The parts place Inc., BEWARE!

[azsigns]

Just purchased a Manual transmission kit from the parts place inc. in Illinois and an alluminum bell housing. (71 Buick Skylark 455)

First, the alluminum bell housing would not let me fit my stock 455 starter. The nose would bottom out, first call the guy who answered said he never sold one before and suggested grinding away at housing to fit. Next day I call and get a guy named Joe, (maybe a boss?) who says I need to get a starter for a manual transmission. I call every parts place in arizona and NONE show a manual transmission option for a buick 455 starter. I had to buy a mini started from TA performance for $300 to fit the beefed up aluminum bell housing. I am still waiting for Joe to put his money where his mouth is and cough up a part number for this mysterious "manual tranny starter option"

Second, the manual conversion kit Part#MT166S is not the one pictured. The z bar is made of flat steel not like factory. When I called they said they use a oldsmobile kit for the pictures and the company who fabs them just uses flat steel like the 350 motors used. The clutch fork pushrod was 2" longer than the kit would accept, & told me I needed to fabricate it to fit, but then after arguing for 10 minutes, he states that he has one that is shorter & will send it to me, but refuses to overnight it, so now I have to wait another 5-10 days for a part that I am sure is not correct. They sent parts in zip lock bags all tossed loosely in a large box which I believe was scrapped & taped together from others & shipped. I expected a little nicer packaging for $300 worth of junk. There was no clutch return spring, no grease valve, but they state the kit has everything you need minus clutch, flywheel etc.

I highly recommend anyone thinking of buying anything from these guys to seriously rethink and try Year One or TA Performance. I have never had such problems with parts, and flat out denial of their parts being faulty. This kit is absolute garbage, & I am actively looking for replacement parts.

I have had 5 different mechanics at the repair shop working on & inspecting these parts. It is a reputable shop, & they have the same opinion as me. They say the kit is JUNK and told me to find a correct kit.

[Steve Reynolds]

Very interesting and good to know. It's too bad that someone has to be the first to discover these things, but at least you are here to warn us.

I've had some very good dealings with The Parts Place, and some similar to yours being not so good. Heck, the 70GS grill I purchased from them was excellent, but another item was down right poor.

Joe is the owner, and I've met him several times. If you go to their shop, I think you would get a very clear picture of why you received what you did! It seems to be fairly unorganized with parts EVERYWHERE, none of which seem to be organized into separate automobile brands or divisions. They have a lot of good stuff in stock, but try to find it! I think what the real problem is that he tries to be a supplier of everything to everyone and by doing that you become a "generic" supplier to all. Not enough attention is paid to "detail" to make everything work smoothly. Yours is a prime example.... he assumes that if a part fits an Oldsmobile, it will automatically fit the Buick too. This is a BAD assumption and one that he should learned from instead of arguing about. That's the difference between a smart, shrewd businessman and one that just wants to make a quick buck!

I'll most likely continue to do some business with them, but only if it's my last resort. And since I get to travel close to his shop for work, I'll do any business with them "In Person", vs. mail order.

Hope you can get this straightened out!!

Steve

[Brad Conley]

azsigns,

Sorry to hear of your troubles. You may want to consider trying Mike Garrison on this board (Racebuicks is his handle) and/or Dave Kleiner for your 4 speed needs. Both are top notch vendors that care about their customers.

Also, thank you for posting your experience with TPP. I'm sure it will influence others when they need correct parts and not something that may work.

[65specialconver]

There is no such thing as a manual trans only starter for our cars,same starter fit's both mt & auto.

[70aqua_custom]

azsigns, You're not alone. I bought some junk from them too. It was a rear bumper that started peeling chrome after a year. They said send it back and IF we think you didn't cause it, we'll pro-rate it. I said fine but I wanted them to send me an exchange bumper like they did the first time so the car wouldn't be off the road for 3 weeks. They flat out refused. I also bought 4 new 15x7 rally wheels. One was bent and the chrome on all is junk. They also sent me a LH quarter extension chrome that was plain junk. They did refund my money on that after I sent it back but why send a part like that out to a customer? A spend a couple grand with them all at once when finishing up the resto.

They will never see another dime from me even if it's a last resort. Quality is not their main priority and their customer service sucks balls. :RANT:

[azsigns]

Unfortunately I am relieved to see that I am not the only one with problems from this company. Now they say that their paperwork shows that a spring was sent with the order, but I know better, so do the mechanics working on my car. They also said they didn't send a grease valve because there shouldn't be a hole tapped for one. Its funny because they have pictures I sent them when this whole thing surfaced which shows a hole drilled for one. What complete idiots. They just keep back pedalling around the issues. Now that we do have the parts they sent(minus a few that are missing) the bell crank is rubbing against their own bell housing. I cant imagine that that will be good. There were also no cotter pins in the kit. I would really like to see some pictures of someones clutch fork pushrod & z-bar assembly for a 71 skylark 455, or at least know what the proper lengths should be. They have me at about 3" space for one if that.

[greg davis]

Buick manual transmission setups are not one size fits all across the A-body lineup.

They are Buick specific and vendors dont always realize this.

[Daves69]

We all remember the wrong paint job on the 70 GS grilles.

[BuickGSrules]

I has bought some ok things from them. But TA is always delivering super stuff that fits right on.

[TimR]

I've had both and good from them. At one point they did have some parts that others did not carry. On the other hand TA stuff and smaller Buick guys have been great to deal with and sell quality stuff. YO charges huge for shipping and they have crap too. Repro stuff can be scary, good to advise others, even made a page for some parts:

http://members.shaw.ca/timcr/parts.html

[Yardley]

A '55 Chevy or a mid-sixties Corvette are very close and will work fine. The '55 Chevy one is the closest.

[tufbuick]

A '55 Chevy or a mid-sixties Corvette are very close and will work fine. The '55 Chevy one is the closest.

Step away from the Crack Pipe Dude !

:WOW::DOU::confused4::WOW::DOU::confused4::WOW::DO U::confused4::WOW::DOU::confused4:

[cacmanjr]

This is SCARY. I was just getting ready to order some parts for my 66 Skylark from them. Anyone know if their body/core support bushings and hardware kits are OK for the 66? I also planned to order their new 1 piece trunk floor with the braces etc already welded on. They did tell me that the part is for a 65 Le Mans and would require minor mods at the tail panel end to fit the Buick. Any info would be helpful.

[staged70]

You can buy a complete Buick original 4 spd change over for 3500.00 :) Ask me about how I did it. If you try to do something like TPP sells then your going to have to do some fabrication. Others have done it so it can be done but if you want to do what I did and spend close to 4k for a set up then you know all the parts will fit.

[Oldsguy]

I too have been a victum of this company. I wish I would have done my research better prior to my purchase. I spent a couple of thousand dollars on interior and the like for my car. When it arrived the wrong color and some parts were the wrong year and some I did not even get that they listed as sent. I had to pay for return shipping, they they charged me again for replacment parts without even warning me. I had to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, (which I found they have an F rating with) I also had to put a stop pay on my Visa for them charging without permission. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THESE PEOPLE!!!!

[jackjroadster]

I'm about to close a deal with them this week. They offered me a good deal and prices. I just had this feeling that something is wrong. The prices seems to good to be true. I was lucky that I've found a post linking to this page. If not,i could have lost a thousand bucks on them.

[David G]

I've made a few purchases from them over the past 5 yrs or so without a single problem.

[BBB462]

I read some bad things about them a few days AFTER I ordered from them. I was a little scared at first but everything went well. Price was right and parts arrived in 4 days.