I think another company makes their fiberglass parts..or many of them for sure.

 

I bought a repro front bumper on ebay...it was sold as a original bumper...it was beautiful. When I got to installing it it didn't fit...it was repro. I've read that Paragon sells repro bumpers made from original GM tooling and presumably will fit. Don't know for sure.

 

Naw! Come on this stuff is perfect!

Don't even get me started on the quality of the reproduction parts sold by Corvette America.......door panels.....plastic backing is too thick and the Velcro fasteners won't hold them in place......close inspection/comparison to the Velcro OEM mounts reveled that the ***** on the ends of the stems were too small and wouldn't properly grip the GM pads, made some " L " brackets and used them to hold lower panel to door frames. Corvette America dash.....upper panel required me to install some screws with fender washers on them to properly tension the fit as they screwed up on OEM retainer clip opening positions.......Corvette America windshield pillar moldings.....not even remotely close to fitting correctly.....same problem with Velcro ***** on the end of the stems but, this time the metal backing frame didn't allow the Velcro pads to engage after I wasted my time and mounted some GM pads onto the replacement moldings......used double sided foam tape to mount trim.....Corvette America parking brake cover studs pulled off of console cover after installation.....they were fastened with a thick plastic strip about 0.020" thick, I didn't excessively torque the retainer nuts.....this was just another crap part nothing like the GM design....just a cheap Chinese copy with no real thought to what GM had done. My Corvette America drivers dash panel was so poorly made I hunted on Ebay for a correct Used dash and paid plenty for one I needed to do a little epoxy repair to.....fit like a glove! Corvette America dash vent ***** that were soo far from being spherical that I had to remove some sealing felt to allow them to somewhat work.....Corvette America vents are best described as " egg shaped " the GM ***** were spherical basically round....how do you screw that one up?

Anyone who is in the market for a 1970 drivers side lower dash pad.....I'll sell you a brand new Corvette America pad for $150 no warranties or guarantees of correct fit/finish implied......

 

Please go back and read my revised statement in #18 post .

 

Parts quality, for any of my vehicles, has become a serious concern. I would check RockAuto for parts before anywhere else, mostly because they usually have a few options to choose from so you actually see the brand, etc. before buying it (they also have some of the best prices). I bought my tank from there and it seemed to be excellent quality. No visible rust two years after purchase/install.

 

BJ1K, I had my 68 worked on about three years ago and bought the Eckler's hood surround and left fender, and inner fender. All were like original, however their fender bonding strip was too short, by over 12".
I had to order one from Corvette Image and it was the correct length and quality. I also ordered a replacement (not reproduction) rear license plate lens and did not like the quality. I gave it to the body shop that the car was at. Lou.

 

Unfortunately this will become the norm. As those of us who remember well made parts go to the big drive in in the sky these poorly made parts will just be accepted.
As far as tools go, I'll wait a little longer to buy a tool if I can find one that's quality.

 

I bought a new front header bow for my 72 convertible for almost $400. and couldn't get enough adjustment on the front guide pins to latch it down. The original bow had larger adjustment holes . Not a big deal but just stupid that they didn't just make them bigger in the first place . I used a rotary file on a drill and got the adjustment that I needed , but the front brackets for the latches were hitting the top of the windshield post . The brackets were welded about 1/8 inch too far forward and had to be ground down. Still not a big deal for someone that was a lifelong fabricator but for someone looking to do a bolt up job , they would be sending this part back. Why keep making the part without correcting the problem ? They have been making these for years.

 

Sometimes I wonder what our cars would look like if they were reconstructed using all replacement parts - probably look like a Mustang!

 

We all need to get a partition up and forward the multisigned document to all the suppliers of parts to our cars.

I have 30M in a 49 chevy fleetline...will never build another streetrod. The parts you get now are JUNK!!!! PURE JUNK!!!

My one piece windshield from Thialand...is now a 3 piece. The twiwan one piece bumpers look great except when you install them...they are so soft they bend in at the bolts...terrible. The door stainless trim...looked good until I tightened it...my perfectly straight door is now called "Mr Wavy". I could go on and on.

Another thing...it does not have to be made overseas any more to be nothing but CRAP...a few of the parts made in usa were as bad as the china stuff...GREED is the decline of America and eventually will be its fall....sad but true.

 

I bought an Al Knock convertible top against my better judgment just because it was convenient only to find out that nothing has changed . The quality is as bad as ever. He used to sell some of the best tops years ago and I have installed many with very good results for myself and my customers . I stopped buying his tops about ten years ago when I was installing one of his tops on an 87 Corvette and I noticed that it was made one inch too short from side to side. I talked to him personally and his answer was ( with an attitude )to stretch it. You don't stretch a top one inch. I threw that top out and never bought another one from him until now when I bought it from a vendor, which I don't blame . I bought the tack strips at the same time so I assume that they were his also . Here is the results so far. (1) The tack strips were 1/8 inch to wide and even after me having to grind them down, the pressed board that they were made from was so soft that they crumbled when trying to tap them in. I threw them out and made them myself out of some good quality pressed board that I had. (2) The convertible top pads were cut crooked on the front and when I would pull them forward enough to catch the full tack strip the pads were one inch too short . This would only allow 33 inches to the back bow and the correct measurements from the front header bow to all three bows are 12 24 and 34. I had to stitch an additional inch of material on to the front edge to make them work. Inside the pads were reinforcements sewn in that were so crooked that it must have been party time at the company. I believe in a second chance for everybody but this was the second chance.

