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More CRAP Parts
- Thread starter angelfj1
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OK, back from my cerveza which is good since it is like 6 AM here.
I think having a registry of good/parts with issues is an outstanding idea. I'm on board with helping, and I think this would be a way to positively reinforce vendors who supply the good parts they do and provide a mechanism for vendors who are having issues (despite their best efforts) to learn of what the issues are.
Maybe use the WIKI?
I think having a registry of good/parts with issues is an outstanding idea. I'm on board with helping, and I think this would be a way to positively reinforce vendors who supply the good parts they do and provide a mechanism for vendors who are having issues (despite their best efforts) to learn of what the issues are.
Maybe use the WIKI?
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Well, if a registry is what you want, look no further than The Monster List; it's been around for many, many years now and is still very useful!
TR3driver
Great Pumpkin - R.I.P
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Not my point at all, Frank. I thoroughly agree that we SHOULD complain; just start the process by complaining directly to the vendor that sold you the parts.angelfj said:OK, OK I'll craw back under my rock. But remember not to complain about shoddy or otherwise poor quality parts!
A detailed registry sounds like a good idea; but I think there are significant problems with the concept. The chief problem is basically that bad parts tend to come in batches (those 100,000 part runs I mentioned before) and as end users we usually have no way of knowing which batch we are getting. The vendors don't keep track of such things, so there may well be good parts mixed with bad parts in the same parts bin, and you get whatever the picker happens to pick up.
And as we've discussed on other lists, our vendors may not even know which batch they are getting. We've documented that County, for example, buys whatever is cheap and puts it in their own boxes. The "Made in" label frequently seems to refer to where the box is made! (Besides, no country has a monopoly on making parts that don't fit.)
I was chatting with Ken Gillanders at British Frame and Engine last night; and he told me a story of some lifters that he and some other vendors got made by the original manufacturer in the UK. Oddly enough, that manufacturer wrapped them in cellophane. One of BFE's competitors is also selling lifters wrapped in cellophane, but Ken is supposed to be the exclusive distributor in the US ... turns out there is someone in Turkey duplicating the lifters right down to the cellophane they are wrapped in!
Another example is the bad synchro rings that were making the rounds a few years back. Someone got a huge batch of them made that, according to what I heard, matched the factory prints perfectly. But, for reasons still not clear, they did not work well in many gearboxes. Herman (who at that time was still rebuilding stock gearboxes) flat refused to use any ring that might have come from that batch, and insisted on NOS rings still in the factory package. The bad rings spread out like a cloud, eventually finding their way onto the shelf at practically all of the LBC vendors (not just the 'Big 3'). Then eventually, they all got sold or discarded, and today the rings are fine.
Somehow, I just don't think a database of "I got a bad part from XX" and "I got a bad part from YY" and "I got a good part from XX" is going to help. By the time the information is collected, it's out of date. And the next part shipped by the same vendor on the same day may well be from a completely different factory.
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I think everyone of course wants good quality wiuth parts that work out of the box, but there is a difference in the toerance level of what is acceptable.
I would just add that if quality if the overriding concern I would deal with the smaller dealers that specialize in the car you are working on. You may pay more or they may not be as exetensively stocked as Moss or VB, and they may get many of their parts from the same suppliers as the big boys, but the good ones will have an idea of what is working and what is not, when you call you will talk to someone with knowledge of what he is selling and not some minimum wage order taker, and some of them screen more carfully than the big boys and shop around on suppliers of parts that may have QC issues from certain manufacturers.
I would just add that if quality if the overriding concern I would deal with the smaller dealers that specialize in the car you are working on. You may pay more or they may not be as exetensively stocked as Moss or VB, and they may get many of their parts from the same suppliers as the big boys, but the good ones will have an idea of what is working and what is not, when you call you will talk to someone with knowledge of what he is selling and not some minimum wage order taker, and some of them screen more carfully than the big boys and shop around on suppliers of parts that may have QC issues from certain manufacturers.
swift6
Yoda
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FWIW, Many independent British repair shops have formed a group that is supposed to try and be a sort of quality watchdog group. It is called the British Motor Trade Association (BMTA) https://britcar.org/
TR3driver
Great Pumpkin - R.I.P
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I don't know if they are all the same; on mine there was a mass of rust at the bottom that used to be a cotter pin, flat washer and spring. Also a shaped brass washer between the spring and body, which was reusable. With all of that removed, the part that turns should just pull up and out.Kentvillehound said:
When you get it apart, you'll see that the piece that turns is a tapered cone, with a matching tapered hole in the body. The cone and hole must match very precisely, or it will leak. To lap them together, smear the cone with your choice of abrasive (still can't recall what I used, but "rubbing compound", the stuff for badly oxidized paint, should work well); stick it in the hole and twist it back and forth. Use only moderate pressure and speed. After a few twists, lift it up and put it back in, to distribute the abrasive.
When the finish of the tapered area appears to be entirely uniform, you are probably done. You can double check by painting it with a magic marker (or I used layout dye) and then trying it in the body again, the marker/dye should be rubbed off evenly (except for where the water hole is, of course).
I found a suitable spring in the parts bin (not sure where it came from) and clipped it to length. New flat washer & cotter pin too. That was maybe around 1995, as you can see it has not been leaking.
TR4nut
Yoda
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Actually, thinking about the leaking drain, I remembered Chem lab - old fashioned stopcock grease on the taper wouldn't hurt either I think on assembly. You are only trying to hold back 4-7 psi on this, I would think a plumbers grease or something relatively thick would cure a lot of the problems.