Author Topic: I must be going senile (Read 4387 times)

gregaba · « **on:** January 04, 2021, 06:30:49 PM »

I can't believe it but I just paid $178.00 for a gasket set. I remember paying $23.00 for a full set for my 390 in the sixty's.
I will admit I wanted a set that was matched to my bore and all the cheaper gasket sets were way to big on bore size for what I wanted.
Oh well I guess that is what it cost so I had to pay it.
Greg

turbohunter · « **Reply #1 on:** January 04, 2021, 06:34:02 PM »

You’re not senile.

Rory428 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 04, 2021, 08:37:27 PM »

Try a late model import. I need to replace the head gasket on my wife 2009 Toyota Corolla 1.8L 4 banger. It`s a DOHC with a timing chain, the timing cover is RTV (not included in the kit), after shopping around several different parts stores, the best price I found for a FelPro head gasket set was almost $275.00 Canadian, before taxes. I know it was 30 years ago, but thats more than what I paid for the ring set, main & rod bearings,oil pump, AND complete gasket set for my trucks 390 in 1990.

Nightmist66 · « **Reply #3 on:** January 04, 2021, 08:48:54 PM »

Quote from: gregaba on January 04, 2021, 06:30:49 PM

I can't believe it but I just paid $178.00 for a gasket set.

At least you didn't spend that much on a set of custom Cometic head gaskets that have less than 1hr run time and are now shelf ornaments....The times they are a changin'

gregaba · « **Reply #4 on:** January 04, 2021, 09:29:00 PM »

On the imports. I once bought a new turbo Volvo. After a few years the turbo went out. I remember one of the cooling lines for the turbo was $800.00 at the dealership. I wasn't going to pay that for a 3 foot line so I made my own out of 5/16 line- cost less then 10.00 but did take a few hours to get the bends in the line just right so it would fit. My last import made car.
Now I am a little worried. I ordered the TFS gasket set which says they use cometic head gaskets. I did call my machine shop and he said he decked the block for the MLS gaskets.
Well I can only hope for the best.
At least pulling the engine out of the 63 is easy [except for the rear lower fender bolts]as I just remove the front clip.
Greg

frnkeore · « **Reply #5 on:** January 05, 2021, 03:57:55 AM »

I have the same problem. I was a mechanic, '62-'70 and ran one of the engine shops I worked in. I had to quote prices and for myself, I got a 30% discount on my stuff. Those prices seem to not disappear from my memory but, at least, I know I'm going to be paying more than 1970 but, it just doesn't seem right

GJCAT427 · « **Reply #6 on:** January 05, 2021, 06:27:03 AM »

I feel your pain, I recently bought a set of Cometic head gaskets for the new 427 going in my 63 Galaxy. They cost me $150 each The rest of the set was from pieces I had over the yrs from other builds. This engine is the most expensive one so far and I still ain`t done, close but not done yet.

allrightmike · « **Reply #7 on:** January 05, 2021, 12:07:05 PM »

Are MLS head gaskets cheaper for (sorry for the profanity) chevys?

Keith Stevens · « **Reply #8 on:** January 05, 2021, 01:26:12 PM »

Going Senile?

Charles said.. Well, nevermind.

In all seriousness even a set of relatively standard FelPro 1020's are 95.00. I have been noticing huge price jumps at Summit post the Plan-demic.
I think many who are home are working on their vehicles to bide the time. It's better than sitting on your posterior doing nothing. Great for keeping a sound mind. Unless your frustration causes flying tools.

gregaba · « **Reply #9 on:** January 05, 2021, 03:14:51 PM »

i used to have a lot of flying tool's but they got to expensive to throw around. Snap On charged me $58.00 for a pair of side cutter pliers and 450.00 for a 1/2 inch air wrench.
I really don't see how a new mechanic can afford to buy the tools and tool box he will need to do his job.
Greg

CV355 · « **Reply #10 on:** January 05, 2021, 03:23:12 PM »

I stumbled on a thread from 2002 on another forum where people were discussing shocks for classic Mustangs. One guy said he could buy a pair of QA1s for $120. They're $159ea now. Oof.

