Bother the mechanic….

This "mechanic" What are his credentials?
Does he understand electricity, or just oil changes and grease jobs?
Does he work with finesse or is he a bull in a china shop?
How are his employees, are they any good, or just full of themselves and fart cans rule type of guys?
Nah he is a performance mechanic. I talked face to face and he was older and very quiet and knowledgeable - not in your face and brash. He came highly recommended and they don’t get that way by messing folks stuff up. He was hard to get in with- aggravating as hell but also a good sign, because he is busy and obviously in demand. I feel good about him, and there aren’t many people I can say I would trust to touch my car.
 
So an update; I haven’t bothered him, lol. Matter of fact I haven’t talked to him over the phone yet. I did get an email 2 May, but that’s it. Not for lack of trying on the phone- I have called 2x now with no response from him (there are 2 separate portions of the garage And the phone is in 1- seems like he is in the other). At what point should I ride over there? It’s about 45 minutes away, so not far. I haven’t even gotten a $ quote from him yet. Gotta say I am getting a bit frustrated here.
 
If t were me, I'd be making that drive. You've attempted to contact him a few times & got nuttin'. The 45 seems like a minor issue. Drop in & see what the hell is going on. Light a fire under his ass.

I'm aware that good people for our cars are hard to find & at times there can be a wait list. That being said, from the list you posted for me that should be a couple weekend only job. Head gaskets don't take too long to do. Scanmaster hook up MAYBE an hour, rear brakes MAYBE an hour, & new chip 5 minutes. He's had your car nearly a month. With no quote, a ballpark, or a call back. That says to me he hasn't even bothered with it yet.

Of course follow the sage advise of the previous posts in this thread. Find out why they blew, check fuel pump, add Hotwire if needed, amongst the other suggestions. Just my useless $.02.
 
So an update; I haven’t bothered him, lol. Matter of fact I haven’t talked to him over the phone yet. I did get an email 2 May, but that’s it. Not for lack of trying on the phone- I have called 2x now with no response from him (there are 2 separate portions of the garage And the phone is in 1- seems like he is in the other). At what point should I ride over there? It’s about 45 minutes away, so not far. I haven’t even gotten a $ quote from him yet. Gotta say I am getting a bit frustrated here.
Ok, so couldn’t edit this to add- justcalled again, and apparently they have a car that he has been spending a lot of time on, it has been giving them issues, and as soon as he gets it done they are pulling mine in to work on. They were very apologetic and seemed sincere, so who knows. Maybe I will get it back before the summer is over. 🤷🏼‍♀️
 
If t were me, I'd be making that drive. You've attempted to contact him a few times & got nuttin'. The 45 seems like a minor issue. Drop in & see what the hell is going on. Light a fire under his ass.

I'm aware that good people for our cars are hard to find & at times there can be a wait list. That being said, from the list you posted for me that should be a couple weekend only job. Head gaskets don't take too long to do. Scanmaster hook up MAYBE an hour, rear brakes MAYBE an hour, & new chip 5 minutes. He's had your car nearly a month. With no quote, a ballpark, or a call back. That says to me he hasn't even bothered with it yet.

Of course follow the sage advise of the previous posts in this thread. Find out why they blew, check fuel pump, add Hotwire if needed, amongst the other suggestions. Just my useless $.02.
He hasn’t gotten to it yet- they have a diesel that has been giving them issues apparently. The GN is next. We’ll see.
 
Seems to be the way things are done these days.

May be wise for you to start digging in to your comfort level. Doing a lot of the work on these cars can potentially save you a lot of money. I understand that's not everyone's gig, but now you're at the mercy of this guy, his time frame, & his labor rates.

I have a local guy I'll take mine too only if I don't have/want to buy the tools(A/C recharge), or things I don't feel like doing(springs, ball joints, etc). Basically normal car maintenance not specific to our Bufords.
 
