Thursday, December 06, 2007

More arsing about

Pressure is a good thing and can applied in many ways.

I spent 12months working with a very ackward person at a building site (funny we got on like a house on fire), project manager for an entire hospital job top to bottom, I only went there as a temp engineer type person and he took me on as his PA and even offered me a job, but I was more interested in travelling and my own ideas so never took it on. I listened to alot of conversations and learned that politics are important, also that pressure from all angles is the best method to get good results, fast. If applied correctly you do not even have to do any leg work yourself, people do it all for you!

He always told me "You gotta ride em Dave", this usually followed by me wiping the spit from my face as he tended to shout alot and run at 110% overdrive.

I am always keen to fill people in on my experiences and knowledge is power, the more knowledge you have the more empowered you are. If someone does a GOOD job, I'll say so, I am very complimentary if someone does something better than I can or something works really nicely from the box, need no adjustments or remanufactoring, if someone sells a bad product, I'll say so...If someone is quick, slow, useless I'll say so.

Its not my problem when things are bad, if something is substandard it has no place being sold in the first place.

I know most people buy a lot of kit, stick up images cause they are so happy its all arrived and its all new, I was like that once, I have burned, annoyed, pissed off with so much stuff...Tell you what. I order stuff, sit in dread and fear cause I know I will have to adjust tolerances, mill it, lathe it, make up parts to get it to work...Its gets right on my nerves.

I do not have this problem with the modern parts I buy for my car as they were properly made...It seems there is a profound lack of proper engineering ability in manufactoring of costed products here in our arena of classic cars as a WHOLE. I am not talking about 1 place or digging at anyone, I am talking about the whole market, this is a general rant.

Someone makes a bad batch of X-Y, its me Z (enduser) who ends up with all the trouble and strife. Not talking about 1 thing or two things its virtually everything you buy...From Trunnion kits with the tangs left on from the injection moulding (end user finish off production methods) to brake caliper seals that don't fit, to just about everything. This is why I am not really interested in getting into this type of business. I am interested in modifying modern kit and attaching it to classics or doing suspension setup or 1 off madcars, geometry or playing with cars that work, but not bolting on all this junk to them. I have replaced EVERYTHING I can on my own car with a modern part to save hassle...

That Jaguar I did drove me insane at the end, cause everything brought for it was bad, just junk.

You can understand I am sure, when you have HIGH standards, that working with stuff is highly annoying.

Anyways, after numerous phonecalls and picking up bits of other conversations and wranglings, alot of hot air if you ask me, however progress is being made.

Basically all these issues should have been sorted at source A or B, before, the buck has been passed and passed over a period of months and now its become my problem, which is no problem to me.

I'll ride everyone till the job is done, mainly cause I have no interest in these affairs as a rule or the people involved, given the choice ~ I remain defacto about what goes onto the things I build and use, but with Matts Car I have no choice but to tread back into somewhere I don't wish to go.

I just want things that work, so naturally I find being a quality control engineer quite frustrating hense the direction on my own car, as I am a mechanical person not a problem solver employed to advise on how to make things that actually work.

Now people are, under their own steam, working to put this right and quickly. I don't care for all the why, and how I just want to get on with a job.

I can thank Dave at Canley's for kindly offering to take these parts back and sort them out. Well done you are gentlemen.

To be frank, it should never have been anyone elses problem.

I am biting my lip as hard as I can (it hurts now, signing off)

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