[Shotimes] Weiner Auto Mechanics

[Carl Prochilo]

Jason,

Ron Porter gave the best answer to your question.  The net here is that
practice makes perfect.  The SHO is a low volume production car, so you
need to seek out your own kind.  This explains why you see people going to
Mecca (FPS on the east coast and SHOShop on the west coast).  They don't
want an average or ignorant mechanic working on their cars.  Even when the
SHO was in production, many people avoided dealerships like the plague,
especially when a 60K was due.  I too was able to find the lead tech from
Victory Ford in Mass that had a garage he was able to work in on Saturdays
and could knock off a 60K in about a half day.  In that timeframe, I
remember people in NY driving to GA to get work done on their SHOs.
More recently I've gone to Don Donelson for stuff I don't want/can't do
myself, and this costs me about a 3 hour drive one way.

In both cases, what happens is that the person doing the work has invested
in having the proper tools, but moreover understands the procedure
involved to disassemble, replace/repair, and reassemble.  It is pretty
impressive to watch these guys tear into the car.  But if you are at all
mechanically inclined, you can do it yourself with some training and then
practicing it yourself.

Here is another anecdote.  I've owned my 92 since it was brand new.  Just
before the warranty ran out (about 32K miles on the Odo), and this was
about 18 months after I bought it, I brought the car into the dealership
because I was having trouble shifting the car into 5th gear IIRC.  They
diagnosed the issue as a problem with synchros.  Thinking back on this
now, I'm not sure this was the correct diagnosis.  Anyway, while they were
in there the service manager decided to throw in a new clutch under
warranty.  The guy that did the work on my car was their truck
transmission guy and hadn't previously done this kind of repair on a SHO
tranny.  I think I had one of their loaner cars for almost a week. 
Fortunately they did get the repair done correctly, but it was darn
uncomfortable talking to them and getting the impression this was a case
of straight OJT.  Still, I had to bring the car back shortly thereafter to
correct leaking tranny fluid.

So do some research ahead of time and seek out the best service you can
afford from someone you know knows how to spell S  H  O.
-- 
Cheers,
Carl Prochilo
1992 Ultra Red Crimson

Hartberger, Jason M.  ATAN said:
> Does anybody have any experience with having people refuse to work on your
> car because they're scared of them? I went to my base auto shop (a pretty
> good shop, I've had work done with them before) and asked them for a
> labour
> estimate on a 100k, and they guy at the counter asked me what the hell a
> 100k was (bad sign), so I told him... he just looked at me and then he
> looked at a fellow mechanic and said "you ever worked on a SHO before?"
> The
> other guy said "yup... I never want to work on one again." and then the
> guy
> I was talking to said, "We won't take it. I worked on a SHO once, got damn
> near married to it..."
>
> People are scared to work on SHOs? Is this common? Seriously, I've seen
> the
> instructions for doing the maintenance, and it doesn't look that hard. I'd
> just do it my own damn self, but I have a base parking lot for a garage
> and
> about as much technical skill as Brian Boitano (what *would* he do?)... so
> now I'm searching for some dealers that aren't scared of it... weiners.
>
> ATAN Hartberger, USN
> USS Theodore Roosevelt
>
> 94 red ATX 101K  "I wanted an mtx dammit, but nobody drives one around
> here!"
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