Side note, while working at a previous employer, we had a project that involved a considerable amount of water plumbing for process cooling. The customer spec'd out AN fittings as opposed to the typical JIC37 fittings we would normally use (they are interchangeable, but it is not recommended to do so). These were bought in bulk and used when needed to avoid "onesy-twosie" orders and long wait times. At the end of the project, everything left over was dumped into a dumpster, including several thousand dollars worth of AN fittings of all shapes and sizes. I vividly recall this as I click "add to cart" and "add to cart" over and over, watching $20 bills fly away with every click as I order up all of the fittings I need. Didn't these things used to cost like $6 a piece? Why are they suddenly $20-$30 a piece?

frnkeore · « **Reply #11 on:** January 05, 2021, 06:21:43 PM »

Quote from: gregaba on January 05, 2021, 03:14:51 PM

i used to have a lot of flying tool's but they got to expensive to throw around. Snap On charged me $58.00 for a pair of side cutter pliers and 450.00 for a 1/2 inch air wrench.
I really don't see how a new mechanic can afford to buy the tools and tool box he will need to do his job.
Greg

When I became a mechanic, I got my dad's, 6 drawer Snap On tool chest and some of his tools and for my 18th Bday, my mom bought me a set of long, combination wrenches. They where $35, in '62. I bought as many Snap On things as I could afford, until about '68. I broke a screw driver tip and the Snap On guy refused to replace it. From that time on, I bought Craftsman, for almost everything. If it broke, no mater what it was, they replaced it, no questions asked.

Of course I still had to buy some specialty tools from Snap On but, only if no one else made it.

The last Snap On thing I bought was in '84. I needed to make a gasket and I needed a 2 oz ball peen. The truck pulled up, next door to my shop so, I walked over there and said, "give me a 2 oz hammer"! He did and releaved me of about $20. I thought to myself, I should have known! But, there was no other source, either.

gregaba · « **Reply #12 on:** January 05, 2021, 06:48:14 PM »

I started out with the $99.00 Chaftsman tool set. No specialty tools but the other mechanics were real good about loaning any special tool I needed but I all ways returned them cleaned as soon as I finished with them.
Gradually I build my tools with mostly Snap On, Macs, and Matco.
I still bought Chaftsman tools because they were the best tool at the least cost, they just were not as nice looking as the others.
I remember buying my first Matco top tool box on time for $500.00 and really though I had something. Now I have 5 top and bottom box's lining both my walls.
My friend bought a Snap On box [bottom only] about 10 years aGO AND SPENT OVER $6000.00 for it. I remember thinking it was time to get out of the business.
Greg

Heo · « **Reply #13 on:** January 05, 2021, 08:07:19 PM »

Quote from: gregaba on January 04, 2021, 06:30:49 PM

I can't believe it but I just paid $178.00 for a gasket set. I remember paying $23.00 for a full set for my 390 in the sixty's.
I will admit I wanted a set that was matched to my bore and all the cheaper gasket sets were way to big on bore size for what I wanted.
Oh well I guess that is what it cost so I had to pay it.
Greg

Thats what a head gasket almost cost for my sons Nissan Diesel wich i bougt from a friend
that have a repair shop so that was what he pays for it netto

RJP · « **Reply #14 on:** January 05, 2021, 08:20:31 PM »

I started buying Craftsman when I was 15 or 16 y/o. Its all I buy unless Craftsman didn't make it. The last Snap-On piece I bought was a 600ft/lb torque wrench. I don't care for the Snap-On ratchets, open end or box wrenches as the polished chrome surface makes hanging on to it more difficult when your hands get oily or greasy. Craftsman has a textured surface making for a bit better grip. Warranty: Can't beat it. The only Craftsman tool I ever broke was a 12pt. 7/8" deep socket after leaning on it with a 4' pipe attached to the 24" breaker bar. The socket split...Gee, I wonder why. Took it back to the store and Sears replaced it, no questions asked. I seldom buy individual tools as I wait until Craftsman has a sale, which is often and I will buy a "set" for little more than I spend buying individual tools. Another consideration for adding or replacement is Sears or who ever is carrying Craftsman tools now is usually open 6 or 7 days a week. I don't have to wait until the Snap-On truck to arrive, which is maybe once a week. When you need a tool you need it now...not next week.

