What ever happened to customer service?
Well if you came this far here the beginning of my rant. I've decided to wait to rant till I had all my parts back from them because of how shitty their customer service was. I didn't want my parts "forgotten" about any more than they were. Anyways, way last year I was digging around the internet for aftermarket fuel tanks for my mustang. I knew I probably wouldn't find something that would work exactly, but if I figured if I found something close enough then maybe the manufacturer would modify it for me for a bit extra. Anyways, I was given the suggestion from a local dealer to check out Rick's Hot Rod shop since they do all kinds of tanks. So I gave them a call at the beginning of October 2009 to see what they could do. I talked with Hector down there and he gave me some pictures. So after a bit of chatting I was going to send him the stock GT500 in-tank pumps in which he would put them into a tank with the following specs:
1- Use 22-gallon stainless steel tank with baffles as base
2- Add access panel for dual in-tank pumps (provided by customer)
3- Separate electrical connectors for each pump next to fuel sender
4- Cover for electrical connectors to hide wires
5- Extra-thick access flange for blind-tapped holes
6- Vent port next to fuel filler
7- Internal check valves for fuel cutoff in case of rollover.
So I was given the delivery time of 6-8 weeks, which put it before Christmas. Well after Christmas pasted, and I kept calling to see what was taking so long. I quickly found that that Hector will not return your calls no matter how many messages you leave with anyone else for him to call you. So the best thing to do is just keep trying back till you can get him on the phone. Which is the first sign of very worthless customer service to say the least. Hector finally sent me some pictures of a tank in progress at the beginning of January. His excuse was that his metal supplier is taking a long time getting him a piece of stainless plate for him to cut the access opening. You know what McMaster Carr has it in stock ready to ship the same day. Online Metals has it in stock ready to ship the same day cut to any freaking size you want. I'm so sick and tired of this overused excuse "Oh my supplier is having trouble getting me the material." You know what? In this day and age of the internet there is a boatload of suppliers eager to ship out just about anything at a moment's notice. I can understand if there is one specialty part from a specific manufacturer might be out of stock, but not something as common as stock metal. That's just utter laziness on the shop manager's part. Believe me, I've heard this same excuse from several local machine shops building other parts for the company I work for. Is it that hard to spend the extra $2 and get me my part in your original quoted time? What really angers me even more is if I give you a supplier that has it in stock at a price that I'm willing to pay and you refuse to order from them because you deal with somebody else. And that somebody else doesn't have it and it takes them several weeks to get it to you. That is really a dumb way to run a business, and it's the reason why you don't get alot of repeat business from people.
Anyways February rolls around and still no tank. So I call up again (by this time I was calling every week) to see what's up. I get some other crappy excuse about the fuel pumps, so I tell them just to put in two Walbros and send mine back because I need the tank to mock things up with. So I finally get my tank in March. But what of my fuel pumps? That took another several calls and several weeks before Hector "remembered" to ship it out. Anyways, back to the tank, once I get the tank I was eager to check it out and see how well they built it...
1- Use 22-gallon stainless steel tank with baffles as base
2- Add access panel for dual in-tank pumps (provided by customer)
3- Separate electrical connectors for each pump next to fuel sender
4- Cover for electrical connectors to hide wires
5- Extra-thick access flange for blind-tapped holes
6- Vent port next to fuel filler
7- Internal check valves for fuel cutoff in case of rollover.
So I was given the delivery time of 6-8 weeks, which put it before Christmas. Well after Christmas pasted, and I kept calling to see what was taking so long. I quickly found that that Hector will not return your calls no matter how many messages you leave with anyone else for him to call you. So the best thing to do is just keep trying back till you can get him on the phone. Which is the first sign of very worthless customer service to say the least. Hector finally sent me some pictures of a tank in progress at the beginning of January. His excuse was that his metal supplier is taking a long time getting him a piece of stainless plate for him to cut the access opening. You know what McMaster Carr has it in stock ready to ship the same day. Online Metals has it in stock ready to ship the same day cut to any freaking size you want. I'm so sick and tired of this overused excuse "Oh my supplier is having trouble getting me the material." You know what? In this day and age of the internet there is a boatload of suppliers eager to ship out just about anything at a moment's notice. I can understand if there is one specialty part from a specific manufacturer might be out of stock, but not something as common as stock metal. That's just utter laziness on the shop manager's part. Believe me, I've heard this same excuse from several local machine shops building other parts for the company I work for. Is it that hard to spend the extra $2 and get me my part in your original quoted time? What really angers me even more is if I give you a supplier that has it in stock at a price that I'm willing to pay and you refuse to order from them because you deal with somebody else. And that somebody else doesn't have it and it takes them several weeks to get it to you. That is really a dumb way to run a business, and it's the reason why you don't get alot of repeat business from people.
