In a message dated 10/2/02 1:58:14 PM Pacific Daylight Time, mikeeck@optonline.net writes:
<< f not, do I have too many or too few? If
too few, without ID numbers how do I determine and communicate which one is
missing?
Mike I absolutely agree with you. I have been helping my best friend for the
past year and a half to develop, market, test, and ship a modification kit to
install Toyota 5 speed trannys into TR2, TR3, TR4, TR4A. TR250, and TR6
automobiles.
Before he retired, he owned a precision machine shop, and before that he
worked as an aircraft machinist for Contiental. He is a perfectionist in all
he does. He wants his kits to be perfect, and as a result, we have made 5
pattern changes to the bell housing and several revisions to the kit. He has
personally installed a kit in each and every car it is supposed to fit, with
revisions to the entire kit after each installation. I can not begin to tell
you how many times the installation instructions have been revised bevcause
they weren’t perfect. It is unlikely he will ever recover the cost of labor
we have put in, but it is a labor of love. We want it to be correct.
It has become obvious to both of us how very difficult it is to really make
everything right, and how far short most after market stuff falls when
compared to what he’s doing.
On the other hand, if the average company did go that amount of trouble to
ensure parts were absolutely correct, they probably couldn’t afford to sell
parts for the price they do.
Still, its my money that went for the coil that leaks oil, the console inlay
that doesn’t fit, the headlamp rims that were drilled wrong, the arcing plug
ends, the speedo cable with the loose ferule etc. as nauseum.
So Tom was caught in the middle of this fracas.
Dear Mike… when you get one of those things to fit a TR-3 small mouth,
let me know. I desparately need a tranny for the car…mine disappeared
when the mechanic closed up shop w/o telling anyone.
aloha
stuart m. cowan
honolulu, HI
71 OTS
55 TR3
On Wed, 2 Oct 2002 17:33:55 EDT MMoore8425@aol.com writes:> In a message dated 10/2/02 1:58:14 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
<< f not, do I have too many or too few? If
too few, without ID numbers how do I determine and communicate
which one is
missing?
Mike I absolutely agree with you. I have been helping my best friend
for the
past year and a half to develop, market, test, and ship a
modification kit to
install Toyota 5 speed trannys into TR2, TR3, TR4, TR4A. TR250, and
TR6
automobiles.
Before he retired, he owned a precision machine shop, and before
that he
worked as an aircraft machinist for Contiental. He is a
perfectionist in all
he does. He wants his kits to be perfect, and as a result, we have
made 5
pattern changes to the bell housing and several revisions to the
kit. He has
personally installed a kit in each and every car it is supposed to
fit, with
revisions to the entire kit after each installation. I can not begin
to tell
you how many times the installation instructions have been revised
bevcause
they weren’t perfect. It is unlikely he will ever recover the cost
of labor
we have put in, but it is a labor of love. We want it to be correct.
It has become obvious to both of us how very difficult it is to
really make
everything right, and how far short most after market stuff falls
when
compared to what he’s doing.
Stuart, they are available right about now. The first 25 kits are being
assembled-contact handhvan@msn.com. You have to get your own Toyota tranny
though.
<<
Aside from the one sentence, what the h*ll does this have to do
with Tom Giffen?
Sorry Warren, I digressed.
I am exasperated by the crap that is (necessarily) passed on to us by the
suppliers, Tom was probably exasperated by having to answer questions
(ignorant like me) people have about how make things work. When things don’t
work right, could be bad parts, or bad knowledge-I can’t tell half the time.
I also tried to say that it takes an awful lot of time and money to get the
level of quality we all desire, and that level of quality costs so much that
it may make economical parts unavailable.
In this case I’m not looking for higher quality (although having the holes
drilled in the right places would be nice). All I want is to have the bags
labeled. Or in the case of my new multi-thousand dollar interior, how about
a Xerox sheet showing where all the little schnibbles of leather, furflex
and jute go? If I had had that it wouldn’t have taken me as long to
determine that the supplier had sent me the console for a manual car but the
kick panels for an automatic. Now it’s too late to exchange them.
Mike Eck
New Jersey, USA
'51 XK120 OTS
'62 3.8 MK2 MOD
'72 SIII E-Type 2+2
I also tried to say that it takes an awful lot of time and money to get
the
level of quality we all desire, and that level of quality costs so much
that> it may make economical parts unavailable.
In this case I’m not looking for higher quality
(although having the holes
drilled in the right places would be nice).
All I want is to have the bags
labeled. Or in the case of my new
multi-thousand dollar interior, how about
a Xerox sheet showing where all the little
schnibbles of leather, furflex
and jute go
That’s why I save old catalogs. The original BA catalog from about 1995 had
several pages showing the locations and shapes of the pieces.
It’s too bad that they don’t reprint them on the web site or something.
(Anyone listening?)
George Cohn
'70 OTSOn Fri, 04 Oct 2002 09:24:32 -0400 Mike Eck mikeeck@optonline.net wrote:
In a message dated 10/2/02 1:58:14 PM Pacific Daylight Time, mikeeck@optonline.net writes:
<< f not, do I have too many or too few? If
too few, without ID numbers how do I determine and communicate which one is
missing?
Mike I absolutely agree with you. I have been helping my best friend for the
past year and a half to develop, market, test, and ship a modification kit to
install Toyota 5 speed trannys into TR2, TR3, TR4, TR4A. TR250, and TR6
automobiles.
Before he retired, he owned a precision machine shop, and before that he
worked as an aircraft machinist for Contiental. He is a perfectionist in all
he does. He wants his kits to be perfect, and as a result, we have made 5
pattern changes to the bell housing and several revisions to the kit. He has
personally installed a kit in each and every car it is supposed to fit, with
revisions to the entire kit after each installation. I can not begin to tell
you how many times the installation instructions have been revised bevcause
they weren’t perfect. It is unlikely he will ever recover the cost of labor
we have put in, but it is a labor of love. We want it to be correct.
It has become obvious to both of us how very difficult it is to really make
everything right, and how far short most after market stuff falls when
compared to what he’s doing.
On the other hand, if the average company did go that amount of trouble to
ensure parts were absolutely correct, they probably couldn’t afford to sell
parts for the price they do.
Still, its my money that went for the coil that leaks oil, the console inlay
that doesn’t fit, the headlamp rims that were drilled wrong, the arcing plug
ends, the speedo cable with the loose ferule etc. as nauseum.
So Tom was caught in the middle of this fracas.