gregaba · « **Reply #15 on:** January 05, 2021, 09:25:44 PM »

I was lucky as my dad was a mechanic from the time he got out of the army after WW11 until about the middle 60's when he went into aircraft working for Convair and the other so cal airplane makers.
From the 50's he road raced and tried drag racing in the 60's until he got tried of how the NHRA treated the Ford racers and went back to road racing.
He had a real nice assortment of tools and for the time a nice set of tool boxs.
All most every tool he had was a Craftsman and I lost a few of them when I was little, man did my butt hurt after losing a tool.
I remember when we moved back to Oklahoma we didn't have enough room to bring all his tools with us so he sold most of them to his friend for $600.00-a lot of money for the time but I sure did miss those tools when I started out being a mechanic.
Took me years to build up a set as nice as he had but I still have most of his tools we brought back with us.
Greg

frnkeore · « **Reply #16 on:** January 06, 2021, 02:51:34 AM »

My dad gave me a good start. He was a mechanic at Meyer & Welch, the Authorized Ford Rebuilder in LA Co. The "Meyer" was, Louis Meyer, owner of the Novi, 3 time Indy winner, Meyer & Drake and Ford took him away from there for the Ford Indy engine program. He worked there from the end of WWII to '52, when he went into trucking.

My dad taught me the the basics of engines and transmissions and as I said, gave me his tool box that I still have. It's at least 75 years old and the drawers work, almost as new. The specialty tools, were mostly for Flatheads, all his sockets, ratchets and speed handles were Snap On but, his wrenches varied and there was a Proto 1/4 drive set as well as varied ignition tools.

Before becoming a mechanic, some of my learning came from helping him and the rest from him helping me with the carnage I did on the family cars. Broken spider gears and bent push rods (twice) on their Edsel. Trans, clutch (twice each) and engine on the '61 Falcon and other "stuff" I can't recall.

Like Greg, I lost a few, of his tools, in my grade school days.

CV355 · « **Reply #17 on:** January 06, 2021, 09:29:00 AM »

Quote from: gregaba on January 05, 2021, 06:48:14 PM

I started out with the $99.00 Craftsman tool set. No specialty tools but the other mechanics were real good about loaning any special tool I needed but I all ways returned them cleaned as soon as I finished with them.

Same here. My father got me a 154pc Craftsman tool kit in the injection molded box for my 17th birthday. Prior to that I just had Kmart-brand odds and ends, and borrowed tools from him when I needed to.

When I bought my first house I realized I needed an actual toolbox, so a coworker sold me his vintage SnapOn box (KRA58B) along with some mongrel-brand lower box for $100. That filled up quickly and I needed more space, so I kept an eye out on Craigslist. One morning, I spotted an ad for a triple-stack Craftsman box, called the guy, arranged to pick it up that afternoon. I got there, it seemed sketchy. I opened up the drawers and it was filled with mud and tools. The seller said "yeah all that can go with it, I don't care." $200 later, we had the triple stacker, though I always suspected it was stolen or something. Fast forward to a few years ago, and I was selling off some of my firearm collection to fund a major house repair that insurance wouldn't cover. Most people on Gunbroker and Armslist were stingy, so I started offering "Trade plus cash" deals. I wound up with three large SnapOn boxes including a Classic 78 and a KRL double stack, a Husky rolling hutch, and a Kobalt stainless. The entire back wall of my garage is this never-ending caravan of toolboxes... filled with mostly Craftsman and Harbor Freight.

Any time my wife and I are walking through a store and there are toolboxes, she says "NO, absolutely not, no more toolboxes, you have more than most shops!"

