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the list of members that deserve mentioning is long but a few that i will mention mild thunder,lil red,bup,sb, mr gadgets,arcticfriends and bob madera..i enjoy the technical stuff and that,s why these guys stand out for me.i will say that i have made a lot of friends on oso and i very rarely miss a chance to log in.
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Mild Thunder, Mike Tkach, SB, Sydwayz, LIL Red just to name a few, very helpful
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Another guy I became great friends with through oso is Mike Tkach. Here's my Mike Tkach story.
Although Mike and I don't live far apart, I had never met him until around 2011. Only saw his oso posts, and a couple mutual friends knew him. A few years back, I was rebuilding my engines. I had found that I had a bad block. Thru a friend, I heard Mike had a shortblock completely built, with 0 hours on it, that was built to exactly what I was intending to build. He had it for another project, that he ended up just not needing it for. I contacted him about buying it, and also said, "Well, I'll buy that one off you Mike, and can you build me a duplicate shortblock, if I bring you my other good existing block to match". He said sure , no problem. So he did. I picked up 2 fresh shortblocks from him, did the rest of the engines myself. Once all was said and done, engines installed in the boat, first time out, I had a problem. Milkshaked the oil, filled crankcase with water, oh $hit. Went home, tore it down, and found the cylinder wall had split. Turned out the machine shop that did the machine work, didn't catch that thin cylinder wall, no fault of Mike's whatsover. At that point, i was freaking out, not towards mike, but just in general. I had spent ALOT of money, and my boat budget was real thin at that point. Here I sat with a busted block, and was about to drag the boat to storage and throw a for sale sign on it. But, here's how Mike handled the situation. He had me bring the boat to his house, helped me pull the engine. We tore it down together. We found another block on craigslist. He picked me up a couple days later, drove me 3 hours away in his truck to go get the block, PAID for lunch, PAID for the block, PAID for the machine work on the new block, COMPLETELY assembled the entire engine from head to toe, and helped me reinstall it at his house. He stood behind what he sold me, and without a doubt, lost quite a bit of money on the deal. He wouldnt take any money from me for any of that. Total downtime from busted block, to back up and running, was less than 2 weeks. He went WAAAY out of his way to make it right. He put his own projects on hold, to make sure I got back on the water asap. Since then, Mike and I have became nothing less than great friends, worked together on lots of projects, lots of dyno sessions, lots of phone conversations and shared a ton of laughs working on stuff together. Heck, just last week he let me come to his house and put my Jeep up on his lift, and use his tools, to change out my struts and shocks. Sometimes its hard to see a guys true colors based on what we read on the forums sometimes. But, Thats the Real Mike Tkach, in the real world. |
Mild Thunder, Mike Tkack, Griff, Sydwayz, LIL Red, Sick Stinger gave me great help when I was a new member. And now I have seen bup,sb, mr gadgets,arcticfriends, bob madera, etc are also huge players in helping the new guys out!
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And can't forget about GLASSDAVE!! ONE OF THE BEST!!
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Originally Posted by MILD THUNDER
(Post 4213676)
Another guy I became great friends with through oso is Mike Tkach. Here's my Mike Tkach story.
Although Mike and I don't live far apart, I had never met him until around 2011. Only saw his oso posts, and a couple mutual friends knew him. A few years back, I was rebuilding my engines. I had found that I had a bad block. Thru a friend, I heard Mike had a shortblock completely built, with 0 hours on it, that was built to exactly what I was intending to build. He had it for another project, that he ended up just not needing it for. I contacted him about buying it, and also said, "Well, I'll buy that one off you Mike, and can you build me a duplicate shortblock, if I bring you my other good existing block to match". He said sure , no problem. So he did. I picked up 2 fresh shortblocks from him, did the rest of the engines myself. Once all was said and done, engines installed in the boat, first time out, I had a problem. Milkshaked the oil, filled crankcase with water, oh $hit. Went home, tore it down, and found the cylinder wall had split. Turned out the machine shop that did the machine work, didn't catch that thin cylinder wall, no fault of Mike's whatsover. At that point, i was freaking out, not towards mike, but just in general. I had spent ALOT of money, and my boat budget was real thin at that point. Here I sat with a busted block, and was about to drag the boat to storage and throw a for sale sign on it. But, here's how Mike handled the situation. He had me bring the boat to his house, helped me pull the engine. We tore it down together. We found another block on craigslist. He picked me up a couple days later, drove me 3 hours away in his truck to go get the block, PAID for lunch, PAID for the block, PAID for the machine work on the new block, COMPLETELY assembled the entire engine from head to toe, and helped me reinstall it at his house. He stood behind what he sold me, and without a doubt, lost quite a bit of money on the deal. He wouldnt take any money from me for any of that. Total downtime from busted block, to back up and running, was less than 2 weeks. He went WAAAY out of his way to make it right. He put his own projects on hold, to make sure I got back on the water asap. Since then, Mike and I have became nothing less than great friends, worked together on lots of projects, lots of dyno sessions, lots of phone conversations and shared a ton of laughs working on stuff together. Heck, just last week he let me come to his house and put my Jeep up on his lift, and use his tools, to change out my struts and shocks. Sometimes its hard to see a guys true colors based on what we read on the forums sometimes. But, Thats the Real Mike Tkach, in the real world. |
That's awesome! Sounds like a real stand up guy!
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Originally Posted by 12meter joe
(Post 4213685)
That's awesome! Sounds like a real stand up guy!
I've been involved with him on a bunch of engine builds thru friends and what not, and he is as honest as they come. Down to the penny. Never a guy you need to worry about pulling one over on you. |
Let's not forget Dave at XT innovations.
This site has top notch technical advice. All the guys mentioned already are real assets to this community. |
The only I see what's wrong with this thread is how not to forget someone....................griff has always been super helpful for me, thanks Griff.
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