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Tony D

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Posts posted by Tony D

    Why I dont like working on cars anymore

    in Non Tech Board

    Posted

    Seriously, I've been told I'm a a$$hole to work WITH, but great to work FOR!

     

    It never seemed right when I was at the bottom the way things were run. Never any carrot, only the stick. And the inherent "Smith Style" assumption that the worker will do as little as possible to get by.

     

    I have seen that, true enough. But I also watched a scheme where once technicians billed 32 hours, their pay adjusted UPWARDS.

     

    In a shop of 8 guys, three consistently billed 60+ hours a week. Five guys were in the shop playing cards and complaining how they should get paid more...

     

    I mean, this wasn't chump change either, we're talking oil changing monkeys that make $12 an hour getting bumped up to $19 an hour if they just kept themselves productive! Those guys would rather just get their 32 hours in, then sit in the shop all Friday, or go home RIGHT at 5PM every night than just work the full week.

     

    The three guys I saw working, THEY were the ones that got the new trucks, the FACTORY TRAINING, the BIG Christmas bonus. Of course, the other guys were upset at the "Golden Boys" who 'sucked up to management' but what they didn't realize was it was those THREE keeping THEM in a job. If it wasn't for the hours the three of them made on OT during the week (even at elevated rates, which carried over to overtime) I would have had to cut pay to around $8-10 hourly. The 32 hours was EXACTLY what we needed to bill in that shop to pay for a man. I was my full time job to keep those guys busy. Some of them said I was a "slave driver" for working them 32 hours a week. Fact of the matter was, if I DIDN'T DO IT, come the fall, they would have had PLENTY of time to go hunting!

     

    Had one exception to that rule. Guy worked 8 hours religiously, never worked overtime, never worked really more than 32 hours. And he took days off regularly without pay. As long as I wasn't paying him, hell, he could take all the time he wanted off! Everybody else wanted time off WITH pay. This guy showed up, did a really good job when he was there, and when he wasn't, we didn't pay him. He was cool with it, and on average he came in around 32 hours for about 40 weeks a year. He always let us know when he was taking time off, and if we NEEDED him to work he would. We actually kept him on over the winter because of it. He was a really valuable asset to the place because of his flexibility, and it was weird to see how his numbers as a "flake" actually stacked up to guys that were there five days a week who rarely worked overtime, weekends, and spend Fridays in the shop playing cards. I actually called him and let him know the OEM was going to shut down their shop. He got the opportunity to make exit plans, and the three top guys had no problems whatsoever getting picked up by the new overlords.... but those slackers with no commitment.... in Michigan? HAH! Good Luck and good riddance! The owners were shocked when they got cancelled. Their gravy train ended. No more boat every three years...

    Electric fan thermostat switch location

    in Nissan L6 Forum

    Posted

    Look in Summit or Jegs, they have an aluminum radiator hose doodad that will slip in the hose and give you one or several bungs to mount your switch.

     

    Just be aware it needs to be a TWO POLE switch, one that has a single pole on it won't work as it acts as a ground...and that doesn't work well suspended in midair by a couple of rubber hoses.

     

    (Don't make me repeat how I know this!)

     

    I would set the switch to come on at 10F above the point where the car reaches stasis on a hot summer day in your area, when driven at 35mph in top gear. Shut off is usually fixed at 10 below that point, so if it kicks on in traffic, as soon as you start moving again it will shut off as airflow across the radiator will cool it on it's own.

     

    I run a 160 thermostat, and the fan comes on at 175-180 and shuts off at 165 sensing on the bottom of the upper radiator hose (sensor always bathed in a flowing coolant.)

     

    You can do it almost anywhere though, bottom tank of the radiator is pretty good place as well, but you will have to experiment to see where cut in and cut out needs to be by virtue of your Delta-T across the radiator under load and whilst moving.

    Race oil pressure

    in Nissan L6 Forum

    Posted

    I'm with John C and Jonh M, I love the Accusump. It doesn't SOLVE problems, but it DOES buy time. And that is nice to have, especially with a turbo on the car.

