Summit brand parts
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 81,241
Likes: 3,063
From: altered state
St. Jude Donor '05
Summit brand parts
Always had good luck over the years most times they wont put their name on junk. Its usually one of two major mfrs.
Anyway this Ignition kit i bought 2 yrs ago which, according to a few sales reps insisted it was MSD? BS!!
Had a number of issues with my dist.
Took it to Bob Jennings (anyone remember him?) and spent a whole bunch of time blueprinting the entire dist.
Bushings dont measure out right, advance bushings arent even in the balllpark etc. Housing had to be turned down.
Its A Chinese knockoff just like everything else out there these days.
Hard to get good parts anymore they are slowly disappearing.
Will never buy a Summit brand anything ever again.
Buyer beware!!!
Anyway this Ignition kit i bought 2 yrs ago which, according to a few sales reps insisted it was MSD? BS!!
Had a number of issues with my dist.
Took it to Bob Jennings (anyone remember him?) and spent a whole bunch of time blueprinting the entire dist.
Bushings dont measure out right, advance bushings arent even in the balllpark etc. Housing had to be turned down.
Its A Chinese knockoff just like everything else out there these days.
Hard to get good parts anymore they are slowly disappearing.
Will never buy a Summit brand anything ever again.
Buyer beware!!!
Melting Slicks
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 2,422
Likes: 202
Of course vendors.. are out soursing... Way to many greedy.. American companies.. ripping off the public
There is nothing wrong with most Chinese or any country knock offs...
It's the quality control... Once they get so many complaints.. and dial in the mistakes.. they will be fine
GM themselves outsources iron blocks have been made in Mexico & Australia.. since how long now
Summit does have a pretty nice return... Especially when they can see how much you have spent over the years
There is nothing wrong with most Chinese or any country knock offs...
It's the quality control... Once they get so many complaints.. and dial in the mistakes.. they will be fine
GM themselves outsources iron blocks have been made in Mexico & Australia.. since how long now
Summit does have a pretty nice return... Especially when they can see how much you have spent over the years
Last edited by THE 383 admiral; Feb 10, 2012 at 03:01 PM.
Instructor
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 238
Likes: 0
From: Asheboro North Carolina
Of course vendors.. are out soursing... Way to many greedy.. American companies.. ripping off the public
There is nothing wrong with most Chinese or any country knock offs...
It's the quality control... Once they get so many complaints.. and dial in the mistakes.. they will be fine
GM themselves outsources iron blocks have been made in Mexico & Australia.. since how long now
Summit does have a pretty nice return... Especially when they can see how much you have spent over the years
There is nothing wrong with most Chinese or any country knock offs...
It's the quality control... Once they get so many complaints.. and dial in the mistakes.. they will be fine
GM themselves outsources iron blocks have been made in Mexico & Australia.. since how long now
Summit does have a pretty nice return... Especially when they can see how much you have spent over the years
Biting my tongue before I say something I'll regret.
Drifting
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 1,642
Likes: 0
From: Suwanee,Ga
Always had good luck over the years most times they wont put their name on junk. Its usually one of two major mfrs.
Anyway this Ignition kit i bought 2 yrs ago which, according to a few sales reps insisted it was MSD? BS!!
Had a number of issues with my dist.
Took it to Bob Jennings (anyone remember him?) and spent a whole bunch of time blueprinting the entire dist.
Bushings dont measure out right, advance bushings arent even in the balllpark etc. Housing had to be turned down.
Its A Chinese knockoff just like everything else out there these days.
Hard to get good parts anymore they are slowly disappearing.
Will never buy a Summit brand anything ever again.
Buyer beware!!!
Anyway this Ignition kit i bought 2 yrs ago which, according to a few sales reps insisted it was MSD? BS!!
Had a number of issues with my dist.
Took it to Bob Jennings (anyone remember him?) and spent a whole bunch of time blueprinting the entire dist.
Bushings dont measure out right, advance bushings arent even in the balllpark etc. Housing had to be turned down.
Its A Chinese knockoff just like everything else out there these days.
Hard to get good parts anymore they are slowly disappearing.
Will never buy a Summit brand anything ever again.
Buyer beware!!!
Similar problems.
Got a Mini-starter bolted it in, helper torques it to spec... Hit the button , and " crack " ... the base breaks...!!! Torque was the bolts bottoming out .... the bolts are to long???
My fault for not checking. Should have given it a shake .. but there it was. [ all spacers in too to get clearances !]
Then the AN Fittings. 2/3 of name brand.
They don't fit the Koul Tool and the starights threads wouldn't give you even two turns?? We had to take the whole batch back.
Lucky, they are In Town so the day as only 50% shot.
Bought some Earls, Fragola, and Aero quip... all fit fine.
Rotors !!!!!!!!!!!!! Gad don't buy their rotors....... worst Iron Known To Man....
I have pretty much gone brand name or to NAPA now.
Summit does have a great attitude about returns though? Unless it's a busted starter... no go with that.
TJM
Race Director
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 14,680
Likes: 752
From: NEwhere Ohio
Always had good luck over the years most times they wont put their name on junk. Its usually one of two major mfrs.
Anyway this Ignition kit i bought 2 yrs ago which, according to a few sales reps insisted it was MSD? BS!!
Had a number of issues with my dist.
Took it to Bob Jennings (anyone remember him?) and spent a whole bunch of time blueprinting the entire dist.
Bushings dont measure out right, advance bushings arent even in the balllpark etc. Housing had to be turned down.
Its A Chinese knockoff just like everything else out there these days.
Hard to get good parts anymore they are slowly disappearing.
Will never buy a Summit brand anything ever again.
Buyer beware!!!
Anyway this Ignition kit i bought 2 yrs ago which, according to a few sales reps insisted it was MSD? BS!!
