Group buy- Delrin bush for shift rod

[mike202]

When I receive the refund I will share out between everyone in the group buy. The email I have says up to ten days.
I agree it is good customer service from Jason as clearly there is a variance in fitting which had not been expected.

 

[ozziedog]

Well I was definitely not expecting that. I’m converted now to ‘ Air Cooled Vintage Works ‘ as a customer. Not used them as far as I’m aware but I’ll definitely look them up first when ever I need anything. All round though , we have a cast of stars, from the handling of the whole shebang. Mike of course who started and orchestrated the whole thing and all the peeps in between that behaved impeccably with Clem raising awareness in a soft manner ‘Lifes Too Short’ then Sparkywig mentioning that ‘Stuff needs modifying’ and ‘Such Is Life, and Yellow bay 69 picking up the baton and helping with proceedings and helpful suggestions from AndrewBlackwell, Matty 74, Bali, and W1K1 among others.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,,chuffed with the results and with you guys

 

[matty74]

You’ve got to love American customer service, fair play . Thanks @YellowBay69 and @mike202 for making all this happen.

 

[matty74]

I know nobody likes a show off, but mine just pushed in by hand and clicked. Hopefully others who haven’t done theirs yet will have the same result

The previous white bushing had about 3mm play in it before I removed it so I was fairly positive the new one would click into place.

Measured the recess with some mig wire bent at 90deg to confirm the barbs would clear the front lip.

The bush is a very snug fit on the front rod and I think that will take some getting used to, although my shifter position may need a tweak as I was rushing to get van back in garage before rain started

*** Update *** Adjusted the shifter base plate today and gear selection feels much tighter (in a positive way) through the H.

A great result all round

 

[Mikek]

Thanks to all involved, a great result in the circumstances. And brilliant to see a company with integrity.

 

[mike202]

I've transferred £34.20 to 8 PayPal accounts this morning. This is £684 divided by 20.

There are 11 people who paid me via bank transfer. Can you PM your bank details please.

 

[matty74]

Thanks Mike

This has to be the best group buy in the history of group buys.

My gearshift is brilliant now.

Thanks again to all those involved in providing the info to obtain the refund.

What we group buying next?

 

[ozziedog]

Just to update this thread and to make everybody totally aware. I’ve taken my envelope and put him down in the garage and now he’s nowhere to be seen. Looks like he’s evaporated into the mists of time or a drawer somewhere.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,it’ll turn up sometime somewhere

 

[giraffeinbath]

I hadn't clocked there was a problem until the PayPal refund came in which propmted me to come back to the thread. Thanks to all involved, I've not tried fitting mine yet so I'll keep my fingers crossed I get lucky

Big respect to Jason at Aircooled Vintage Works, I've always considered the measure of a company is not how good they appear when everything is rosy but how they deal with a problem when something goes wrong, in this case Jason has dealt with it admirably.

 

[ozziedog]

I hadn't clocked there was a problem until the PayPal refund came in which propmted me to come back to the thread. Thanks to all involved, I've not tried fitting mine yet so I'll keep my fingers crossed I get lucky

Big respect to Jason at Aircooled Vintage Works, I've always considered the measure of a company is not how good they appear when everything is rosy but how they deal with a problem when something goes wrong, in this case Jason has dealt with it admirably.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,And Some.

 

[NickP]

DM just sent. Thanks Mike

 

[gas1man]

Thanks Mike ,
Refund received thank you very much, and big respect to Aircooled Vintage Works.
I am sure they will become a regularly consulted website by all of us.

J & P

 

[Mikek]

DM just sent, hopefully! I had to look up how to do it , cheers Mike

 

[YellowBay69]

Payment received- thanks Mike

 

[YellowBay69]

Just had a response from Washburn Metals (the bush manufacturer)…bit late to the party.

Feel a little sorry for Jason at Aircooledvw…. but hey ho.
We’ve all learned something… quite what i’m not sure.

 

[mike202]

I think the delrin bush is precisely made, so that there is no sloppiness at the guide pin and the front shift rod. The problem is the shift rods appear to not be precisely engineered so there is some that fit and some don't with the delrin bush. It certainly would have not fit my OG shift rod. Jason at Aircooled Vintage works has decided to just issue a refund for the whole group buy, as he probably doesn't want this to drag on for weeks with some people saying it doesn't fit, some saying they have had to modify the shift rod or the bush itself etc.

His message in the email to you is that if you can get it to fit and work then that's fine, but if not you've got your money back (or most of it). I am fairly sure if any earlybayer really wants to make it fit they can do it, but some may decide they don't need to bother with that work right now and leave it for another day.

Finally, the reply from Washburn's doesn't help much as they don't seem to acknowledge that there is a significant difference in measurements in the shift rods.

This group buy has certainly been a learning experience for me, I can't believe how the story has progressed along the way. I did get burned by the import tax which I hadn't estimated correctly. Unfortunately I feel that the tax is so much, that it makes it marginal when considering whether to buy from abroad on anything over £135.

I hope no one feels let down by what's happened, if the new bush doesn't fit easily like it should have done.

I am looking forward to moving on to other projects now, as this has taken up far too much of my time!

 

[matty74]

Well said Mike and thanks again to you and Steve for getting a positive outcome. I doubt that it would’ve been the same if we bought direct from the manufacturer.

I’m sure that the 20 in the group have the skills to fettle the bush into place and I can confirm, it’s a worthwhile effort.

 

[chad]

Thanks very much.
The refund has also just come through.