Anyways February rolls around and still no tank. So I call up again (by this time I was calling every week) to see what's up. I get some other crappy excuse about the fuel pumps, so I tell them just to put in two Walbros and send mine back because I need the tank to mock things up with. So I finally get my tank in March. But what of my fuel pumps? That took another several calls and several weeks before Hector "remembered" to ship it out. Anyways, back to the tank, once I get the tank I was eager to check it out and see how well they built it...
Stupid Shipping Department
So here is where my frustration really starts to step up. The box they shipped it in doesn't have any "This end Up" labels anywhere. So what happens? Well it probably was stood on end in the truck and driven here and there. Well the metal flange on the right side of the tank is bent down in the corners because of the cheap packaging that they used. Let's think about this, you are shipping a heavy steel tank in a cardboard box with a sheet metal flange that sticks out. Common sense would tell you to add some stiff packing material around the flange so that if it is dropped the packing material would spread the impact out over the flat side of the tank instead of the metal flange. Wadded up newspaper DOESN'T COUNT! Why couldn't you spend $10 on some thick foam or better yet $2 on a 2x4 and cut it to sit against the side of the tank so that it sticks past the flange to protect it? I refuse to blame the shipping company for damage when the supplier does a complete inept job of packing an expensive piece of hardware.
Other than the shipping flange, visually I see several things wrong with the tank. First off the vent (blue thingy) isn't next to the fill port (spec 6). This will cause me to have to run a hose all the way across my tank and to the fill port to vent it. The next thing that was wrong was there was no cover for the fuel sender wire (spec 4). I specifically told him to have a single cover for all the electrical connections to the tank. Maybe they were so happy about the recessed portion for the fuel pump connections they forgot about the sender? Heck I don't know, but it's freaking stupid to say the least. Oh and that little cover? Well the idea was for a single screw to hold it down. I give them credit for at least taking a jab at it. They did weld a little tab for the cover to rest on in the rear. Unfortunately they made the standoff that the screw goes in too short so the cover sits down crooked as looks like an afterthought chunk of metal tossed on randomly. That and the negative posts of the fuel pumps cram into this cover when it's bolted down making the problem even worst. Speaking of screws, why couldn't they of put some forethought into having one type of screw for the tank? There are three different screws for the three different openings. I would of cut them some slack if it would of been two (one for the small sender and then one larger for the main access panel and electrical cover). Yah so there are #10, #12, and 1/4" screws for everything. These are so close together that you could of just picked one and it would have been fine. How can I say this; simply stupid.
Oh, and the crowing mess-up: Remember me telling you how the reason the tank was so late was because they were waiting on material for the access panel to make the holes blind tapped? Well I started to take out those screws and noticed that they were different lengths and all covered in thread sealant (and for that matter the access panel was aluminum and not stainless). Well turns out that when they were tapping the holes they went too deep on some of them and actually broke through the other side, completely defeating the purpose of a blind tapped hole in a fluid tank. What kind of incompetent machinist does it take to not realize this. It's a BLIND-TAPPED hole, figure it out. Oh, and the screws for the fuel sender? Yah those were through-hole tapped. So I threw the tank back into the box, just simply disgusted that I waited so long for this trash. So the next day I gave Hector another call....
Oh, and the crowing mess-up: Remember me telling you how the reason the tank was so late was because they were waiting on material for the access panel to make the holes blind tapped? Well I started to take out those screws and noticed that they were different lengths and all covered in thread sealant (and for that matter the access panel was aluminum and not stainless). Well turns out that when they were tapping the holes they went too deep on some of them and actually broke through the other side, completely defeating the purpose of a blind tapped hole in a fluid tank. What kind of incompetent machinist does it take to not realize this. It's a BLIND-TAPPED hole, figure it out. Oh, and the screws for the fuel sender? Yah those were through-hole tapped. So I threw the tank back into the box, just simply disgusted that I waited so long for this trash. So the next day I gave Hector another call....
When companies really piss you off...
I called Hector with my list of problems and his responses were completely worthless to say the least. Here's a list of my problems and his response:
1-Fuel Sender holes were through-tapped. His response was that this was industry standard. You know what I specifically said only blind-tapped holes on the tank. I paid extra money for thicker flanges so that there would be only blind tapped holes. So I asked what he was going to do about it and he just basically blew it off.
2-Access cover is aluminum and not stainless. His response was this is how they also did it. I ask him why did they sell it as a complete stainless steel tank when in fact it was not? He again just basically blew the question off.
3-Access cover screw holes are broken through. His response was after they drilled and tapped that ring they then weld it into place. During welding the holes have a tendency to oval, so they have to run a tap into them again to straighten them back out. Let's think about this. If welding is causing the holes to oval, then weld first before running the tap into the hole. This prevents you from removing too much material making the threaded hole worthless. Which is what happened in my case. Basically all the different length screws were because some of the holes the threads had stripped out and they had to drill and tap deeper, in which they accidentally broke through in a few spots. I ask him what he was going to do about it because I had paid extra money for it. He said that he wanted to make it up to and he needed to talk with Rick. Their solution was to just use thread sealant on the threads. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! You have an o-ring there for a reason, it's called fluid sealing, put it to use. So basically they just told me to go screw myself.
