How not too install a 4-link. (I need your help.)

I have no real reason to make a post you have all made up your mind about me at this rate but i feel i need to say something.

i have allready post on the clubs board and after this post im done.

number one do not put blame on any of the Los Boulevardos guys for not "calling" me out. They are a great group of guys and know there shit well. For me at least, its hard to tell some one there fucking up (pot calling the kettle black i know) but you get my point.

Bottom line is i had no right taking on this work. i knew it would be beyond my ability and said i could do it any way. couple that with me being in a rush to get it done and other personel reasons it turned out like shit and looks like a first grader did it. It was unsafe and uncalled for. The way i handeld the deal after it went south was like that of a child who got cought with his hand in the cookie jar.

You all have a right to voice your opinion and say what you will about what i did and i agree with 99% of you. Im now willing to admit when im wrong and screwed up. There are many of you who have posted that i value your opinion of me and was sad to see what was wrote but i would have been right there with ya had this been some one elses work and i was the one looking at it.

You all can think i tried to rip john off and what not but truth be told i just didnt know what the hell i was doing. I did NOT set out to screw any one and when this all came down on me i didnt know what to do. turns out things dont go away if you ignore them they just get way worse!

I want to apoligize to John for putting him thru this whole ordeal and apoligize to the Los Boulevardos for making the club look bad in any way shape or form. Ive learned from my mistake and will not in any near or distant future work on a car again be it my own or others.

Thank you for your time.
Bryan

 

If it was the one he dragged here from Minnesota, that was a mercy killing!

 

".....................................I want to apoligize to John for putting him thru this whole ordeal and apoligize to the Los Boulevardos for making the club look bad in any way shape or form. Ive learned from my mistake and will not in any near or distant future work on a car again be it my own or others."

Takes a man to recognize his mistakes and publicly make this kind of apology. It's a shame he got into it in the first place, but that's water over the dam. I guess we've all fucked up a time or two.

DirtyT, I respect you for standing up and admitting your mistakes, but please, PLEASE, don't ever touch a tool again without some instruction & guidance !!

 

Wow, didn't expect to see you posting on here, good though. If you are in a bad spot I think some people on here can appreciate where you are coming from, and I am not speaking only of finances. Hope you guys get squared up and you get on a better track.

Hack, think the Mercury deal goes beyond being a junk or not, but that is neither here nor there on this thread I guess. But I will say that seeing some of the 49-51s getting resurrected on this site, and from seeing what I did of the car in pics and even figuring everything under it was toast, it was still usable stuff and a buildable car. Crushing out coupe doors and a roof even, forgetting the car itself is lame.

Hope things get better for you reguardless, not as a car person, but as a fellow human being.

 

I think(just my opinion) bryan got caught being over-confident,after having some success.I don't think he set out to screw john,but is he any less screwed because of that?Hopefully everyone has learned thier lesson and can move forward.I've spent some time with John,he's alot better sport about this than most(myself included).I know he will come out of this o.k.,Bryan looked like life was kick'en his ass,hopefully getting this behind him will help.I'm just waiting for the next chapter! Dave

 

I feel for you guys when work is presented like this. I have a car here now, 59 Impala, Customer had the car bagged somewhere across town. Racked it took a look, power wire for the air pump is zip tied to the fuel line front to the back of the car. We all know how many amps run through the power wire for the air pump. Solenoids mounted to the rear frame rail with conduit clamps holding them down. No grommets for the wiring or airlines as they exit the trunk floor. I can just see this guys car burning down because of work like this.

 

Holy shit! Can we say POOF!

 

Hey there. This is the second public apology Bryan has made and I am proud of him for doing it. I don't need to comment any more on the work, I put up a couple of photos and the thread exploded, nuff said. I will say I believe Bryan is being honest about the whole ordeal and how he handled it. He was not out to screw me, and he just didn't conduct himself right when faced with the issue. Now that we are down to it, he has agreed to pay me back in full. He is not concerned with clearing his name, but rather just wants to do the right thing put this whole mess behind both of us. I respect him for that and I think you should to. Thanks for all the positive responses from everyone (and the odd negative or two thrown in for good measure ) I am currently working on a thank you thread for all those who contributed to my cause. It was totally unexpected and will go a long way.

Thanks agian!!!
John

 

I know it takes a "man" to stand up for what he did, that said, (and all "the Man" said, how the heck could those welds even be remotely justified?

Sure, I cuold see if the bag-job was done bad, like he didn't know about force-x affecting force=y, etc...but geesh, this guy couldn't put in a set of exhaust hangers correctly.

Not only did he not do things correctly, but the quality of all the pics I saw were just so freaking poor, it's pathetic.

I think the guy just has no fab skills whatsoever and is now trying to save face on the HAMB by "being a big man".

Waaaay too late IMO.

