Autozone fun

[Fo-Mo-Co]

So my other mess is a 69 Mustang with a 351 4v. It's one of the few years that need a passenger side inlet on the water pump. I go get one from the zone. Get it home and it's made wrong. The pulley flange is to close to the pump and the pulley touches. So I take it back and the guy behind the counter looks at it. Then looks at the computer and tells me it's the correct part. I show him the factory one and he tells me thats not correct. The he gets one with a drivers side inlet and tells me to use it. I told him it's not correct as i can't hook up the radiator. He then tells me to mount it upside down. I swear this guy had been drinking. This dude was wearing a grey shirt. Not sure if thats the shirt the autozone dumb @sses wear or what. I went to Napa and they had the correct part. Should have went there first.

[Whateverman]

Wish I didn't know what that felt like

[fbomb100]

LOL I feel your pain. I have been at war with the Zone.the boys.and the Nappy stores for years.A lot of them don't even know the parts for their own car or truck let alone yours.I made alot look like fools in front of the customers more than I can remember....Remember as what the guy said at pepboys a v6 '96 blazer only has one motor mount!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.. moron

[rjewkes]

yeah when i lived in miami, they had a guy that would assume your part was under warranty, then when he checked your name and phone number, and found no warranty would act like yoou lied about the warranty.

oh and the first time i needed a Starter Relay He gave me one from an 80's model topaz.

[fordman]

in the bathroom on the wall is a dress code chart. grey shirts are newbie plain jane employees. if they have pins similar to awards. then they are a longer term employee.

[FordJW]

Over the past years when I started out importing parts to Europe I came across similar problems with Autozone and Nappa kind of stores.

That is until I found House Of Quality in Yucaipa Ca. These guys know their stuff, and if they dont know it off the top of their hats they will do research until they know. They have helped me getting parts for some pretty weird cars and up until now I never ended up with something that didn't fit.

I can recomend them anytime.

[67mann]

Thank goodness for the "small town" local napa here....know all the people that work there,some have even been up to check out the truck

[adrianspeeder]

Leave the zone to wiper blades...

Adrianspeeder

[DuckRyder]

Oh, you are going to get me started aren't you...

Buying anything at the box stores is an absolute last resort except oil, some filters, cleaning stuff, paint and so forth... any sort of hard part I'll go to a dealer (not really an option for stuff this old) or one of the quality online suppliers like NPD or Dennis Carpenter. If I am forced to go to one of the box stores, I look it up online and know exactly what I want when I get there, I tell them their part number, whether it is in stock, and how much it is. I am sure they hate me, but it is better for both of us than the alternative, which is me turning into a raving maniac...

I have better luck with Napa or Oreilly in most cases than the Zone, and I won't go to Advanced anymore...I'll make it out of soda cans, wood and fiberglass before I buy it from them...

[wildcard]

I guess I'm lucky to have local Bumper to Bumper dealer here with a good knowledge of a parts store. His dad owned it for years and that's where he grew up. it's been there for as long as I can recall. And I'm past the half century mark. Before his dad passed, I would go in and get wiper blades and while I was paying the son, his dad was out there putting them on my truck.

[Ranchero50]

You can use a good puller to tweak the pulley flange to where it belongs Been there, done that...

Jamie

[fomocoguy]

Once at the zone I overheard a conversation between a manager and new guy. The new guy asked him "what years did fox body mustangs have t tops?" He pulled random years out his butt, "80, 82, 83, and 85" was his reply. Having my 86 t-top car parked in front of the store I said "Don't forget about 1986." His reply was, "oh, yours must be aftermarket". When I told him that the glass had Ford ovals printed on it he says "ok, your right sir, your right, your right," while throwing his hands up and saying it very condescendingly. I just dropped all the stuff I had in my hands right there on the counter and said to the new guy "buddy, your manager is an effing idiot" and walked out.

Another time I was telling the guy behind the counter (different store) that I was modifiying my tbi set up and that I had the throttle body bored out on a Camaro I used to own. He replied "so, what is it, a 383 now?". I said, "not the cylinders, the throttle body" and he just looked at me with a blank stare.

Same guy when I was buying urethane bushings for the rear suspension; "why don't you just weld an x in there?" I said "what?" and he says, "yeah, when I do my Camaro I'm just going to take all the suspension out of the back and weld an x in there". I asked "ok then, where will the pivot points be?" and he says, "you know, in the middle!" like I was the idiot.

[ta TACO]

This is AWESOME! Please continue

[thorn1968]

This is AWESOME! Please continue

You guys are killing me!

[Ranchero50]

Autozone water pumps are great. lifetime warrentee so every year when I do a mini rebuild / reseal I just get another. In my warrentee page I have 14 water pumps form the engines I used to rebuild for folks. Several times I've been asked why I go through so many of them and one kid said they should just refund my money instead of replace the pump...

Owning engine swap cars is fun too. Hand them a slip of paper with the part number and you get 'What year car is that for sir?'

Jamie