Quote from: gregaba on January 05, 2021, 09:25:44 PM

I was lucky as my dad was a mechanic from the time he got out of the army after WW11 until about the middle 60's when he went into aircraft working for Convair and the other so cal airplane makers.

All most every tool he had was a Craftsman and I lost a few of them when I was little, man did my butt hurt after losing a tool.

I know how that is... My father actually hit a point where he wrapped a chain around his toolbox and locked all of the drawers shut because I left a screwdriver out on his workbench when I was a kid.

gregaba · « **Reply #18 on:** January 06, 2021, 10:18:13 AM »

In the 60's before our move back to Ok. we moved to Escondido Ca just north of San Diego for dads job.
They had just opened a brand new hi school [Orange Glen Hi.] and I was in the first class, we didn't have any seniors the first year.
We had a new auto shop but no tools and after about 3 weeks a couple of trucks showed up while we were in class.
When we went to auto shop it was full of brand new Proto tools.
They gave us everything including the specialty tools for the mechanics shop and paint shop.
They were the nicest tools I had seen up to that time and I had no ideal what some of them were for. We had a 2 month period where all we did was learn how to use them.
Proto tools were not in Ok. back then and I never saw any until the 90's and I went and bought a few that I really didn't need but I remembered what they did for us and wanted to support them. Stanly Tools bought them out a few years ago and I have not seen any lately.
Greg

gt350hr · « **Reply #19 on:** January 06, 2021, 12:14:06 PM »

Head gaskets are the toughest to buy "reasonably" especially MLS ones. Forever it was cheaper to buy a pair of FelPro race head gaskets cheaper from Ford than a single from FelPro. The rest of the gaskets are reasonable at places like Rockauto , especially rear main seals.
Randy

Falcon67 · « **Reply #20 on:** January 07, 2021, 11:43:55 AM »

I have a bunch of RACE sets for 351C and W engines I bought at a swap meet for $2 each LOL. Head gaskets for the race cars run $80+ each.

I am putting together a C02 rig to fill my shifter tank. I needed a 1/4 brass T and a couple of nibs plus a 1/4 gate valve - about $26 for all that. The T was like $7.50, more than the gate valve. Prices are just out of control.

RustyCrankshaft · « **Reply #21 on:** January 07, 2021, 08:14:55 PM »

Quote from: gregaba on January 06, 2021, 10:18:13 AM

In the 60's before our move back to Ok. we moved to Escondido Ca just north of San Diego for dads job.
They had just opened a brand new hi school [Orange Glen Hi.] and I was in the first class, we didn't have any seniors the first year.
We had a new auto shop but no tools and after about 3 weeks a couple of trucks showed up while we were in class.
When we went to auto shop it was full of brand new Proto tools.
They gave us everything including the specialty tools for the mechanics shop and paint shop.
They were the nicest tools I had seen up to that time and I had no ideal what some of them were for. We had a 2 month period where all we did was learn how to use them.
Proto tools were not in Ok. back then and I never saw any until the 90's and I went and bought a few that I really didn't need but I remembered what they did for us and wanted to support them. Stanly Tools bought them out a few years ago and I have not seen any lately.
Greg

I've bought Proto and Stanley/Proto tools for a long time and we still use them a lot at work. Usually you have to go to an industrial supply house like Grainger, Atlas, etc. to find them. A lot of times they're reasonably priced and most are very good tools.

