[Vwdiesel] '93 WV EV jumped time update #4

[rOLf peCHUkas]

hey all
sorry if this is getting tedious (I know it is for me)

so not only did they tow me this morning after telling me it would be 
OK to stay on the side of the road, the officer who told me that is now 
claiming he only authorized me being there one night (totally not 
true)(I'm guessing he got dressed down for not knowing the regs and is 
covering his own ass at my expense)
anyway, I'm going to be out another $110. bucks tomorrow morning, and 
although I'll file something with the town, I'll never see those $ 
again
what sucks is that I have AAA+ and could have gotten it out of there 
for free any time if they'd only told me I needed to move it
(think there might be a little small-town connection between PD and 
towing company? never seen THAT before)

to make matters worse, the guy rebuilding my head and who told me it 
would be ready last Tuesday and wouldn't cost more than $250, and who's 
been avoiding my calls ever since, now claims to have $500 in it and he 
can't locate the right intake valve and doesn't know when it'll be done

he's heli-coiled 11 of the inserts, all new lifters, machined the head, 
ordered all new exhaust valves + guides as well as one intake set...
I don't think he doesn't know what he's doing, necessarily, and I don't 
think he's trying to rip me off, entirely
but he didn't call me when he went over his max $$ estimate (by a 
factor of TWO !!), or his time estimate (by a factor of FOUR !!!!) and 
that is behavior that does not fill me with trust

he's giving me the option of returning his parts, paying his labor, and 
just taking my head out of there (@ $250 poorer)
and I *may* be able to get cheaper parts (Steve Schock to the rescue??) 
somewhere
but I am very reluctant to 1) let this guy off the hook just b/c he's 
irresponsible, if not incompetent; and 2) to dump his (questionable?) 
work on another shop and be out even more money and possibly not get it 
done any better

wish I were set up to do my own head;
then I might not feel like I had to get my other head done (the one on 
my neck)

thoughts?

Rolf
Still-In-the-Pound, N Amherst, MA