u/CableMartini

so im a mid level tech at a franchise shop. been here about 6 months, and this is my first mechanic job. before anyone asks, im soon on my way out hopefully, not for this situation, but because I might hopefully have another job lined up, but I digress

so I personally own a 1986 pontiac trans am. I bought the car like a month ago, and the tires were 16 years old, and constantly needing aired up. I mentioned this to my boss at the time, and he offered going thru our tire distributor and getting them for wholesale price. I thought "awesome, this will save me a whole Lotta money"

so some time goes by, and im waiting and waiting, asking and asking, and every time theres some reason why I cant. he said his boss needs to approve, or the distributor is out of my tire, or whatever it is that day. eventually, after asking for nearly a month, he gives me the a-okay, saying his boss said it was okay for me to go and get the tires. so midway thru a workday, he sends me to the warehouse and hour away for my tires, as well as 2 customer tires. I load up, come on back, and think nothing of it

he then starts making a million more excuses why I cant put them on the car now, saying we have to wait until payday, when previously he told me they could be put on before payday, and then when payday comes around, I have one of my friends who I work with ask him, as it was my day off, and he apparently blows the hell up, saying a bunch of shit, and saying he should make me pay full price for them. all of this completely out of no where. mind you, all of this came from him offering up the service, I mightve asked, but still. its been so long since this all started, i cant remember, and dont care all that much

after about another week or two, he begins training another manager for the store, as he was technically a travel manager, not the store manager, and after he stops showing up randomly, hes let go from the company, and the new manager, of which has been there all of 9 seconds, gives in and let's me pay for the tires, finally. so I call the warehouse, give them my card, give them the invoice, and get emailed back a receipt. I show the receipt to my boss, and think thats the end of all of this mess. jokes on me, it only started

so the next two days I have off, because of how my shops schedule works. the first day I hsve off, I heard from said friend of mine (we are roommates) that apparently it was found that the previous owner pocketed a customer's entire deposit on some motor mounts, as well as many other instances of stealing from the cash drawer, stealing from people, never being honest, and so the higher ups sent the police after him, and as far as im aware, buddy might end up actually serving time for that one, lol. but this is where it gets worse

so apparently, when he said his boss approved the tires being bought from the warehouse, he just fuckin lied, and he never actually got approval. so when I showed up with receipts of a tire purchase, this was entirely news to him, and as of the grapevine, I heard I was supposed to be fired for it. luckily new boss lady is a G, and explained the entiiiiirrrrreeee situation to the best of her ability, and in such, my job did get secured. had she not, I still would've gone to bat for myself, but when I came in after my days off this morning, she pulled me to the side and said she got it smoothed over with her boss, and that my job was secured

as mentioned prior, I am hopefully getting a new job soon. fleet work assembling 18 wheeler, rather than making pennies wrenching. I would like to come back to wrenching at some point, either doing diesel or transmission/engine rebuilds

having ahard time not bottoming out and spinning out all the time. ive always had that issue, honestly. not entirely sure what my tune is now, but wondering what some better, softer, but still generally firm, tuning options are that you guys recommend

I mean to hsve everything you will need, within reason. singular 2 post lift, tool box or 2, bearing press, tire machines, working spaces, tables with vices, spots to weld, etc. right now I work at a mechanic shop, so all the work I do on my own stuff, literslly have a giant concrete box full of everything I could ever desire, but I may have a really good job on the horizon, that will mean I will no longer have a shop to work out of, and daddy likes having a lift now lol

so, anyone in north carolina probably knows about frieghtliner, and how good of a job it is. right now, i have a job working at a franchise, making $18/hr+commission as a b tech, doing minor maintenace like brakes, starters, wheel hubs, small shit like that.

