Are new parts crap?

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Longgone

Longgone

John/68 Barracuda & Dart
Joined
Jul 12, 2005
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Location
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After 2 years of work I`ve finally got paint on my car, which for me sort of signals the light at the end of the tunnel. In reflecting over the last couple years I`m startled to realize that a large percentage of the parts I`ve bought were/are crap. For example 1MP orange control module(no go), 3 MP lifters(blocked oilers) , 1 warped alum w/p housing, 1 bent KYB shock, 1 rebuilt m/c(leaked at piston), 1 thermostat(sticking), 1 repo tail light lens (warped), 1 brake caliper(developed leak), 1 dimmer sw(crap in box), and 1 v/r(lasted 6 months) . These are most of the parts that something has been wrong with or went wrong with during the reassembly of the car. It`s hard enough work without adding the new part crap factor into the mix. Maybe I`m just one in a million but it sure seems like there`s a lot of junk out there that needs to improve! Have you guys experienced the same phenomenon?
 
I think there is alot of outsorcing of these 2nd rate parts. Even though we as a consumer, we are charged a premium price! But as long as we keep buying them, the parts suppliers will keep dishing out this junk!
 
Oh boy there Longgone, kinda know that feeling. New parts "bad" :wack: and it sure dosn't help when your trying to repair something. (like a new fuel pump not working correctly) for say. I would suspect some items have some kind of shelf life or QC check. Up front however, although I agree with you that bad parts really suck; I'm still glad that most of our "older" new parts don't have a shelf life....were short as it is now for parts.

Anyways....
This must be a major part of our live's as Tolerant Mopar Freaks....We the speical breed that can "sometimes" put up with most BS problems...of course with swearing and lost road time.
 
I know what you mean. I bought two new Sylvania head lights for my 79 Power Wagon last week. One of them had the tabs soldered on crooked and there was no way I could get the connector on the light...........That's a QC problem.
 
No joke longgone. I ordered some Edelbrock Cast Aluminum Tall Valve Covers that were of the poorest quality I have ever seen. The sealing surface was cracked straight through, they were covered in polishing compound and were riddled with casting flaws. The inside of the covers were stamped "MADE IN TAIWAN". Summit Racing took them right back and refunded all of my money, including shipping. The damage is done. I will never buy another Edelbrock part. Picked up some nice Moroso tall stamped aluminum VCs. Very impressed with the quality of these and were $40.00 cheaper. The local machinists around town tell me Edelbrock heads need a valve job right out of the box as they could easily see light between the valve and seat. I can't vouch for that personally, and they have something to gain by selling a valve job, but judging by the quality of the parts that I ordered, I wouldn't doubt it. There, I feel much better now!! :evil2:
 
I have gotten my fair share of bad parts I paid $100.00 for a water pump housing from 440 source which was in horrible condition and would not allow the pump to seal on it, got a set of $150.00 Bouchillon Performance pulleys, that were 1/2 chormed and stamped made in tawain on them put them on my motor and they clanked weren't even close to being true. It's not always the parts sometimes it's the distirbutor. Last Thursday I ordered and New cam, intake and all the gasket to go with it, I paid for overnight shipping so I could get the motor back together on Friday and to the track on Saturday. Well guess what, they sent me the wrong valley pan, very frustrating as no local shops stock them, couldn't it have been an easy part to get? Just got the correct one today a week later that was summit. So I was so mad I decided to give Jegs a try Monday I ordered a set of autometer sport comp gauges, got them today and it was odd two of the 3 gauges were in funny jegs boxes marked for internal use only, the other was in a nice sealed autometer box. I opened the "strange" jegs boxes and these gauges were obviously used parts (scratches missing parts etc) that had been returned. I have no problem with used parts, providing I pay a used price and I know what I am getting. I immediatly called Jegs they argued with me for few minutes asked me to send the gauges back at my expense, finally I got a manager and they are overnighting me new gauges, with a call tag for the old ones. It's amazing to me I am in a customer service and sales position, if I treated my customers like that I would be out of business.
 
