Need a mechanic Hudson Valley NY

RallyLanciaWannabe

RallyLanciaWannabe

True Classic
Good Afternoon All, so I just got my Scorpion back yesterday after 9 months sitting at this mechanic in Beekman NY. He did a radiator, 4 calipers a gas tank , a carb tune and master cylinder. 9 months ……….
I drove it for the first time home yesterday and have no brakes and now was going through the gears and……. Have no tranny. Maybe a clutch cable who knows. It goes into gear but doesn’t move.
I am in Dutchess County NY Hudson Valley
Close to Poughkeepsie.
there are great mechanics in Westchester and Long Island but don’t need a $1000 tow bill.
anybody know anyone decent in my area?
Thank you, Anthony
 
Not a clutch cable, as the clutch is hydraulically operated in our cars. If your mechanic replaced the brake master cylinder, I'm guessing he removed the whole pedal box with the clutch master cylinder (both MCs can be difficult to bleed properly). It's likely they just need further bleeding, or there's an issue elsewhere in the hydraulic circuit.

I know how it goes with many classic car mechanics these days and your experience is familiar. Even affordable classic cars have become unaffordable if you can't fix everything that goes wrong yourself. It enough that I'm now looking at more modern cars with modern OBDII diagnostic systems for future weekend toys.
 
RJ80 said:
Not a clutch cable, as the clutch is hydraulically operated in our cars. If your mechanic replaced the brake master cylinder, I'm guessing he removed the whole pedal box with the clutch master cylinder (both MCs can be difficult to bleed properly). It's likely they just need further bleeding, or there's an issue elsewhere in the hydraulic circuit.

I know how it goes with many classic car mechanics these days and your experience is familiar. Even affordable classic cars have become unaffordable if you can't fix everything that goes wrong yourself. It enough that I'm now looking at more modern cars with modern OBDII diagnostic systems for future weekend toys.
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Thank you! I will try to possibly bleed it today
 
I would either, never use that mechanic again. Or have him pay to transport the car back, and fix it for no charge.
 

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Looks like Joe Serra (or, rather his son's?) shop Auto Serra is still possibly around. That's Valhalla NY. Are you anywhere close to Danny O'Donnell?
 
Fiataccompli said:
Looks like Joe Serra (or, rather his son's?) shop Auto Serra is still possibly around. That's Valhalla NY. Are you anywhere close to Danny O'Donnell?
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Last time I saw Joe (~1981), he had moved his shop from Valhalla to Bedford Hills. I used to stop in there when I went back east on business and/or to see family/friends that lived nearby. I remember visiting in Valhalla once and he was working on the first turbo X1/9 I had ever seen. There seemed to be several people with their hands in the engine compartment with a lot of cursing going on. Pretty difficult to control a turbo without any electronics. He was trying to get a "reliable" 140 hp out of the SOHC. He later offered a turbo kit which I thought about but ended up getting a pair of 40DCNFs from him. Had I gone the turbo route, I likely would have blown up my original motor decades earlier.

It would be interesting to know if his son is in the business. He was likely the little kid that was running around there when I used to visit.
 
dllubin said:
Last time I saw Joe (~1981), he had moved his shop from Valhalla to Bedford Hills. I used to stop in there when I went back east on business and/or to see family/friends that lived nearby. I remember visiting in Valhalla once and he was working on the first turbo X1/9 I had ever seen. There seemed to be several people with their hands in the engine compartment with a lot of cursing going on. Pretty difficult to control a turbo without any electronics. He was trying to get a "reliable" 140 hp out of the SOHC. He later offered a turbo kit which I thought about but ended up getting a pair of 40DCNFs from him. Had I gone the turbo route, I likely would have blown up my original motor decades earlier.

It would be interesting to know if his son is in the business. He was likely the little kid that was running around there when I used to visit.
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He was back in Valhalla in the late '90s. I think his son was Anthony & I recall him being into Hondas or something. I didn't live there, just met him at a Fiat event and ended up briefly considering doing some business with him in the following several months. At that time there was a loft in the shop that was a treasure chest of NOS Webers of all sorts, a million small parts that probably graced the Auto Technica catalog pages & plenty of other stuff probably already impaired by age and preserved by stubbornness. Besides all that, I did a quick WWW search & found a zombie looking Web site for the business, but car guys aren't always IT guys so he might be a knowledgeable option.
 
RJ80 said:
Interesting. My car has Joe Serra's cams and exhaust system.
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My car has cam, headers, two 40DCNFs, intake manifold, and air filter from Joe. The cam was actually designed by John Reed of Reed Cams. He did cams for NASCAR winners like Richard Petty and Bobby Allison. Not sure how Joe got hooked up with him but it was the best cam I have had in the car by far. Joe told me he was looking into a deal to procure the cams from Reed and sell them. The one I have has Serra engraved on the end but I never saw them show up in his sales literature.
 
I'm in Nyack, NY. I don't work as a mechanic for a living, and really can't help you in the winter months. Late Spring/Summer/Fall I do occasional work on other ppl's cars - Volvo mostly, but obviously I can work on the Fiat/Lancia platform.

Hopefully you get this resolved promptly, but feel free to reach out in the warmer weather if you need assistance.
 
dllubin said:
He did a great job on mine. Still working fine 43 years later.
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After decades of use, mine required some rebuilding as the main muffler chamber had rotted from the inside out (condensation related, I'm guessing. No fault of the design or craftsmanship.). We replaced that section with a Magnaflow unit and then ceramic coated the whole system from the headers down. I like it so much that my quad-tip ANSA exhaust system is collecting dust in the corner of my garage.
 
RJ80 said:
After decades of use, mine required some rebuilding as the main muffler chamber had rotted from the inside out (condensation related, I'm guessing. No fault of the design or craftsmanship.). We replaced that section with a Magnaflow unit and then ceramic coated the whole system from the headers down. I like it so much that my quad-tip ANSA exhaust system is collecting dust in the corner of my garage.
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My exhaust came with a Corvair turbo muffler. The welds on one of the ports failed and would no longer prevent rotation. I replaced it with a Thrush turbo muffler - basically a copy of the Corvair muffler but a bit lighter.. Under $20 at Pep Boys. The system has been painted a few times. A few years ago when I installed the 1500, I used Rustoleum 2000F paint. It requires curing at 600F and leaves a finish similar to powder coating. Seems to be a bit more durable than other high temperature paint that I have used.

Joe never offered a left exit exhaust so for many years I made do with his right hand exhaust with a cat delete pipe. On the last install I converted it to left hand exit and got rid of quite a bit of length and weight. Now the exhaust makes a left hand turn off the collector right into the muffler. The left side of the muffler has a short exhaust pipe exiting at the stock 74 location.
 
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