Mr Belvedere 30144
Well-Known Member
What a day yesterday. I spent 9 hours at the shop where they were working on my car. So It should have been maybe 3 hours.
I had an exhaust leak in my passenger side header gasket. So I needed the gasket replaced. I could not do this like I would have because of my recent spinal fusion back surgery . I took it to this shop I had taken it too before called Detroit muscle. The Mgr is in my car club. They are great guys.
So I get there at 9am and they start checking out the leak but point out my master cylinder is dripping brake fluid very fast between the back of it and the brake booster. Apparently the inner seal on the master cylinder partially blew on the way over there. Had they not noticed I could have had a total brake failure if the seal blew all at once. The master cylinder is maybe 5 years old. Typical china rebuilt one. So Mike the Mgr agreed he would fix it for me if I could locate the replacement. We are both going to some car cruise ins Saturday and he didn't want to see my Memorial day weekend ruined.
I went to the auto parts store and after looking at some pictures found the replacement. Of course they didn't have it but it was across town at the warehouse. They would have it at 1:30. So they do the gasket repair. I watch a video in their break room area. At 1:30 I call the auto parts store and the master cylinder is in. Yayyyy!!! BUT.........He opens the box and the casting is broken.!! How does that happen? I could drop one off a roof and it wouldn't break as they are steel. Go figure!! So I am bummed out.
Mike says don't give up, get the part number. So I do that and he calls around to his contacts and finds one with another parts house in a warehouse on the other side of Atlanta. It's now 2pm.
The say they can get it to him by 5pm they think depending on holiday Friday traffic.
They close at the shop at 6pm. Its a holiday weekend so no one really wants to stay late.
I ask Mike what if it does not show by 5pm? He said it will be here before 6 and it shouldn't take long to replace it. Don't worry we will get you fixed up today.
So by 5:15 it has not shown up. But wait...... they call the shop and let us know it's on it's way and is somewhere between the parts ware house and the shop.
They say don't worry we will stay and wait for it. At 5:30 it shows up and guess what......It's the right one!
Thanks to me being persistent at the original auto parts place looking at different pictures of master cylinders on their system computer to find the right one. Because it's been upgraded from original manual drum brakes to power disc brakes they would not know where to begin to find the right master cylinder. I had to do it and lucked out and found the right one.
So it took 30 min and they had it installed and done and my weekend is saved. These guys are soo great. I went around and thanked everyone individually. They love my car anyway.
So I have a breakfast with members of the club at 8am then to a cruise in at 9am to 12pm then another big cruise in where they close down the streets in downtown Dallas Ga. from 3pm to 8pm.
It cost me $450.00 for all the repair work replacing the gasket and master cylinder and the cost of the new part. The labor rate is $95 per hour. I left there right at 6pm. I got there at 9am no breakfast. Around 2pm after we ordered the second part I walked around the corner to this Italian restaurant and had a some pizza and Guiness.
So bad luck on the broken part but good luck on them finding the leaking master cylinder in the first place and staying to get me back on the road. That's customer service. I am going to tell everyone at the Tuesday morning cub breakfast meeting how great they are. The Manager Mike is always there.
Plus he let me borrow some car movies. Do you remember any of these movies?
Two lane blacktop, Bullit, Dirty Mary and Crazy Larry and Vanishing point.
Jeez my index fingers hurts from typing!
Just goes to show you there are still great shops and car guys who care about the customers and their cars and go out of their way to help. If anyone in this area needs anything done on or for their classic these guys do it all!!!
I had an exhaust leak in my passenger side header gasket. So I needed the gasket replaced. I could not do this like I would have because of my recent spinal fusion back surgery . I took it to this shop I had taken it too before called Detroit muscle. The Mgr is in my car club. They are great guys.
So I get there at 9am and they start checking out the leak but point out my master cylinder is dripping brake fluid very fast between the back of it and the brake booster. Apparently the inner seal on the master cylinder partially blew on the way over there. Had they not noticed I could have had a total brake failure if the seal blew all at once. The master cylinder is maybe 5 years old. Typical china rebuilt one. So Mike the Mgr agreed he would fix it for me if I could locate the replacement. We are both going to some car cruise ins Saturday and he didn't want to see my Memorial day weekend ruined.
I went to the auto parts store and after looking at some pictures found the replacement. Of course they didn't have it but it was across town at the warehouse. They would have it at 1:30. So they do the gasket repair. I watch a video in their break room area. At 1:30 I call the auto parts store and the master cylinder is in. Yayyyy!!! BUT.........He opens the box and the casting is broken.!! How does that happen? I could drop one off a roof and it wouldn't break as they are steel. Go figure!! So I am bummed out.
Mike says don't give up, get the part number. So I do that and he calls around to his contacts and finds one with another parts house in a warehouse on the other side of Atlanta. It's now 2pm.
The say they can get it to him by 5pm they think depending on holiday Friday traffic.
They close at the shop at 6pm. Its a holiday weekend so no one really wants to stay late.
I ask Mike what if it does not show by 5pm? He said it will be here before 6 and it shouldn't take long to replace it. Don't worry we will get you fixed up today.
So by 5:15 it has not shown up. But wait...... they call the shop and let us know it's on it's way and is somewhere between the parts ware house and the shop.
They say don't worry we will stay and wait for it. At 5:30 it shows up and guess what......It's the right one!
Thanks to me being persistent at the original auto parts place looking at different pictures of master cylinders on their system computer to find the right one. Because it's been upgraded from original manual drum brakes to power disc brakes they would not know where to begin to find the right master cylinder. I had to do it and lucked out and found the right one.
So it took 30 min and they had it installed and done and my weekend is saved. These guys are soo great. I went around and thanked everyone individually. They love my car anyway.
So I have a breakfast with members of the club at 8am then to a cruise in at 9am to 12pm then another big cruise in where they close down the streets in downtown Dallas Ga. from 3pm to 8pm.
It cost me $450.00 for all the repair work replacing the gasket and master cylinder and the cost of the new part. The labor rate is $95 per hour. I left there right at 6pm. I got there at 9am no breakfast. Around 2pm after we ordered the second part I walked around the corner to this Italian restaurant and had a some pizza and Guiness.
So bad luck on the broken part but good luck on them finding the leaking master cylinder in the first place and staying to get me back on the road. That's customer service. I am going to tell everyone at the Tuesday morning cub breakfast meeting how great they are. The Manager Mike is always there.
Plus he let me borrow some car movies. Do you remember any of these movies?
Two lane blacktop, Bullit, Dirty Mary and Crazy Larry and Vanishing point.
Jeez my index fingers hurts from typing!
Just goes to show you there are still great shops and car guys who care about the customers and their cars and go out of their way to help. If anyone in this area needs anything done on or for their classic these guys do it all!!!
