Mike
Well-Known Member
You know, there is a real disturbing trend going on and it is one that is not going to end well for you. Or for any of the rest of us, for that matter.
When you need a new camshaft, a new set of cylinder heads, or a new set of pistons, where do you go to purchase those parts? Are you supporting your local speed shop with your dollars, or are you trying to save 67¢ by purchasing parts from the whiz-bang, mail-order houses?
Ooops, that pointed a finger straight at you, didn't it?
Here is a typical scenario, one I went through gajillions of times.
Tommy Tight-fist just got his tax return from Uncle Sam and he is out to buy a new cam, a new intake and a new carb for his car. Since Tommy doesn't know spit from Shinola about what he wants, he walks into his local speed shop. He burns up 30 - 45 minutes of a counterman's time, getting recommendations on what parts to purchase. As soon as he gets a recommendation, he asks for the counterman to write down the parts and their prices, 'just so he can have the list handy, as soon as he cashes his tax check.'
But we all know that's not why Tommy wanted the list, don't we? The truth is that the parts the counterman recommended all came to 16¢ more than Tommy's tax return, and he was wanting to buy a case of beer, a bag of dope and take his girlfriend to a show out of that tax return, too.
So, Tommy goes home, opens up his wish books, or gets online and starts hunting the very best prices he can find. And he orders everything from ACME Warehouse, who promises to send him a new catalog and a new hat along with his order. Oh, yes, they will also send him two ACME decals to put on the shop refrigerator.
The delivery truck rolls up outside, drops off Tommy's big box of parts and Tommy heads to the garage, to start bolting stuff on.
But Tommy has never learned how to tie his own shoes, let alone work on an engine. So, after he pries on that harmonic balancer for a few minutes, he goes in the house to call that counterman at the local speed shop, to ask how in the world he can get that balancer off. Ahhh, he needs a puller to do the job. So he runs over to Wile E. Coyote's Discount Tools, Bait Shop and Video Store, to buy a puller.
After Tommy gets everything apart and starts putting things back together, he realizes he neglected to get a timing set from ACME, so he calls them back to order one. But by now, Tommy has already bought that case of beer, that bag of dope and has taken his girl out to dinner and a movie. So, instead of getting a quality timing set, Tommy buys the cheapest set ACME can sell him.
When the timing set arrives, Tommy heads back to the shop, but he quickly realizes he has no idea of what those marks on on those gears, so he calls the local speed shop counterman, to ask how to time the cam to the crank. And once he gets the timing set on, he suddenly realizes he doesn't have timing cover gasket and seal. So, Tommy runs down to McShady's Discount Auto Parts, to buy a gasket set.
Suddenly it is time to bolt on the rocker arms and Tommy is wondering why the rocker arms are barely reaching the tops of the valve stems. Back on the phone with the local speed shop and he learns that aftermarket cams will often have a different base circle, which will require different length pushrods. Tommy disconnects and rings up ACME, but the phone salesman at ACME has no clue as to what to do. His catalog says the parts he sold Tommy are supposed to fit Tommy's engine, so everything should be OK.
Tommy realizes this answer isn't going to work, so he rings up the local speed shop and asks them how to determine the correct pushrod length. He realizes determining pushrod length is somewhat akin to learning brain surgery over the phone, so he asks the speed shop if he can just buy 4 sets of different length pushrods. It is 10 minutes to quitting time on Saturday and Tommy is wanting to cruise the local drive-in that night. He explains he wants to get his engine running and he will bring back the pushrod sets he did not need on Monday.
After he gets home from the speed shop, Tommy checks his ACME catalog and sees he can buy pushrods sets from them and save 83¢, so he figures out what length pushrod he needs, calls ACME and returns all 4 sets of pushrods to the local speed shop on Monday morning.
Once the pushrods arrive, Tommy installs them, grabs his rocker arms and realizes he has no idea of how to adjust lifter preload. He calls ACME, but their salesmen are all busy, so guess who he calls? Uh-huh, it's back to the local speed shop, to pick their brains.
Once Tommy gets everything bolted back together, he jumps in to light off his engine and the darn thing keeps backfiring through the carb. He calls ACME and the salesman there explains his catalog shows all of Tommy's parts are made to work in that engine, so Tommy calls the local speed shop. After playing 64 questions, the counterman explains that by lining up the marks on the timing gears, that actually has the #6 cylinder ready to fire, rather than the #1 cylinder. Tommy finally gets the ignition timing squared away and starts the engine.
