[unruhjonny]

Originally Posted by Ram Air IV Jack

... the quality control in China is terrible as reported here. ...

I believe you are mistaken;
QC is only as good as what is paid for.

You can get fantastic stuff from there - but it will have higher cost to reflect more time put into the item.

[Dragncar]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

Thanks for the price update, I haven't looked. You're right, $300 is cheap. Compare that to a lot of Eddy intakes on the market and it looks like a bargain. We are lucky they are even available. A bunch of desirable intakes for other brands aren't repopped like this one.

They also have some cast steel 4 bolts main caps for 300 $ Not too bad.
Nice to know a stock looking aftermarket 4 bolt cap set is available.

[Ram Air IV Jack]

Originally Posted by unruhjonny

I believe you are mistaken;
QC is only as good as what is paid for.

You can get fantastic stuff from there - but it will have higher cost to reflect more time put into the item.

You can get some decent parts made in China, but it is a hit and miss deal. When you have forced labor making peanuts like what is common in China, quality control suffers. We see members talk about this here all the time. People buy this junk because it is available and cheap compared to OEM parts. Prime example is the terrible fit of the repro front fenders for the 68-69 A body Pontiacs. They will fit but a lot of cutting and fabricating is needed. Again, you can get decent parts made in China, but often times you have to try several items before one fits/works well.

[rolling money pits]

Isn’t the china deal not so much the casting process itself, rather what material is used?

As the owner of a 69, I’m bitter about repop fenders, and don’t me started on the core supports.

The core support is a bad welding jig or whatnot, it would appear. Why that hasn’t been corrected is a mystery. The fenders…isn’t that due to the dies being slam worn out?

[Formulajones]

Yes that was the point of my previous post when I brought up casting cylinder heads. It's really not so much the casting itself, that part is fine. The integrity of the casting isn't the issue. If it were then we'd be seeing a whole hell of a lot of cylinder head flaws and issues from various brands that have them cast over seas. So we can forget about China material as far as that goes in regards to intakes. The intakes aren't going to fall apart.

It's when those said heads are also assembled in China when problems arise. Seats are many times garbage, valve jobs that don't seal and cheap parts used on the rest of the valvetrain is where people get in trouble. That's when the China stuff can bite you. But people keep buying them cause they are cheap and don't follow the advice when people say you really should send them to a shop for a thorough going over before plopping them on your engine.
Intakes are not that kind of worry

[68 Firebird]

Has anyone installed the 1969 9796614 repop intake on a 68 Firebird with Ram Air pans??

This was a good thread.

Wanted to make sure there are no clearance issues.

Thanks

Gerry

[Formulas]

Originally Posted by Dragncar

They also have some cast steel 4 bolts main caps for 300 $ Not too bad.
Nice to know a stock looking aftermarket 4 bolt cap set is available.

Cast steel? unheard of impossible its a scam just like Scat's so called cast steel 9000 series cranks and Eagles cast steel crankshafts.

.

[steve25]

Well.

[Dragncar]

Originally Posted by Formulas

Cast steel? unheard of impossible its a scam just like Scat's so called cast steel 9000 series cranks and Eagles cast steel crankshafts.

.

You think I made it up ?
Here is the listing.

https://www.thepartsplaceinc.com/pro...0-motors/49188

BTW, I am a millwright/welder.
I have welded cast steel more times than I can count.
Things that are obviously cast and weld perfectly fine with 7018 rod or Duel Shield wire.
Cast iron can not do that.

[mgarblik]

IMO, The Parts Place is playing "fast and loose" with their terminology, just like GM did in the 1960's. If GM could get away with calling pearlitic malleable cast iron Armasteel, then why not he "Parts Place"? It is just a merchandising term that sounds cool that they were able to trade mark. It is a high quality cast iron product, better suited for high performance than gray cast iron. It was also used in the Pontiac cast connecting rods. But if I was going to go to all the work of fitting 4 bolt main caps, I would go straight to billet ones.

[Skip Fix]

All my 409 main caps say "Armasteel".

[nas t eh]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

. But if I was going to go to all the work of fitting 4 bolt main caps, I would go straight to billet ones.

Even if you’ve got stock factory 4 bolt caps and bolts for free?

40+yrs ago I picked up some 4 bolt caps off a junk yard 428.
I have always planned to rebuilt the 455 from my car with those caps, but maybe they are not worth the cost of machining to fit them to the block?

I do have them in place on the bare block and I was surprised at how close to correct they look and feel. I know they have to be properly fitted, but it really is odd how close to true they seem to be.

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by nas t eh

Even if you’ve got stock factory 4 bolt caps and bolts for free?

40+yrs ago I picked up some 4 bolt caps off a junk yard 428.
I have always planned to rebuilt the 455 from my car with those caps, but maybe they are not worth the cost of machining to fit them to the block?

I do have them in place on the bare block and I was surprised at how close to correct they look and feel. I know they have to be properly fitted, but it really is odd how close to true they seem to be.

If you have a set of stock 4-bolt caps, I would consider using them. It costs about $200.00- $300.00 to fit, line bore and line hone a block in Ohio. Be aware fitting the thrust cap can be difficult with stock caps. Aftermarket caps come wide so they can be faced to match the block. Stock caps have already been faced for a different block. If that cap is already too narrow for your new application, that can get tricky. Believe it or not, I have successfully swapped say the #3 cap to the #4 position if it's wide enough. Then faced that cap for the thrust position. Re-number the caps and your all set. The former thrust cap in the #3 position doesn't know the difference.

[Dragncar]

The PMD caps were just nodular iron. I am sure these are the same.
Milodon sells nodular/ductile iron caps. Splayed ones too. But they are more expensive than PE billet caps.
Speedmaster sells some cheapo 120$ 455 straight billet caps.