By this time the responses I got for the vent being in the wrong place and the electrical cover not covering the fuel sender, etc didn't really matter. While on the phone I held my disgust in because they still haven't sent me back my original fuel pumps. I didn't want to get into a pissing match until I had all my original property back. Which was several weeks later. I called back once again to see what they would do, and I still got the same hollow responses and run around.
So basically I paid out over $1,400 for a stainless steel tank that isn't completely stainless (access cover is aluminum), built halfway to specs that I had to pay extra for, which took months longer to get to me instead of the weeks in which it was promised. So my recommendation is that you steer clear of Rick's Hot Rod Shop for any of your automotive needs. They are a prime example of just how bad customer service can be. Not to mention when I had a problem with the quality of their goods and their answers were basically to just deal with it myself. Well you know what, SCREW YOU, I'LL TAKE CARE OF IT MYSELF. What's really funny is just how many people I have told not to do any business with them. You'll be surprised at how far word of mouth recommendations will go.
1-Fuel Sender holes were through-tapped. His response was that this was industry standard. You know what I specifically said only blind-tapped holes on the tank. I paid extra money for thicker flanges so that there would be only blind tapped holes. So I asked what he was going to do about it and he just basically blew it off.
2-Access cover is aluminum and not stainless. His response was this is how they also did it. I ask him why did they sell it as a complete stainless steel tank when in fact it was not? He again just basically blew the question off.
3-Access cover screw holes are broken through. His response was after they drilled and tapped that ring they then weld it into place. During welding the holes have a tendency to oval, so they have to run a tap into them again to straighten them back out. Let's think about this. If welding is causing the holes to oval, then weld first before running the tap into the hole. This prevents you from removing too much material making the threaded hole worthless. Which is what happened in my case. Basically all the different length screws were because some of the holes the threads had stripped out and they had to drill and tap deeper, in which they accidentally broke through in a few spots. I ask him what he was going to do about it because I had paid extra money for it. He said that he wanted to make it up to and he needed to talk with Rick. Their solution was to just use thread sealant on the threads. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! You have an o-ring there for a reason, it's called fluid sealing, put it to use. So basically they just told me to go screw myself.
By this time the responses I got for the vent being in the wrong place and the electrical cover not covering the fuel sender, etc didn't really matter. While on the phone I held my disgust in because they still haven't sent me back my original fuel pumps. I didn't want to get into a pissing match until I had all my original property back. Which was several weeks later. I called back once again to see what they would do, and I still got the same hollow responses and run around.
So basically I paid out over $1,400 for a stainless steel tank that isn't completely stainless (access cover is aluminum), built halfway to specs that I had to pay extra for, which took months longer to get to me instead of the weeks in which it was promised. So my recommendation is that you steer clear of Rick's Hot Rod Shop for any of your automotive needs. They are a prime example of just how bad customer service can be. Not to mention when I had a problem with the quality of their goods and their answers were basically to just deal with it myself. Well you know what, SCREW YOU, I'LL TAKE CARE OF IT MYSELF. What's really funny is just how many people I have told not to do any business with them. You'll be surprised at how far word of mouth recommendations will go.
Fixing the flange
First I had to fix the flange. This was easy enough with a block of wood and a mallet. The only problem was since the front was so severely bent that it actually broke the flange in the bend. I straighten the best I could. Hopefully if I place the screws right it will keep it from progressing anymore. If not I'll have to take it out and weld it up.
Fixing the threads
I refused to have multiple length screws for a bolt circle. I ordered up some #12 heli-coils and had to drill, tap, and heli-coil all of these access holes. Adding stainless steel heli-coils to a base of stainless-steel is really dumb, but it's what I had to do to get these threads right.
Fixing the fill hole
Here you can see that the main fill hole has no backflow prevention in it. Luckily the vent hole does, but what good is plugging a small 7/16" hole, when you have a gapping 1-3/4" open? Again it's retarded. Anyways, I've got an idea for a integral vent/fill/backflow prevention that will slide into the stock fill pipe. This will seal shut in a rollover, yet allow air to escape when filling to prevent gurgling so common with these cars. I'll keep you posted on this one.
List of upgrades
1- Replace aluminum cover with stainless steel. This will not have a vent hole in it.
2- Extend stud under fuel pump electrical cover. Replace socket head screw with button head. Adjust electrical connection studs.
3- Make cover cap for fuel sender.
2- Extend stud under fuel pump electrical cover. Replace socket head screw with button head. Adjust electrical connection studs.
3- Make cover cap for fuel sender.
Installing the tank
After putting down some weather-stripping, at least the tank drops in rather uneventful. I used 12x 1/4" bolts to really clamp the tank down. The front to rear dimensions looks really good. But they could of gone another 1" wider overall with the main tank just to get a bit more fuel capacity. But as long as I get 22 gallons it's a nice margin over the original 16 gallons (or less which was actually usable).
