The 54 Olds had an engine fire last year. The car technically still belongs to the estate of my late friend Richard Lau and I am the executor. More to come on this in one month. I have had the car with a pretty good mechanic that has worked on it before. He replaced all the underhood and underdash wiring since it is all one harness. When he started, I ordered the harness and several other things from Fusick. One of those things was a repro set of plug wires since I wanted them to look correct. The mechanic already had a set of plug wires but said he would send them back. He finished getting the car together last week and it would not start. It got spark across the points but a very weak spark at the plugs which was not enough to fire. He took my Pertronix out and put point back in and changed the coil. Still nothing. He tried two more sets of points and a condenser and two more coils. Nothing. He had two more old time mechanics that worked on these cars new and take a look. Nothing. Finally another old mechanic came along felt of the plug wires and said there is your problem. Changed the plug wires and the car cranked right up. He has been working on the car for over a week. He was pretty aggravated with me. I called Fusick to tell them their wires were crap and got very little response. They said they had not had this problem from anybody else. He said send them back and they will give me credit. I thought they would at lease have an interest in a defective product. Not so. There is no telling what the bill is going to be. I am glad the estate is paying the bill on this one. This is the first issue I have ever had with Fusick but I was very disappointed in their response.

 

Yeah - strange. You would think they would want to find out what had gone wrong.
And, for a really big problem like that, you'd think they'd send you a refund, and not a credit.

- Eric

 

Well, they are going to credit the debit card so it is in effect a refund. I want them to credit their ridiculous shipping charges and the charges I have for returning the worthless wires. Yeh, wish me good luck on that.

 

I looked at, but didn't buy plug wires from Fusick. They should have replaced them for you with a performance based wire that includes more recent technology, but they don't offer any. When I saw plug wires in their catalog I was disappointed that they weren't pushing a high performance wire with an original appearance. Other folks on this site will certainly know more about plug wires than I do, but I can attest that there is certainly big differences in sound quality and conductivity among speaker wires and interconnects used in performance sound systems. - Steven

 

Some of Fusicks parts are of suspect quality. For this reason I stopped dealing with them. Their customer service is a little shakey also. They should do the right thing and refund all shipping costs AND give you a store credit for your trouble!

 

mate from my dealings ...their customer service is ZERO!, i will not deal with em

 

I ordered a set of trim rings for SSII's came in with blemishes little tiny black dots? actually looked to be embedded in the bright work. I spoke with them and was told sorry we can't meet your standards and would only be credited with cost of parts only, I had to eat inbound/insurance and outbound back to them, they said no credit on freight.

To say the least they are one of my last choices, ordered the same product from Year One for $80 less and received a product you would be proud of!

I realize people think Year One is overpriced but any of my problems with parts issues were addressed with professionalism and no problems with freight being covered with an apology. They are my number one choice if they have it.

Pat

 

I have bought from Fusick for over 15 years, never had a problem.

 

I haven't been buying quite that long but I have bought a lot of stuff from them. When I called them, my main purpose was to let them know they had a bad product they should take a look at. The just acted like they did not give a damn since nobody else had a problem. They should have thanked me for bringing it to their attention. I will probably still buy from them from time to time but I will look at other sources.

 

I agree, and they should have made a better attempt to keep you as a customer.

 

I've generally had good luck with Fusick's... but I was not happy with my last purchase. I bought new window moldings, both of the front moldings have these notches cut out of them for no reason. The cuts look they were done with a pair of tin-snips, poorly... they're really butchered (I could have done better with a chain saw!) The unnecessary notches show after the moldings are installed and cause a noticeable whiffle in the molding above the cuts. Needless to say they weren't cheap and I'm not happy with the fit. I contacted customer service and was told the notches are necessary on some models and that's all they could get.

 

I have not had a drama with Fusicks'
but this other supplier, I have.


Hi everyone,

Well, I used to do a lot of business with USA Parts Supply for my Olds parts. Not anymore. And a lesson for others In Australia, New Zealand and anywhere they (US Parts Supply) have to ship offshore.

Ordered my floor plug kit and 2 x hood to fender bumpers. Got package the other day. Floor plug kit good, however sent me the the adjustable hood bumpers instead. I already have those. I only wanted the 2 hood to fender bumpers. So I can see where the mix up on their behalf could be as adjustable bumpers come in packs of 2.

Sent an email to see about getting this mix up rectified and had to end up contacting by phone as no one was going to reply to my emails.

From the outset as soon as I mention problem with the order the usual happened, "oh sir could you speak more clearly I can hardly understand you", "what do you want, to exchange sir?" and on and on and on.
We no longer use string and 2 tin cans for telephones here so I was pretty sure he was having a go, oh and the fact that I have always rang the U.S to place parts orders for my American cars, I have done this for the last 3 years and no dramas until today apparently.

I was also told that they went off a product code given to them, funny, I rang the order through from Australia as I always have done and don't know the product number. Just described what I wanted from their catalogue as the part numbers do not corespond to the pictures. He did not appreciate it when I said the person taking the order put that number in as I ordered over the phone.

When he worked out I was not going to go away the phone line came good and a new order was placed. I was going to have to pay for 2 new:
1/ Hood to fender bumpers
2/ Postage to Australia
3/ $15 processing documentaion fee.
If I wished I could "keep the hood bumpers as they would fit your car" or return them for a refund at my expense. All because of their stuff-up.
Yeah great!!