After a quick cruise around the block, Tommy realizes the motor is a pig and won't take throttle, so he calls ACME. The salesman explains Tommy must have done something wrong, so Tommy rings up, you guessed it, the local speed shop, to ask how to get his carb dialed in to work with the other parts.
See how it works? Tommy wants to use his local speed shop for all of their 'free' technical advice, but he refuses to give that same speed shop a red cent. Their prices are just too high. But their advice is great, amazing and wonderful.
People, when you need aftermarket parts, support your local speed shop. Buy from them, to ensure they will be around for your next project. Yes, buying locally might cost you a little extra, but you will at least have the satisfaction of knowing you are supporting your local economy and helping to keep your community neighbors gainfully employed. Give the local shop all of your parts business and you will likely develop a relationship with that shop that will result in better pricing. But don't insult that shop by spending $2.59 a year and expecting to buy at 30% back.
For those of you who no longer have a local speed shop to support, ask yourselves if maybe, just maybe you are part of the reason why.
And don't kid yourselves into believing that all parts are the same, no matter who you purchase them from.
A few years back, a very popular and well-known company (who shall remain nameless) was booming in the market with their crankshafts and connecting rods. We were not direct with them, simply because we had never used their product, but suddenly, people were rolling in the door, carrying this particular brand of parts. In every instance, we were having to grind their cranks, because their journals were not round. In every instance, we were having to resize their rods, because both big and small-end bores were egg-shaped.
Sure, that junk looked wonderful in their ads and their prices were incredible. But after adding the expense of grinding a crank, just to get it right, the prices were suddenly not so good. And how many of you take the time to mike a brand-new crankshaft, or to check bore sizing on a brand-new set of rods?
A lot of parts from this same manufacturer were showing up on eBay, at prices too good to be true. We had a lot of customers buy these cranks, which would show up in unmarked boxes. You could pull the crank out of the box and everything would look OK, until we would discover one main journal would be .030" under, whilst the rest were all standard. Someone was buying the screw-ups from said manufacturer, and selling them as new. Of course, that is how the seller was advertising them, so there was no case to be made for false advertising.
Remember, there are two ways to buy oats, and each of those ways has its own pricing. You can buy oats, fresh out of the field, or you can buy oats, fresh out of a horse. Are you sure you're getting the oats you wanted?
Who are you supporting with your discretionary dollars?
When you need a new camshaft, a new set of cylinder heads, or a new set of pistons, where do you go to purchase those parts? Are you supporting your local speed shop with your dollars, or are you trying to save 67¢ by purchasing parts from the whiz-bang, mail-order houses?
Ooops, that pointed a finger straight at you, didn't it?
Here is a typical scenario, one I went through gajillions of times.
Tommy Tight-fist just got his tax return from Uncle Sam and he is out to buy a new cam, a new intake and a new carb for his car. Since Tommy doesn't know spit from Shinola about what he wants, he walks into his local speed shop. He burns up 30 - 45 minutes of a counterman's time, getting recommendations on what parts to purchase. As soon as he gets a recommendation, he asks for the counterman to write down the parts and their prices, 'just so he can have the list handy, as soon as he cashes his tax check.'
But we all know that's not why Tommy wanted the list, don't we? The truth is that the parts the counterman recommended all came to 16¢ more than Tommy's tax return, and he was wanting to buy a case of beer, a bag of dope and take his girlfriend to a show out of that tax return, too.
So, Tommy goes home, opens up his wish books, or gets online and starts hunting the very best prices he can find. And he orders everything from ACME Warehouse, who promises to send him a new catalog and a new hat along with his order. Oh, yes, they will also send him two ACME decals to put on the shop refrigerator.
The delivery truck rolls up outside, drops off Tommy's big box of parts and Tommy heads to the garage, to start bolting stuff on.
But Tommy has never learned how to tie his own shoes, let alone work on an engine. So, after he pries on that harmonic balancer for a few minutes, he goes in the house to call that counterman at the local speed shop, to ask how in the world he can get that balancer off. Ahhh, he needs a puller to do the job. So he runs over to Wile E. Coyote's Discount Tools, Bait Shop and Video Store, to buy a puller.
After Tommy gets everything apart and starts putting things back together, he realizes he neglected to get a timing set from ACME, so he calls them back to order one. But by now, Tommy has already bought that case of beer, that bag of dope and has taken his girl out to dinner and a movie. So, instead of getting a quality timing set, Tommy buys the cheapest set ACME can sell him.
