'75 W300 repair/mod project - Ol' Blue

The heads are now at the machine shop, and while I was there we discussed it and settled on taking .020 off each head. With the new cuts, the heads will end up with a total of .040 of material removed from the decks. This is because they were previously milled .020 according to the number stampings found at the edge of the deck surfaces. Good enough for me.

The shop will also be hot tanking the heads afterwards to flush out any machining swarf and sand blast media that might still be hiding inside.
 
The exhaust valves showed up today, ...somewhat. When I opened the box I only found four (4) valves inside. The invoice said there were supposed to be eight (8) valves shipped in this box (not backordered), but the outer shipping box was far too small for that to even be possible. The Rock Auto return/exchange system will have to send the missing valves out to complete the order. It's not too big a deal at the moment since the heads are still at the machine shop.

Honestly I've had pretty good luck ordering from Rock Auto so far. Up until today, the only other issue I've had was with the spark plug wire kit I ordered. It had two coil wires included (11" and 20"), neither of which were long enough (30") to reach the '75 W300's firewall mounted coil. A quick email got a different set of wires sent out to me without any hassle. It's not RA's fault that the contents of the second set of wires were identical to the first. They were just rebranded in a factory somewhere and put in a different manufacturer's box. I was able to make the proper length coil wire from the second set though, so it's all good now. I used a long plug wire and fitted a coil plug end to it from one of the shorter coil wires.
 
They've been pretty good to me as well. I did get into it with them about a Ford Exploder hub once. They tried to void my claim because I installed it on a 2wd vehicle (notes under product info said I could). Then they tried to void it because I didn't use the bolts supplied. I explained that they had no markings on the head, I didn't trust the Chinesium they were made of, and I'd rather stretch the OEM graded hardware than put those tinfoil pegs in the hub. They refunded the money.
 
I shop Rock for my own stuff, as occasionally they're competitive with my supplier on pricing, particularly on classic-car parts such as body panels, fuel tanks, hard engine parts (which most chains scarcely stock anymore due to the widespread decline of machine shops) etc. For the most part, though, I try to avoid it because of the return hassles. They've got good customer service, mind you, but I don't have to pay return shipping on locally-purchased parts. I don't have to wait for someone to arbitrarily determine whether the part is defective or they think I was at fault, either. I either get a refund that day or a new part the day following (assuming it's not in stock). Plus, years down the road if a part fails on a low-usage application, say ball joints on the Valiant, the fact that it says "MOOG PROBLEM SOLVER" on the part means it will absolutely get warrantied locally, without question or even a receipt. I've done it more times than I can count for good customers.

If you're smart enough to have a regular local supplier (and cool enough that they like you), you'd be amazed at the ways they can effect customer service above and beyond just to keep you happy... and therefore coming back to their store. We'll even cover what was clearly your fuck-up now and again. Ve haff vays.

Rest assured, though, if you're a known cherry-picker that spends two hours calling seven places to save a buck or two and constantly telling the counter guy "X parts store has is for this", all of that will be remembered when it really counts: Warranty time. Ask the guy who wanted to warranty month-old brake pads that were clearly destroyed by a defective caliper. He told me at purchase time that he bought the calipers elsewhere, because "four bucks is four bucks". Then he begged me to cover pads that were perfectly good. Had he bought the bad caliper from me, I could've forced the warranty on the pads along with the caliper. I told him the pads were the responsibility of the place that sold him the calipers; there was nothing defective about the pads. Their parts killed mine. Guess what? They wouldn't cover pads he didn't buy there. Now he's mad at me and mad at them, when the only person he should be mad at is himself.

Had he bought everything from RockAuto, they would've only covered the caliper, period. That's their policy. When price is king, customer service suffers... and that's why local stores won't match online prices. We're here--physically here--to serve you, and that costs money.