 

Just read this whole thread. I'm going to put a little different take on what has been presented.
My early HAMB experience had a portion of the time calling out a "self proclained" educated member on a lot of subjects. Everything from exploding Pintos to redesigning the firing order sequences on a SBC. All during this time this member was being heralded as the Second Coming. Also this member was having an overwhelming influence on an obviously young and inexperienced car crafter. At the time the HAMB had almost daily thread/posts about this DYNAMIC DUO and their "keystone cops" antics. From my prospective it seemed that they were feeding off each other and it was "anything goes" just as long as it topped the last antics. All of this seemed to be very entertaining to the general HAMB population.
Then we had a series of threads/posts on a very unconventional build by the elder. Again, it was "hip, hip horray" mixed with the occasional WTF as we were led through a very unconventional (read somewhat unsafe depending on your experience/perspective) build that produced a car that on one occasion had to be driven in reverse a few miles just to get it home. No need to recount the details, they are here for anyone wanting to look them up.
Now to my point. It is my opinion that even though you are NOT expert on every subject (but claim,at the least, a general knowledge) you bear some responsibility when it is obvious your influence is being felt by someone with lesser knowledge. This bullsht "I don't weld", or "I didn't realize it could turn out that way" is a lame excuse for sidestepping responsibility when it's obvious you are in a "mentor mode" to anyone younger or less experienced. You at least HAVE seen the work done in a safe, quality manner or you have no excuse for being involved. When this younger person is turning out shit and you stand by without steering that person to a better way or condeming his work, INSISTING better quality work be performed or directing him to someone that could help in the end result you bear SOME responsibility for that persons attitudes and way of working through a project not to mention the quality of his work. It is possible that the quality really was OK by your standards and thereby a reflection on the precieved stature you've attained.
Now, not to draw this one out I'm refering to DirtyT and FatHack. That should save a few dozen posts speculating on the "players".
To wrap it up:

1. Dirty T........... a young enthusiastic "car guy" that, with the proper guildance, will turn into an asset to this hobby. I would suggest a few courses in welding/fabricating to turn his obvious interest into quality results.

2. FatHack...........His early posts say it all but if you don't have indepth knowledge of the subject the phrase "dazzle 'em with footwork,,,,,bury 'em in bullshit" MIGHT be the operative thought. He gained quite a following early on but has obviously faded in the stretch. Not without his strong points,, a pursuit of fiction writing would serve him well. He has obvious talent in this field.

There it is, my thoughts...........take 'em for what they're worth . I stand by every word.

Frank

 

Way to go, Fab32 my friend! Your feeble recollection of the 'facts' is always hillariously pathetic!

1. I never drove my 49 Chevy home in reverse. I actually DID have to drive a parts car about a half mile home in reverse once...because the C4 trans was spent, but all I bought that car for was the 351W engine. That was in 1986 by the way...just a 'few' years before I joined the HAMB!

2. Bryan doesn't listen to me on anything anyway! Ha Ha...I could yell "Red" and he'd insist "Blue"! Maybe that's what contributed to some of our former "Keystone Kops moments", but it's here nor there as far as this subject (we WERE talking about Steamboat's car here...remember?!) goes. Even if I was a World Class Chassis Builder who once buttered Jeff Gordon's toast for him or whatever, Bryan wouldn't listen to my advice anyhow...he does his own thing and so do I.

3. What does "envolved" mean? I'm no envelope maker, and I know precious little about the theories of evolution...so this term of your baffles me!!! HOW have envelopes evolved? Do tell!

4. Bryan and I are FRIENDS (do you know what those are?!)...I'm not his babysitter, guardian, mentor, teacher, counselor, lawyer, coach, preacher or drill sergeant. There have been several points in time where we didn't talk to one another for several weeks, even months. Sorry that I failed to chain him down and FORCE my 'superior knowledge' or whatever upon him...but I give him the space he needs when he needs it and that's that. We aren't business partners, team-mates or Cub Scouts...we're friends with some common interests, some funny stories, good memories and great times between us. That's it.

5. Your 'factual reporting' resembles fiction far more than anything I could ever dream up...and I'm more than happy to stand aside and watch the Master at work...please do continue!

So...where were YOU, oh great Know-it-All? Were you too enthrawled in another Matlock marathon or something to leave your sprawling private museum and steer the poor, misguided victim of a bad influence towards the path of righteousness? You seem confident enough to smuggly sit back on your ample haunches and point fingers while distorting the truth...and to offer up your insightfull character analysis...yet you did nothing to 'save' this poor, wretched "kid" from my obviosuly evil spell?! Shame on YOU, Lord Frank!!



PS...thanks for dragging this back up...I'm sure that everyone "envolved" appreciates it deeply. The matter had seemed closed until you elected to stir the pot again. I guess at least you're consistent!

 

WOW! the fire is really flaming good now. taking money for services that clearly cannot be delivered constitutes FRAUD anyway you look at it. looks like "overselling" could have killed somebody this time. if these guys are friends it should have never had to go to court if the guy was "stand up" as described.

 

OK ok so I didnt mean to stereo type but the pics above that work is nice, but 9 out of 10 I would say are not like that. Sorry if i offended any of you all