When the timing set arrives, Tommy heads back to the shop, but he quickly realizes he has no idea of what those marks on on those gears, so he calls the local speed shop counterman, to ask how to time the cam to the crank. And once he gets the timing set on, he suddenly realizes he doesn't have timing cover gasket and seal. So, Tommy runs down to McShady's Discount Auto Parts, to buy a gasket set.
Suddenly it is time to bolt on the rocker arms and Tommy is wondering why the rocker arms are barely reaching the tops of the valve stems. Back on the phone with the local speed shop and he learns that aftermarket cams will often have a different base circle, which will require different length pushrods. Tommy disconnects and rings up ACME, but the phone salesman at ACME has no clue as to what to do. His catalog says the parts he sold Tommy are supposed to fit Tommy's engine, so everything should be OK.
Tommy realizes this answer isn't going to work, so he rings up the local speed shop and asks them how to determine the correct pushrod length. He realizes determining pushrod length is somewhat akin to learning brain surgery over the phone, so he asks the speed shop if he can just buy 4 sets of different length pushrods. It is 10 minutes to quitting time on Saturday and Tommy is wanting to cruise the local drive-in that night. He explains he wants to get his engine running and he will bring back the pushrod sets he did not need on Monday.
After he gets home from the speed shop, Tommy checks his ACME catalog and sees he can buy pushrods sets from them and save 83¢, so he figures out what length pushrod he needs, calls ACME and returns all 4 sets of pushrods to the local speed shop on Monday morning.
Once the pushrods arrive, Tommy installs them, grabs his rocker arms and realizes he has no idea of how to adjust lifter preload. He calls ACME, but their salesmen are all busy, so guess who he calls? Uh-huh, it's back to the local speed shop, to pick their brains.
Once Tommy gets everything bolted back together, he jumps in to light off his engine and the darn thing keeps backfiring through the carb. He calls ACME and the salesman there explains his catalog shows all of Tommy's parts are made to work in that engine, so Tommy calls the local speed shop. After playing 64 questions, the counterman explains that by lining up the marks on the timing gears, that actually has the #6 cylinder ready to fire, rather than the #1 cylinder. Tommy finally gets the ignition timing squared away and starts the engine.
After a quick cruise around the block, Tommy realizes the motor is a pig and won't take throttle, so he calls ACME. The salesman explains Tommy must have done something wrong, so Tommy rings up, you guessed it, the local speed shop, to ask how to get his carb dialed in to work with the other parts.
See how it works? Tommy wants to use his local speed shop for all of their 'free' technical advice, but he refuses to give that same speed shop a red cent. Their prices are just too high. But their advice is great, amazing and wonderful.
People, when you need aftermarket parts, support your local speed shop. Buy from them, to ensure they will be around for your next project. Yes, buying locally might cost you a little extra, but you will at least have the satisfaction of knowing you are supporting your local economy and helping to keep your community neighbors gainfully employed. Give the local shop all of your parts business and you will likely develop a relationship with that shop that will result in better pricing. But don't insult that shop by spending $2.59 a year and expecting to buy at 30% back.
For those of you who no longer have a local speed shop to support, ask yourselves if maybe, just maybe you are part of the reason why.
And don't kid yourselves into believing that all parts are the same, no matter who you purchase them from.
A few years back, a very popular and well-known company (who shall remain nameless) was booming in the market with their crankshafts and connecting rods. We were not direct with them, simply because we had never used their product, but suddenly, people were rolling in the door, carrying this particular brand of parts. In every instance, we were having to grind their cranks, because their journals were not round. In every instance, we were having to resize their rods, because both big and small-end bores were egg-shaped.
Sure, that junk looked wonderful in their ads and their prices were incredible. But after adding the expense of grinding a crank, just to get it right, the prices were suddenly not so good. And how many of you take the time to mike a brand-new crankshaft, or to check bore sizing on a brand-new set of rods?
A lot of parts from this same manufacturer were showing up on eBay, at prices too good to be true. We had a lot of customers buy these cranks, which would show up in unmarked boxes. You could pull the crank out of the box and everything would look OK, until we would discover one main journal would be .030" under, whilst the rest were all standard. Someone was buying the screw-ups from said manufacturer, and selling them as new. Of course, that is how the seller was advertising them, so there was no case to be made for false advertising.
Remember, there are two ways to buy oats, and each of those ways has its own pricing. You can buy oats, fresh out of the field, or you can buy oats, fresh out of a horse. Are you sure you're getting the oats you wanted?
Who are you supporting with your discretionary dollars?