Grainger carries most of the Proto line, but you can find better deals from other vendors.

gregaba · « **Reply #22 on:** January 07, 2021, 09:21:36 PM »

I really liked the Proto tool line, I am still using the ones I bought in the 60's. Back then the tool makers really made a quality tool, not like now.
I really hate to look for a tool or machine and find out they were made in china. The quality just isn't there.
Chriss where are you scuba diving in Texas, unless you live on the coast the pickins seem to be a little slim. I used to dive in my teens in San Diego until we moved, about the only thing I miss [well the women were nice] about Calif.
Greg

Falcon67 · « **Reply #23 on:** January 08, 2021, 12:10:56 PM »

LOL, no scuba - needed a 10 lb siphon CO2 tank for filling the 10oz air shifter bottle in the Falcon. Seems in relation to the "senile" title of this thread, I keep turning the shutoff valve on the car bottle the wrong way while thinking I "shut it off". Then I have to go bug somebody to fill it before the next race. So bringing the re-fill in house to hide my perpetual screwups.

oldiron.fe · « **Reply #24 on:** January 08, 2021, 12:21:09 PM »

came back from the nam fall of 69 worked at maroni ford st.paul mn side oiler block $ 266.00 damn !!! still making power with old iron 10.5 pump gas 488 hi-rise center oil 670 hp still a little more @ 7000 one more on the way with more hp all old iron

gregaba · « **Reply #25 on:** January 08, 2021, 06:37:52 PM »

Fred Jones Ford in Oklahoma City was one of the major rebuilders for Henry Ford until the 80's.
When I came back from Nam my cousin worked there. He knew I was into racing and he arranged for me to buy my engines and other parts used from him.
Prices as I remember them
Used 427 complete engine-$50.00
427 Heads $35.00
Short blocks rebuildable-$25.00
Aluminum intakes $5.00.
I bought parts there until my cousin got a better job around 74 or 75.
Never got a used engine or short block that I could not rebuild and the thing is I only bought 5 of the engines and a lot more heads and intakes then anything else.
Wish I still had them.
Greg

gt350hr · « **Reply #26 on:** January 12, 2021, 11:46:29 AM »

Proto used to be Plvmb ( plumb) Made out here in Ca. back then.

frnkeore · « **Reply #27 on:** January 12, 2021, 12:50:43 PM »

Yes, that is correct. I still have Plvmb tools in my tool box, that I got from my dad. Including a 2 jaw puller that I just used Sunday.

gt350hr · « **Reply #28 on:** January 12, 2021, 02:52:36 PM »

Yes I inherited a bunch of them too. They actually outlast the Proto stuff LOL. I have Williams ( pre Snap on), Herbest? ( maybe pre Craftsman) Chrom a loy , and some others. All gone the way of the Dodo bird.

cleandan · « **Reply #29 on:** January 14, 2021, 08:53:04 AM »

The senile part is we pay the price and move on when a portion of me thinks we should say...Ah, no, keep your gaskets at that price...but what are we gonna do otherwise?

I fix a lot of small engine things.
First, the carb rebuild is becoming an extinct process with the new mindset being to replace the carb outright rather than rebuild any portion of it.

The problem here is a small carb for your 25cc weed whip costs about $100 and they have you both ways because they charge around $25 for even the simplest carb to engine block gasket.

If...if you can source a carb gasket kit it will cost around $65 and NOT contain all parts needed to fully rebuild the carb.
You still have to purchase a float seperately. The needle and seat seperately, and often the idle mixture screws seperately...making the real cost of a full rebuild about twice as much as simply replacing the carb with a new carb...a crappy Chinese replacement carb at that.

When laid out on the bench I just can not understand how these ten or so parts equates to such a high price any more than I can understand how the cost of a complete replacement carb is cheaper than buying a couple replacement parts.

Falcon67 · « **Reply #30 on:** January 14, 2021, 12:06:37 PM »

I fixed the C-man 18" bar chain saw a couple of years back by replacing the carb. It would start but not stay running. Bought a replacement look-alike off Amazon for like $20 and it runs like a champ.

I can see real Honda parts costing that - we have a EU7000is generator for use with the trailer and I only use real Honda service parts. But then, a replacement genny costs nearly $4500.

I bought Craftsman for years, almost everything in the big box is C-man. My 1/2" drive set and the ratchet was given to me by my grandmother when I was 11. I asked for them out of the Sears catalog and we went to the little Sears place in Hillsboro Tx to order them. Every once in a while I remind her in prayer that I still have them.

News:

Author Topic: I must be going senile (Read 4387 times)