Problems with trust
 

Bottom line, I have been burnt and cheated to many times - I am sure that a lot of the time it is down to me not taking enough care, but I should not have been cheated in the first place!

I now face a problem where I need to trust someone. I was going to rebuild my 915 transmission over the winter whilst it was out of the car along with me completing the 3.6 transplant.

Life has changed, as we are now set to move from Sweden to Finland by the end of the year, so I do not have the time now to do the box. The engine and everything else is close to ready, and for the moving it would be easier to have the car running so that I can drive it over.

My only option now is to drop the box off at a specialist that can do the work for me. As I had already purchased most of the parts that I wanted to change along with a LSD, I will be handing over the transmission and a number of parts that are not cheap...

Based on past experience, I am now worried that anyone that I give the job to will not replace everything in favour of getting new parts for their stock, and leaving part worn stuff in my transmission.

I know the chance that they will do that is very small, but that does not stop me from getting the feeling that they will take every opportunity to extend their profit above what I pay for their work...

Am I to paranoid here, and should start to trust more - or would you feel the same way!?!

I understand how you feel but like you said you don't have a choice.

When I was 20 I took my car for a service. It was less than a year old and the mechanic charged me well over $400! (change plug leads, filters, oil change) This was in 1986. :mad:
I vowed and swore that would never happen again and so far it hasn't but only because I do all the work on my own cars.
The only thing I go to a pro for is new tires.

Back to you... I guess you have no choice but to trust someone.
As a suggestion ask at your local Porsche club.. See if someone can recommend a good mechanic.

Our current family car is a Chrysler, when we got it it was till within extended warranty and as such I had it serviced (once) by the dealer. They charged me for the service, and when i got home I had a look to see what they had done - I pulled out the plugs and noticed that they were not new, even though they had charged me for new ones.

I went back to the dealer, and the service manager was very embarrassed and said the person who did my car would be dealt with. He supplied me with new plugs and a discount on my next service. This was from a main dealer!

On the 915 there is no simple way to verify that all the parts I supply have actually been installed, which gives the person an even larger temptation.

I have two names of very respected mechanics in my town, but respected is not always the same as trustworthy :s

Like you say, I have no choice :(

does motormeister have a branch office in sweden?

I do hope not!!!!

What would it cost to ship to someone very reliable? May be worth the extra cost.

You can ask to see the new parts in the trans before they button it up (make an excuse like you want to learn...) but that may make you persona non gratta.

+1 on the watching them put it back together. I don't think this is an unreasonable request at all. Heck, a "specialist" should be able to get it done in a day, so you could watch the whole thing.

This may sound crazy, but with the exchange rate in your favor (maybe) could you ship it to the US? I'm sure a Pelican could take it to one of the good guys on this board and have it done right.

definitely

whats the cost of shipping to/from seattle?
john walker is your man if you go that route

Jeez, if you can't find a trustworthy mechanic in Sweden to do a Porsche trans, I'd hate to need a heart transplant.

Anyway, I've built up one trans in my life, a 901. some people would rather build a 911 motor. Not me. It's not that tough. I can't imagine stealing parts and using old ones, but it does happen.

One thing, don't tell the mechanic you're moving to Finland. Better for him to think you'll be back if the thing isn't perfect.

Hey, did you get those belts? Everything OK?

I guess this thread is not about Dueller and his wife after all???? Good luck on your trans. I 2nd the vote to ship to someone reputable....

I have it down to about 5 hours to rebuild a 901/915

Lots of good comments here, and some of the recommendations I have already done! In my area there are three recommended and highly respected Porsche Specialists and a Dealer.

I have contacted all of them to see if they would do the work at short notice and if I could be there to see them do the work. All said yest it can be done at short notice but they did not want me there watching.

Maybe asking if I can be there and getting the answer "No" is not helping me with the trust thing :rolleyes:

Shipping to someone is an option, but to the US is not - the actual shipping cost would make it very expensive.

I like the idea that Wayne has, to get them to take photos...

I will just have to select one of them and hope it all works out OK. I also know that the number of people you can not trust is low, and they can not all be like motormeister :eek:

@ milt - I unfortunately have told them I am moving to Finland, I had to give a reason for why I wanted it done asap and why I already had all the parts to put in the box.

Yes, the belts got here, I will get them redone once the car is back on the road and install them in the car - thank you :)

Having someone watch over your should can cause problems, and mistake you normally wouldn't make......it's a human nature thing....
I would simply ask that be shown the drivline assembly before it's inserted into the housing, that should aleviate all concerns and should be a non-issue with the shop as all the gears/parts will be visable.....also have them give you all the old parts.....

That is close to what I have booked now Bell.

In the end I contacted the specialist that I had most faith in and asked if I could be there when the transmission was striped down so that we could together assess the condition of the parts, and then again at the final stages of assembly, and he was happy with that.

It is booked for next Tuesday - he said he would like three days to do the work, so I will spend part of Tuesday with him and part of Thursday or Friday when the final assembly is done.

Good call on asking for all the old parts - I will do that...

Good choice.