As for the $15 documentation fee I questioned this via email. This was the reply.
"We charge a 15.00 documentation fee to cover all of the paperwork that needs to be filled out for anything going out of the country. It is stated on the back of the order forms in our catalogue. "

Other places I deal with its all part of the service. Back of the order form??
I do all my purchases over the phone and I have had enough stuff shipped from the U.S to know whats involved in that paperwork. It is not rocket science nor time consuming.

Anyway, Non too politely told thingy what I thought of his beligerent attitude and what he could do with his stuff.

Things can be worked out, but beligerence and making up silly childish remarks and carrying on in a prefessional business invironment is beyond comprehension. If this is the way employees behave to loyal customers , I'll take my business elsewhere as they are not the only Oldsmobile parts suppliers and this mob are far from the cheapest nor the people I wish to be associated with.

This is just the facts of what occurred this morning.
I just want to warn my fellow 'off shore' buyers of what can happen and yes it did take me by surprise.

Regards
5998

 

Teepo has had Fusicks plug wires on her since 2010 when Blue painted the engine. I've never had any problems with them. If she ever doesn't start I'll know to check the plug wires first!

 

From what I have read on other forums, all the reproduction spark plug wires are supplied by one company. "LectricLimited" from Chicago I believe. The quality has not always been the best.

 

I had a problem with USA PARTS SUPPLY as well. I ordered a fan and ended up finding it at about half the cost else where so I returned it for a refund minus the shipping. Well it took them 5 weeks after they received it to refund my money and it was only after I told them my next call was to the Better Business Bureau. I was very dissatisfied with them and will not use them again unless I absolutely have to. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

Fusick's reproduction spark plug wires are supplied by American Autowire, Bellmawr, NJ.

 

The mechanic is to blame as well, after he problems starting the car he should have checked the resistance of the spark plug wires with a multi- meter. This is a common check when trouble shooting, yes the wires and product is **** but the mechanic played a part and should look at it as a learning expeareance.

 

I wound up getting really PO'd at the mechanic over some other things but I will say if they were brand new just out of the box, you should be able to assume they are good.

 

I have a set of these repro's on my car now. If you are working under the hood and barely brush any of the plug wires you will get shocked, they scatter spark like crazy. I will be replacing them before running the car this year.

 

Unfortunately that used to be true many,many years ago. Today, not so much. Just because a part is new, does not mean it can't be defective. Quality of parts has deteriorated steadily over time and it's a crap shoot as to whether you get a good part or a NFG one.

 

I guess we can thank the Chinese for that. Good point.

 

And before that, the Taiwanese, and before that, the Japanese...

There's always someone.

- Eric

 

As a tech he should know that even though a part is brand new it does not guarantee that it is with out defect.
Especially to day no matter were it is made quality takes a back seat to profit.

 

Generally speaking, new parts work properly.
However, it is by no means 100% guaranteed.
Part of the problem was the assumption that new = good.
I learned that lesson at age 16 or so with a dirt bike's new spark plug.
The old one ran great, the new one would not start.
New is NOT necessarily better. Trust, but VERIFY. The mechanic learned a valuable lesson there, as have many of us here by reading this saga.

Now, as for the old timer who discerned the wires problem "by feel"...
I would LOVE to hear how that works... Felt for leakage while it was cranking? What exactly was he feeling for? I want to know that trick. Meanwhile I can use an ohm meter as required.

 

Actually I hope the mechanic didn't learn a thing. By the time I got the car back, we were not speaking. As for the old timer, I have no idea. It was probably just a BS story he told me. He must have been d_ _ n good. I had used these guys for years but will never use them again. Now that I own the car I will do most all the work myself.

I really wonder how many of us have checked brand new plug wires right out of the box. As you said, I hope some people here have learned from reading this thread.

 

Weren't leeds at some time made of carbon? Break the carbon from rough handling then no connection.


Took my car to a mechanic about 12 years ago as it was running rough, he put this device over the leeds, one leed at a time. It was like an Ohm or multi-metre with callipers at the top that surrounded the lead and run the leed through the gap. He found where the damage was on the leed. Just got a new leed, job done. Whatever that device was, was out of my price range at the time, $150.00

 

This is not my first American car Ive done up ,the one prior to this was a 64 TBird.
I have dealt with all the aforementioned companies with varying degrees of success, and that success was largely dependant on the quality of the reproduction parts.
One thing that is a constant and that is Reproduction parts are hit/miss, they are Always lesser quality than Genuine parts always.
How many people do you know that have tried aftermarket fenders only to abandon them in favour of fixing factory originals?
I don't know about you guys but there is precious little available for my 59 so I have to get whats about.
The suppliers are middlemen whose livelihood depends on return custom.
I have learnt who are the best suppliers , based on issue resolution timely service etc, as they all resell the same bits.
Companies like Rubber the Right way, Larrys TBird always get first preference, then I work down the list.

 

No doubt that NOS or good used parts are always better. With the 59 being a one year car I bet parts are pretty close to impossible to find. Evilbay does become your evil friend.

 

Just for general information plug wires from a ford 360 will fit a 324(probably a 303 or 371) just like the reproduction stuff and cost much less than the specialty shops, Just remember to reverse the wires to match the distributor location.....Tedd

PS. I've used Fusick's and USA Parts supply for years and have had no problems, It may just not been my time who knows....

 

Yup that it does, it has proven to be a great source of goodies thus far!!
Gems like NOS molds and NOS grill, don't know what I would do without Ebay, I get constant emails anytime anything to do with the 59 is listed...allows me to pounce straight away