A blessing or a curse?

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TrailBeast

TrailBeast

AKA Mopars4us on Youtube
Joined
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Today’s car guys have tons of resources that we didn’t have back then.
AND the parts and pieces we did get were of good quality.

Nowadays we can get about anything online, but a lot of it is just expensive garbage.

Kinda miss the old days where we scrounged around for something that would work for what we needed.

batman.jpeg
 
I agree!!!

Yesterday. Making something really good out the free, inexpensive new or boneyard stuff. Easy.

Today. Trying to make something at least worthwhile, out of the always expensive and/ or new stuff (so many times junk!) or try finding any old bone yards today!. ( I know of just a few or so). Just modern life.
 
I bought a standard brand brake light switch for 15$ at oreillys for my Mopar. Unplugged it once and it pulled itself apart. WOW 15$ garbage, prob .10$ in parts there.
 
TrailBeast said:
Today’s car guys have tons of resources that we didn’t have back then.
AND the parts and pieces we did get were of good quality.

Nowadays we can get about anything online, but a lot of it is just expensive garbage.

Kinda miss the old days where we scrounged around for something that would work for what we needed.

View attachment 1716277399
Click to expand...
At least you knew what you had with parts scrounged from salvage vehicles. I still try and go that route when I have time to look for good used stuff.
Case in point:
October 2022 I had to replace the coil pack in my wife's car, it had started misfiring and sputtering. I went to the local auto parts store because I didn't have time to get to the wrecking yard, bought a new Blue Streak part, changed it out, and good to go. Fast forward to last Thursday and she says it's running really rough and she doesn't want to drive it.
Ok, I get that, put my scan tool on it, hmm, yep looks like the same dtc again. So I dig up the receipt from the last one, go back to the store and inquire about the warranty. Sorry, only 1 year warranty on it, so I have to buy another one for another $100.00+. Not impressed, considering I'm reasonably sure that I took the original one out the first time.
:mad:
 
I built my car in 1997>99. At that time, metal had just become available for my 68 Barracuda. So I spent my life savings and got the bodywork done.
Six years later, the new rear quarter started rusting in all the usual areas, WHILE, the 38 year old quarter on the other side, was still looking good.
Sheit
 
I used to play auto parts' store games. Crank sensor on Neon....lifetime warranty....replace annually

Or OEM Mopar....20 year lifespan.

FYI NGK sells many high-quality US and Japanese made sensors under a sister brand....NTK. I'm pretty sure they were an OEM supplier for Chrysler at some point.
 
AJ/FormS said:
I built my car in 1997>99. At that time, metal had just become available for my 68 Barracuda. So I spent my life savings and got the bodywork done.
Six years later, the new rear quarter started rusting in all the usual areas, WHILE, the 38 year old quarter on the other side, was still looking good.
Sheit
Click to expand...

These are just some of the used parts I used building my Dart.
5.9 short block
Intake
Fabbed al valve covers
Holley 770
Headers
Clutch fan
42RH trans
Converter
Flex plate
Rear sure grip 3.55
Rear disc brakes
Alternator (from the 318)
Water pump (same)
Timing cover (same)
V regulator (same)
W washer motor (same
Recovery tank (same)
HEI (same)
Recurved Distributor (same)

That’s some of it.
 
Hyup, about same for me, all parts were pulled from various cars in the back-40, or cars from my past.
The Only new parts were; the one quarter, the battery, the various front-end parts, the headers and exhaust, the front brake pads, the tires, the carpet, and various internal engine parts. lol. Over the next few years, some of the used parts apparently were on the short side of life, and had to be replaced, by other used parts. Eventually I installed a GVod.
Eventually, just about everything got modified, or upgraded.
 
When I rebuilt my 70 Dart, I bought 13 parts cars, for good reason, there was nothing aftermarket in sheet metal, just some really bad fiberglass front fenders, I had 2 sets, both were junk. It was just when I was getting serious about it when quarter skins became available, so I pulled the trigger on a pair, mainly because there was old damage on both sides that would have been more work to repair.
 
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