 

68/70Vette,
I purchased a flex- fiberglass front bumper for my 73 from Paragon and it fits pretty dam good. Just too cold right now were I'm storing my car, to finish mounting it but it lined up without much fuss. lucky I guess.

 

My recent experience with Al Knoch has been the opposite. I've bought tops for 2 cars in recent years and they were excellent. Ive also bought a long list of interior parts for my cars as well and would do it again. Finallly, I had an issue with expensive leather covers a year after buying them and he made good on them, no questions asked, so I'd rank their customer service as the best Ive dealt with.

Different people have different experiences. Ive had horrible experiences and would never go back with some vendors that people here absolutely love.

I think it's pretty much a coin toss.

 

I think it's hit and miss with most aftermarket vendors....and not just vettes..with ANYTHING you buy.

I have bought stuff from most of the big Vette vendors, and I will attest to the terrible fitment of the corvette America interior parts...most all of them sucked and I sent them back and just dyed my original stuff that I could.

I will say I have had good luck with Corvette Central and their service, and best of all is Willcox Corvette.. Their service is outstanding and prices are the best. They are my first call for repro Vette stuff. They are also very helpful on the forum as well.

 

Who wants to buy from a company that when you open up the box it's like opening up a box of cracker jacks ? ( You never know what's inside ) Seems to be the case now with Al Knock items. It's a shame because years ago his products were top quality and I bought and installed many of them. I would also ad that he made some of the best videos and I learned how to install tops using them many years ago.

 

Don't know if any of these parts are still around. But when you attach this flex coupling assembly to your steering gear, you will end up with your steering wheel upside down. Since the "bowtie" flange with a machined flat only attaches to the steering gear input shaft in one position, if the flat is 180 degrees out your steering wheel will be upside down when driving down the road.

I haven't heard of this problem for a while so maybe it was only one batch of parts. Too bad that the offshore people cannot even copy correctly.

Jim

 

Rebuilding an '80 from the frame up has been an education to say the least. I used to hear all about Chinese quality issues, but didn't give it much credence... until I started searching out aftermarket parts. I'm entering year 6 of my restoration - thank goodness it's almost complete now. The main reason why it's taking me so long has to do with parts sourcing. I'll search out original parts on eBay, Craiglist or the like and pay the extra cost rather than buy cheap Asian garbage. And for the most part it is garbage. I'd guesstimate that 3/4's of the parts that I had to replace are good ol' "Made in the USA Back In Day". You can take an original wheel spindle and compare it to a cheap Asian knock-off and the differences in quality are obvious. But mind you, I've had to use aftermarket crap as well, but I've confined that to so called "non-critical" areas (lights, lens, wipers, antenna, stereo, bezels, etc). Nothing cheap went into the drivetrain, chassis or body. Heck, I wouldn't even buy an aftermarket door handle. I used re-chromed original top quality handles.

 

Okay you guys have me scared,
I thought Al Knock was the guru of top shelf tops, I likely would have bought from him but never doing a top before would I have been savvy enough to know the top was messed up like in Bj1ks case, I might have though the issue was with me,

The import parts are junk posts will never end, I know how anti American it is to buy any part not made in the USA, not all USA made stuff is great, ever shop us made stuff at walmarts?

I have seen a real close 50/50 to US made parts and import made parts and which are junk and which are great, ( purists aside from this )

I see post after post from people that say the import xxxxxxxx works just as well as the US one that costs 2-3 times more,
Some people simply can not afford to pay any extra just because it's made in USA.

I had a thread about tires, I made lots of calls and 15" tires are basically on the way out as far as any wide sizes go, I would guess places like Coker will sell stock sized 15" mostly bias plys but who really digs running bias plys?

Crappy parts hurt us all but I really see it being a stick stuck in and broken off for a purist who must have that factory USA made part in good quailty...

 

When I was looking for outside door handles I said if its just a cheaper chrome then I will try them because my cars never see any bad weather anyway . The result was the flaps only coming half way back up after opening the doors. I returned them and bought the ones that cost twice as much and they work perfect.

 

I'll be ready for a dash pad soon. I was checking eBay for an original one that I can refurbish and dye to my interior color. Didn't see any right now, but I noticed that Wilcox has their dash pads on eBay. They claim that their new pads were test installed in their shop and fit like originals. Anyone tried a Wilcox dash pad?