Your friendly neighborhood parts store!

Couldn't you have made things 100% easier by saying you needed a clutch and a pp for a 1990 Mustang 5.0? Instead you wanted to make yourself the parts store hero and stump him. You coulda saved yourself some time and frustration if you just said that to begin with.

-Matt

 

Yeah, the research thing was my error. I'll take those lumps. I'm still learning though.

 

In all sincerity...

Thank you, Matt!

I can stop biting my tongue so hard now!

 

That is what I meant by "was like pulling teeth" in my post about the SBC gasket set.

 

I get by with having a good friend that manages a parts store. He see's me and just asks what I'm working on with a big grin. Generally he lets me search with the counter computer. He is one of the good ones.

That being said, I have had many run ins with the local cookie cutter parts guys. I am certain that they think I am an ass, I am certain that I think that they are idiots. I guess we have an understanding.

 

i go to auto part stores for newer vehicles made in the 90's and they have the wrong parts listed under the bar code stuff. when i go in to ask for parts, i get asked what car is it going on? i laugh and tell them, 55 chevy. then i usually tell them what year car the part i'm looking for. sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't

 

after all these posts and threads about auto parts countermen, it still amazes me that the majority of so-called hotrodders think that countermen HAVE to be as passionate about their ride as they are. Why should they be? It's just a car to them, and not even their car, so they offer service, but don't have to be servile. When I worked the parts counter for a family run small auto parts store back in my youth, I'd have these assholes come in asking for that 'one size fits all' sbc waterpump. After getting the puffed out chest "it's in a 46 ford" answer to my question about the year, I usually told them they might have better luck at the ford dealership, since what they owned was clearly some experimental/basterdised creation formulated in the drunken/drug addled brain of a ford engineer. I told them since it was THEIR car, maybe THEY should do a little more research then come back and see me.
And with that, the conversation was over, another customer was waited on, or the phone was answered.

 

back in the day there was one generator that fit most of a product line, same with brakes, cap/rotor/wires/points etc so it was a lot easier to be a parts guy and for you to get your parts.

nowdays each model of a product line has nothing in common with its counterparts. for example there are 1000s of alternators.

So all you guys that like to play stump the chump with your local parts folks should really just give the information needed as there is no way a parts person these days can have everything memorized to fit your needs and feed your ego.

 

I'm not looking for passion, certainly not what I intended by the thread. I was just ranting about the blind leading the blind. I get your point though, a lot of people ( I'm thinking fast food for some reason) are content standing there rolling their eyes and giving service. I am a fan of knowledgeable service. That is why I go to parts stores. If we were to go in knowing all there is to know, whats stops it from becoming Wal-Mart and the need for parts people ( service givers) to be obsolete. I need knowledge when I go looking for parts, simply because I don't know it all. And somehow it's my fault for expecting the person working there to be more familiar with his job than me? Dang it Man, does this sound Bass Ackwards to anybody else?

 

You have no idea how automotive catalogs work, yet you get mad when you don't get what you want.

Pay attention, learn how the system works. It's not that difficult.

 

Something dumb, there are three different alternators for GM trucks from '87 to '95. For some reason '92 is one year only. The differences between the 91-back and the 93-up? Case is clocked 1/3 turn different, so the rear bolt hole doesn't line up, and a couple of the bolts go to metric, at least the heads do. Something else you'd think would be all the same, isn't - and what uses which one varies a little with the application. I made the newer one work on the older truck, but it does go to show that even something that simple they are not all the same. I didn't even re-clock the case, I don't have the torx socket to take the bolts out.

 

Nope. You are obviously wrong, because we ALL know that ALL Chevy parts are ALL the same. Sheesh, get it right. Duh.

 

remember when I worked in parts in college , ( 20 + years ago , ) the ford ignitor modules , had to know the color of the box end, and sometimes the make and build date of the car( down to the shift ) to make sure you go the right one , you don't know how many times I got the evil eye on that as they though t I was pulling the old VW beetle water pump joke . so I used to keep a book under the counter marked to the page to show them I wasn't a smart ass . after a while ford parts were call "fix or re design" they changed so often in model years .

