Need mechanical work

-

Ohio66Cuda

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2015
Messages
67
Reaction score
4
Location
Willoughby
Spring has arrived and soon it will be time to get my 66 Barracuda out and about. There are some things I know need work before I can be confident in driving around to shows, meets etc. The things I know I need is front end work and a leaky auto transmission. There are some garages around that may be able to do this. What is a good way to qualify the right garage to do the work? Thoughts and suggestions are welcome.
 
do you frequently see old cars in their lot? are they actively being worked on and not just sitting for months at a time? is there mopars? do any of the mechanics own old cars, especially mopars?

the suspension work might be a specialist type thing. a lot of shops won't touch that unless they're intimately familiar with mopars. the leaky transmission, if it's something simple like a pan gasket or shifter seal, they should be able to tackle. any more than that you might want to hunt down somebody with more granular expertise.

get a heat check by looking at their yelp/google reviews and any online presence they might have. then talk to customers. see if you can find one that wasn't all rainbows and unicorns about their experience and get a bead on what went wrong, with the how and the why and what the shop did to make right by the customer.

word of mouth rec is always the best way to track somebody down to do the work. and it might just be some dude that has a big garage at home and does one or two cars a month as side work.
 
Take the car to a transmission shop for the leak. They usually have a guy familiar with older cars.
 
Any car clubs in your area? That's a great place to meet people the repair old cars.
 
big garage at home and does one or two cars a month as side work.
sounds like someone i know…

A rec from other folks in the classic car world that know what is good from experience is the way to go. The unfortunate reality is that most shops will charge too much and still do it wrong.

Your best bet in this situation is likely a dedicated alignment shop and a transmission shop.
 
If you can change oil, you can do anything to any of these old cars. These old girls are pretty much nothing but 4 wheels and a motor. What I would advise is, get you a factory Chrysler service manual for your car and READ READ READ. Just a few special tools needed for the job. Nothing extravagant or very expensive. Learn to do it yourself. That way you won't always be at someone else's mercy.
 
If you’re on Facebook look up NorthEast Ohio Mopar page, and there may still be a club in Wooster. They’ll know someone who will work on your car
 
That way you won't always be at someone else's mercy.
There’s nothing I hate more than spending money and dealing with other people who have no real interest in helping me. That’s why I took things into my own hands and found awesome people through this forum and local meets for advice.
 
do you frequently see old cars in their lot? are they actively being worked on and not just sitting for months at a time? is there mopars? do any of the mechanics own old cars, especially mopars?

the suspension work might be a specialist type thing. a lot of shops won't touch that unless they're intimately familiar with mopars. the leaky transmission, if it's something simple like a pan gasket or shifter seal, they should be able to tackle. any more than that you might want to hunt down somebody with more granular expertise.

get a heat check by looking at their yelp/google reviews and any online presence they might have. then talk to customers. see if you can find one that wasn't all rainbows and unicorns about their experience and get a bead on what went wrong, with the how and the why and what the shop did to make right by the customer.

word of mouth rec is always the best way to track somebody down to do the work. and it might just be some dude that has a big garage at home and does one or two cars a month as side work.
Thanks for the input. All good things to take into consideration.
 
If you can change oil, you can do anything to any of these old cars. These old girls are pretty much nothing but 4 wheels and a motor. What I would advise is, get you a factory Chrysler service manual for your car and READ READ READ. Just a few special tools needed for the job. Nothing extravagant or very expensive. Learn to do it yourself. That way you won't always be at someone else's mercy.
I've done a lot of simple things on the car. I've got an original 66 Mopar manual that I've used often when I've got questions. The front end work is something I don't believe I can handle by myself.
 
If you’re on Facebook look up NorthEast Ohio Mopar page, and there may still be a club in Wooster. They’ll know someone who will work on your car
That's a great idea. I've looked for resources in NE Ohio before but haven't found much. Time to spread the net out further.
 
There’s a shop here in town that the family is very knowledgeable of Mopars and front suspension. Their business name is Busch Automotive. Only about 30 minutes East of you in Jefferson.
 
Spring has arrived and soon it will be time to get my 66 Barracuda out and about. There are some things I know need work before I can be confident in driving around to shows, meets etc. The things I know I need is front end work and a leaky auto transmission. There are some garages around that may be able to do this. What is a good way to qualify the right garage to do the work? Thoughts and suggestions are welcome.
Your in box is full. I tried to contact you.
 
I've done a lot of simple things on the car. I've got an original 66 Mopar manual that I've used often when I've got questions. The front end work is something I don't believe I can handle by myself.
Trust me. You can do it. You can rent ball joint and bushing tools from auto parts stores. Jump on youtube and look for how to use them. I will admit, front suspension work isn't easy work. It's time consuming. But learning how is pretty rewarding.
 
If you can change oil, you can do anything to any of these old cars. These old girls are pretty much nothing but 4 wheels and a motor. What I would advise is, get you a factory Chrysler service manual for your car and READ READ READ. Just a few special tools needed for the job. Nothing extravagant or very expensive. Learn to do it yourself. That way you won't always be at someone else's mercy.
Agree with RRR, subject to age or health issues
 
There’s a shop here in town that the family is very knowledgeable of Mopars and front suspension. Their business name is Busch Automotive. Only about 30 minutes East of you in Jefferson.
Thanks for the info. I'll follow up on that
 
Spring has arrived and soon it will be time to get my 66 Barracuda out and about. There are some things I know need work before I can be confident in driving around to shows, meets etc. The things I know I need is front end work and a leaky auto transmission. There are some garages around that may be able to do this. What is a good way to qualify the right garage to do the work? Thoughts and suggestions are welcome.
In box is still full. You might want to give me a call.
 
I believe I cleaned it out. It took me a while to figure out what the message meant and how to fix it.
 
-
Back
Top