I have a bunch of mechanical knowledge, but thats where I am in my career. I may have the ability to get a job here soon at freightliner, starting pay as $24/hr. anyone who knows about higher level mechanic work, as well as freightliner and higher tier pay, what would be better for longterm? my plan has always been to be a mechanic, since I was a kid, but also frieghtliner isnt exactly an opportunity you just let slide, so im just wondering what you all might recommend for my next steps?

i play on opera, and i get 240 fps. i have a friend trying to play, and with both opera and chrome, he can only get around 40fps in a level, and like 110 fps in menus. he has a good pc, not that it should even matter, and his monitor goes up to 240. i coulda swore the settign was int the game, but am i mistaken?

so I bought this car, cash in hand, for $3500. owner states 4th Gen cloth seats swapped in, and a ar5 5 speed manual swap after the original auto trans went out. the odo reads 137k, but also doesn't seem to work :p. the oil pressure gauge reads apparently amazing oil pressure, you only see it drop down from being pinned atmax once the engines very warm, and even then its really only dropping to like 45-55psi at best. radio is not even wired in, speed sensor is currently sitting in the passenger seat, have to short 2 wires together to get the reverse lights to come on, found out today doing a fat pull can cause my downpipe and mid pipe to get a divorce, and drag my midpipe on the road lmao. there is some stiffer suspension work done on it, had it on the lift at the mechanica shop I worked out, and saw some bright blue metal assebembly In the bottom of the car, I think the owner mentioned a torsion something-or-another, I dont remember. prev owner said it was carb swapped 305, which im inclined to believe, as its a bitch and a half to get the car started lol. pretty much the entire interior needs replacing, as mid 80s gm and "the sun" dont get along. everythings cracking, the dash is in multiple pieces atp, just everything is in shambles

now, enough yammering, on to the good stuff

the ar5 was a 5 speed used is y2k chevy trucks and suvs. I believe the PO said this was taken from an '04 tahoe. now, with it being a truck transmission, when you take the original fkn 1 1/2' shifter, and give it a 5-6" shifter, the throw becomes disgusting. theres basically no throw at all, and im terrified of money shifting, as 1st in 3rd become less feel and more "pull the fuck out of it to go into 1st, dont to go into 3rd". was wondering if anyone has any ideas, maybe some exact links for my issues, for longer throw shifters. I jnow this might be weird, as most people want the least throw possible, but I loke rowing thru gears. it takes my entire upper body strength to out this thing in gear, just because of how little throw it has, plus the lockout or whatever is in place doesn't like the lack of torque this tiny ass shifter now has, again, compared to a 2 foot truck shifter

for the interior, what's my best bet on finding replacements? id like to go the cheap route and fix the shit, but pretty much everything on the inside is well beyond fixing. the dash has cracks the size of the red sea, none of the gauges work (prolly wires, haven't ripped apart the cluster yet to check wiring) there's a hole in the floor from the manual swap, and the middle arm rest piece is nowhere to be found, literally js a hole in the trans tunnel, and once the car gets to temp, it makes the shifter into a literal sauna. and everything else you can imagine on the interior. Just is there any places like LMR or anything that works with cars this old? oldest i had before this was an '01 mustang GT

in terms of looks, its a black car with the sun roof, and has white (faded) wheels. wondering what kinda wheels would look good on it? maybe the murdered out look? idrk lol

any questions you have, I will answer to the best of my ability. bought the car last Wednesday, so its literally been only a week since owning it, plus ive never owned a "Chevy" in the past (i say chevy and not GM because ford is kinda included in GM, depending on js who u ask and I have owned many fords lol, just giving the renowned SBC some time in the light)

I come from mustangs, 4th Gen sn95/new edge mustangs. sold a friend my '01 gt, and was looking for a way to fill that void. stumbled across a 1986 pontiac trans am, 305 carb small block (previous owner carb swapped it) and swapped in a 5 speed ar5 from i think like a Tahoe or something? I cant remember, either way. thing fucking rips, its actually such a sick car n all, I just really dont know much about the platform. it has a few electric things that need looking at, the gas gauge doesn't work, the speedometer cable isnt plugged in, the backup lights only come on when touching 2 wires together, and the radio isnt wired in lol. nothing that stops the car from running, and having a carb'd car is cool as fuck, and is gonna be a new experience for me. entirely mechanical drivetrain, literally. even the damn wires made for the trans aren't in there 😭

I was gonna get a fiero, just because it stumbled across my mp feed one day, and I feel in love with how quirky it was, all around. things feel thru, and it sold, a tale as old as time. there none even close to that ones condition for as low as it was, bot even just near me, just in general, no matter how far and wide I search, so um giving up on that, and going to its cooler, v8 brother. spent a little bit of time looking, and the ones I found where all sitting longer than ive been alive, so wondering how much im gonna be looking at for at least a running well enough to drive home, debatable physical shape, manual v8, hardtop firebird? anyone who has inside into 80s gm nightmares, what kind of issues should I expect to look into out the gate if I do find one?

