[Coco] Re: Out of work.

[Andrew]

Frank,

[snip]

 >military in just under a year. I've looked into giving private engine 
 >rebuilding classes. I can't give any thing but a certificate which 
 >won't mean anything, but I'm looking at reasonably priced training for 
 >hobbyists, not job training. $250 for a class in which you and a 
friend >rebuild an engine. Machine work and parts would be paid for by 
student >also. I'm hoping I have some takers.

[snip]

I wish you were in my area (Phoenix, Arizona) - I would love to take a 
class like that (though right now money is tight - but it would still be 
worth it).

My one experience with "rebuilding" an engine ended in disaster, though 
somebody better than me got it working. Turned out that somewhere along 
the line a pin that held the timing sprocket on the camshaft wasn't 
replaced (which really burns me, because I didn't remove the sprocket - 
however, I did send the head in for resurfacing, and I bet 
dollars-to-donuts that they didn't put it back in). Got the whole thing 
back together perfectly, started it up, it started running real rough, 
and then before I could stop it, it died. Oil everywhere.

I later gave the car to my wife's little brother, who took it to my 
brother-in-law to fix it - they got it running again (I didn't want to 
repair it a second time looking for the cause because of what I spent, I 
was already halfway to bluebook value, and new parts - head bolts, head 
gasket, and valve job - would have easily blown it - the car just wasn't 
worth it, so I gave it away). To this day I wish I had checked that one 
little piece.

Even with that experience, I would love to go "whole hog" on an engine - 
tearing it down, cleaning and replacing parts (I would love to do a ring 
job), then putting it all back together and starting it up - that would 
be real fun for me.

-- Andrew L. Ayers
    Glendale (Phoenix), Arizona