Geeto67

Pain with the mgmt? employees? or the customers?

There are two types of issues in dealing with live parts stores: Lack of employee knowledge, and bad customer service. I find that usually if you do enough research you can often overcome lack of employee knowledge. Even when faced with the dumbest clerk who is constantly asking you "what year/make/model" for a dash board bulb you are holding in your hand, if you know how to read bulbs you can work around the fact the counter guy has the IQ of burnt toast. Bad customer service however, is a real problem and not exclusive to auto parts stores but all retail outlets. For some reason though, auto part stores tend to suffer more than most because of their hiring policies, lack of training, and revolving door management. Buying online eliminates that customer service element because the whole thing is streamlined to eliminate issues like employees not knowing how to work the register. When it comes to auto parts stores, if you find one that has good customer service, you can work with everything else to continue to support local. And honestly supporting that particular one makes a bigger difference because performance numbers are all higher mgmt seems to look at in making decisions that affect the store. I personally use the Advance on Bethel road (next to kroger), the Autozone on sawmill (next to the chik-fil-a), and the NAPA depot on 161 because those are all places that I received exceptional service. There is an Advance Auto parts in the Hilliard Square Shopping Center off Cemetery road that I would literally love to see burn to the ground - every time I have been in there the employees are the magic combination of rude and window licking level of auto parts knowledge. I have never had a positive experience at an O'Reiliy's and wont set foot in one. When I was in high School I worked for Auto Barn, the NY regional chain of Auto Parts stores. I worked in the store and in the warehouse. I helped customers, I stocked inventory, did a little bit of everything. There are some great people working in autoparts but the system is not meritorious. The best customer service could overcome any knowledge problem, but bad service and I don't care if you can rebuild the Space shuttle with hand tools. But corporate treats them all the same and all part of the same unit. The retail model conflicts with the auto parts business - people don't go into the gap and expect the sales girl to know about french seams and quality cuts of fabrics, but we do walk into an auto parts store and expect the sales clerk to tell us what part our car needs based on a bad imitation of a duck we are now performing for him in front of all the other customers. The moment the business figures this out and adjusts it's model the better they will do. Craig, I'm sorry you got bad customer service. Maybe try another O'Reiliy's to make the return and you'll have better luck. I like that you want to support local, I do the same and believe it makes a difference. I also don't trust the aftermarket to make a quality part that fits every vehicle and end up returning a ton of stuff and it is easier for me to do in person.

it would probably make an awesome track car for someone at that price. what year is it?

If the price is right, there is always someone who wants it even with the high miles. The problem is it may be in his best interest to part it out because the miles turns it from a $50K car into a $17K car very quickly and people pay $10K just for the hood on earlier cars.

The vents blocked. When you opened the gas cap did it hiss at you? The problem with GM A-bodies is that they went back and forth between separate vent for the tank and caps with vents. What's worse is in the aftermarket the just made one cap that fit all tanks since the tank cap opening didn't change, just whether the tank caps had a vent or not. Some years had this really funny looking piping in the trunk for the vent that could be easily damaged and had enough curves that it could block up over time.

Its possible: http://www.classiccarstodayonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1978-Lincoln-Mark-V-convertible.jpg Hess and Eisenhardt here in Ohio produced them on special order, They also did the first jaguar XJS convertibles (and JFK's limo in Dallas). Emiss coachbuilders in Florida did them too on request from Ford for the 6 top selling lincoln dealers.

thanks, I'll keep you posted. I've logged less than 1000 miles this year on the ducati so it needs to happen.

That's a little far for a morning ride. anybody got anything on the north west side of town? Any good roads between say dublin and marysville?

EV racing is that thing that was cheaper to do 5 years ago but now the money has caught up and it's pushing the grass roots folks out. Some of the higher end motor controllers are now $10K+ (http://www.evwest.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=148&osCsid=vleo35m172fn7h14heq25ugeu4) alone, and high end racing motors can approach $20K (http://www.evwest.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=8&products_id=300). It's no joke now, and gas race cars are now cheaper.

Who has suggestions for a good riding route? Something low traffic, minimal animal interference, nice technical roads, and close by? Preferably near a place to get a cup of coffee. thinking about setting up some "Dawn Patrol" rides. I used to do these in NY, get riding at the crack of dawn do an hour or so on a nice route, get a cup of coffee, and then go about your day. I used to do them in NY all the time. Having a young child means my only riding time is basically when everyone is asleep so might as well take advantage. So who knows some good roads/areas to look?

I'll take it if it is free :grin2: Standing water is ok....It's when the water is no longer standing and flowing through to the ground that there is an issue. Trading tubing and hose issues you can band aid fix yourself for a car that is "not if but when" the transmission is going to fail doesn't seem like a reasonable idea. Run away from the GXP.

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/000/681/what-you-did-there-i-see-it.thumbnail.jpg

I don't think the helmet touching the ceiling is going to matter much, it's a bell bullett motorcycle helmet which is only DOT rated and not snell or ece. If he had a wreck they would just ladel his head out like campbell's chunky soup. I'm curious why he chose such a heavy platform for an electric car. There are plenty of cars that weigh 1/4 of a vette and deliver the same drag coefficient.

