fuel pump from an 89 Mercury Tracer. It took me 10 minutes to install it, and the Capri fired right up. I need to get some fresh gas in it. and there's an exhaust leak at the converter joint, but the car actually runs pretty well. The A/C even blows cold.

What pisses me off the most is that I got a fuel pump for the car last year. My in-laws gave it to the mechanic, but he didn't install it. Who knows where it is now. It also turns out that the convertible top was manufactured incorrectly, it's about an inch too short at the back. If we'd known that, it could have been returned.

[GTSSportCoupe]

What a looser mechanic.

Good for you in fixing the car up though.

[clbolt]

So, after draining the gas tank (it actually has a drain plug), I was able to get the idle stabilized. The car has a bad stumble off-idle, but it's slowly getting better. I suspect it was the result of the injectors drying out, and they may come back with some Sea-Foam. Another curiosity was the oil pressure. At first it looked great, then dropped to nothing when the car warmed up. I didn't believe that, it ran too quiet. The next day it was low when cold, and again dropped off the gauge. The third day it started off at zero.

My mother-in-law still had the original short block under her house. The car completely melted the valves out of the head at 50k miles, and the engine was replaced with one with 35k miles. Ipulled the oil pressure sender off the original block ( a new one is about $70 aftermarket), and went to install it. Imagine my surprise when I found that the nut holding the wire on the sender had never been tightened. I tightened it down and now the oil pressure is looking great.

The car will need a new convertible top (it turned out the new top was stitched too short on the back half), and the mechanic snapped one of the latches off. There's a trick to rebuilding the original latch, and I may do that just to avoid spending $50 on a used latch. My wife suggested that we just try to sell the car without a new top, and I could offer to do the installation for $100 if the buyer gets the top. It also needs a pair of tires, so I'll hit the pick-n-pull in hopes of finding a good used pair. The fronts are fairly new.

I'm amazed by how well the Capri has come along. I'm good at bringing cars back from the dead, but this one seems almost unaffected by the jerk who tried to ruin her. Now to talk to my mailman, who's looking for a "hobby" car.

[ghettomobile]

Be careful when buying used tires from a junkyard, especially radials. The main reason why I say this is because radials that were turning one direction on a car before it was in the junkyard have to turn the same direction, or else the tread will separate. another reason to watch out for junkyard tires is the fact that there could be damage done to the belts or the sidewall that cant be seen or detected. I have been warned about the radials turning the same direction when I was rotating the tires on my truck. My dad said that you only want to rotate the tires from front to back, or back to front on each side. You dont want to take all 4 wheels off and swap sides with them, making them turn the opposite direction they were turning. My dad's friends son had an accident because of junkyard tires. He had one of those Toyota 2wd 1 ton pickups with the dual tires in the back, and he put junkyard tires on it. One day he was going down the freeway and the right front tire blew out. It just happened to blow out as he was going over an overpass, and the truck flipped over the guard rail, and landed upside down in the street below. My dad said he was lucky that his truck had the toolboxes on it, because the roof was smashed down to where it was no higher than the top of the steering wheel, and if it wasnt for the toolboxes, he wouldnt had survived. BTW: My dads friends son walked away from that accident with no injuries.

[clbolt]

The advice about all radials "taking a set" and then becomeing directional was true 30 years ago, but it's mostly outdated now. Most major tire manufaturers quit making that recommendation several years ago. The exception to this is tires with directional tread, which would become unstable on wet roads if they were driven with the tread pattern backwards. I've cross-rotated several sets of radials in the last decade with no tread separation.

BTW, I'm not exactly new to cars or to buying used tires. I've owned over 125 cars in my driving life, and my Tercel has driven the last 20k miles on a set I bought (complete with wheels) at the pick-n-pull for $54.

The only way I'll buy used tires for the Capri is if they have a pair with no dry-rot, and really good tread. In that case, paying $13 each vs. $60 each just makes good financial sense on a car that was destined for the junkyard.

[Mac]

[GTSSportCoupe]

HAHAHAH!!!