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I am never setting foot in that store ever again. This is the last damn straw and I am not going to take it anymore. I figured I would go through a local store instead of ordering parts online and this is the shit I get.
I am building a 700R4 for my GTO. I ordered a kit from NAPA and they got it here in a couple days. Turns out the kit is missing a some items.
1. Two lathe cut seals were simply not there, not the wrong ones, just not even in the bag all that stuff comes in. Now these are the direct and forward clutches in a 700, and those seals kinda need to be there for ALL of them, even the 4L60E, so it isnt a wrong year kit or something.
2. One steel each for two clutches was missing as well. Now there are sometimes fewer steels or frictions in the same transmission, like a TH400 or TH350. They got the right number of frictions though, so what the hell is up with that? Just stiff me on a couple steels so I have to reuse some or drive 15 miles back to town to a trans shop and hope they have them?
3. The kit had one clutch pack that was ENTIRELY wrong steels. The ends have tabs for the clutch release springs to rest on, they sent me a full pack of ends. How the hell do you screw that up? I mean really! Did they get some new kid in who didnt know his ass from a hoe in the ground, or is it outsourced to Somewhereistan?
4. It was supposed to come with the band, no band was found in the box. I should have caught that at the store, but hey I figured how can you screw up a transmission kit?
To say I am pissed right now is an understatement. I want to call the store start yelling and calling them every profane thing I can think of, but it isnt the counter persons fault. Why should he or she have to deal with that? They ordered it and it was screwed up, not something they screwed up themselves. I just want to get this transmission done so I can get to the thousand other projects I have going that cant be done with a transmission murdered on my bench.
I should have learned my lesson back in 98. There were other instances where they blew me off or screwed me over but this one really stands out. I built a 5.0 for a guys Mustang, used Edelbrock heads, forged bottom end, nice hydraulic roller cam, and a new intake. We put a Vortec street blower on that thing and it drove pretty darn nice. Just a sweet running mild street engine, nothing fancy at all. Well about two weeks after getting it going, we are out cruising and having fun, not beating on it at all. He pulls up to a light next to me and as we take off his engine just dies. It spins over like there is no compression when he hits the starter.
So we start looking and the distributor isnt turning. Fords have a front distributor so if it had thrown a rod, that would still turn. So we tore down the front of the engine and found that the timing chain we picked up at NAPA had just snapped. A double freaking roller chain snapped. It said Cloyes on the box, but it was a cheap ass China one inside. So pull the valve covers and sure enough 8 bent valves. Pull the heads, two broken pistons. Edelbrock heads dont have extreme valve spring pressures, so whats the deal with the chain breaking? Defective part and now its a very expensive cheap ass part.
So I take it to NAPA and the manager tells me it was a 'race engine' since it had aluminum heads on it. So I guess LSx and 4.6L engines are race engines too now, and so are most imports. So he wont even replace the damn thing, not that I would want one from them again. I didnt work for Dana Corp. at that point, so I couldnt get anything done from that side of things, and the division manager told me the same BS thing.
That leads me to the conclusion I should just not say anything because it is wasting breath. They dont stand behind the junk they sell, and I doubt I will get any satisfaction over a transmission kit that I have already opened and have half way installed. I am not a big shop, I dont have this stuff just laying around, I have to get it somewhere. It looks like Summit and Jegs will be getting all my business like that, even if it is $100 more for a trans kit. At least I know I will get the right stuff, it wont fall apart, and it wont be missing a bunch of shit.
I am building a 700R4 for my GTO. I ordered a kit from NAPA and they got it here in a couple days. Turns out the kit is missing a some items.
1. Two lathe cut seals were simply not there, not the wrong ones, just not even in the bag all that stuff comes in. Now these are the direct and forward clutches in a 700, and those seals kinda need to be there for ALL of them, even the 4L60E, so it isnt a wrong year kit or something.
2. One steel each for two clutches was missing as well. Now there are sometimes fewer steels or frictions in the same transmission, like a TH400 or TH350. They got the right number of frictions though, so what the hell is up with that? Just stiff me on a couple steels so I have to reuse some or drive 15 miles back to town to a trans shop and hope they have them?
3. The kit had one clutch pack that was ENTIRELY wrong steels. The ends have tabs for the clutch release springs to rest on, they sent me a full pack of ends. How the hell do you screw that up? I mean really! Did they get some new kid in who didnt know his ass from a hoe in the ground, or is it outsourced to Somewhereistan?
4. It was supposed to come with the band, no band was found in the box. I should have caught that at the store, but hey I figured how can you screw up a transmission kit?
To say I am pissed right now is an understatement. I want to call the store start yelling and calling them every profane thing I can think of, but it isnt the counter persons fault. Why should he or she have to deal with that? They ordered it and it was screwed up, not something they screwed up themselves. I just want to get this transmission done so I can get to the thousand other projects I have going that cant be done with a transmission murdered on my bench.
I should have learned my lesson back in 98. There were other instances where they blew me off or screwed me over but this one really stands out. I built a 5.0 for a guys Mustang, used Edelbrock heads, forged bottom end, nice hydraulic roller cam, and a new intake. We put a Vortec street blower on that thing and it drove pretty darn nice. Just a sweet running mild street engine, nothing fancy at all. Well about two weeks after getting it going, we are out cruising and having fun, not beating on it at all. He pulls up to a light next to me and as we take off his engine just dies. It spins over like there is no compression when he hits the starter.
So we start looking and the distributor isnt turning. Fords have a front distributor so if it had thrown a rod, that would still turn. So we tore down the front of the engine and found that the timing chain we picked up at NAPA had just snapped. A double freaking roller chain snapped. It said Cloyes on the box, but it was a cheap ass China one inside. So pull the valve covers and sure enough 8 bent valves. Pull the heads, two broken pistons. Edelbrock heads dont have extreme valve spring pressures, so whats the deal with the chain breaking? Defective part and now its a very expensive cheap ass part.
So I take it to NAPA and the manager tells me it was a 'race engine' since it had aluminum heads on it. So I guess LSx and 4.6L engines are race engines too now, and so are most imports. So he wont even replace the damn thing, not that I would want one from them again. I didnt work for Dana Corp. at that point, so I couldnt get anything done from that side of things, and the division manager told me the same BS thing.
That leads me to the conclusion I should just not say anything because it is wasting breath. They dont stand behind the junk they sell, and I doubt I will get any satisfaction over a transmission kit that I have already opened and have half way installed. I am not a big shop, I dont have this stuff just laying around, I have to get it somewhere. It looks like Summit and Jegs will be getting all my business like that, even if it is $100 more for a trans kit. At least I know I will get the right stuff, it wont fall apart, and it wont be missing a bunch of shit.
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