Cowden Automotive Pty & RF body Hinges

Peter Olliviere · 07-04-06, 08:10 AM

Over the years as I have worked on my RF I have had the oppatunity to meet a number of vendors, some good, some bad and some misguided. Whenever I have the pleasure of dealing with a good one I think it's important to let other know. Because of that I feel compelled to post a comment about Jim Cowden.

Jim is the guy that makes the quick release hinges for the RF front and rear body clips. The design is such that you can remove the clip without changing the adjustment of those body sections. You can see the hinges in the RF105 build thread. Anyway I contacted him and arranged to purchase a set of his clips for my RF. Well to make a long story short the other day I sent him a Paypal payment in full for the parts and shipping. Today I was surprised to find a refund from Paypal in my email and a note from Jim saying that he had quoted me in Australian Dollars and I had send USD so he was refunding my overpayment.

Now my point is that I paid what I throught was the stated price and most likely would have never known about the error. To say the least I was floored, Jim thank you for your honesty and I would not hesitate an instant in recommending someone doing business with you or your comapny.

As a side note Jim mentioned that he was working on a better door hinge, I can't wait to see that.

Peter

Peter Olliviere · 08-12-06, 07:45 AM

Sometimes better late than never really does apply. As an update to the above post I finally got around to fitting the new hinges to my front and rear clips and have a couple of comments.

Firstly the installation was a snap, the only items I needed to address was reaming out the bolt holes that the frame attachment bolts went through, and this was only slightly. The reason was that I used the same bolts that were supplied by RF for this purpose. Secondly I had to adjust the hight of the arm attaching to the clip by about 1/2 inch to bring the at rest hight of the clip back into alignment. I think total time spent on installation was less than an hour.

The result is great, removing the clip now takes only a moment and adjusting the clip side to side only requires undoing two screws, lifting the clamps and pushing the clip were you want it. Without a doubt this change makes working on the car easy. You don't realize how much c*&%^ you went through with the clips when you needed to work on the car untill you do this modification. For what it's worth every RF owner should consider it.

Peter

PS. Jim if you read this post yes I am kissing up for the door hinges.

Jim c · 08-12-06, 08:58 AM

Peter

Im glad you like them.

I had to pull the front of mine the other day it is easy.
A friend was helping and I said to him have I ever told you I realy love my hinges

He told me I was a sad case.

Jim

TimOz40 · 08-14-06, 12:11 AM

Just ordered my set of hinges.

TimOz40 · 08-23-06, 07:01 PM

Got my hinges, thanks Jim. A work of art!!

Clayton · 09-12-06, 11:18 AM

Received my front hinges today, another big thumbs up to Jim.
Nice work mate.
regards

Clayton

Ricky · 09-12-06, 09:27 PM

Got my replacement front lower wishbones set up for rose joints just over a week ago from Jim.
I spent some time painting them over the W/E and have to say the quality compared to the RF originals is incomparable. Much neater and sweeter. Great job Jim.

Now to make time to install them.........

Jim c · 09-18-06, 07:20 AM

For those who maybe confused.
Cowden Automotive is one part of my bussiness and www.mentalperformance.com.au is another.(it is the advert banner that appears above)
So if anyone is wondering who is Cowden Automotive its one in the same.

Jim Cowden

Dave S · 11-18-06, 12:32 AM

Got some dash light sticker sheets from Jim. Very nice, Jim's good to deal with and would recommend his work to anyone.