before getting my first job at a shop, I had some steel toes I bought like 2 years prior, and never really wore. now ive worn these things every day for the better part of the last 5 months, and the soles are starting to deteriorate, i keep having chunk of boot come out eith my foot every few days. they've never been what I'd call the laps of luxury, but they still feel alright?, I guess? sorry if this is a dumber question, I ripped both my my work pants i bought when I started, so now this questions been on my mind

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for reference, the boots I have are some generic steel toes I bought from like a shoe show or something, I think they were less than $80

i started as a baby faced lube tech back at the end of january, and under my previous management, she had absolutely no intention of training me past lube tech any time soon. for whatever reason, either she quit or got fired, but now one of the travelling managers is in, and has been here for about the last week. guys amazing at what he does, and compared to my previous manager, literal night n day difference, between how he treats us techs, to how he treats the customers, how he treats the shop, everything.

it was a bit slower today, and so i asked him, straight up, how long, based on how i preform, did he think it would take for me to move up some in this industry. he asked me how my attendance was, i told him pretty much perfect, and he said he would start talking to some of the higher ups in an attempt to get me promoted, and to get me to start doing brakes and alignments here soon. (ive done brakes before, but today as of writing this, i literally did 3 differerent brake jobs by myself, whereas before i never did any without heavy supervision)

literally 24 hours ago, i assumed i had many more months of oil and tires ahead of me, but he was talking today about a new hire he had lined up, and how that guy would end up taking my place, and letting me move up to like a lower B-tech, saying "ive already more than served my time at the bottom"

is it normal to advance this fast? getting insane imposter syndrome rn, doesnt feel like im worthy. like i know alot, especially compared to when i started, but for me to alr be at a b tech sounds absurd being said out loud

the big one. theres one near me selling, and guy is saying the listing isn't getting much traffic, so while I dont have the cash on hand, he says the cars prolly mine if I want it. runs and drives, but is also a 41 yro car, so Def gonna need some touching up, really just excited to see what happens. has the 2.8l v6 with the 4 speed manual, wondering what I should be prepared for coming into this? has the common issues like headlight motors not working, but it idles good, moves without and grinds or chunks or anything too crazy, only has 108k miles

v6 auto, 135k miles. bought it at 128k, and had a slight rear main seal leak, and that was literslly it, rest of the engine was bone dry. ~1500 miles after oil change, check oil level on a whim, and its lost a quart. top it off, and send it on its way. check today, only a week after topping off, and its down about 1/4th of an inch from the full line, ~300-500 miles later?

mind you, from buying the car to right now, it hadn't lost a drop of oil. would check the stick semi-regularly when I first bought it, and like a month or 2 after, and still, no movement. checked the drain plug and the filter, both on very snug, I dont know what could've caused the sudden major increase in oil consumption

i have owned 3, count it, three of these fucking things. love em to death, awesome dailys, but a nightmare to resell. bought a junker for $400, sold for $300, lets not even waste time on that. bought an auto v6 with 128k miles for $4k, now really wanting a manual, and it feels like youre not getting out for any more than half of what you paid for it. had an auto GT i bought for 4k, selling to my homie for peanuts, as the real condition of the car wasnt greatly portrayed at purchase.

why god, why god, do i have to suffer?

right now, i am 18, and simply looking to get into a v8, manual, low to moderate mile challenger. that is my criteria. salvaged title doesnt bother me, year and body style doesnt bother me, wide or normal body doesnt bother me. this will jsut be a fun, mindless daily for me thru my 20s, y know. right now, i see nearby for challengers is a clean title either 09 or 11 challenger, 114k miles, going for 9.7k, and i see another 2016, clean title, 96k miles, 12.9k. wondering how fair both of these sound on paper. the first one also says hes basically fully rebuilt the front suspension, and the 2016 one says the clutch has been replaced (so we can assume driven haaaaaard already lmao)

i wont be able to afford even these for another few months, so ill probably be stuck with my v6 mustang daily for a while longer