Ah yes, I remember it well. The summer of '83. That's when I stopped doing anything for anyone else at all.

A "friend" had a Silverado truck with a 350 and wanted a 454 in it. He had no room at his place and no tools, so asked if I would help him. Sharon pitched in and found an ad in one of the local papers where a guy had a 454 in his truck and wanted a 350. We parked my friend's truck in front of my garage where it stayed for the next 6 months while my friend took a little out of his paycheck each payday to buy parts. We stripped the 454 and went back together with all nice pieces.

Long story short. By the time it backed out of my property on its own power, I had about 600 hours in it. That included running for parts myself in my vehicle.

He called about 2 weeks later and said he and his wife wanted to take Sharon and I out for a steak dinner. I said great!! We ate, talked and laughed. When the waitress brought the bill, he started figuring his half and my half for the dinner. Words cannot describe the feeling that came over me. Suffice to say it all ended badly and we haven't spoken since.

One good thing came out of it though. I've saved a lot of time and grief by refusing to help anyone else do anything at all. And I ask no help from anyone. When I need work done on electrical or whatever, I get in the Yellow Pages and find someone.