So, I bought myself a project to pass the time during the Covid lock downs. Nothing exotic, just a dirt cheap, fully loaded, 1980 Turbo Trans Am. It was complete and only has 95,000km on it so I figured why not. It had not run in many years and I had to correct a few miss guided modifications but all the parts were there so all was good. While I was setting it up I noticed a pretty nasty ignition dwell variance so I ordered an ignition module from RockAuto. It came from Texas (Standard Motor Products) so it took about 2 weeks to arrive. I installed it using white heat sync paste (not the clear stuff) and guess what, no start? Put the old one back in and it runs. Send the new one back and they send another, guess what, no start. Processed another return and waited for the replacement, same deal. I started to second guess myself and bought a used distributer on Kiji, swapped that module in and it was perfect. I decided to cut my loses, and ordered one from Delco, waited almost 3 weeks (it was during the election) and sure enough the Delco unit was also dead on arrival. They took it back tested it and shipped me a new one without any grief but the quality of US made parts just isn't what it used to be. I think I shared my previous experience with a Mustang fuel pump I replaced during a restoration, the spring broke after 800 miles leaving me on the side of the interstate in Minnesota. I popped the 53 year old one back on and it was fine for the rest of the trip. Am I just unlucky or has this become the new reality?
You are really taking a chance these days on electrical parts these days,I have gone through 2 cam position sensors on my Chevy Tracker in 1.5 years,I have owned a couple of these and never had to change one,sometimes it is good th grab a few extra electrical bits if we ever can get out to the wrecking yards again.
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If it has Tits,Tires or a Track,your gonna have a problem with it.
A friend in California bought a MDS distributor. Nothing but trouble.
He took it back and got another. Same problem.
They checked a couple others that were in stock and they all had the same serial number.
All counterfeit.
My water pump went on my '94 Caprice wagon with the LT1 motor. The water pump
is driven off the camshaft end. I went to my local parts store and ordered another.
It arrived and was a nice looking aluminum job. I took the bad pump off and just before I
installed the new pump, I looked inside the new one. No impeller.
I took it back and he called his supplier in Vancouver to see if there was another available.
Yes.
I told him to ask the guy to take it out of the box and look inside to see if the impeller was there.
No. It was missing also.
I ended up with a rebuilt cast iron pump from Edmonton.
Imagine if I had installed this aluminum pump with no impeller. I would have thought
my rad was bad. I had already put a new thermostat in.
Buyer beware.
It really takes the fun out of a project when you have to chase parts and re-do the same job multiple times. When I was 18, I worked at Snap-On tools just north of Toronto. If a tool box had the slightest imperfection, it was sanded down and re-painted, even if the imperfection was inside or bottom. I worked the night shift sanding the tool boxes before paint, it was hot and dirty but it paid really well. I guess the concept of QA/QC has been lost over the years. How hard would it be to plug a distributer into a test rig before it ships or have someone look for the impeller before boxing a water pump?
At the shop I work at 80 % of parts failures is due to just plain old chinese and cheap sh&t junk parts . The rest is extinuating circumstances ie another part fails causing a ripple effect .
Shop was using ball joints called three 555 supposed to be from japan . Clean spindle properly , use a press and proper adapter to install joint , tork ball joint stud nut . a few days to 6 months car would come in spindle away from control arm , drive axle ruined and the nut gone off of ball joint stud . Studs looked mint each time . This happened five or six times at least . Employer freaking out an blaming me . Each time the scenario would be customer would say I was just pulling in or out of a part lot and as soon as you went over the concrete , That shock load to the suspension and bang car drops to ground . ??????? Finally I figure I gotta end this BS
Put in another ball joint for one that came in no nut ,and tork nut , ok , then it dawns on me shock load , Tork nut another ten ftLbs and another ten ftLbs and the threads pulled right outta the center of the nut . The nut literally slid off the stud threads by finger tip and the nut threads left on the stud . I picked those off with a pick tool . Split the joint , put the oem nut on the ball joint stud and fixed . That was 5 or 6 years ago . After that whenever shop sold that junk I just reused the oem nut , threw the new one in scrap and havent had that problem since
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I,m as cool as Milner , but axeually a bit more like Beckwith
I remember those, there was a rumor that they were being "counterfeited" same as NGK spark plugs. I guess you don't really know what you are buying. I've heard some nasty stories about aircraft parts also and they have a lot more checks and balances in place.
Just because it comes from USA doesn't mean it;s not "Chinese" or Asian" CRAP!! Check the box label, last AC Delco stuff I bought, said " packaged in the USA, made in China" Brand name means "Zip, nada, zillch
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I can only please one person a day, Today is not your day!!Tomorrow doesn't look good either !!!!
Yes, I was surprised to see that Holley and MSD are now doing stuff "offshore". Had a few customers very unhappy with aftermarket EFI set ups, wanted to get them removed. When they work, they are great but the electronics don't seem to last very long. They seem to show up on Kijiji as soon as the warranty ends.
