<VV> Auto Parts Stores - non-Corvair, but uplifting

[Sethracer at aol.com]

On more than one occasion, I have heard someone on Virtual Vairs give a  
slap-down to the "Chain" auto parts stores. Yes, It would be nice if there was 
a  fully-stocked NAPA store down the street, but they are a ways away from 
my home,  and usually not open on Sunday. This afternoon, (Sunday) I was 
pursuing a  pair of non-functioning gauges on a 97 Camaro that has graced my 
driveway for a  few years now, defying attempts at meeting the stringent 
California smog-check  process. I determined that the oil pressure sender - for 
the gauge - was  malfunctioning. I actually used the troubleshooting 
flow-chart in the original  GM shop manual. I heard the gauge respond - taking the 
word of my  observing wife - to a ground and "not" at the plug to the sender. 
So a new  sender it was. The sender on this car lives, like on most Chevy 
V8s behind  everything else at the back of the motor - in theory, at least. I 
can feel it,  but not actually see it. But later I dragged a Corvair pal 
with me  to visit the nearest auto chain store - in this case a Pep Boys about 
 10 blocks away. Entering the front door, I observed a line of 9 or 10 
people  waiting for service at the combination parts look-up counter and 
check-out  register. An instant U-turn, and we hopped back into the car and drove a 
couple  of miles to an AutoZone. We entered and found a nice lady at the 
computer, happy  to look up my sending unit needs. They had it in stock and, 
my wallet a bit  lighter, we turned and headed home, not 3 minutes later.  
About an  hour later, I layed a folded moving blanket over the top of the 
Camaro motor and  straddled it face down, with both hands reaching around to the 
"theoretical"  pressure sender. The sending unit on this car, for some 
unknown reason has  three pin connectors, but only one wire coming out in the 
harness to the  gauge. (WTF?) The sender is about 3.5 inches tall, but mounted 
horizontally into  a tall 90 degree fitting. I had absolutely no way to get 
a wrench on it. Got any  4" tall 1 1/6" sockets, or a 1 1/16 crows foot 
wrench? The Corvair oil pressure  switch socket would have fit the metal part, 
but there was two inches of plastic  sticking up in the middle. And it was 
way beyond hand removal. So I packed the  replacement in my pocket and headed 
out to find another tool! I visited my local  Harbor Freight -always a 
dangerous path - but left empty handed. So on the  way back to the house, I 
dropped back in to the Pep Boys I had visited earlier.  I visited the tool 
aisle, but found nothing that would do the trick. So I  walked over to the 
"service" department and interrupted a pair of mechanics. One  looked at the 
sender and said "Oh yeah, that one!" and walked me back to the  tool aisle. We 
both looked at the empty peg, where the right tool may have  resided, at one 
time. Then he did what I have often done when presented with  that view, I 
check the pegs to the left and right, behind the tools on the front  of the 
peg. Eureka, someone had stuffed the correct sucker behind the next  smaller 
size socket, in "tool purgatory". A bunch more dollars and I was  headed home 
with the right socket. With a stubby ratchet and a wobble extension,  the 
swap was quick and easy. And now all gauges work. It won't help the smog  
test, but at least I can drive to it without imagining all sorts of  internal 
issues. 60 PSI on start-up. 
So finally, I have both Pep Boys and Autozone to  thank for helping me 
accomplish this Sunday task. Of course, I  have a nice tall socket that I will 
likely never, ever use again. But that  is what a project is for, an excuse 
to buy more tools!
 
Seth Emerson