Tough for me to put a good title on this when I'm still trying to understand it.

A buddy has recently started flipping cars and is finding decent cars and getting them cheap. Only thing is they either need motors or transmissions. Easy enough for him, I do the work for a reasonable amount and everyone is happy. He said the car was sold with a transmission to put into it and it was supposed to need a starter. I had a spare starter to put in.

He had one towed over to me yesterday and I had some plans to go out soon after it arrived. I had a little time and decided to give it a look over to see what was ahead of me. Meaning "is it dirty", "does it look bad under the hood etc". Not much could have prepared me for the initial view.



Called my friend and said "I feel that I should have had a warning before I lifted the hood". He asked what I found, I had to ask if he lifted the hood. He said he thought he had, but didn't remember anything looking odd or out of place. When I sent him that picture, he said "rip that off and burn it". I'm planning on leaving it. The initial shock is over and now it'* just funny.

I move a little further in and .....what'* this, that doesn't look right. Keep in mind this is a 97 with the 4T60e trans, it looks a little different in the front with the vacuum modulator vs the 4T65. It'* a trans though. Odd thing is all the hookups are basically the same 4T60 vs 4T65 with the addition of the one vacuum line on the modulator. Something....looked out of place.



The cable with the red band on it. That'* the positive battery cable. It'* attached to the transmissiion body which..about six inches away is grounded with the negative battery cable. I know why the starter isn't working. Oddly enough the battery was hooked up and not melting itself. Pretty sure this cable wasn't making a connection. Not sure how..let'* call it lucky.

Ok, off I go to check this out before installing the trans. Because if it doesn't need one, that would be nice.

to each his own, or her own maybe. im never surprised anymore about the foolish things i see when people who shouldnt be touching a car work on them.

Right..but the starter doesn't work and the trans is bad. That is what he was told. question is..why was someone taking off the positive battery cable and how in the heck couldn't they remember where it went?

You might have a car with no trans problem, or you might have a car with major problems in addition to the trans. Guess it is always good to never pay much more than scrap value when purchasing a "flip" car that doesn't run.

Positive battery cable connected to the transmission? Wow. Hopefully the sensors aren't all cooked.

Wow, that would have been interesting hooking up the battery.

Somehow..the car had power. I can only assume that the connection was a pretty poor one.

My plan is charge the battery, hook the starter up properly and see what it does. Overall though the car is clean and looks to be in great shape. I was sure Dan would like the positive battery cable...it'* so awesome.

Good thing you didn't throw a boost charger on it to try and start it.

Bill....how did you get your hands on my other car?

that is hilarious