Longgone said:
After 2 years of work I`ve finally got paint on my car, which for me sort of signals the light at the end of the tunnel. In reflecting over the last couple years I`m startled to realize that a large percentage of the parts I`ve bought were/are crap. For example 1MP orange control module(no go), 3 MP lifters(blocked oilers) , 1 warped alum w/p housing, 1 bent KYB shock, 1 rebuilt m/c(leaked at piston), 1 thermostat(sticking), 1 repo tail light lens (warped), 1 brake caliper(developed leak), 1 dimmer sw(crap in box), and 1 v/r(lasted 6 months) . These are most of the parts that something has been wrong with or went wrong with during the reassembly of the car. It`s hard enough work without adding the new part crap factor into the mix. Maybe I`m just one in a million but it sure seems like there`s a lot of junk out there that needs to improve! Have you guys experienced the same phenomenon?
Click to expand...

Does a dark cloud loom over your head when your outside even on sunny days? J/K. I've had my share of bad parts too, but haven't had nearly as many as you have had in the last 2 years...bad luck, maybe?
 
Bottom line it is our fault the consumer for the crap parts. We keep feeding the people that gave us these cheap parts by buying them. We keep buying these cheap china parts because they are less money then the domestic companies have to follow suit to stay in the game. QUIT BUYING THE IMPORT STUFF! I have read threads on this site about people buying the Edelbrock copy intakes from china then grinding off the "make in china" like that makes it ok. Wal*Mart is another one off these places killing our product quality. Spend the extra and buy the good stuff.
 
Poor John....brother, your dilema mirrors my everyday life to a tee. Broken BBQ, warped kitchen table, missing parts on everything I buy.......
..... except on my car. I have been very happy with my luck, with all the well know vendors.
Even the Mopar Performance equipment I run. It also pays to get in good with your auto parts supplier. They can get you the good stuff.....if they want to.
Happy sailing from here on out for you, and maybe now your troubles will be "Longgone"
 
Welcome to America (made in China). A big problem is ...where do you go to get a tail light lens for a 68 Barracuda , Ebay? I saw a beautiful set of lamps that sold for over a grand ...I can`t do that! So I get a pair from Laysons (who supplies Y1). I wish there were more companies producing Mopar product and maybe the quality would get better.The rebuilt stuff, you have to wonder how many times have the same cores been rebuilt? Right now I guess I`ll just have to settle for what`s available. My local parts store is very cool and I`m on a first name/ tel.# basis with everyone there. They ordered 5 different m/c`s for me before the correct one arrived . I wasn`t settling for close enough. Unfortunately they can only supply the more mundane parts. Just think................ if we all owned Camaros!
 
Thats what has always made Mopars special. We have to work harder than the ladies with Fords, and Chevies.
Look at your own car John. You have done a masterful job, and in the end, all your hardship makes that baby even more special. awe....who am I kidding. Your right, hunting good parts can really suck!!
 
I will continue to eat stale crackers because I`m hungry, but there is a silver lining to the parts quest!........You can find great Mopar websites like FABO!!
 
It certainly is frustrating to purchase parts that don't work. I believe the root of the problem is that there is not enough demand for these parts to warrant companies investing in tooling or modern manufactuing processes to produce them. So they wind up being manufactured with worn out tooling or in some back room sweat shop. On the positive side places like Autozone or Advance give you lifetime warranties so at least you don't keep paying for them.

You have to applaud outfits like Laysons that do invest in reproducing parts. If it wasn't for them I would still be runing around with faded and cracked tail light lenses on my 68 Barracuda.
 
I know what you mean. I bought a set of Probe Industries rocker shaft/adjustable rocker arm assemblies a while back. They would always have to be re-adjusted. I took them off one day and found the adjusters worn down and a lack of oil. It appeared that the oiling hole going to the adjuster wasn't big enough. I called them about it and they said they didn't have any complaints. I went ahead and bought the Crane rocker shaft/adjustable rocker arm assembly and the oil hole for the adjuster was at least twice the size of the Probe ones. No problems with the Crane setup. Pulled it off after a 10 mile drive and plenty of oil.
 
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