Had a number of issues with my dist.
Took it to Bob Jennings (anyone remember him?) and spent a whole bunch of time blueprinting the entire dist.
Bushings dont measure out right, advance bushings arent even in the balllpark etc. Housing had to be turned down.
Its A Chinese knockoff just like everything else out there these days.
Hard to get good parts anymore they are slowly disappearing.
Will never buy a Summit brand anything ever again.
Buyer beware!!!
With the exception of some of the older-style MSD-6 boxes, everything coming out of MSD nowdays is absolute garbage.
In 2004, MSD was bought and used for its name alone which is rapidly fading from 'innovative ignition technology' to made-in-china break-me-down-on-the-side-of-the-highway junk.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSD_Ignition
Ive asked reps at summit racing (they are 5 minutes away) who still buys MSD crap anymore and they say they still get these 'guys' who insist on 'gotta be MSD'. So they are living in the past 'fooled' by the now-made-in-China MSD name.
In the near future, perhapes everyone will know the MSD to be synomous with total junk garbage.
All this said, My MSD-6BTM box is still working (old design bought 6years ago).
Doesnt make up for the:
-Bad MSD LT1 8.5mm wires I had (spark arc'd all over the place)
-MSD LT1 coil that was putting on light show under my hood (spark arc'ing against itself)
-3 MSD Digital 6 Plus boxes that broke on me and left me stranded w/ no start conditions (I believe 93 Ragtop also had problems with these too)
-many MSD optispark posts on here where people have had problems (GM ACDELCO optispark is the only way to go).
Last edited by dizwiz24; Feb 10, 2012 at 07:41 PM.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 5,270
Likes: 3
From: Seattle Area WA
They do not seem as nice as the russell brand ones I have used, but they work all the same. I was unimpressed with their SAE to AN fittings.. I hate SAE anyway, but all the other AN stuff worked fine.
Sad to hear Ron, I'm using summit RR's have been for a couple of years now, so far so good... I hardly trust any type of non OEM electronics though. Not good to hear this, I was thinking of summit if I ever step up to the 1.7s.
Last edited by USAsOnlyWay; Feb 10, 2012 at 06:58 PM.
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Racer
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 351
Likes: 3
From: amarillo tx
china junk
hi all, i have used autolite 3924 plugs in my 377 for years. i had one box of 4 left from several years ago so i went to a local parts store to get more plugs. i looked at them and noticed that there was no "made in usa" stamped on them. i looked at my older plugs and it was there. i looked at the box and low and behold, made in china. i got on their web site and got the 800 number and called the service department and talked to them about this problem of new plugs made in china. long story short, i told them i would never buy autolite again and i would go on a personal campaign to discredit their decision to use china made parts. moral of the story, dont just quit using a product without contacting the service department and telling them why you are not using their product any more. i believe that if enough people called about the china parts problem, maybe we might see a change back to the usa made parts. see ya
Burning Brakes
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,006
Likes: 2
From: Spartanburg South Carolina
They supply great parts and good customer service but i also will never buy their brand. Got some of their AN fittings, charged the same price as the others but for half the quality. The finish quality was horrible. Fitment was unsatisfactory.
Race Director
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 14,680
Likes: 752
From: NEwhere Ohio
I think you might be ok though since MSD pro billet distributor and MSD 6AL are long established products developed under their old regime. There is lots of racer history supporting those products.
As long as they havent found a way to cheapen those up or farm them out to china, you might be ok. Though Id try to figure out if anything has changed with those products and try to get an old model if so.
Id just keep a set of those 'bypass' wires with you in case the box fails. That way at least you can get home.
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 81,241
Likes: 3,063
From: altered state
St. Jude Donor '05
Bypass harness is something I have to learn about and make.
Do not like those spark boxes seen to many fail and leave people on the side of the road. WIth the size cam Im running its a necessity to keep from loading plugs up. They do their job there.
Always used Mallory in the past and never had an issue period. Good stuff imo.
Summit has good return policy but for used electrical pieces I doubt they would take it back after 2 yrs. Collected parts in advance so they never got used til recently.
Good HEI seems like the way to go no issue getting parts.
Do not like those spark boxes seen to many fail and leave people on the side of the road. WIth the size cam Im running its a necessity to keep from loading plugs up. They do their job there.
Always used Mallory in the past and never had an issue period. Good stuff imo.
Summit has good return policy but for used electrical pieces I doubt they would take it back after 2 yrs. Collected parts in advance so they never got used til recently.
Good HEI seems like the way to go no issue getting parts.
Last edited by cv67; Feb 11, 2012 at 10:59 PM.
Race Director
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 12,221
Likes: 446
From: Overland Park Kansas
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Race Director
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 14,680
Likes: 752
From: NEwhere Ohio
That's what I had issues w/.
Their generic msd-6 series of boxes (msd-6al, msd-6btm) have worked fine for me and been reliable.
Safety Car
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 3,973
Likes: 341
From: Adelaide South Australia
I bought a new rotor with my MSD cap, and a Mallory coil from them,
the car was running fine, bought some magnacor wires off a forum member, fitted them and went for a quick test drive, hit 4500 rpm in second and bang, car stopped dead !
after a tow home found it was the new rotor button, the metal tang had spun off !
when i checked the old one against the new you could see the quality difference,
and as for getting that mallory coil onto the msd cap, dont get me started on that one
the car was running fine, bought some magnacor wires off a forum member, fitted them and went for a quick test drive, hit 4500 rpm in second and bang, car stopped dead !
after a tow home found it was the new rotor button, the metal tang had spun off !
when i checked the old one against the new you could see the quality difference,
and as for getting that mallory coil onto the msd cap, dont get me started on that one
