October Newsletter :: Early Edition

RockAuto Home

Parts Catalog

Customer Service

Privacy Policy

Past Newsletters

Email Subscription

RSS Feed

 

Another Happy Customer!

Hi,

I do all the automotive work for my family my self. All together I have two trucks and four cars. One of them is a 1965 Mustang Fastback show car. I buy everything from RockAuto. You can't beat the prices and the service!

Thanks for your time,
Rick in Washington

 

Upcoming Events
If you would like your event featured here, email us with details.

Yesterday's 3rd Annual Trunk or Treat
10/25/2008
Bridgeport, TX
website

7th Annual Marine Corps League Motor Sports Show
11/1/2008
Pensacola, FL
email

Tank Museum Car Show
11/1/2008
Danville, VA
website

Anderson Chrysler/Havasu Classics Car Club 3rd Annual Veterans Day Car Show
11/8/2008
Havasu City, AZ
email

 

Prepaid duties and taxes

RockAuto is now offering our European and Canadian customers the same convenience our U.S. customers enjoy.

If a tax line (identified as GST in Canada, VAT in the UK, etc.) appears on your order, this allows you to pre-pay tax (and any import duties which may apply) for that shipment. The carrier will deliver with no additional charges due. Prepayment of tax is limited to certain countries, warehouses and ship methods.

 

 

Forum of the month

Cuda-Challenger.com

Cuda-Challenger.com has members from around the globe who own cars that range from stock daily drivers, perfectly restored show winners, purpose built drag cars, and everything in between. Whether you are an expert or just an admirer of the Barracuda, Challenger or any Mopar muscle car, you are welcomed to join and contribute to the message board.

Cuda-Challenger.com also has pictures covering all years, information, and the history of each car.

If you are the administrator or member of a forum and you would like to see your website featured in an upcoming newsletter and receive a discount code to share with your members, contact jessa@rockauto.com.

 

 

Repair mistakes & blunders

Ouch!

Make sure when putting a car up on a lift to balance the weight properly!

This was back in 1989 or so. There were tandem lifts in this shop, and I was using the lift in the front. Suddenly the kid using the lift behind me (who had the car up in the air for an oil change) starts yelling, "Phil, HELP, HELP!!!".

I look out from under the hood of the car I was working on and see the kid's car starting to nose dive from it being positioned to far forward on the legs of the lift. The car was about one foot off the two rear legs of the lift and the kid doing the oil change was trying to hold up the car by holding the bottom of the front tire...and it was turning on him! Meanwhile the nose of the car was still dropping.

I ran around and grabbed the front bumper and shoulder pressed the car back into position while he lowered the lift. Had I ignored his calls for help, his car would have nose dived off of the lift, hitting my car and pinned me against the wall right behind me.

Philip in Massachusetts

 

 

Hats off to hose and belt engineers!

RockAuto

I was worried about my wife commuting in her high mileage ’87 Mazda 323 through another winter so I recently bought her a new car. It is a ’93 Ford Tempo, my family’s first automotive foray into the ‘90s.

Our new Tempo has the original Motorcraft cooling system hoses. The amazing thing is I was not surprised. That is why I want to take a moment and congratulate all the hose and belt manufacturers that have quietly made vast improvements to belts and hoses over the last twenty years.

I remember standing on the side of the road in the late ‘80s in a cloud of steam lamenting that I had forgotten to change the five or six year old water pump bypass hose on my ’77 Dodge. I remember a friend’s quick U-turn in my ’68 Chrysler 300 blowing a hole in a power steering hose and starting a fire.

When did fifteen-year-old hoses and belts stop being mushy, cracked disasters waiting to happen? I looked through the product data sheets of RockAuto.com suppliers: ACDelco, Dayco, Gates, Motorcraft, etc. I read about the Gates “electrochemically-resistant coolant hose using a new EPDM (ethylene propylene rubber) formulation and special wrapped reinforcement”. I read about the “high modulus glass fiber non-stretch cord” in Dayco timing belts. I read about synthetic nitrile rubbers in high performance power steering hoses.

“Special wrapped” and “high modulus” sounds impressive, but why aren’t the belt and hose manufacturers trumpeting in the streets that their products now last three or four times longer than they used to? Why does Gates literature still have warnings like, “The incidence of hose failure increases sharply after four years for most vehicles.”

One reason may be the manufacturers do not want their engineering success to hurt their sales. If everybody ran hoses and belts for fifteen years, then there would be a lot less demand for belts and hoses! Manufacturers and RockAuto would suffer!

Another reason is the wide variety of vehicle operating environments. The Tempo only has done 56K miles of elderly-lady-outings. Chemical degradation over time was the main challenge to its belts and hoses. If it had worked as a Phoenix taxi, lots of use in extreme temperatures would probably have wiped out the original hoses long ago. Deciding when to change belts and hoses is similar to deciding to go 7500 miles or 3000 miles between oil changes. 7500 miles might now be possible, but what is best for a particular car all depends on the driving conditions.

Another consideration is few people ever regretted replacing a $20 radiator hose or belt, but lots of people have regretted not replacing them. Seeing how long a hose or belt will last is a real bad idea if it means risking a damaged engine. The Tempo’s light-duty days are over now that my wife is behind the wheel. I won’t be waiting fifteen years to do its next hose and belt change, but I also won’t start worrying and fretting at five years. Thanks again to the unsung heroes, hose and belt engineers, for increased peace of mind!

Tom Taylor,
RockAuto.com

 

 

Wayne's 1980 Triumph TR7
Wayne's 1980 Triumph TR7

This is my 1980 Triumph TR7. I bought it last year with only 7600 original miles on the odometer. Quite the find!

Overall, the car was (and is) in excellent condition, but a lot of rubber components were perished and needed replacement. "The Colonel" as we call him (named after the "Colonel Mustard" character in the board game "Clue" for obvious reasons) is wearing the following parts from RockAuto: KYB rear gas shocks, KYB gas front strut inserts, thermostat, distributor cap and rotor, spark plugs, belts, and an exhaust manifold warm air duct.

Wayne in New Jersey

 

Share Your Hard Work
Do you purchase parts from RockAuto? If so, RockAuto would like to feature you and your car or truck in our monthly newsletter. Please email flamur@rockauto.com with details.

© 1999-2008 RockAuto, LLC - Madison, Wisconsin USA. RockAuto name and logo are registered trademarks of RockAuto, LLC. Manufacturer names and logos in the RockAuto catalog are trademarks of their respective companies and are used only to identify their products. All rights reserved.