Many thanks to Mike and John Lis

[Quick Toy]

Special thanks to Mike Lis and his brother John for helping me out.
Towards the end of Buick Day at St Thomas Dragway, my serpentine belt started howling. I couldn't figure it out??? (Belt is pretty new) Packed it in and started the cruise home. Along the way we stopped for some food, and while we were in the parking lot, John noticed a slight metallic ticking noise coming from my engine bay. I couldn't isolate the problem noise but "Eagle eyed" John spotted it. (My engine compartment is pretty tight up front, so it is hard to see things.) My power steering pump had pulled the top bolt out of the bracket and was just hanging on the bottom bolt on an angle. The top bolt was dinging off the pump pulley making the noise. I was so lucky that, A) The bolt didn’t get snagged in the pulley and shred everything to hell at 100+ MPH. B) The bottom bolt didn’t let go and sent the pump into the intercooler.

The story continues...
After doing some roadside mechanics, I pulled the pump off and saw that the bolts were slightly stripped and the holes in the aluminum bracket were stripped as well.:frown: The plan was to go into the nearest town to a Canadian tire, Home Hardware or any auto place and get a couple of longer bolts. (The stripped bolt holes in the bracket were only stripped part way in)

We get to town and everything is locked up tight ??? (Small town Saturday night... they turn the power after 7.00 pm ) We spend 45 min cruising looking for somewhere that is open, and finally fine a Wal-Mart. The new plan is to get some 5-min JB weld and bolts and do a temp fix to get me home. ~!@#. No JB weld… No bolts. We end up getting some Eyebolts, a cheap hacksaw and epoxy. It gets better… We travel back and John starts working on the bolts with the hacksaw and vice grips and notices that the bolts are no longer that the ones we are replacing ~!#$%. I will not drag this out with the details about double nutting and hand filing, but I must say that John is a human milling machine
We manage to rig up a fix with the epoxy and modified eyebolts. It is now around 10.30 pm and we are waiting for the epoxy to set. I find out that John has been up for 25 hours straight !!! and Mike can barely walk. (Messed up his leg some how and it is starting to hurt a lot) It has been a very long day for all of us. After a coffee it is back to the car and test time. Yippee, all looks well and we are off… Slowly. Mike is gracious to follow me back making sure that I make it ok. Mickey mouse or not it got me home.

This brings me to a point that I would like to make. After hearing some bitching at the track about a couple of sour deals amongst the local Buick community, I would like to say that efforts like this made by relative strangers, far outweigh the few negative ones. Two people that I really don’t know very well gave me six hours of their time and patience out of the goodness of their hearts. I would have been screwed out in the middle of nowhere with out them.

MANY THANKS MIKE and JOHN.
Going fast with class.

Paul
72 Toyota Celica with a 87 TR drive train

[motorhead]

Paul,
Thanks for the kind words and the rewrite of the epilogue of last night...

1) You are more than welcome. Anytime.
2) I know my fingers couldn't have hacked telling the tale.
3) It was fun watching John negotiating the rollbar getting into the back seat.
4) Collectively I think we reached genius status last night.
5) It was a good day, and an even better story and memory.

Take care and be good to each other,

------------------
Michael Lis

87 Vortec SS -- 12.7 @ 110 w/ 1.9 60' (this car runs 12s on 87 octane)
A Vortec head'd 350, built 200-4R, & 8.5" w/ 4.56s.

87 Turbo T-- No track times, yet!
MODS: Jay Carter 94 & 110 Chips; Ford Blue Tops; 9" K&N; ATR In-Tank Double Pumper (GSS 242s); Adj FPR; VDO Gauges (Turbo, Water Temp, & Oil Pressure; CC 980 Springs; RJC Power Plate; HRpartsNStuff DS Motor Mount; Speed Pro Timing Chain; Roller Cam Button; Sealed Power Oil Pump HV & Booster Plate Kits; Ported Front Cover; 160* 'Stat; MSD 8.5s; Fel Pro Gaskets Galore; Ported Stock Turbo; Adj WG Rod; Built 200-4R w/ Non-Lock-Up (yuck!); SSM Lowers; Adj Uppers; ATR Rear Sway Bar; 3” 3-Way Cat; ‘Glass Front Bumper & Aluminum Bumper Shocks; Aluminum Brake Drums; 12" 1LE Brakes & GW Del-A-Lums; 2.5" Hooker Exhaust; Mease 3" S/S DP & 3" MAF Pipe; LT1 Mini-Starter; Valve Cover Breathers; TurboLink v2.13 (v3.0 update coming); 6-pt Roll Bar; A Few Dents & Some Rust...
MODS to be installed: HRpartsNStuff Rear LCA Boxing Plates; HKS Type 1 Turbo Timer; GNX Fender Flares & Vents...
MODS in the works: Mono-Ball Bushings; MOOG 5664s; & Anything to make it handle better...[url]
See the cars here:
http://geocities.com/CanadianSkunkWorks/index.html

I am full of something... and it is not just opinions.