Sorry for the rant, especially when I would've probably bought valves online myself in your situation. I simply wanted to point out that when something fails, the extra few bucks for a locally-bought part can really end up being a wise investment.
 
personaly...i wont buy "new" part online unless its my ONLY OPTION..i would have to save HUGE IE 30%+ AFTER shipping to make it worth the hassle effect that may or may not come with it

ive got 3 shops i use localy..an orielys that use to be a shucks that ive been using since 92, baxters( a speed shop) and discount imports for all the "oddball" stuff the others cant find/get, and beaverton honda for my bike stuff

the few occasions i use jegs/summit/paw is for stuff that you just cant get thru anyone local cause they wont deal with it..like my wheel disc's, 6piston willwood caliper, race scales, but even still try and warrenty that crap out and its a nightmare, 1 disc was bent in delivery and its MY FAULT...first set of scales DESTROYED in shipping, second set mangled, 3rd set lightly damaged before i said screw it and kept em
 
I'm at the mercy of the location I live in when it comes to local shops around here. Where I live is what most people would call a very small bedroom community. It's too small to have our own zip code, so we have to borrow one from Anaconda (the nearest real town), which is about 6 miles away. 6 miles may not sound like much, but on foot with a bad back and bad knee, it might as well be 100 miles. That town has two parts stores in it, Car Quest and Napa, but they are generally priced 2-3 times more than the cost of the same parts at RA. That's with the shipping factored into the price as well. I still shop locally whenever I can to try to do my part to help keep their doors open. However, everything I always seem to need for this truck is either stocked elsewhere over 90% of the time, or just not available through their suppliers. Butte is the next closest town, and it's a half hour away. There are 4 auto parts stores located there, Car Quest, Napa, Oriely's and Auto Zone, but they all have the same parts stocking/availability issues as the local shops do. I also currently have to either borrow a vehicle to get there, or wait until my wife isn't working to use her Jeep. At that distance, fuel costs to get there and back also start to become a large factor as well.

I can't blame the distances to shops on anyone else but myself, as I'm the one that chose to live out here in BFE. The parts pricing and availability in the shops I have no control over though. Couple that with a fixed monthly income that doesn't keep up with the bills when unexpected stuff happens (which seems like every month lately), and I have to be "that guy" sometimes when it comes to parts shopping. I don't have the luxury to NOT make every cent count. I don't go into a shop empty handed and expect the guy behind the counter to do all the work for me though. When I'm looking for something, I do my research first and try to bring descriptions and part numbers with me. That way I'm just asking them to look up a price on something specific and not wasting their time.

Honestly I hate being put in this position, but nothing is going to change for the better here unless I do it myself. If that means buying the cheapest parts online just so I can get at least one of these trucks working again, than that's what I gotta do. If money weren't an object, I'd probably build this one up a bit more like the R/T/A as far as performance parts go. But that's not the goal, and not even an option truthfully. Just getting it running again is much more important at the moment. Even if performance was the goal, I'd still have to buy the parts for it online. There are zero shops that can even order performance stuff like that around here (yes, I asked). I've always hated living in big cities, and still do, but there was one thing I usually did appreciate about them. Being able to go around the corner and find practically anything I might need for what I was working on at the time. Out here I can only do what I can with what I have available to me.
 
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Believe me, I've been in your shoes and can sympathize. As I said, for certain things I'll buy online as well. However, when it's something critical that will put you out of business for a couple of days and out of money for even longer, warrantying a defective part can be a nightmare. Any part of the brake system with a piston in it, for example. You want to trust that you won't get a defective part, but if you do you're out of a ride during the shipping period, and have to pay for a second one while you wait during the shipment back and sometimes a failure analysis. Same for any kind of pump: water, fuel, PS, etc. Those are the things that'll kill you during the wait, and you'll be borrowing the wife's car for the duration.

FYI: Parts can be ordered from local CarQuest stores via Advance Auto Parts' website with a significant discount (20%, if memory serves). That might make all the difference between Rock and a local purchase. That being said, if it's a locally-owned store (CarQuest can be either corporate or franchise), the owner might resent it rather than appreciate it. Still, it establishes your face in the building and gets you started on a repoire with the employees, which can make a huge difference in both pricing and service. When I was at CarQuest, the owners didn't like that arrangement. However, there were a couple of customers that we ended up giving a break when they visited because we knew they'd just buy it online otherwise, and we'd rather get the cash right there in the store rather than wait for a credit from Advance. As a joke, one of them threatened to order it from his smartphone while he was standing at the counter. :D
 
I'm one of those guys that likes to have a face-to-face conversation with the parts guy/gal and feel the actual part in my hands while at the counter. I know it's not always possible in this day and age - especially when you own something like an air-cooled Beetle - but I detest online shopping for all the hassles mentioned here.
Luckily, we've got two excellent parts stores here in town and another about 30 minutes away that have top counter personnel. The one outside of town has two guys who are into racing big-time, one a circle track fiend and the other owns a 9 second big block Duster. With a little time, they can get just about anything.
As a former business owner, I'll spend more to support local brick-and-mortar business and to get the stuff faster, but truthfully, I still get second tier shop price. :)
 
I still go into the local auto parts shops enough that most of the employees know me on sight. I've never gotten the feeling from any of them that that was a bad thing either. As far as local and online discounts go, that's one place the local shops have an advantage. I can get a 10% military discount at Car Quest, Oriely's and Auto Zone, but not at Napa. The discount doesn't apply to everything though and unfortunately still hasn't yet been able to beat the prices (+ shipping) at RA.

