Technical Anything going on at Wilcap?

After looking at a thread on transmission options for the Ford FE, I perused over to the Wilcap website, and noticed virtually all of their adapters are marked as "sold out". This seems odd. Is there a Covid supply chain issue? Labor shortage? Company going under? Something else?

I certainly hope everything is OK over there, they're an excellent resource for the rodding community.

 

I thought they sold out to Bendsten..

 

Last year I bought an adapter from them. It took a while because it was made to order and they were having a hard time getting materials.

 

Aluminum has gotten painfully expensive. We had to raise our prices, but we deal with corporations, not people.

It may be that they are holding off, and selling down stock, while they wait for prices to fall and stabilize.

Some operations that deal with individual customers don't want to jack up prices, only to lower them later. That can alienate customers who purchased at the higher price.

Wilcap's stuff is worth the money, but not exactly inexpensive, at the regulars price.

 

Or perhaps they are working on the newest variant?

 

Call them.

 

Who makes up corporations...people! Even the government says corporations are like people. It all trickles down, so I don't understand how you can make a distinction.

 

Speed Gems,I believe has bought wilcap and probably has what you need. We just got one in . Nice piece .FE TO GM .

 

Right now there is a aluminum shortage, to go along with everything else. So we will have to buy our beer in bottles and not cans. But I like bottles better. Better yet, the dark brown bottles, cooled in a ice filled cooler, stored in the back of my pick up truck. Sorry about getting off the subject, think that I will obtain a cold beer.

 

I would, but I'm not in the market for an adapter at the moment and don't want to call, possibly interrupt some guy's work day, and be like, "Hey! You guys going out of business?!"

 

There could also be a people shortage. Places like that often run on just a few key people, I mean like 1 or 2 that are the brains behind the operation.

I saw something at Crites Ford a few years back when I was looking at 429 mounts for my car... they said they were unavailable since the machinist quit and took the drawings with him...

 

After reading @rod1 's reply, I looked up Speed Gems. It's right there on their home page

 

Same thing happened at Tanson, the guys who used to modify the Chevy transmissions to fit the early Olds engines. Apparently the guy who did their welding had a heart attack and had a pacemaker put in and couldn't weld anymore. Now they don't offer the service anymore.

 

Huh, that's good to know. Bendtsen's is a good company as well, so I'm glad to see the products and intellectual property moving on into good hands.

 

Bob Bendtsen is a member here on the board, although I don't know his screen name.

 

Many of the adapters are made by Offenhauser and they have had problems supplying them to dealers in quan***y.

 

Go to Summits site and see how much stuff is out of stock.

 

1. Individual hot rodder with a budget that has limits. Has $700 for an adapter. Doesn't have $1030 for an adapter.

2. Global corporation with a multi-million-dollar parts budget. Has $700 for a part. Can absorb spending $1030 on a part.

Example 1 is a person building a car for themselves, with no explanation (or likely even hope) of profit.

Example 2 is a corporation building a product for profit, that can accept marginally reduced profit for the product, and still do just fine.

That's how.

 

If you think corporations 'accept' a reduced profit due to supplier price increases, I've got a bridge I'll sell you. It doesn't happen that way!!!

 

If that is a fact it could only improve the quality of the **** Bendsten's sells. Ron

 

A few years back I was working in the Oceano California area. While there I visited
the Wilcap facility based in Oceano. The fellow I was dealing with is a descendent of
original founders of the company. He gave me a tour of their shop. It included a lot
of memorabilia of the early days when they were heavily involved in Indy car racing.
As well as many vintage examples of their wares. While there I inquired about adapting
a Muncie 4 speed to a 392 Hemi. They built a complete kit to include everything I would
need to accomplish the task. The fellow, (sorry I don't remember the gentleman's name)
explained how they surface grind on both sides the aluminum plate that bolts to the block.
He said most machine shops just use the plate as it comes from the foundry. He said they
found a few thousands variance in thickness of as received plate. They grind the plate to
ensure as parallel surfaces as possible. That attention to detail impressed me quite a lot.
The total kit was expensive, but I felt it was a good value. It included starter, pressure plate,
clutch plate, throw out bearing. All high grade bolts needed. Also a machined plastic drill
jig to guide the drilling of the crank shaft to receive bolts in lieu of the original bolt and nut.
***embly used by Chrysler. Also the correct drill bit and tap needed. The starter and clutch and such could have been sourced at regular parts outlets. This would have saved some monies, but I asked for a complete
kit and that is just what I got. No complaints here. I just hope whatever en***y that has
acquired Wilcap continues the high levels of quality the company provided to me.

 

This is not an acceptable topic for discussion. Please stay within the rule of this board.

 

Hey, I'm just following up on what you posted.

 

I ordered my Hemi adapter complete from Wilcap. Everything just went right together, with no fuss.

The time and effort saved in not chasing the extra parts was worth paying Wilcap to take car if it.

I have my own tap jig, as I work on Hemi stuff on a regular basis, but yes, getting that is worth it, too.

I hope the quality of service is preserved.

 

I would bet it was Pat McGuire you spoke to, very helpful with advice.

 

Contact @mctim64 at Hanford auto. He is an Offy and Wilcap dealer

 

the price of aluminum from 10/2021,$1500 ton, now is $3200 ton. worldwide, everybody is backing off making it due to fuel increase. available inventory is about 50%. i use a lot in my projects. nothing gets thrown away now.
fwiw, check out the price of tin a ton. shocking.
and if an eastern europe war breaks out, it ain't gonna be pretty worldwide

 

We are radically nesting parts, and mapping stock cuts to minimize what gets turned into chips. We have no had a hit a record three different machining jobs done at the same time, on that same stock. We're refacing aluminum pallets to run new jobs on them.

Even so, we had to p*** the costs along, as we can only get and hold so much stock.

It's rough, but we will get through it. Everyone just needs to be patient.

 

I'd say the cost of aluminum means the same thing as with a lot of other materials and their costs. short or small cutoffs no longer get tossed in the s**** bin or dumpster they get set aside and used for smaller items.
I used to have a go around with the maintenance mechanics where I did the maintenance purchasing because they didn't want to save short pieces of stainless tubing to cut shorter pieces out of and would cut a few inches off a 20 ft stick rather than pull a piece out of the barrel to cut off, I'd bet they are told to save every inch of that tubing down to where there isn't enough left to reasonably use now.

 

Sometimes you`d be surprised what the gals on the phone will tell you. They get chatty sometimes. Was paying my power bill one time and got on the subject of serial killers. Villisca Iowa is in the same county where I live and is famous for The Ax Murders back in the 1800`s. She spent the day and went there and toured the house where it all happened. Did I mention she lived across state? Told her of other murders that had happened in our county over the years as well. She seemed very interested. Like I said some people are chatty. By the way, aren`t you a lawyer. Gotta go, by.