FE Power Forums
FE Power Forums => Private Classifieds => Warning - Buyer Beware => Topic started by: blykins on June 03, 2025, 07:12:32 AM
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Bought an entire SBF dry sump system from them back in December of last year. They shipped in January, no issues with that.
The way the pump was configured, it wouldn't clear the block, and they couldn't get me the adapters/fittings I needed, so I asked if I could send the pump back and have it configured to hang from a front motor plate. This would give me as much room as I needed and would solve a lot of problems. They said no problem, so I sent the pump back. THREE MONTHS LATER, they ship it back (after constant texting, emailing, and calling to see what was going on) and it was configured exactly the same as it was the first time.
Told them I was sending the pump back, wanted a refund. Sent it back, they've had it for 3 weeks. After 3 weeks of texting, emailing, and calling, they still have not refunded my money, which is essentially around $2000.
I know I said it was a SBF setup, but this relates to FE's too. Every once in a while a customer asks me to use one of their pans on an FE build. Horrible fit, bolt holes don't even come close to lining up, takes an hour of modification to make it work.
No more Aviaid for me.
I understand this is all one-sided from me, I'd be happy to supply screenshots of everything for proof.
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Sounds like Aviaid, which used to be a good company, has changed ownership and is now in the hands of someone who doesn't care about their product. They probably figure that people have to use their stuff in certain applications, so why bother to fix anything? So much of the aftermarket parts world has gone this way...
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The one Aviaid FE oil pan sample I have, holes at the front/rear "corners" don't fit well. I ended up chasing all the holes with a unibit to oversize them slightly. From the lengthwise linear welds, the whole things is slightly banana shaped with it being low in the middle and high at the ends. Typical aftermarket car stuff, it costs too much, takes too long, then you have to rework it at arrival to get everything to play nice together.
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I have a Canton custom aluminum T pan for the FE with 3 splash traps and today I had to elongate 7 of the holes to get them to align with both the Canton and Milodon windage trays when trial fitting them to a block. The rear of the pan does not have two holes at the corners due to the pan having a square rail there where the stock pan rail is rounded. Joe-JDC
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So what I'm hearing is, if a fella is looking for a business idea, it's in the oil pan industry?
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You would think with CNC machines available today someone could cut out the oil pan rail exactly and build a pan under it that would work perfectly for the FE. Aluminum should be easy. If I were 40 years younger I would build oil pans and headers for competition. Joe-JDC
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Seems that too often, aftermarket companies couldn`t be bothered to make things fit properly. I have a buddy that is a retired bodyman, who has restored dozens of 65 thru 70 Mustangs, and 57 Ford cars, and some of the stories he has told me over the years, and having seen how poorly many replacement sheet metal body panels fit the intended car, is quite troubling. He showed me 57 Ford front fender headlight bucket repair panels, they have wrinkles, don`t come close to following the contours of the fenders, and are made too short , so a piece has to be fabricated, and welded in, to fill the space. Same with much of the replacement 1/4 panels, doors, fenders, hoods, etc, wouldn`t it seem that if you are going to make such parts, that making them fit at least somewhat accurately , is a consideration? Same like new cylinder heads that need the guides honed, a valve job, decks surfaced, new blocks that need to be align honed, decks straightened, and lifter bores sized, connecting rods that needed to be sized at both ends, crankshafts that are out of round, etc, Wouldn`t it be nice if a shiny new parts was usable "out of the box"? Seems like all this new technology , modern machining stations, and such advances has often produced parts that don`t fit as well as they used to, 30-40 years ago.
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A month has gone by since they have received my parts back.
I have contacted an attorney.
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I've placed an order for a dry sump oil tank specific to a 427 Cobra... figured I would take a chance and see if I could get a tank out of them before that ship sinks for good.
I can confirm Aviaid has been 100% miserable to deal with and they keep sending me BS information about "ships tomorrow". They are turning into the typical automotive aftermarket ponzi scheme where they keep selling stuff and never delivering. The customer service sucks and "they have 1 in stock" but for whatever reason it would be impossible to put it in a box and get it sent out.
Probably time to contact my credit card company and dispute the charge. Brent is right, avoid them like the plague and have an attorney on retainer if you need to deal with them!