The Semi-Unofficial Pistol-Forum Car geek, gearhead, hot rodder, and vehicle thread

[RevolverRob]

Have you ever tried to tell the guy at Oreilly's that you need a part for a mazda engine for your Yale forklift? Yeah, fun times

I just tried to explain to two different Ford Parts guys that I needed rubber insulators for Ford Fiesta front struts, "What's the VIN number?"

"Pick one, the struts are going in a Mazda 2."

"Huh? Sir, this is the Ford dealership."

Apparently, those guys didn't get the memo that the Mazda 2 is a slightly re-bodied Ford Fiesta with a Mazda engine.

"Yes, and the parts are going in a Mazda. Now I need 2 of these..." - reads off Ford Part Number.

"I can't look anything up without a VIN."

"Dude, I am staring at the part number right now from parts.ford.com."

"That can't be right, if you need parts for a Mazda."

"Good bye."

I just ordered parts from Japan for the Mazda, strut bumpers and shock bellows from Mazda, they are all marked, "FoMoCo" on them and have Ford part numbers, but apparently I'm the idiot...

I called three dealerships and finally got the 'old' guy (who is five years older than me) who had gotten the memo and immediately knew what to look for and order. I spent 40 minutes on the phone to order two pieces of rubber for 14 bucks...

My wife was just laughing at me, because I kept rolling my eyes and getting exasperated, but rather than try to explain it, I knew better, just hang up and call the next guy. Eventually you'll find the guy who isn't an idiot. You just may have to call four or five stores. Put another way, rather than fight with the guy at the nearest Ford dealership, I ended up going to the one that is 15-miles away, instead of the one that is 2-miles away or the one that is 4-miles away. Next time I know to call that dealership and ask for 'Mike'.

[0ddl0t]

I used to order all my Toyota parts from a dealership 2,000 miles away in Houston because they sold at a discount big enough to cover shipping and the parts guy there was amazing and knew the part numbers for 2jzgte flywheel bolts, 7m headgasket, sw20 camber bolts, Tundra disc brake backing plate, etc all off the top of his head. And if you didn't know whether your donor engine was from 1995 or 1996, he could describe how the shape of some part changed so you knew you were getting the correct part the first time.

[JRB]

RR - imagine having to do that same shit for 30 different components per car and you're doing super weird shit with all of them that the parts guys can't and won't understand. And you have 17 cars torn apart and 7 lifts and 8 techs you're trying to keep busy but all are waiting on parts of some kind.
That's what parts chasing was like as the Shop Foreman of a busy performance shop.
Best practice? Don't ever call people unless you know that 'Mike' at a given place, and order stuff online. If there's worry between two sets of $14 bushings, you buy both sets and return the set that doesn't work, because absorbing $10 in shipping is a lot cheaper than having a $15,000 customer's car hogging lift space while waiting on a set of $14 bushings.

I used to order all my Toyota parts from a dealership 2,000 miles away in Houston because they sold at a discount big enough to cover shipping and the parts guy there was amazing and knew the part numbers for 2jzgte flywheel bolts, 7m headgasket, sw20 camber bolts, Tundra disc brake backing plate, etc all off the top of his head. And if you didn't know whether your donor engine was from 1995 or 1996, he could describe how the shape of some part changed so you knew you were getting the correct part the first time.

Jeff W. at Champion Toyota? Good dude. Him and Curt A. at Elmhurst Toyota were priceless to go-fast Toyota dorks the world over, for precisely the reasons you state.

[RevolverRob]

I forgot to mention that yesterday we bought my mother a new car. She very happily test drove and quickly fell in love with a 2019 Mazda CX-5. Very nice driving car overall, has some good features. She watches my two nephews a few times a week. One of the things I really love is that the rear doors open almost a full 90-degrees to make it easier for the boys to get in/out of the car. Mazda was running an incentive on the '19 MY cars $2000 customer cash back and we got her a Mazda Loyalty incentive too which covered the cost of an extended 8-year/125k mile warranty. Since my mother drives <100 miles a week, that should be good.

[0ddl0t]

Jeff W. at Champion Toyota? Good dude. Him and Curt A. at Elmhurst Toyota were priceless to go-fast Toyota dorks the world over, for precisely the reasons you state.

Yep, both offered the "soggy discount" (Supra Owners Group International), but I was so happy with Jeff that I never bothered to try Curt.

I don't remember knowing any big Toyota heads from Albuquerque back then, but there was a sharp fella out of Farmington playing with E85 in a mk3 before most of us knew what it was.

I forgot to mention that yesterday we bought my mother a new car. She very happily test drove and quickly fell in love with a 2019 Mazda CX-5. Very nice driving car overall, has some good features.

My parents had a 2015 cx5 they loved until totaled by a utility truck. They walked away without a scratch and into a 2019 cx9. But the CX-5 was the first non Toyota they bought since 1982.

Their only complaint is that a windshield replacement costs ~$2,000 & requires a dealership visit if you have the anti collision stuff, so definitely don't let chips linger...

[JRB]

Yep, both offered the "soggy discount" (Supra Owners Group International), but I was so happy with Jeff that I never bothered to try Curt.

I don't remember knowing any big Toyota heads from Albuquerque back then, but there was a sharp fella out of Farmington playing with E85 in a mk3 before most of us knew what it was...

I've been pretty active in the MK3 world in ABQ since 1999 or so, I had a silver '87T making around 400whp on the 7M, and I got my MK4 in 2006 but I bought it as a roller and it turned into a garage monument project for a terribly long time. Somehow there was always other stuff to do than work on my car, which in retrospect was a problem with how I prioritized work, then everyone else's issues, then my grown-up responsibilities, and my own projects taking a distant fourth place in priority.
I've got a few other MK3's sitting around being MK3's, and the MK4 is totaled but maybe repairable, so I bought a Z32 TT to pass the time until I decide what to do. The MK4 market went absolutely bonkers over the last few years, and as much as I'm a 100% committed Supra guy, I can't see spending C6 Z06 money on an NA Auto MK4.

I was on the SOGI list back in the day, but my participation there fell off in the early 00's as I got into SF instead.
I'm still a super mod on SF, though VerticalScope has absolutely ruined the site and the content. Crazy how long it has been, though.

[0ddl0t]

I had a couple of 300-450whp mk3s, then a SC400, and then a ratty 600whp NA-T mk4. But I soon grew tired of fixing the cheap chinese turbo kit shortcomings and constantly fiddling with the finicky standalone EMS and meth injection. Plus I was getting bored of the whole Supra "3 honks from a roll" 1 dimensional performance aspect. So I transitioned into a much more fun 91 octane-only 375whp 7mgte mk2. Unfortunately I bought it out of town at night after work without thoroughly inspecting it and later discovered the previous owner had basically bondo'd over rust and repainted it. When a track day on DOT slicks shoved the rear crossmember through rusted sheetmetal I decided the chassis wasn't worth saving and parted it out, moving on to adulting in a prius (which lead to a brief flirtation with hypermiling).

I still look back fondly on the 1990s SOGI & MR2oc lists - the intelligence & signal/noise ratio seemed so much better than the later forums. Part of that was probably the influx of idiots after the fast & furious came out. Seeing "no one likes the tuna here" or "darude sandstorm" over and over got old fast.

[hufnagel]

Because who here doesn't wish this existed when we were younger? The whole Genius Garage idea, that is.

[Bucky]

I though I knew cars, but some of these posts with more acronyms than words has my head spinning. Reminds me of my early days in the IT Information Technology world.

[hufnagel]

Ford cam phasers are satan's tongue.
And their water pump placement is his butthole.