Hey Live To , thats the ones a lil chinese guy was coming around selling them cheap from back of a dodge mini van up outta toronto
He sells us boxes of 100 of 194 bulbs , When you use one of them you have to get three outta the rack , cause one or two might not work ha ha . I put one in last week and it burned out all creamy white inside the lense as soon as i put it in ha ha
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I,m as cool as Milner , but axeually a bit more like Beckwith
Everybody knows, you only buy stereo speakers, lobster tails and those stupid "aircraft drillbits" from the guys in the vans! I have to admit I fell for the drill bit line at a swap meet once, anyone else?
I bought a Craftmate socket set for a really good price at a flea market,
guy said they were garinted for life .Broke the ratchet ,lost the 10m and oddly
can't find the guy . Ed
I've had a couple of 1980 T/A Turbos back in the day and enjoyed them both.
Little was known about Turbos back then so many folks were scared of them.
A friend put the Entire Turbo/carb system on a Chevy Nova 250 6 cyl and it flew!
I bought a couple of systems dreaming on putting one on my 1981 F150, 300 6.
They're probably the easiest Turbo system to adapt to another Engine
However, with old age and poor health they remain on a shop shelf.
Best of luck!!
Thanks
Randy
Livetodrive wrote:
So, I bought myself a project to pass the time during the Covid lock downs. Nothing exotic, just a dirt cheap, fully loaded, 1980 Turbo Trans Am. It was complete and only has 95,000km on it so I figured why not. It had not run in many years and I had to correct a few miss guided modifications but all the parts were there so all was good. While I was setting it up I noticed a pretty nasty ignition dwell variance so I ordered an ignition module from RockAuto. It came from Texas (Standard Motor Products) so it took about 2 weeks to arrive. I installed it using white heat sync paste (not the clear stuff) and guess what, no start? Put the old one back in and it runs. Send the new one back and they send another, guess what, no start. Processed another return and waited for the replacement, same deal. I started to second guess myself and bought a used distributer on Kiji, swapped that module in and it was perfect. I decided to cut my loses, and ordered one from Delco, waited almost 3 weeks (it was during the election) and sure enough the Delco unit was also dead on arrival. They took it back tested it and shipped me a new one without any grief but the quality of US made parts just isn't what it used to be. I think I shared my previous experience with a Mustang fuel pump I replaced during a restoration, the spring broke after 800 miles leaving me on the side of the interstate in Minnesota. I popped the 53 year old one back on and it was fine for the rest of the trip. Am I just unlucky or has this become the new reality?
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There's no logical reason to call an Engine a motor
Thanks! When I saw your Rampage, I thought back to the 82 Charger I had when I worked at the Chrysler Dealer in Toronto (Mills & Hadwin). Shaved the head so far I had to get a shorter timing belt for it. Head gaskets did not last very long but its was fun to drive.
Hopefully you can post some pics when you get a chance.
I've bee nuts for Turbos ever since and Turboed my Rampage and others.
Thanks
Randy
Livetodrive wrote:
Thanks! When I saw your Rampage, I thought back to the 82 Charger I had when I worked at the Chrysler Dealer in Toronto (Mills & Hadwin). Shaved the head so far I had to get a shorter timing belt for it. Head gaskets did not last very long but its was fun to drive.
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There's no logical reason to call an Engine a motor
Beware of Chinese solenoids they are junk, sadly even dealers are selling them ... soft springs will stick and burn your Ford or not click and leave you on the side of road. Might be a McGyver fix like cut them open and install a few washers, but best to go to junkyard and get OEM stuff and put a few in your toolbox, they will be gold in a few years.
Its in the garage right now so hard to get pics. Hopefully this will bring back a memory or two for you. What I liked about it, other than the cheap buy in, the car is mostly complete as no one seems to have driven it since 1989. I rebuilt the carb and put a better camshaft in it and it runs really well. Cutting edge technology at the time, it has a two stage thermostat that flows hot coolant to the carb base until it warms up, then shuts that port off when the stat opens. Will be nice to have a "fun" car with A/C, and it still has a partial charge but the dye around the compressor tells me I'll have to do the case on the R4 before summer.
Thanks! Its a fun project and I see we are locked down again. Very cool, you have the old turbo systems, they were not the biggest power systems but kinda cool in there own right, this one made almost 330 hp with 11lbs boost. Nothing wrong with Red Tek, people give it a bad wrap because its flammable but I guess they have never seen the refrigerant oil suspended in R134 hit a hot exhaust!
I can't take the credit for that, thats how it came to me but the cam made the car undrivable! I suspect thats why it got parked in the first place, LOL. It may not go as fast now, but at least it idles under 1100 rpm and the power brakes work. He had 295/60/15 tires on the original turbine rims.
It looks to be upgraded as it has the adjustable wastegate and has zero shaft play. If it was original, I would have expected some play after 95K. Looks like someone followed the proper (3000 mile) maintenance schedule as there is no black stuff under the rocker covers.