    I have to say, I have an Accusump and a Comp Oil Pan as well (two in fact) they just aren't on any car right now!

    JCI fittings

    in Fuel Delivery

    Posted

    "Your previous post insinuated that JCI fittings where some way inferior to AN becuase of their inability to withstand vibration?"

     

    No, I stated an engineering FACT, which I gave a passing reference to, and which I won't dig up again since you are convinced of the answer.

     

    It's your car, do what he hell you want. Don't call documented engineering and design differences "opinion", though.

    Locksmith can't retumble hatch + door locks.

    in S30 Series - 240z, 260z, 280z

    Posted · Edited by Tony D

    "Is this just another thread that hasn't been properly answered?"

     

    Yes goddamnit, they OWE you their knowledge.

     

    Throw stones elsewhere, or do it yourself and shut up people like me!

     

    Here's a hint: quit being terminally cheap and pay the guy you said you were going to back in March 2012.

     

    Or pop the lock apart and see for yourself what the "it ain't rocket science" comment is all about.

     

    Those afraid to risk anything, usually accomplish nothing.

    Why I dont like working on cars anymore

    in Non Tech Board

    Posted · Edited by Tony D

    It's warranty time, gents. As a distributor, you are supposed to invest in the tooling to do the job faster. While five minutes seems like nothing, doing 12 operations is an hour... And on millions of vehicles that can mean millions of dollars saved/avoided in warranty costs.

     

    I do this for a compressor company. Use our $10,000 tool set on an HP Element replacement, you finish in 2~4 hours. That is what we will pay you in warranty time, plus travel. So that means a day... Don't use it, and it's not unrealistic that it can take 40 hours. Now, you COULD just do paid work and bill like that, or flat-rate bid the jobs using our special tooling have it done in two hours and bill for 40... But hey, it costs $10,000 for those tools... That's a new paint job on the boat, they do FINE billing hours...

     

    We won't reimburse that... As a distributor, sales profit funds the support activities for a short period. If the store is PROPERLY MANAGED (long term vision, and not just a conduit to siphon money for the principal's personal Yachting Fantasies...) you quickly have a fully equipped service department with the time saving gadgets and instrumentation to be VERY efficient in the mechanical end of the business.

     

    Do they do it?

     

    No.

     

    But I always see plenty of boats and fast cars in the bays...

     

    I took over a shop in the UK and within 3 months has the guys 125 to 150% productive on paid work and warranty with almost everybody going home at 17:00. I just started paying the guys by the flat-rate quotes they gave to the customer, and once they had billed 8 hours daily if they booked more work they were billed out at overtime rate for actual hours worked, four hours minimum. Key here is they were given ownership of the project--they knew what their customer would pay, what delays at the site would entail... and quoted accordingly. not some service manager (me) who was clueless of conditions in the field! "Sometimes the bear eats you, guys try to feast on bear as much as possible and we will do fine!" was the speech I gave them. Technically our Labor profit margin stayed constant but the billable hours went through the roof and warranty time dropped to almost nothing. Plus we started billing OVERTIME during normal working hours. Sure, it added payroll expense, but the profit margin on THOSE hours was through the roof! the big thing was pushing more parts, which makes the labor profit and cost look laughably irrelevant. The MBA's and Chartered Accountants were mystified how we could do that...the former service manager railed there was NO WAY I should be paying the guys like that as "they owe us 8 hours work"...

     

    My philosophical difference was I said they owed us 6.4 hours of billable time per day (80% productive)... If they gave us that...either through billed work or flat-rate quoted work they finished early... Then they should be rewarded for excellence. Same as any other professional. Before I took over, guys were literally hiding from the boss until they knew the flat-rate quoted time was up, before going to another job. I couldn't blame them. Three were ready to jump ship. All three remained after my changes... And as far as I know that is STILL how they work to this day!

     

    It's common in the compressor industry to have service managers upset that guys will finish a job in two hours, then "sit there polishing the machine until all the time on the quote is used up"--- the labor profit margin can't be fattened by screwing a guy because he works fast and efficient...yet they do it all the time. And resent the guys for "milking jobs"! Well, give then a squirt fresh from the udder and you will be shocked how fast they start working and what kind of profit you can REALLY make!

