On 3/1/11 11:41 AM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Tue, 1 Mar 2011 08:52:06 -0500, I_am_Tosk
wrote:

I was chasing a thread on the intake and in a hurry. After I ran a bolt
through I somehow dropped it into the intake

That's too bad, no doubt an expensive lesson there someplace.

I hear stories about how the top notch racing team mechanics keep
their work area scrupulously clean and well organized. We have
several acquaintances that used to manage their own teams. Both of
them claim to have had their engines torn down after every race,
replaced critical components and inspected everything. I've also
known several mechanics who work with a partner, someone who acts as a
second pair of eyes and hands.



Way back when, there was a boat dealer in New Haven, I don't remember
the name of his business, but the dealer's name was Art Vreeland. His
store was near the lighthouse in New Haven.

Anyway, Art, a delightful guy and a friend of my dad's, was a first-rate
mechanic, or so everyone said. I was too young to know. He sold Mercury
outboards and Lyman runabouts. His shop was an absolute disaster. Every
square inch of workbench space was covered with pieces, parts, tools,
empty sodapop bottles, cigar butts, you name it, it was there. Yet, I
remember my father saying that "Art could strip down one of those junky
Mercs and rebuild it faster than anyone." At the time, my father was an
Evinrude dealer and had a low opinion of Merc outboards. A decade later,
he became a Merc dealer.

I'll always remember my visits to Art's dealership. Art himself was a
pretty colorful character, as were most of the dealers I met who got
into the biz right after WW II.