Just this past Thursday I was in both of the local shops looking for small 2-3/8" tach, something like the Sunpro Super Tach II that would fit the factory sized hole in my dash. The Car Quest store recently stopped carrying all gauges but said they could still order them. The Napa store had just one tach in the store. It was a similar style to the Super Tach II, but too big (3-3/8 or 3-1/2"?) to fit my dash piece. It was kept in the back of the store, so I didn't even know they had that until I asked and someone brought it out front for me to look at it. When it quickly became apparent that that one wasn't going to work they brought out their parts distributor catalog next and let me look through it. The only two tachs in the book that were 2 3/8" were both pedestal mounted rather than in dash mounted. The parts description in the book for both of those didn't say they were able to be mounted in dash instead of on the pedastal, and the counter guy didn't know either. So they couldn't even order one that would work for my application. I asked the price on the tach they had in store anyway, which appears to be a rebranded ST II from the looks of it, and it was $69.

Both the closest shops are locally owned franchises, so the owners make the call on what gets carried in the store. The employees have taken my requests to the owners on things I'd like to see carried in store, but to date none of those parts have ever showed up. I'm not talking about weird stuff either, just basic parts like oil pumps, fuel pumps, starters, alternators etc. for the Dodge and the Mazda. I was able to find an alternator in stock for the Mazda a while back from a Car Quest while I was on a road trip last year, but it was in a much bigger city (Billings, MT), and it was a corporate store. Neither of those situations apply here to make any difference in the local shops.
 
gomopar440 said:
I'm not talking about weird stuff either, just basic parts like oil pumps, fuel pumps, starters, alternators etc. for the Dodge and the Mazda.
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Dude, I manage a small independent parts store, and I assure you: That is weird stuff, especially oil pumps--which rarely fail. Anything for a '75 Dodge W350 with a 440 is weird. 440 trucks were never common, nor were 1-tons prior to the diesel explosion of the '90s. You're the only one in his customer base that owns one, much less plans on regularly using it. You realize the big-blocks went dodo 39 years ago, right? Nobody with any business sense is going to stock those parts. My friend Kevin's fuel pump died a couple of months ago whilst cruising in his '71 Charger R/T. He called like 25 parts store, and nobody had a fuel pump for any 440 application on hand. Mind you, he lives in metro Atlanta, GA--approximate population, five and a half million people.

As far as the Mazda, if it's more than five years old and doesn't interchange with a Ford, other than brakes I wouldn't stock it either. Hell, Mazdas aren't common enough that I'd stock much for one regardless of age.

Simply put, if you think you're going to need that stuff you should buy it yourself and keep it on hand at home. "But I haven't got money to spend on something I'll potentially never need," you say? Neither does he. He has employee wages, building payment/taxes, utilities, a franchise fee and probably a $30,000+ parts bill from CarQuest--every single month. CarQuest charges a 2% finance fee on balances over 30 days--$600--which is probably a week's worth of wages for his top guy. The only parts he's going to stock are ones that turn over regularly. Every part on his shelves needs to pay the rent on that shelf spot. If not, back to the warehouse with it. Let them sit on it.

To give you an idea, other than the thermostat and maybe exhaust manifolds, I don't stock a single gasket for an LA-series Chrysler engine. Why would I? They've been gone for 25+ years, and other than the oddball beater or special-interest application, people don't drive them anymore. Keep in mind, I have eight of 'em myself, and Stretch has at least three more (we work at the same place). I might have the exhaust gasket because it interchanges with the Magnum engines, but even those have been gone for nearly 15 years now. Knowing that it does not make good business sense for my employer to stock a pair of valve-cover gaskets for such an old engine, I keep a set in my garage.

