getting my "power steering badge" removed

[Oi-Punx]

As some may remember I bought an '87 951 about 8 weeks ago down in San Diego and sold my '84 N/A. Got a good price on the 951 because it needed a clutch. Things did not start out well. The repair shop in Vista, CA that did the clutch not only grossly overcharged me for the work but also put the wrong weight oil in the car, underfilled it by a quart or two, put the rear tires on the front, fronts in the back, and some other things in a hasty attempt to finish the job. These things (among others) were rectified before I left. The thing that really got under my skin was that the bastards mounted the power steering fluid reservoir too high when they were accessing the coil wire to the distributor. When they shut the hood it punched up through the insulation padding and put a nice dent all the way down to the bare metal. They denied everything of course. The original owner and I did not see the damaged hood because it was up on a lift at the time of our initial inspection (before I paid him). I thought the original owner dented the hood until I got back and called him to verify that it was not like that when it went in. I'm getting that dent removed and the hood resprayed (hood was a little faded anyway). Even though it is coming out of my own pocket it's worth it to get the memory of that awful shop off my car.

Check out the body shop's live camera

http://smittylube.com/html/bodycam.html

[dogslovetrucks]

Man, not to rub salt in your wounds but....what were you thinking.
Smittylube? Not the 1st name that come to mind when I think state of the art Porsche repair. Was the kid that serviced your car even out of High School yet?

[scottmandue]

I think the smittylube is the body shop where he is getting the hood fixed.
As a public sevice announcement Oi-punx may be you could let us know the name of the shop?

When I took my beat up '84 944 to American Tire (discount tire chain store) in San Pedro the shop manager jumped up, made sure the car was jacked up correctly, checked to see the lug nuts were torqued properly etc. and at the time the shop was rather busy.
Needless to say I was impressed.

[dogslovetrucks]

True- I'm sure the guys at the local Jiffy Lube would fawn and fall all over most any Porsche that came in, but that doesn't mean I would take it to them to do a clutch replacement!

[Oi-Punx]

Dogslovetrucks,

Scott is right, Smittylube is (most likely) simply the name of the server that the body shop uses to host the webcam in their shop. I have no idea why they named it that.

I got a good vibe from the owner of the 951. He was honest and reliable. He even offered to pick me up from the airport after he got off work. He was the original owner and disclosed everything about the car. He recommended Autocare America in Vista, CA (they have a couple of branches if i'm not mistaken)to do the work on the clutch. Apparently he had work done there in the past on said car. Anyway I was under the impression that this place was reliable and honest, but they turned out to be crooks. The tech who did the job was obviously in a rush. By the time I found out that they were dishonest they had already disassembled the drivetrain, dropped the tranny, etc. Also I had already committed to buying the car. The BAR and the Better Business Bureau will be hearing from me. Their service was inexcusable to say the least. Things would have been different had I taken it to a reputable place, but I didn't want to inconvenience the owner for fear he'd sell it to someone else. I guess hindsight is 20/20.

[scottmandue]

Maybe smitty is the name of their secretary?


Sorry

[scottmandue]

Hey Oi-PunX,

The webcam shows they are working on a 944, is that your car?

[Oi-Punx]

Scott,

That is indeed my 951. I thought it might be kind of cool for people to see some body/paint repairs on our cars live. Enjoy.