 

The late model jeep brake pads and calipers are two different designs for the same model year depending on where the vehicle was assembled. You got a 50/50 chance on those unless the customer brings in the old ones. When I deliver to a commercial customer sometimes I take both designs to them and return the ones not needed. When you tell a DIY customer there are two designs and ask them which one they need they look at you like a deer looking in headlights. Most times they leave and tell us they are going to have their mechanic do the job only to see them go across the street to the A-Zone where most likely they will sell them the wrong parts and then bring them back complaining about how the Parts Counter Man at the parts stores today don't know anything about what their selling.

 

I walked into a local parts store and told the kids I needed a PH8A oil filter, the first thing he asked was "What kind of car is it"?..........I guess the part number is not enough some times.....

 

I just found my parts store this morning! I'll eat crow on this, but I found a older gentleman that new his stuff, and he guided me in right direction. I got knowledge and service. WIN/WIN. I'll be shopping here from now on.

 

The times they are a changing my friends. Everyone needs to realize we are in a different era. 95% of the employees at Autozone don`t know what a set of points are.
If you drive old stuff you just need to accept that you can`t walk into a parts store and expect the pimple faced kid behind the counter to know what year / make / model to key into his computer to find the short-style water pump for your small block Chevy.

 

It's always great if you can find that guy who is passionate and knows his stuff. But, he's going to have days off, and sometimes you may not be able to get to him.

When we modify our cars from stock form, WE are the ones going off of the page. We make our cars something different than what the factory did. It is OUR responsibility to have the information that we need to give to get the parts we need.

I've been on both sides of the counter,m and I can tell you that 49Ratfink is right about there being a lot more stupid customers than stupid countermen.

We can drone on and on about what we think a counterman should or shouldn't know, or how big company auto parts stores have messed up that great feel of the mom and pop parts store (which WAS better- I agree). There are a LOT of threads on here already doing it.

In the end, what matters is getting the parts you need to fix your car. In today's auto parts world, that means knowing more than you used to have to know. Does it suck? Yeah, probably. But, it's still the fastest way to getting back on the road.

 

Always write down your own part numbers

 

Well said... and Great Avatar.

 

When I've sold a car,I make sure I always give a list of part numbers so that it'll simplify the next guys life.

 

This is the winning post. Why someone would walk into a business knowing they have a special need or condition to fulfill and act stupid is beyond me. I used to have an old friend that told me more than once "I can't look at your backside and read your mind". If you change soemthing from stock, you have the responsibility to know your need. I keep a database on everything I own, even off topic cars so I can look up the information to assist the counter help and to jog my memory if this was a "lifetime warranty part". I input the date I purchased it also in case I lose the receipt. More than once this has helped the parts guy find in the computer where I bought the part and give me a new one.

 

Okay I went to work today at Advance Auto Parts and brought up this shock senario with our Commercial Parts Pro. He told me we do this on some big ticket components with warranties but not shocks. Some other chains do this and the reason is simple.

Warranty and customers scamming the warranties. Take the 5836 shock. Comes on millions of GM cars. We need to tag a vehicle to the customer for the warranty. That way when this customer's 6 buddies takes their old shocks off and brings them in to get "free" ones on warranty they are for the same car and customer of original purchase not the other car that they are trying to scam new shocks for. It's called keeping the shrink down.

I know it is hard to believe but there are people in the world we live in today (surely not here on the HAMB) that would do such things. The shame is we ALL suffer for the inconvienence from the idiot scammlng customers including the parts counterman just doing his job.

 

worked in parts for over 10 yrs. from sweeping floors to managing the store. it really goes both ways. You need to help the person look up a part for something old or not stock. I always look it up myself or use a vehicle that the part came in. Most modern parts stores have maybe one person (if they are lucky) who is really good at looking up parts that just don't come up on a computer screen.

 

Make a list of the part numbers you use during the build, and keep the receipts. Put it in a binder with all the instruction sheets for the gizmos / kits you purchase and any notes you made DURING construction. And copies of your build pix, too. Then the hardest thing you'd have to do at NAPA is cross reference part numbers you have in hand taken from your build book.

And if you happen to sell your vehicle, give all that stuff to the new owner. If you think you are having a hard time getting tune-up parts, imagine how hard it would be for a new owner. And if you buy a built / used car from a hot rod shop or private seller, don't sign the check until you have all that stuff in hand. Imagine how crazy you'd get at the parts counter if you had NO idea what the donor cars or mfg were? Gary

 

Thanks for the compliment on the avatar. The gun is a WWII issue .45, so it's HAMB-friendly, too