That's what is said in the TTAC article: http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2016/08/dealership-wheel-theft-turns-deadly-ohio/ yeah, I really can't think for the life of me why he would be under the car unless he was harvesting something else. He would have to be pretty far under there for nobody to notice him.

I have had many a car fall of a jack during a tire change, and a guy in my neighborhood in the 90's was killed under his '70 trans am when he accidentally kicked a jack stand out, so I shivered the first couple times I read it. I had a bmw factory jack completely fall apart under the car on my buddy's E46 3 series not long ago. the thing I can't figure out: if he was stealing wheels, what was he doing UNDER the vehicle? Every single tire removal I have ever done (including once placing a car on cinderblocks) I was not under the car. Was he trying to steal the under bumper spare? or the cat? weird.

I don't think there is a "legit" one left in the party. It's a raging dumpster fire of anti-women's rights, radical states rights (read: pro-desperate impact racial discrimination) supporters, religious fundamentalists...etc.... The one thing the republican party used to be famous for, was absolutely elected on in the past, fiscal policy, has been absent from the party since George HW Bush had to un-fuck Reagan's bonkers approach to government spending (I swear to god I am going to cock slap the next person who mentions trickle down economy as a viable economic theory or being good for this country). The president is largely symbolic anyway - the real battle for the laws that govern this country is in the senate, and the one hope I have is that whomever does get elected president doesn't cause a nationwide backlash that allows the obstructionist members of congress to stay. The role of a congress person is to serve their constituency and to work for a mutually beneficial solution to the problems the government is tackling. Electing to just not participate cheats the voters, cheats the system, and frustrates progress. Being obstructionist in a government role is completely self serving to the politician at the cost of the American public.

Not having a plan for the districts prolly didn't help either. I'm all for community representation vs at large but creating new districts instead of leveraging existing ones just opens the door to all sorts of shenanigans like redlining and discrimination through disproportionate representation.

I dunno, if they had a "moderate" conservative alt candidate it might not, but unfortunately the Republican Party has become a factory of right wing nut jobs. Social conservatism is just unpopular right now (mainly because it is coming down on the wrong side of history) but instead of having candidates that say "ok it's a problem but maybe not one the government should handle" they have candidates that refuse to outright recognize the social issue and instead leverage some religious precept or moral reactionary position. Christie and Guiliani kind of fit the bill for moderate politically, but they are so representative of corruption in politics there is no way you could sell either of them to the public. Eliot Spitzer used to look to be on that track but the prostitution scandal soiled his pure idealism and ruined his political career. Considering how lousy a conservative majority Supreme Court has been for this country...ahem...citizens United....cough....hobby lobby...ahem....a democratically selected Supreme Court may not be the worst thing for this country, esp if the pics are safe bets and moderates like the most recent selection.

http://jalopnik.com/dumb-thief-crushed-to-death-by-the-suv-he-was-stealing-1784737577 Dude's name was "Richard ritch"...like Ritchey Rich the comic book character. I lol'ed.

She's a politician, and you get that with every politician. She just gets more scrutiny because of gender bias, same for Elizabeth Warren, Geraldine Ferraro, Shirley Chisholm, or any other woman politician eyeing spots traditionally held by men. It's a cycle that goes back hundreds of years and is unbroken. As for "morals" or "flip flop" of position, you don't elect a politician because they are moral and you definitely don't want them to be stagnant on their position. Idealistic is ok but you'll be waiting till the apocalypse for a moral politician. Doesn't mean they won't do the right thing, Ted Kennedy did a lot of great things and he killed someone, but idealistic and moral are not mutual things in politics and "politician morals" are not relatable to outsiders. Assuming the government system even works a little politicians are advocates of the people they represent and like everybody their positions on things change because people change and society changes. You want the politician who rolls with the times, not one who is so stuck in the past they are still advocating something stupid like segregation. Integrity in a politician is not how firecly they hold a particular position whether it is popular or unpopular, it's how often and effectively they advance the will of their constituents over their own self interests.

hayabusa - although if you are going for 400hp (which is more than twice the 175hp stock rating) you need pistons and rods (crank can stay stock though as can the cases, gearbox, etc). Stupid question: what is the timing belt service on a subaru EJ engine? Is it 100K and people are just blowing past that or is it sooner?

Hey Clay, Looks like you can have your jalopnik demuro free: http://jalopnik.com/a-farewell-to-jalopnik-for-now-1784698323

I forgot to ask, is it a 2-door or a 4-door? If you have one with a decent body, it's totally worth saving. put a head on it and drive the heck out of it. If you get 3 winters out of it then it cost you $200 per winter to not have to drive your TA.

yes, that is what engine coking is - a buildup of carbon. Been hearing that the valves are having a tougher time with carbon buildup now that the backs of them are not getting hit with atomized fuel. It's a DI problem but some makes/models are having a harder go of it than others.

are the subie's having engine coking problems with the DI engines like audi?