Need help from Canadian 6.5'ers

[Non Typical]

There is a local diesel performance shop that I really like. Young husband and wife run it. Was in there yesterday getting some thing priced out.
ARP head studs would be $327
Pete Jackson timing gears would be $720

Is there anywhere this side of the border that I can get these things cheaper? IME, buying from across the border brings a huge importing fee that usually consumes any savings. Come on guys, I really don't feel like dropping 1K on these two things alone.

On a side note, checked into Snow WMI systems. The base one starts at $600 and the one I wanted, (note, "wanted), which has the onboard interactive screen that can be used for active tuning of the system, was $1850. For that much, I think I would try and build my own. :nonod:

 

[NVW]

Google "Diesel Services Group" Their stud girdle kit is about $180 cnd, you can choose whether you use the girdle or not. They may not be ARP studs but they are studs. They also have the timing gear set for $500+ cnd range. I had thought they were pricey.

Leo

 

[midniteplowboyy]

Damn, that's double what I paid for mine from summit. Do you have a friend in the states that could mail you the stuff.

 

[JiFaire]

Personally, I wouldn't buy lug nuts from DSG... but that's me. I like outfits that don't try to disguise their stuff as "Hummer-style", leading one to think they're made by AM General... when they aren't.

They ARE pricey - look at what they want for an oil-cooler kit (over $450), or for a PMD Extension harness (over $200). Both of those can be had from our vendors on here for half the price ('way less than half-price, in the case of the PMD cable)

NT, you aren't paying import fees, but 'brokerage fees' that the carrier (UPS, probably) is charging you for clearing your stuff over the border. All you really NEED to pay on auto parts at the border is the GST. (exchange is a whole 'nother issue).

You live close enough to have them shipped to the border and drive down and pick 'em up and bring them back yourself. Declare them and pay the GST. Have a little holiday, drink some of that watery stuff they call beer, all those good things. Road Trip!

By the way, Heath Diesel (a site sponsor!) has water-mist injection kits for under $500, made for your truck.

http://www.heathdiesel.com/P/HDP1671/

Just a thought. I have 'em from time to time...
Jim

 

[steelydan]

Personally, I wouldn't buy lug nuts from DSG... but that's me. I like outfits that don't try to disguise their stuff as "Hummer-style", leading one to think they're made by AM General... when they aren't.

They ARE pricey - look at what they want for an oil-cooler kit (over $450), or for a PMD Extension harness (over $200). Both of those can be had from our vendors on here for half the price ('way less than half-price, in the case of the PMD cable)

NT, you aren't paying import fees, but 'brokerage fees' that the carrier (UPS, probably) is charging you for clearing your stuff over the border. All you really NEED to pay on auto parts at the border is the GST. (exchange is a whole 'nother issue).

You live close enough to have them shipped to the border and drive down and pick 'em up and bring them back yourself. Declare them and pay the GST. Have a little holiday, drink some of that watery stuff they call beer, all those good things. Road Trip!

By the way, Heath Diesel (a site sponsor!) has water-mist injection kits for under $500, made for your truck.

http://www.heathdiesel.com/P/HDP1671/

Just a thought. I have 'em from time to time...
Jim

I ship lots of parts into Sumas WA..for my trucks and my Porsche. "Ship Happens" charges $5.00 canadian for a package. You can easily walk across the border at Sumas and retrieve it and leave your truck in Canada. Of my last 8 trips across I have only paid GST 1 time...some shipments were $600.00 tell the border guard it's for your own vehicle. Most of the time they just stamp your paperwork and say "have a nice day"...

 

[Edzzed]

i was going to 2nd ship happens but with border regulations having changed or are changing, unless you have a passport or enhanced drivers license walking won't help any more than driving as they won't let you down there. I have neither but am thinking of paying the enhanced license fee. as for water meth i'd avoid snow. i have devils own and it was cheap comparatively speaking. there are however quite a few water meth companies selling stuff. imo i'd opt for solely for an egt based system. why, well 1/2 the time the boost based is crap. it comes on as soon as boost comes up but the egt temps are still low. so at that point do you need w/m to happen. Ed

 

[JiFaire]

Get a passport, Ed... you can't believe how much hassle it saves. I fly back and forth a fair bit, and before I got mine, I used to have to pull out different IDs, the guys in Phoenix would look at my Alberta DL like "WTF?" Got anything else? Then the parade would stat, as I would pull out one piece of ID after the other until they gave up and let me through...

Passport is all you need - well worth the effort and expense.

 

[Non Typical]

JiFaire: Most of my experiences have been with UPS. I had ordered a 3" downpipe from SSD for $80. The shipping and "brokerage" fees came out to another $78.

My pyro and boost gauges I bought for $220. Fees were $90.

So, who should I ship with?

It is still a five to six hour trip down to the border. Not to mention, no passport.

If I can get the stuff from Heath without paying a lot more, I will do it.

Edzzed: why would you stay away from Snow? Also, I am getting the WMI as much for cooling as more power. I want something that will be activated by high boost levels when I am walking it off the line.

 

[JiFaire]

UPS? UPS!?!??:mad2::mad2::mad2::mad2::mad2::mad2::mad2::mad2:

NOBODY in Canada ships with UPS if it is going to cross over the border... those crooks make up those "brokerage fees" off the top of their heads.