     

    As an "independent" competing for lucrative aftermarket service directly competing against the OEM (my former employer, incidentally...) we killed. And that shop continues to kill. It's not uncommon that the apprentices going into full service engineer status at age 20-21 make over £100K on this scheme, and only slightly less while apprenticing since if they were BILLING ENGINEER RATE, I PAID them Engineer Rate--another big departure from how things were run before... No running the apprentices to death to squeeze every bit out of their "cheap labor"---yes from a Smith-Style Management perspective I was grossly inefficient with my pay policies because I "paid them too much"... But funny... We stopped turnover, and nobody poached our third-year apprentices any longer (the point where they start doing REAL work and not just oil changes.)

     

    In reality, I truly don't believe it was so much the increase in PAY that kept the people around... It was the RESPECT I showed for their skills with their tools, in their craft, and with their customers. I did not view them as "grease monkeys" nor did I treat them like they were my slaves 8 hours daily to do my bidding. They were my partners in business, who when we profited, we ALL saw a return.

     

    No more telling guys to clean the shop. No more rousting after Tea... And if nobody showed on Friday because everybody had already billed 65-80 hours that week and didn't schedule any work...well, I just used the apprentices as the field staff then, or the on-call engineer. What did it really matter, any calls were billed as Overtime anyway!

     

    One engineer would bill 60 hours by Wednesday regularly, and just take off with his family for long weekends all summer long. During winter months I was told he regularly billed 80-100 hours working six days a week!!! Except the last two weeks around Christmas.

     

    As ANYBODY in the compressor business in the USA if they can get THAT kind of productivity out of their technicians! Chances are good they will have a problem with a guy "earning a salary" who doesn't show up on Friday, or takes Thursday and Friday off every week during the summer. THAT, my friends, the disregard for what the guy HAS DONE, is the root of the problem!

    I need info about Z racks for my 215 510...

    in S30 Series - 240z, 260z, 280z

    Posted

    Actually, that's backwards... The later 280 racks were quicker than the earlier ones.

    And unless you're flipping stuff around quite a bit, putting an S30 rack in a 510 which has rear steer, as opposed to S30 front steer knuckles will have you going right when to want to go left.

     

    ZX rack is rear-steer like the 510 though....and is available with a power assist as well!

     

    So I guess due to the "steer right-go left" thing, my vote is for another rack...

     

    But you didn't say what you were doing n the K-Member and welding in front horns isn't that big a deal when you're doing setback engine mounts, etc...

    radiator too hot?

    in S30 Series - 240z, 260z, 280z

    Posted

    Check KTM's answer to your problem. Having your fans come on too late will put you into runaway.

    I went through Phoenix in June at mid-day around 120F towing an 800# trailer (and got the "71 in a 65" ticket leaving Tucson to verify my speed in metro areas) without EVER exceeding 190F (let's say one needle width to the right of dead Center on the stock gauge, generally it was one needle width to the left of dead Center )...

     

    That was a used three core from the junkyard.

     

    Going down the road was right there, always, and it stayed there to around 35mph. If I got into stop-n-go on surface streets at which point it would get to the right of Center point, the fans kick on, and it drops to left of Center.

     

    My Turbo car was similar the fans turned on 10F above the stasis point of the radiator on a 110F Palm-Springs Day driving (lugging) the engine in fifth at 35 mph.

    JCI fittings

    in Fuel Delivery

    Posted · Edited by Tony D

    A/N aluminium fittings routinely withstand 2X that in military aircraft.

     

    If you've convinced yourself, why ask?

     

    This has been covered before, search.

     

    John Coffey posted the specs and differences already.

    Insertable tailpipe baffles-to quiet exhaust a bit more

    in Exhaust

    Posted

    You will note a lot of the Japanese exhausts have a sharply angled up tip.

    Sound is VERY directional, and those goofy looking tips direct sound up....

    Most sound mics are directional, and at a tangent to the roadway to catch someone going away. Angling that tip up may help.

     

    I know on the CA State Exhaust Compliance testing it does!

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