It's part of the, uh, charm of driving vintage cars. They're inconvenient. It doesn't make good sense from just about any standpoint except maybe roadside repairs, but even then--when something breaks you've either got a spare on hand, or you wait. That's why the Valiant got all new front suspension parts and brakes, and both the Challenger and Imperial will have the same. Our warehouse didn't even have the tie-rod sleeves on hand for the Valiant. I had to wait for them to do a Moog stock order!

As far as the 440 starter goes, your local CarQuest probably has one. Part number 17466, the original application being the Magnum V6/V8. It's a bolt-on, with both higher torque and higher starting RPM. Lose the cable adapter, though--it's too close for comfort on the later B/RB blocks with the external ribbing. Pop off the plastic cover, remove two nuts for the adapter, and install. You may have to spread the two terminals on your positive cable, but it will go. Don't open the box at the counter, just buy it and leave. That way, they won't know it's the wrong core when you return the ancient "ruh-ruh-ruh" starter in the same box. :D

Oh, and get a set of alternator brushes to keep in the glove box. Standard part number is CX1T; they should be able to cross that at CarQuest and order you a set--it's something cheap you can buy from them next time you're there. New brush holders are even included. Unless you've got the big Motorola 100A unit, 99% of classic Mopar alternator failures are the brushes. They can be changed in 10 minutes with a Philips-head screwdriver on the side of the road. :dance: It's the best $10 you can spend (locally) on roadside preparedness.
 
It's true that I've have had better luck finding parts locally for the wife's '02 Jeep. Mostly due to the newer age of the vehicle, as well as the amount of them (lots) still running around here. The other stuff you mentioned also plays large a factor in what the local stores keep in their inventories as well. All I can do on my end is to keep letting them know that there still are older vehicles running around and that people still need parts for them. Whether the local shops can or will do anything about it is out of my hands after that.

FWIW the Mazda is a '94 B4000 (4.0 OHV, 4X4, 5 speed, manual hubs and T-case), which is mechanically almost identical to the same year Ranger. I keep a spare T-case and 5 speed for it under the workbench ever since I found out it had a slightly oddball trans. The Ranger guys seem to like to grab the manual T-case like I have to get rid of their electrically operated T-cases.

I'm already looking at a few places for some spare driveline parts for the Dodge after I get it running again. I already knew about the Magnum alt and starter fitting the older engines, and plan to upgrade to those better units in the future. For now the original style ruh ruh ruh and whir whir whir will have to stay a little longer. The alt brushes were actually on my list of parts to get to stash in the glove box with the other basics in there (ie: ECU, VR, ballast resistor, fuseable link, fuses, etc.), so having that part number will help.:bravo:
 
I have a commercial account at Advance (for ten plus years), the guys at NAPA know me. Hell, I work on the owner's BMW 3.0 CS and his TR250. I also live on the other side of town from the Carquest regional warehouse. They know me too. Nobody can get me parts for my old Volvos and Mopars, let alone the weird British and Italian stuff I mess with. It took me two weeks to get a clutch for my 81 Volvo. I understand why. I used to work at a small franchise parts store here back when parts stores stocked actual parts in the aisles instead of chrome fender dents and patchouli air fresheners. They barely stocked anything for my cars back then. It sucks, but RockAuto has so much for old weird cars. Not everything by a long shot. But it sure beats the hell out of getting bent over a table by Stoddard's prices, or XK unlimited, or even Moss and IPD. After a couple of shitty parts, I learned to only buy brand names my mother's heard of. No problems since, and still cheaper. Since I've triaged all of my customer's cars made after OBDII (they're just not fun to work on after that.. too much broken plastic and heartache), I don't make it into the brick and mortar stores as much as I used to, but the commercial chick at Advance still hits on me, and everybody else acts like I never left. As a result, my beer fridge looks like thisIMG_3935.JPG

Considering I only get a magnet about two thirds of the time, I really oughta buy stock in these guys
 
