TheRuss

Hey Olds Buddies!

I've got a '72 Cutlass S with the original 350 in it. I'm trying to get my hands on a top 'ring' gasket/spacer (where the air cleaner sits) for my 2bbl carb. Anyone have any suggestions on where to get these things? Do they have a special name?

Thanks!

Russ

Oldsguy

I always called it the carb to air cleaned housing gasket, the auto parts guys always knew what I meant. I think you should be able to buy one at most any parts store. Just describe it to them like you did here.

TheRuss

Thanks Oldsguy.

I tried that at an Advanced Auto Parts. They had no idea what I was talking about and no idea how to look it up on the computer...I'll give PepBoys or Autozone a try.

Russ

Oldsguy

Man, that's hard to understand. Every carb rebuild kit has one in it for a stock Rochester, whether it's 4bbl or 2bbl. Every Rochester 2bbl that I have ever seen is the same diameter air horn too. I would think that would be like asking for a radiator cap, or an air cleaner element. They might not know what specific size, but would definitely know what you would be talking about. Hope you can find one.

ztim

Wow. You must have really had a newbie at your Advanced store. Did you try talking with somebody else there?

joe_padavano

Wow, and here I got beat up a while ago for badmouthing the inexperienced workers at Advanced...

Print this page out and hand it to the guy at the counter at Advanced:

http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductL...ounting+Gasket

Note that Partsamerica.com is the online ordering site for Advanced.

ztim

What I was saying, TheRuss, is that any place has new people who might not have a parts catalog upstairs. By talking to someone else there you would have been doing him a favor.

texasred

Not by ME, you didn't. I'm sick of the "not in the computer" boys!

C.J.

TheRuss

Thanks for the link, Joe. You rock.

I wasn't trying to badmouth the dudes at my local Advanced. Remember, I thought I was the dopey-dumb for not knowing what it was called. Occasionally I'll get someone awesome and helpful, but unfortunately, my experiences have typically been a struggle.

*Russ thinks back to when he had to explain that spark plug wires for points are different from their HEI counterparts. Yes, this actually happened.*

I definitely don't expect these people to know everything. I sure don't...but man, ask questions.

Thanks to everyone who chimed in.

Russ

Oldsguy

common joke.

The customer asks the counterman for muffler bearings and the counterman replies "what make, model and year?".

TheRuss

haha. I bet they're next to the Johnson Rods in Aisle 5.

joe_padavano

Actually I WAS trying to badmouth them. There are three Advanced stores within easy driving range of my house and among the three stores there are a total of maybe two counter workers who have a clue. I usually got to partsamerica.com, print out the page of the item I need, and show it to them at the store.

I put up with this (hypocrite that I am) because their prices are about half of those of other parts houses in the area. I recently needed to replace the heater valve on my 307. I've had a string of premature failures and attributed this to the crappy imported valves from Advanced (though in fairness, it turns out that I apparently bent the vac diaphragm housing on installation). I went to CarQuest and asked "do you have your own parts suppliers?", to which they naturally responded "yes". I paid $35 for the valve, tried to install it, and found the pipe threads miscut. By this time CarQuest had closed for the weekend and Advanced was the only place open. Imagine my surprise when I found out that their $17 valve carries the same part number on the same white box with the same distributor name and address sticker as the $35 CarQuest valve.

Oh, and when I went in to Advanced to buy this valve late on a Saturday, the newbie behind the counter first couldn't find heater valves in the computer and told me the car didn't have one - despite the broken part in my hand. I had to log on to their customer terminal to show him. Once he confirmed that the part existed and was even (allegedly) in the store, he had to ask two other people where to find it on the shelf, taking about 15 minutes in the process.

Now again in fairness to Advanced, last Friday morning I was at the office prior to leaving to drive to upstate NY for the weekend. I go outside to leave, only to see a puddle of antifreeze under the car and a pinhole in the radiator. I went straight to the nearest Advanced and (thankfully) one of the two competent counter workers was there. Not only did they have the radiator in stock, but it was $97 (with my discount, $124 normally). Interestingly, even though the original radiator in the 86 wagon was a 3 row copper unit, this replacement was an OEM-style 2 row aluminum radiator with plastic end tanks. I was a little skeptical, but installed it (since I didn't have a choice) and the car actually ran about 10 degrees cooler than usual on the trip. Needless to say, I was thrilled.

Call it a love-hate relationship...

Oldsguy

First, there are many threads on almost any automotive oriented forum like ours that describe the same complaints you did Joe. And I think it really is quite an industry problem. They hire the cheapest labor they can afford at entry and, I feel give little to no training. If the kids are really into automobiles then you can get a good clerk even without much training, they know what a "muffler bearing" is, or isn't. But usually you get the kind of people you described that can't or won't help or don't care. About the radiator. I have seen more and more replacement applications with the two core aluminum radiators and was wondering about their cooling efficiency, your experience encourages me. I am going to buy one for my '46 project soon and will probably end up with one like that.

Olds64

I know exactly what everyone is saying. It's especially hard ordering parts for the older generation engines like the 394/371.

Hey Oldsguy! This thread makes me think of stupid Scott at the local O'Reillys. That guy is an Einstein! LoL. Oh well, like someone said it is a love, hate relationship.

joe_padavano

Of course one way to keep prices low is to keep salaries low, which is why there is a high turnover rate. There was a third competent counter person at my local Advanced, but he left.

I also understand that many of the young people working at these stores weren't even born when the last carbureted Olds was sold in 1990.

As for the radiator, I just wanted to clarify that the aftermarket aluminum radiators like BeCool and Griffin brands use 1" wide tubes and aluminum welded tanks. This one uses narrower tubes and crimped-on plastic tanks, like newer OEM radiators. As I said, I was worried, but apparently for naught since the car went up and down the mountains on I-81 in PA, sat in stop and go traffic at the periodic construction sites, had the A/C going the whole time, and still ran cooler than it had previously. Some of that may have been blockage in the old radiator, but the aluminum one certainly was no worse from a cooling standpoint and was considerably lighter than the copper unit. From a fitment standpoint it was a complete drop-in. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.