I can tell you the most unbelieveable (but completely unexaggerated) stories about those creeps... I've had too many cases where identical boxes, with identical parts, shipped from the identical location on 2 different days showed up with 2 VASTLY different "brokerage fees" and UPS cannot explain that, just tries to say it is the Broker's fault. I know exactly what the customs regs are, and the fees are purely a UPS thing (because UPS acts as their own broker) ... the only constant is that they are ALL too high.

And nobody buys from SSDiesel because of that. Walt refuses to ship with anybody else, and keeps blaming either Canadian customs, or hints that we're lying to try and save on paying taxes, or just plain says it isn't true.

Screw 'im. I won't buy from him for that one reason alone, and his attitude provided me with several others.

FedEx is much better - Heath uses them. USPS Parcel is even better than that - only $8 per transaction, no matter what the price of the article, but lots of vendors don't like them because it's hard to get tracking and insurance. I've never had an issue with Priority Post, though.

Anyway, call Bill and ask him what he can do to help - you will save a bundle as long as you don't use UPS. Bastages.

 

[Non Typical]

thanks for the info, i will probably give him a call tomorrow. doing a bigger job right now, and almost have the debts paid off, so i might be in a position by next week to orders some of the bigger stuff. :thumbsup:

 

[Non Typical]

ya, as for the UPS, they were all ebay or SSD sales.

and ya, i am done using SSD. sick of his attitude

 

[JiFaire]

Don't forget to account for US exchange... buying American was much more fun when our dollar was worth $1.02 Americen. It's worth about $0.86 now...

 

[Non Typical]

Curse you for reminding me! LOL
And, get this. For the long weekend, gas dropped 1 cent. Yesterday, it went up from 97.9 to 106.9. unbelievable, eh?

 

[Brooklyn Tow]

And nobody buys from SSDiesel because of that. Walt refuses to ship with anybody else, and keeps blaming either Canadian customs, or hints that we're lying to try and save on paying taxes, or just plain says it isn't true.

That story makes feel bad for you guys up in the Great White (and Red) North, but even with Walts lousey FSD/PMD cooler location and/or attitude, only E-Mail questions and responses, or anything else that has/was been said about SS Diesel, fact still remains that Walt, more times than not, is considerably less expensive on a lot of products than the "Other" 6.5 specific vendors.

Please don't mistake this as a SS Diesel "Push", but just as a frugal consumer comment, If I have to buy, a "one size fits all" item, and Walt is 30% cheaper, it's a no brainer.

With that being said, attitude and customer service are right there at the top of my list....and poor customer service I have experienced, with one of our 6.5 vendors, not to mention poor attitude.....So I can understand your strong feelings, (Or lack there of) in regards to spending money, at one or any particular vendor. If price was not an issue for me, I would give all my business to Heath, (No explanation needed on that one) but unfortunatley my wallet dictates were to spend my money "sometimes".

 

[Non Typical]

Hmmm, but wouldn't you wonder as to why he would be 30% cheaper?
I will agree, that when I first got into 6.5's and my dad's 95 had issues, he was very helpful via e-mail. Seems since then he has dropped in ratings.

And he has been far more critical of any other 6.5 vendors than anyone I have met yet, short of everyone's favorite water injection vendor. (A-1) :nono:

 

[Brooklyn Tow]

Hmmm, but wouldn't you wonder as to why he would be 30% cheaper?

Mark up....like I said "one size fits all", meaning same product.

Please, don't misunderstand....I have no problem with anyone making a buck (or three)....That's why I'm in business....Hey, If you spent 10-30% more, shame on you.....Buyer Beware.

And he has been far more critical of any other 6.5 vendors than anyone I have met yet, short of everyone's favorite water injection vendor. (A-1) :nono:

Agreed.

 

[Edzzed]

Don't forget to account for US exchange... buying American was much more fun when our dollar was worth $1.02 Americen. It's worth about $0.86 now...

i bought my hp4 puter when our buck was worth 1.15 now that was good value. and it's not so much that i'd saty away from Snow. if you note my sig devilsown, that is where i got my w/m. i bought the w/m pretty much for lowering egt's while towing the trailer in my avatar. living here in bc we are mountains. big mountains. we are nothing like the prairies with flat lands as far as the eye can see. with my progressive controller, it ramps up spray from where i set it to start in lbs and then to the point where i set in in lbs again for full on spray. so it has a starting point and full on point. i find the only time i activate it (toggle switch) it is on hills while towing. I have no need to use it any other time as our ambient temps never exceed 95F except in very rare cases. in other words it's not too hot here. my heath t/m as we all know holds a pretty steady, constant boost level. doesn't take much foot to raise the boost at a highway speed to have the spray come on. i can go thru a 5 gallon tank in 200 miles of driving. goig up a hill is different, perhaps i have to much spray but it sure drops the egt's fast, if not it holds them from climbing depending on how steep the hill is. maybe the snow system would be better for southerners. but keep in mind in the interests of capitalism there are more companies than snow the sell w/m. they all have neat features and my fist choice was leaning towards coolingmist. i didn't buy the w/m for power. heaths helped there. i also dumped in some methanol once and had it at 10% ratio. i think it was a waste of seat of the pants dyno money. Ed

 

[Matt Bachand]

Did you train your dog to moon the camera?

 

[Non Typical]

Is that a dog? lol

 

[J.Peart]

i just bought a set of ARP head studs from Lordco here in kelowna for 280 CAD plus taxes. mind you i have the max discount there.

ive got almost everything except the ATT for my motor build through lordco(scat crank, 18.5:1 pistons, main and head studs, etc) . some things they had to order in but its still worked out cheaper for me than any other source i could come up with.

timing gears i don't know where you could get them locally.