I need the thingy in the front of the engine.


what king of car do you have?



I dont know, it's blue!




I had this conversation about 15 years ago with a person who had no clue what they were doing.


grrrrrrrrr


Ed

 

i wonder if this was the same idiot we had at napa with the toyoda??

 

Yea Tom.


same one I'm sure.


I forgotten more crap then some people can remember. blue car. pleaze


dam, did that make any sense?


man thank god its Friday. I need to go home.

 

Here's a different perspective on things. Before I decided I wanted to fix airplanes, I used to work at one of the local parts stores, I'm one of those young guys that seem to make most of you cringe when were seen standing behind the counter. You have to realize that were young and might not necessarily know every part # for every vehicle out there ever, but there are a few of us who have been picking up things here and there since we first got the chance.

In a way were bound to using that damn computer system, there are very few companies that still send out new catalogs anymore, and the system isn't all that detailed. Some of us will do our absolute best to help you using what we've got but sometimes were over matched. Some of us get flustered (it's happened to me) and that's when you end up with wrong part.

I'm not saying this is everybody, but most of the guys who come in looking for parts have this pre-conceived notion that were all dumb***** and act like jerks to us, that wont help you get the right part. So basically what I'm saying is, try to give us young guys at the counter a chance, help us out if you can and realize that some of us do the best we can and are there to learn. You were young once to and didn't know what you know today. Sorry for the long post.

 

I always love going to get parts for my race car. It runs a chevy crate engine. It's awesome to go in and ask for a part for a chevy 350 (90% of the parts for which are universal for every 350 every made), and have them ask what year, make and model. The blank stare you get when you say 1994 CJ Rayburn, swingarm chassis, is awesome. One guy thought it was some kind of jeep. And another tried to look it up in the computer for about 5 minutes before I stopped him.

Now on the other hand, the other day I needed a new starter for said race car. Brought the old one in to the local napa and put it on the counter. The guy took one look at it, rattled off a part number from memory and went in the back and grabbed it. That's the kind of service I'm looking for from a parts house.

 

5884752654364








haha, I think its funny when the guy in front of me in line at the parts stores says that.

 

See, this kind of thing is a 2-edged sword. Sometimes parts counter folks SHOULD know stuff off the top of their head, sometimes they shouldn't.

SHOULD:

chevy/ford/chrysler small block/big block starter, oil filter, tune up parts (plugs, wires, cap, etc...)

SHOULDN'T:

trunk weather stripping for a 1950's Nash.....

translation: COMMON parts should probably be memorized, and probably ARE if they're seen enough; the uncommon ones should be uncommon enough to have to go to the paper catalogs; if not, be able to tell the customer "we don't have it, but Joe's Parts across town might."

(And on the common ones, one should start to worry if they're not memorized within the first week.... One should probably check the counter-person for a pulse... )

-blaine

 

How many different types of points, condensers, rotors, and dizzy caps did Ford use from 1957 thru 1979?

DOZENS!

I'd like to see a person memorize all those part numbers within a week.

COMB-6443720-C is the trunk weatherstrip that fits 1960/64 Ford Galaxies and full sized Merc's, 1965/70 Mustangs.

It also will work on 1951/56 Packards, 1952/57 Nashes, 1955/57 Hudsons and prolly other 50's cars.

It came in a length of 142" and had to be cut down to fit Mustangs, but it was a near perfect fit for those non Fords.

btw: Even tho retired for 12 years, I can still walk around just about EVERY Ford car/truck made from 1957 thru 1996, and reel off the complete FoMoCo part numbers for all the body parts, most of the chassis parts.

 

To be fair it is not just auto parts stores,I have been dealing with parts counter people from lawnmowers to boats since I was about 11yrs old and they are all the same some just better then others. I learned young to provide year,model and ser # with whatever I was working on and I would still get the wrong parts and of coarse it was my falt because I must have gave them the wrong model or year, you know a dumb kid. The one that always sticks in my head is when I would go to my local Kawasaki motorcycle dealer and order parts for my 1977 kd125 and no matter what it was that I would order it would be wrong when it came in and of coarse the lady at the parts counter( the owners wife ) would say I ordered parts for a 1977 KE100 and always try to put the blame on me,well I carried the ID card that came with the bike and showed it to the owner oneday when things where getting heated( she wanted to charge me for the wrong parts before ordering the new ones) and he showed it to her and still she tryed to say that I gave her one for a 100 well he knew I didn't because he sold me the bike and gave me the paper work with it and told me to bring in this card when I needed parts,you would think after that when I needed parts that she could get it right, NEVER not once when I had to deal with her.They work in every form of customer service when it comes to getting a part having all the model numbers in the world can't save you from stupidity.

 

my problem is the engine is a 77 E350 the body is a 70 F350 crew cab the dizy is an 80s (dura spark 2) and the ignition box is a mopar... so depending on the part i have to give 3 or 4 different cars that i just make up as the guy asks me what it is. every once in a while i get the wrong part so i just go back and say try this year. my starter and spark plug wires are the 2 that i can remember getting home and saying oh crud! and back to the store i go. like my plug wires i said a 1977 well they didnt work (at carquest here they konw a good amount) i went back told the guy why they didnt work he comes back with a different box and says will these work, i say yes he says they are for a 76...

 

And you thought viagra didnt help!

 

Never used the stuff. It's all about having a photographic memory which sometimes...can be a double edged sword.

 

The fact that you can walk into a NAPA and buy a mini spool is awsome!! I would never have believed that.

I go to Advance or O'Reilly for the simple stuff and NAPA for more engaging repair parts.

 

I took a wheel/tire from a 1987 T-Bird into Pepboys to get the tire changed. The car was at my house, hauled the wheel/tire there in the back of my truck. Guy behind the counter wants to argue with me because they "will not" mount and balance the tire unless they can put it back on the car. After a short discussion with the manager, the guy takes my wheel/tire into the shop area, and a scant 2 hours later returns with "my wheel and new tire". Only one small problem, the T-bird wheel is a five lug-15 inch, and the wheel he brought me is a 4 lug-13 inch. The guy insists that this is the wheel that I brought him. Even tho the invoice that he wrote up specifies a different tire size than the one he brought me. Long story short, they changed my tire, and sent it out the door on another T-bird, did who knows what with the wheel they presumably removed from that T-bird, and brought me the wheel and tire for an Escort that one of their guys two bays over was supposed to be changing. Wonder why I have never stepped foot in any Pepboys since??

 

I don't blame you one bit. PepBoys technically owed you a 15", 5 lug rim too, seeing as they sent yours down the road, presumably.

I had issues getting a local Firestone tire/service center to mount Firestone tires on a vehicle for me. Wouldn't do it, because I didn't buy the tires there (bought them off Tire Rack). Needed them badly, as the tires I was running on were horrible and snow was starting to fly - so I told them to pound sand and got Sears to do it. Only bad part of that was that Sears got me for $100 to mount and balance 4 tires...OUCH!