Think I'm done buying parts on line

C

clutchdust

Millionaire Playboy
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Not speed parts, Jegs rules.
But replacement parts, I don't think the "savings" are worth it.
Case in point. About a month ago I purchased a couple parts for maintenance on my work truck from an on-line vendor that may or may not be a member of this board. Anyway, one of the parts I ordered was a transmission filter. As soon as I got it, I knew that wasn't the part I intended. But it was only $5 so I figured it's not worth the hassle. But today, I finally get around to doing the water pump on my truck. Obviously a water pump is a decent job. Not earth shattering but a good afternoon job. So I get the fan pulled off, the belt pulled off, the shroud pulled off, etc, etc. Then I start to look and it just doesn't seem right. Sure enough, I pull the pump and the old one has a much larger diameter shaft and a pressed on water pump pulley. The replacement from the store I'm not going to mention has a conventional flange. I was highly skeptical before I pulled it off but I figured it's possible that the old pulley bolted on to the new flange somehow. How wrong I was.
The thing is, listed on the site it doesn't really say with or without pulley. What it does say is "with pull-a-head" design and without. Now what good does that do? Any of you here hear of "pull-a-head" design? I sure as hell haven't. Just would have been nice going in to know the difference.
Oh, and the other reason I figured I would pull it is I would just go get the correct one at the parts house down the road. Big difference. The wrong one only cost me $40. The correct one is north of $100. So now I have no new water pump to put on and a brand new boat anchor I paid $40 for. It will probably cost me close to that to send the thing back. Son of a bitch!
 
I think rockauto.com is a vettemod friendly sponsor. I've bought heaps of stuff from them for several years, and I once returned a part to them with no problem. They sell OEM and OEM repro stuff. Also, I have a local NAPA dealership that is really helpful. The clerks that work there are older car people, and they are very knowledgeable. (I hope they are not working for minimum wage!)

Oh!! as for not buying parts on line. Almost every thing I buy is on line. Over a five year period I restored my 68 Corvette with on-line purchases. I'm now working on my 70... all on line purchases. For the parts I want, there's no over the counter source, they all have to be on-line.
 
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The auto parts stores, in general, hire keyboard punchers. They don't require that the employee have any automobile knowledge. A guy called my shop the other day asking where he could find u-joints for his '73 'Vette. He said Autozone had no listing for 'Vette u-joints. Of course they do. Go figure.
 
are there two different pumps for the same car or is the pump you got completely wrong ? if it's the wrong part I would think they will pay return shipping.....
 
If I have the lead time, and I'm positive about what I am getting, I get it online. Rock Auto is good, but they do tend to drop ship from multiple places, which drives up shipping.
Jegs and Summit are fantastic resources.
For fast track or iffy part #'s, we have a store here named Top's Auto, and they treat me very fair.
I also find NAPA is the best "chain" type auto source.
Autozone gives me chills anymore, and O'Rileys is just no different. I use them for fluids and wipers only.
 
big2bird said:
Autozone gives me chills anymore, and O'Rileys is just no different. I use them for fluids and wipers only.
Click to expand...

Just look up the part numbers online before you go. The warranties are in their computer (Autozone) so you don't have to keep up with receipts. That's a huge advantage for me.
 
MYBAD79 said:
are there two different pumps for the same car or is the pump you got completely wrong ? if it's the wrong part I would think they will pay return shipping.....
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So far as I know there is only one pump for the engine in my truck. I cannot figure out what the other pump is for. The difference is only the shaft diameter and flange. Otherwise, the casting is identical.

It's just so frustrating. Even though the local stores are more expensive, I don't have to worry about shipping charges, that eats up savings really fast. That, and the delay of the job. Had I bought locally, I could have run to a store here in town and just swapped them out.
 
big2bird said:
If I have the lead time, and I'm positive about what I am getting, I get it online. Rock Auto is good, but they do tend to drop ship from multiple places, which drives up shipping.
Jegs and Summit are fantastic resources.
For fast track or iffy part #'s, we have a store here named Top's Auto, and they treat me very fair.
I also find NAPA is the best "chain" type auto source.
Autozone gives me chills anymore, and O'Rileys is just no different. I use them for fluids and wipers only.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I do. I have had really good sucess with Rock Auto. I had a master cylinder sitting in a box for a year before I got around to swapping. When I opened the box I saw it was the wrong one. Called them and they took it back and sent me the correct one.

Have had really good results with Summit and Jegs and some of the other catalog speed shops.

For local stores I always go to NAPA or Savage. The local Savage store probably looks just like it did in the 50's. The NAPA store lets me go in the back and look for stuff for swaps.

I dump oil at Autozone so I have been buying oil and anti-freeze from them. Now they put sales on oil and filter combined and I only buy Wix filters from NAPA so that's not gonna work anymore. Also, the people that work there don't seem to last for more that a couple of months. The guy that runs the NAPA store has been there for 20 years.
 
NAPA is run by grumpy old men that still don't know anything about working on cars. My Kingston autozone has a nice looking somewhat flirty girl that calls me by name eveytime i go in. She lets me go in back to look at rad hoses etc. Realistically, nobody is going know about old corvettes. Hell, i may be the only C3 expert in MA south of Boston.
 
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turtlevette said:
NAPA is run by grumpy old men that still don't know anything about working on cars.
Click to expand...

The effectiveness of a NAPA store is surely dependent on the people that work there. There's a bunch of old guys working at my local store. They are very helpful and knowledgeable. When I go there, I notice that a lot of the customers are auto repairmen coming to get parts for a job they're working on. The local O'Reilly's and Autozone's are almost useless when it comes to providing help, IMO. Whenever I ask them a question, I get a little tense, since I've come to expect that nothing productive is going to occur.
 
Jegs/Summit always done good by me. I've used Rock with no problems.

My local O'rielly is run by a buch of guys that have been around...even vettes. Couple of them are bikers...they have even given me contacts for vettes. Good guys.

Local NAPA are slow and lazy SOB's. They either have it....or they don't care. I always have to get the correct pn on line b efore going there.

The Advance people are helpful...but you better know what you need cause they only know part numbers in the system. Lost a battery cap...woman takes me to the cores in the back and says take the one you need.
 
I just bought some Moog suspension parts from Express.com--a new to me company-- after a internet search, and I recieved the parts in 2 days. I paid $90 delivered. Online prices were $90 to $135 and the local stores all wanted $160.
I always pay with a credit card or paypal, and if I don't get quick resolution to any problems, I put a hold on the card right away. If the problem was my fault, I expect to pay the return freight. Otherwise, I don't expect to pay anything or wait a extended period if it's their fault.
I always remember that forum sponsors are here to make money, and while I will give them first shot at a order, I don't automatically go with them (I too have been screwed by a couple sponsors).
That being said, there are some very good sponsoring companies here that do provide great service and free info.
Research your part #'s extensively and go for it.
 
Ya, that's why we drive Chevies over here. I'll bet buying Porsches and Mercs is a hell of a lot easier, and cheaper, over there.
 
uhm, no...actually it looks like parts are cheaper over there (remember, at least 20% tax on everything here) The cars are cheaper over there too (about 50% tax on new car + fuzzler tax if you got something worth having...and ......and) Buddy of mine bought a Merc CLS 65 AMG over yonder because it was cheaper than the same cars here, cheaper by 15K that was. Drove it for a couple of years, traded it in and got more than he paid for it all taxes included.
 
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