Well... like all family, disagreements happen. As I was working with the body shop to secure the painted bumper, I checked in with the mechanic to see about the progress on the list. It's been two weeks, after all, rt? Well, I found Thursday that they'd not yet picked up the new exhaust tip. Not a huge deal- I just picked it up for them on the way to the body shop to get the newly painted bumper. The bumper looked AWESOME when I picked it up, but it's always difficult to know how it will look on the car.

Friday as I was arranging pick up, my friend told me that they'd forgotten to do the freakin transmission service. Two reasons this irked me a bit:

When I checked on the car last week, I received a stern communication that everything was screwed up and I needed to act like a real customer with a real repair order- not the brother-like fashion I'd done via text message. Fine. I wasn't in town, so I sent an email with the list above.

The transmission service was the MAIN REASON they had the car. All of the other stuff was just ornamental. While they had the car for it, I figured they could remove the bumper, do the tips, and all of the other fluids. Easy Peasy. That they 'forgot' the main reason I left it there after I followed his request for a formal RO caught me a bit sideways.

But, in true brotherly fashion, I offered him a fairly well deserved taste of sh!t sandwich via text and we moved on. He'll take the car back on Monday to service the transmission before the holiday. Family is family after all.

So, what was done and how much? Welll....

Bumper R/R and exhaust tip R/R
Fuel Filter
Dif and transfer case fluids
SS brake lines and fluid
R/R Lft Tie Rod. Alignment.
Wipers, charcoal filters (though I expressly wrote asking NOT to do this)
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Total $1350.

Not so bad. The bumper looks EVEN better when ON the car! The paint match is spot on. I prefer getting work like this done on parts when they are off the car and to keep the car out of the body shop. It cuts down on over spray and rail dust from the shop. In this case, the car was never even near the shop. I do sublet work for the body shop guy (also a long time friend) so the work didn't cost me any *real* money. It looks SO nice. I'm very happy.

As above, I return Monday for the transmission and coolant service. This will be the first service- not a full flush and fill- just a drain and fill with filter. To cycle the fluid from the TQ converter, the next fluid change will be at 30K miles. Then a filter and fluid at 35K miles. Then we're in till 85K or so.

Here's hoping that keeping this low mileage find in tip top shape will prevent any *major* service items. This will be a nice test to see what old school maintenance does to a fairly fresh 8 year old car. Will the practice stand the test of time and wear? Stay tuned!

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