TheIronSausage said:
I have a commercial account at Advance (for ten plus years), the guys at NAPA know me. Hell, I work on the owner's BMW 3.0 CS and his TR250. I also live on the other side of town from the Carquest regional warehouse. They know me too. Nobody can get me parts for my old Volvos and Mopars, let alone the weird British and Italian stuff I mess with. It took me two weeks to get a clutch for my 81 Volvo. I understand why. I used to work at a small franchise parts store here back when parts stores stocked actual parts in the aisles instead of chrome fender dents and patchouli air fresheners. They barely stocked anything for my cars back then. It sucks, but RockAuto has so much for old weird cars. Not everything by a long shot. But it sure beats the hell out of getting bent over a table by Stoddard's prices, or XK unlimited, or even Moss and IPD. After a couple of shitty parts, I learned to only buy brand names my mother's heard of. No problems since, and still cheaper. Since I've triaged all of my customer's cars made after OBDII (they're just not fun to work on after that.. too much broken plastic and heartache), I don't make it into the brick and mortar stores as much as I used to, but the commercial chick at Advance still hits on me, and everybody else acts like I never left. As a result, my beer fridge looks like thisView attachment 20032

Considering I only get a magnet about two thirds of the time, I really oughta buy stock in these guys
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Don't the beers fall out of that fridge when you open the door?
 
resto.. "discount imports" here wouold be HEAVEN for you..hell they have a complete bug pan in the window..and used to have a full rail "kit" in the window as well, from stone stock "industrial" bug to full blown race bug..they actualy stock most of it..restoration, seat skins, glass, body panels..i bet you could build atleast 1 bug and 3 engines from just the contents of the store

i must say i do have to get "most" of my alfa stuff online...and as doc mentioned buy extra of the "wear" parts..i keep 2 sets of caliper rebuild kits, masters and slave kits in hand at all times..cause when you need one..youll be waiting WEEKS for it...i wonder if RA has good luck getting that stuff
 
TheIronSausage said:
Nobody can get me parts for my old Volvos and Mopars, let alone the weird British and Italian stuff I mess with...
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Obviously, you're dealing with rank amateurs. :doh:

Of course, I have better access to stuff like that than places like NAPA or Advance (but your CarQuest guys need to figure out how to use WorldParts). Our Alliance warehouse franchisee also owns an import-only chain--11 stores and a warehouse--that got integrated into the larger chain. When I was at the corporate store, I use to occasionally harangue those guys by calling them and trying to get a price on valve-cover gaskets for a small-block Chevy or an ignition module for a '78 Bronco. Now that they're fully integrated into the chain they can obviously get that stuff. Still, it's funny to hear someone say "I don't stock it, but I can order one and have it tomorrow" in reference to a thermostat for an '03 Impala with a 3.8. :D

That chain is considered one of our "specialty companies" along with a dedicated performance division, a battery company that does every kind of battery but aircraft (too expensive and too much liability), a big-truck division, a PBE division, etc.
 
I only have a few points to add here. Parts that move off the shelves are the parts we stock. Hell, most parts stores don't even stock a water pump for a standard rotation chevy V8. (Serpentine belt applications are reverse rotation) and GM made like 700 billion first gen small blocks. Local parts store parts cost more than internet parts because we have a building to pay for, utilities, taxes, employee wages, insurance, workmens comp insurance, bad debt, bounced checks.... hell, the list of money going out is damn near equal to what comes in at times.

I have zero patience for the "I'm on a fixed income" rant. I have news for you. We all are! I make the same amount every week! As long as I show up of course. It sure would be nice to find out some little elf was willing to drop gold coins in my lap every so often but that doesn't happen so I live on what I make. Just like everyone else.

Yes, I have bought parts from companies like rock auto and summit. We all do. But 99% of what I buy comes from local businesses. If we all shop on line, none of us will have jobs. Our economy can not survive if we don't.

I 100% understand saving money when we can but there is a bigger picture at stake here. Hell, I won't even use the "self check out" at big chain stores because that thing took a job from likely more than one person per check out. We have a shit ton of people who are out of work in this country and it isn't to hard to figure out why. Good luck getting your welfare or SS check if there isn't anyone working to pay into the system.
 
Stretch said:
Good luck getting your welfare or SS check if there isn't anyone working to pay into the system.
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FYI, I don't get either one of those, nor food stamps or anything else like that for that matter. I worked for 20 years in the military to get my retirement check. That's barely enough to get by with at best, so anything like this truck comes with an automatic budget restriction attached to it. I usually have to give up something I have (guns, tools, whatever...) to be able to get something I need, and I'm running out of things I can get any money for. Yea it sucks, but that's the reality of it. I have to make due with what I available to me.

Sorry if I somehow managed to start this shitstorm by saying I've had good luck with RA parts so far. I guess I'll have to bow out now so I don't go upsetting anyone's feelings here with such ludicrous and controversial statements.:hmmm:
 
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