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Brothers from other mothers, I'll apologize up front but what's the deal with parts? I can still order from Amazon and get it tomorrow. I'm ok with waiting for the good stuff but OMFG is this taking forever! Are the Chinese THIS backed up?

914 crank on the bench. Turned, balanced,  mains are in, other bearings and CB cam etc. are in, but a simple order of H-beam rods -nope. Two plus months later, "coming from the manufacturer as a special order..."  IF YOU HAVE IT ON YOUR SITE IT SHOULDN'T BE A SPECIAL ORDER -right???? If I order it, it should be reasonably in reach? Is a cobbler on the bench somewhere in XYZ building my rods?

Sorry, REALLY unhappy. Is anyone else this unhappy??? In New England, snow and cold means those warm indoor nights hiding in the basement building engines. Yet, I sit here are 2+ months waiting. Ughhhhhhhhhhh........  I've waited for 40+ years to build this car. Sigh, sigh, paper bag.....

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It took me five weeks plus to gets a set of adjustable torsion spring plates, three different vendors on eBay had them listed and one by one they didn't ship the item even though two vendors provided  tracking numbers ! Finally after eleven phone inquiries I found a new set on the west coast.  ......... As of today two headlight switches I purchased off of eBay went from Florida to Georgia on to VA, then back to Florida and now on vacation in San Juan Puerto Rico !

Thanks Alan! Glad (not really) it's not just me.

It's a little frustrating to buy something through a seller who buys it from someone else -I'm not naive, I know it's business and markup etc. but Jesus H Christ! Had I known the wait I'd have paid more.

I've got a house renovation, kid in college, etc. so $300 for rods isn't much but it's Christmas for me.

Inquired at Fat Performance. Maybe they can do better. We all know, you don't cheap on the lower end -of anything -ha ha

A lot of businesses don't stock items, they ship directly from the manufacturer. It costs less because they don't need the warehouse space needed for all items, just (perhaps) the frequently purchased. Lots of places do this and simply don't have the infrastructure Amazon does.



If the items come from outside the US, some are getting hung up in customs or the docks due to COVID. This still occurred before COVID but not as frequently. I heard about many situations where shipping containers were stuck at the docks for months before they were allowed to move.

This is, in part, why precision machining moved back to the US a few years ago. No one could wait the (potentially) months to get the parts out of the containers and even though it was cheaper, the cost in delays was higher.

@Boothy

I'm not sure that your new part woes are entirely due to Covid.  It sounds more like you haven't paid your "safe and efficient transit during the Holidays" fees to the proper people in Bahsten.

How were your parts supposed to be shipped?  If they were coming in by air you need to pay our friends doing the off-loading at Logan airport (Hanscom Field for low-class shipping carriers).  Drive over to the DePalermo restaurant on "Father Jacobe Road" in East-a Boston, enter by the side door (do NOT look as though you're carrying) and ask for Giuseppe to make a "donation" to the "St. Cecelia Christmas Fund for Kids".  Once you've made your suggested "donation" for the kids, they'll ask for a description of your shipment - They may have it in the back for "protection", or they may tell you which warehouse in "East-a Bost" might have it.  Or they may just tell you to bugger off - who knows with all the shipping going on this time of year - It's all kinda fluxie, yah know?

If your parts are coming in by truck, then you'll have to pay off our other friends doing the off-loading at any of the many Teamster-run trucking and rail depots scattered around the area.  In that case, drive over to O'Hanrahan's pub on West Broadway in Southie, but go around the block and enter through Saoirse's Tailor Shop next door.  It's Gaelic and pronounced "Ser-Sha".   DON'T screw that up - she's a nice lady.  

Tell her you're looking for a place to donate for "Toys for Tots".  She'll point you to the back door, go out across the alley and tap on the next building's door.  It would help a lot if you wore a Duncher cap and tweed jacket and, again, don't look like you're carrying.  Tell them you're here to donate to "St. Brigid's Toys for Tots" (don't mess that up).  

Once they've accepted your donation they might share a shot or two of Jameson's with you if your shipment is really late as a way of making you feel better about the wait and having to find them.  Or they may offer a 16 oz. of Smithwick's Lite just to get rid of you.  The whiskey will especially be shared if you assure them that you're lineage doesn't come in any way from England or those woebegone counties to the north.  Quoting Yeats or Joyce helps - Gaelic is extra bonus points.  Ancestors from the northern counties will not help you here.  Again, after your donation (and the quality of your Gaelic) they may ask for a description of your shipment and may be protecting it for you "out back with the toys for tots stuff".  If not, they'll have to look it up in their "lost shipments" database (these guys are very high tech) and tell you where to pick it up.  

If your Gaelic sucks or they detect a British lilt to your Bahsten accent or you piss them off, they may refer you to Mr. Borovkof in the Back Bay.  If that happens, kiss your shipment good-bye as it's probably already sitting in somebody's garage in Russia.

Hope this helps, and Happy Holidays!  

Hey Gordon!

Well, it's in Russia then. I'm a Mayflower kid and Harvard '90 (British Lit -still coach crew there). BUT, I grew up in the area and know the locals -know them well. My dad grew up in Medford (Mefa) and worked at Logan (after the Air Force and NYC) for 40+ years. At the granular level, I was in college, after a toga party at Tufts, I somehow ended up hitchhiking through Medford to the Lower Deck. At 60, I think back on being 19, sh&tfaced, in a toga (with mustard -I'm purist), thumbing my way back into the city via the highway. The Medford police stopped "Buddy, you OK?" Girls stopped "Hi!!!! Wait, is that like REAL mustard?" Or then night hitching on a Boston Globe truck from Revere (Ra-Vee-ya) at 2 in the morning.

From all the alphabet streets in Southie, to Easta-Bost, to Chinatown, to Brighton, and Cambridge. Yup, know this miserable area. It's love hate relationship. Hate the Hollywood people trying to get it right -especially that hack Whalberg (he's about as local as Putin).

Nope, a WASP with NO interest in putting on the fake Irish -I'm fine. Grew up with that crap. The old guys who have been here for 50+ years but still sport the accent, to the plastic paddies who wax of dear old Ireland -but have never been there. Nope, rather have them treat me like a mortal enemy and move on -Ha Ha.

All this for connecting rods. Yup, tough times.

@Boothy If Gordon's suggestions don't pan out, you could try the auxiliary at The Plough&Stars on Commonwealth.  It's closer to Hahvahd and you can make a quicker escape if it goes pear shaped.  Don't look too clean and tell them you want to buy some IRA bumperstickers.  Don't mind the dogs on the bar, they don't know any better.

As an aside my dad worked at MIT where he also went to school.  He captained the lightweight eights in '54-55 when they won everything on the planet including Henley.  There's a carbon fiber Pocock 8 with his name on it in the MIT boathouse.  I've got very fond memories of the Charles, though none of it me rowing.  

YES, parts supplies a nightmare right now.  Textiles are there worst for those of us that use top quality carpet and leather.  Other parts are almost as bad and I'd say 50-60% of the part I have on regular order have an indefinite backorder... it SUCKS!  But I also refuse to use junk parts so all we can do is wait... and in see cases I'm manufacturing higher quality replacements on my own.  I HATE the term "new normal" but it seems to be that way this year.

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