AAR Cuda restoration rant

[ajakeski]

We've been working on this AAR for a few years in between everything else. It belongs to a friend and is an actual AAR.
We're at the assembly phase and we have a lot of reproduction parts going on the car.
I have to say the quality of the reproduction parts is crap. Nothing comes even close to fitting properly and these are supposed to be the best parts. At least they're the most expensive parts from the big name dealers.
It took 6 hours to get the grille and fog lights to fit decent.
It makes all our work on the body and paint seem like a waste since these detail items are sub par.
I'm glad I have all OEM parts for my Road Runner, and more importantly, all of our Turbo Mopars.

[Badger]

who makes the repro parts your using?

[contraption22]

You're talking to a community for which OE or repro restoration parts are extrememely limted. It's hard for me to feel your pain there. But I do understand that it sucks to feel you got less than you paid for.

[supercrackerbox]

I'm glad I have all OEM parts for . . . all of our Turbo Mopars.


Yep, you just have to restore the parts first so you can restore the car!

[zin]

Be sure to let the sellers know about the problems you've run into, some will take them back, or provide updated units if a known issue (that's been corrected) is causing the problem...

They can't fix the problem if they don't know it's there. Ignorance being the bliss that it is!

I'm a bit disappointed that a company (or someone) would go through the trouble to make a repo part, and not make it fit and look as good or better than OE, makes me think they aren't enthusiasts, more just out to take advantage of a vacuum in that part of the market, but one would think that kind of situation would resolve itself (they'd go out of biz)...

The short version of the above: (in my best Clinton;)) I feel your pain...

Mike

[ForzaV12]

I have encountered exactly the same issue when restoring a number of cars. Incredibly, the last Corvette I did a full resto on was a true learning experience. There are actually three or four grades of parts. As expected, the Chinese crap is so bad that much of it is unusable! I found that the only parts worth using were branded GM Restoration-those were by far the most expensive, yet fit like factory.

[zin]

Is Year One stuff still any good? Heck, are they still in biz? ... haven't paid attention since Bradp stopped working there quite a few years ago now that I think about it!

Mike

- - - Updated - - -

Is Year One stuff still any good? Heck, are they still in biz? ... haven't paid attention since Bradp stopped working there quite a few years ago now that I think about it!

Mike

[83scamp]

Another thing to remember is, those old cars weren't put together as well as cars today. There wasn't any robotic welding. There was a lot of tolerance to an assembled car. Shoot, I had a friend who was a sevice manager for a Chrysler dealership for years. He told me stories about every delivery of cars from the factory. First stop was the service prep area. Most cars came in with hoods & doors out of alignment. Lights wouldn't work, etc. They had to spend hours going through every car before they could put them on the lot to sell. It wasn't until the mid 80's that the quality improved enough from the factory that they could quit doing that.

[ajakeski]

Most parts are from Year One or other big names in the reproduction biz.
Most of the time a part is made by one source (Chinese...) and sold by many vendors. The only ones I know of that make their own are First Place Products and their products DO live up to their name.
I've contacted the vendors the parts came from an all give the same answer, "No one else has complained."
I always tell people to buy the most compete car they can find. Especially one with all of the detail items. This Cuda was missing most everything, so there is little to choose from other than beat up old trim or "new" trim.
I don't expect reproductions to be as good as OEM, but the quality of parts being made is really poor. Not just the Mopar stuff, other brands too.

[RoadWarrior222]

It's an across the board problem with all cars, I've been having a hell of a time getting repair and replacement parts that are any good the last couple of years.

Seems like mostly you have 3 choices, i) the Chinese part for cheap ii) The Chinese part in a printed box with a low end brand name for a bit more. iii) The Chinese part in a shiny high end brand name box for $$$

:banghead:

But for mechanical parts, I find that AC Delco has remained a fair deal, even for non GM parts.

[ohlarikd]

Seems like mostly you have 3 choices, i) the Chinese part for cheap ii) The Chinese part in a printed box with a low end brand name for a bit more. iii) The Chinese part in a shiny high end brand name box for $$$


Ha! I actually didn't know those parts from Year One, etc., were Chinese?? I thought they all touted 'Made in USA' and things like that. Not anymore? Not ever?

[Rrider]

Slot holes. Bend brackets. File edges. Standard procedure for fitting repop parts here also. Its a shame when the original steel has to get massaged to get on that ill fitting crap. Not quite as bad when its only the part itself.

Better than nothing I guess.