I am wondering if I am getting a real Edelbrock intake or carb or a Chinese rip off, I see pretty cheap Edelbrock intakes and carbs on craigslist, that look new and in the box for about 120.00 I know the old addage "If it's too good to be true..." just wondering anyone have info??
I bought a new hei at a swap meet. Complete in the box for 50 bux. I knew it was chinese but needed an hei. It ran for a total of about 15 minutes before the pickup (or whatever) worked loose and bumped the shaft and fried it. It was too good to be true.
Go to automotive swapmeet and see them in person. No Name China junk ripoffs but people buy them because they are cheap. You get what you paid for - a crude casting of a lump that will be outperformed by factory cast iron intake. ProComp - Proform or whatever.....not much better.
I was gonna just pay the big bucks its like you said- you get what you paid for- I hate to buy stuff off the internet- but its so now a days NOTHING is in stock here in So Cal and everything takes several days to several weeks to get here- weeelllll this is a journey that is 30 years in the making- I don't know how you boys back east do it, having to wait till the thaw to work on your cars
yeah I dont trust parts I cant put my hands on,not to say I havent bought stuff on EBAY or Craigs,,,,,,,,but hell I prefer the HAMB classifieds or swapmeets...........never hurts to have a straight edge in the car of your lookin for manifolds cause if you find something ya like you can check it our...today I was lookin for a HEI for a 302 ford and never found a good one and think I going to pretronix in the 56,manifolds are cheap if ya look around............
If it's local go take a look, lots of broke people out there. I have seen, and got some great deals recently.
A friend bought one of those SBC made in China $100 intakes..... looked like it was finished up with a damn ax!
Yep and if it is a racer it may just be last years "obsolete" to him stuff that he is selling. Edelbrock carbs are all over the place price wise around here but used Performer SBC intakes normally go for 50 to 75 depending on how clean they are. I always figure that any carb that has been installed and run will need a kit put in it when I make an offer on it. Aluminum intakes, yep it's a good idea to lay a straightedge on them to make sure they didn't get tweaked.
I have a Professional Products polished intake on my 302 Ford the casting is smoother by far than the Edelbrock I had, it also has rear water passages as a plus which made things easier to hookup,the Edelbrocks water passage in the front was so close to the distributor it made it difficult to time.
I have just returned from a trip to the US, We stopped by the Edelbrock stand at Big Boys Toys during Hot August Nights. Read the boxes carefully the one I picked up said "Machined in the USA" upon asking the question where was it cast I was ignored. His fuckin loss I went and got a brand new Offenhauser the next day at the swapmeet. Now matter how you try to avoid this type of shit its happening all around you and you dont even know it. 10 more years and the street signs will be in chinese. How do I know this well come over to New Zealand and check out whats happening/happened here. This might be politically incorrect but I'm just saying whats true.
That's so right Ratman. Walk down Queen St in Auckland and most of the shop signs are in chinese, some shops dont even have any English signs at all.
I was at the Long Beach Swapmeet today and , man there was A LOT of chinese car parts there. I have to admit it was tempting because the price was great and it looked great but I am gonna try and stay American, BUT it is tough
Good for you! I would much rather buy a used manifold from a guy at a swap meet, than buy new, especially when I know the money is gonna stay here. Iheard Vic sold the buisness to some foreign cats anyway... Bowtie40
Yeah, I picked up a new SBC manifold off a guy on Craigslist. It was Professional Products made one. Overall it looked really nice, even nicer than the Edelbrock ones I have had... that was until I went to mount it. The damn manifold to head bolts holes were off. WTF!!! SBC has been out for 50+ years and they couldn't get the damn mounting holes machined correctly. Yanked that POS off (and resisted throwing it across the garage) and ordered a Edelbrock. That bolted right on with ZERO problems. I'll likely elongate the holes slightly and use it on something but man it pissed me off.
Unless they have changed (and they might have), Edelbrock has always cast everything at a foundry near their HQ in socal.
Most folks are proud of their "Made in the USA' products and make sure that the box says so. Obviously the one you saw was cast elsewhere... Hell, more US flags are made in China than in the US...sad, real sad... And remember boys and girls, it will remain this way until we all demand better product not cheaper pricing. .
Keep this in mind when looking at intakes at a swap meet. Some people grind the name Edelbrock OFF their intakes ... I know I do. I had some trouble with two of their RPM camshafts (SBC) ... they were total garbage. I have since then ground the Edelbrock name off of anything I already own. Went with Comp cams and had no issues. (this was not a lobe wear issue, I had a distributor drive gear problem ... the Edelbrock cams did not mesh with a GM distributor gear and the end result was a destroyed cam gear, destroyed distributor gear and an engine full of shavings ... their instantaneous reply "your problems were not caused by our cams" ... this is before I could explain anything to them. Installed a Comp and the problem was solved. Just to expand on this, these cams were just plain old flat tappet hydaulic cams ... no special gear needed). Just because a product has a "good name" cast into it does not make it a good product. I just read my post again and should explain that due to poor product that I got and the resultant expense involved in dealing with the crap Edelbrock cam I prefer NOT to advertise any of their products so I grind off their logo on any parts that I have from them. I walked into a machine shop to have the cam looked at and also brought along another old cam that had a lobe worn off it (the original reason for the cam change) The machinist was still more than fifty feet away and yelped out the the cam in my left hand (he was expecting me and knew I had a cam issue) was junk ... he could tell from 50 ft away that the core was one of the Chinese of Mexican cores. Yup, the cam in my left hand was the Edelbrock.
Id take my chances with a AMERICAN product that "might" have a problem instead of china/overseas crap that WILL be crap.................AMERICAN PARTS IN MY AMERICAN CAR!! when possible,and if you read the factory corprate report they only have investors that bought in out of chicago,Ill. USA..........
The real problem with not being able to buy USA is in the laps of the EPA and the people that support their ideals,China and India now have high rates of pollution,why? because the plants that produce products of metal are now there instead of here.During the "Cash for Clunkers" program a ABC news reporter asked a New Jersey scrap yard owner where the scrap was going, He stated over 85% was on barges in the harbor headed to China,they even showed them being loaded,so go figure.On another note quality control in China should be improving,last week the Chinese government declared CEO's of companies that caused recalls or health hazards will face the death penalty
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