Just chill ! I understand your circumstances and it's hard to deal with. Give him a week. Then just call an ask how things are goin. It will be worth the wait once everything is done. . :cool:
i agree
 
To a certain point. It’s been almost a month with no work done. I don’t know to whom that’s acceptable.

No major work being done here. He hasn’t even started after a month. I mean according to the OP the they’ve been working on a truck for a month.
 
You have pretty much an encyclopedias worth of knowledge here, at your fingertips. I'm sure you could even get some people here to talk over the phone and help. I have trust issues, so none of my vehicles have ever been worked on by anyone but me...but I understand how it is for you. Still, it might be worth a try to do this work yourself. The sense of accomplishment is off the charts and it'll give you a better understanding of that little v6. IDK...at this point(when the excuses start coming in), I'd cut bait and get out. That's just my approach. I don't have the time or patience to deal with BS.
 
I agree with the other posters. Doing or learning how to do as much work on the car yourself is the best option. However, I can relate to your situation. So assuming (dangerous word) your mechanic is as good with turbo Buicks as you have been led to believe, I’d sit tight and wait as much as that would suck. If he’s as good as advertised I would expect to have to wait. My personal experience with good older mechanics is they may not necessarily do well with the whole communication thing but when you want shit done right, that’s where they shine. Not saying that’s the case here, just stating my experiences. I would still make that 45min drive to see what’s up though but that’s just me.

The longer term goal would be to dig in and do the simple stuff on your own (like installing a scanmaster and chip) and branch out from there as your confidence grows. Sounds like your car sat for years. Unless you’re very lucky it’s going to need more attention even after the head gaskets are fixed. Learning to tackle the simple stuff on your own is gratifying in itself and likely to keep your interest in the car longer than if you had to farm out the work every time it needed something done. Not to mention how proud your dad would be :)

My worry would be the complexity of your car. Seems like it may be well modified and have some one-off stuff on it that many might not be familiar with and that could impact how much useful help you get from this board. I’d try and simplify if possible and maybe take some of that stuff out unless you understand how they work. Just my useless 2 cents… Good luck either way.
 
The new owner of this car inherited it from her Father. She doesn't know the extent of his modifications.
 
The new owner of this car inherited it from her Father. She doesn't know the extent of his modifications.
when I worked on these cars 99.9% off my customers knew nothing about the cars back in the good ol days. They just wanted them to go. i forget where she was located. Guess it's time for me to shut up. Times have changed an not for the better. :(
 
So an update; I haven’t bothered him, lol. Matter of fact I haven’t talked to him over the phone yet. I did get an email 2 May, but that’s it. Not for lack of trying on the phone- I have called 2x now with no response from him (there are 2 separate portions of the garage And the phone is in 1- seems like he is in the other). At what point should I ride over there? It’s about 45 minutes away, so not far. I haven’t even gotten a $ quote from him yet. Gotta say I am getting a bit frustrated here.
Do this....................... Go get your car, they dont want to work on it and or they dont know how. they'll be happy its gone.
IF/when they start working on it in 4 months, they'll takes parts off disabling it, just to say "were working on it"
 
The new owner of this car inherited it from her Father. She doesn't know the extent of his modifications.
I know some of the mods. Am willing to learn the rest. I have a bin of receipts that I have to get from my brother that has a bunch of what he did to it so that’s a start.
 
when I worked on these cars 99.9% off my customers knew nothing about the cars back in the good ol days. They just wanted them to go. i forget where she was located. Guess it's time for me to shut up. Times have changed an not for the better. :(
I do want it to go. I have worked on my own vehicles in the past, but lack the space and tools for now to do so. We are planning on building a garage in the next couple of years so I will have more room to work on it. Not saying I will ever be able to tear down the engine, but hopefully I won’t need to. But I couldn’t just let it sit there in the meantime. My brother, who did help my dad work on it, is just not gonna help me work on it for whatever reason so I am on my own. And honestly I am scared I will fu(k it up. I already have by just driving it, lol. I am in N. AL. Not many options around. But the mechanic has started working on it so hopefully it won’t be too long now.
 
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