Made in China

[836dstr]

Well in getting ready for Bonneville I bought a new MSD Blaster 3 Coil. I was experiencing a high speed miss at the June El Mirage Meet. A friend mentioned that coils don't last as long when used with a MSD Boxes because of the multiple firings. It kind of made sense and coils are cheap.

I got my new "cheap" coil from Summit and there were those dreaded words "Made in China", and I might have guessed, the 11/16 and 3/8 nutdrivers wouldn't work on the terminal nuts. Yep, they were 8 MM.

I guess the wages are getting to high down there in El Paso.

I prefer to buy things made in the USA, but it's getting tougher all the time.

Tom

P.S. I think I'll bring the old coil along as a Spare.

[Jonny Hotnuts]

I just spent the better half of a weekend helping my friend change a starter on a 440 in a 69 charger.
I talked him into buying the mini starter from Summit, as the mini case starters help with header clearance.

After breaking a stud off in the head (removing the studs in lue of bolts) we had to pull the head. Needless to say the day sucked.

The starter finally arrived and installed waaaayyy easier than the old OEM.

The first time he turned it over it started.....only problem is the solenoid stuck and continued to grind on the fly.

I told him it was a bad starter or switch....just pull the little wire on the starter and hook the battery back up.....if the starter turns the motor.....that is your prob. And as you might guess turns over without the switch wire hooked up......even a few raps from a 16oz didnt fix it.

Cheap China made starter now has to be sent back to summit....it will only take 3 hours to remove and 3 more to install not to mention the 6 days shipping time back and forth.

Moral to this story.....

[836dstr]

Jonny H-Nuts,

Yeah, plus the shipping costs ( and the Jack Daniels/Buds, Millers, etc.).

Tom

[JimL]

A few years back I was doing a little work with the guys from Pectel.  They made EFI for Formula Atlantic, rally stuff, SCCA racers, etc.

I was having spark problems and they had me get late 90's Ford Ranger coils.  They had found them to be powerful and reliable for long distance racing.  I was told the "heavy coils" have more windings, and were Ford's solution to working the old Ranger engine through the early years of OBDII requirements.

They worked great, and didn't cost much.  They are set up to run "waste spark" on 4 cylinder (you only have to trigger two terminals).

Maybe this'll help someone.
Regards, JimL

PS.... at very high boost, I used a Honda Mini-Trail battery (6V) wired in series to the coils...running them at 18 volts.  It works out fine for high RPM because the higher voltage only gets coil saturation back to "normal".

[Roadster943]

 I have been trying to not buy anything made in China. It has been very difficult. I think it is going to get worse.  MSD made in China? Bummer, welcome to the golbal market.

[MCR]

Personally I can't believe our elected officials decided to do business with a communist country that killed about 20 million of their own citizens for political reasons.  And killed thousands of American peace keepers in Korea.

But that's just politics.

Sadly, the Chinese stuff is getting better.  American and European countries are giving them high end mfr'g technology that allows them a huge advantage over democratic countries.

But, just think.  Soon you can buy a complete Old School American Hot Rod made completely with Chinese parts.

[Nortonist 592]

As long as we keep demanding more pay than the minmum wage we'll keep getting crap from China.

[maguromic]

"Soon you can buy a complete Old School American Hot Rod made completely with Chinese parts"

Don't think they havent yet.  I fly to Asia once every two months on business, and on my last trip I was waiting for my connecting flight in Hong Kong and in the business lounge I ran into an executive of a well known Flat Head hot rod company that we all know ( I don't want to embarrass them).  He was on his way to mainland China to source manufactures for their flat head parts.  Theirs also several companies that sell so called high end cranks and rods made in China.  For me NO THANKS!!

[joea]

magura..........cant help the irony.........."I fly to Asia once every two months on business"...

[maguromic]

"magura..........cant help the irony.........."I fly to Asia once every two months on business"..."

I work for a tea company, and we source tea from all over Asia, EXCEPT CHINA. Unfortunately we don't grow tea in the US. Japan has all but banned most tea from China due to high pestaside levels. Sadly only a few retailers in the US have followed suit.  I personally don't buy  any food manufactured or that has stuff from China. If I am going to risk my life I rather do something I like LSR!

[Milwaukee Midget]

Personally I can't believe our elected officials decided to do business with a communist country that killed about 20 million of their own citizens for political reasons.  And killed thousands of American peace keepers in Korea.

Lenin once said -

"The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them."

That's turned out to be false.  We can't make rope cheaply enough.

Instead, we will borrow the money from China to buy the rope to sell to ourselves on credit which we get from China.

THAT'S how they'll hang us. 

I'm sorry, we were talking quality control and Chinese auto parts . . . I digress . . .

[don pennington]

A couple of years ago I was visiting Roy Fjastad. As you all know, Roy is a very crafty guy with a huge history of creating parts for the drag race/hot rod/LSR world. He was having a tuff day as Jeg's had stopped buying the valve adjusting tools that he makes. He had found out that they were now getting... as if by magic... the exact same item from China, obviously a knock off.

Later that month at Pomona, Jeg's Pro Stocker was in the pits and had a Made in China decal on the quarter panel, and not very straight either, as if someone had hastily put it there. A very curious sight. Can't imagine why they would put one of these on the bright and shinney made in USA racer, but there it was! Do you think they use Chinese parts on the race car? Probably not! Anyway, there is was....this decal. Is this a knock off made in China item... I wondered. Couldn't be, no market for those...even through Jeg's. Could it be that one of Jeg's upset customers put it there when nobody was looking? In all my years of making decals, I have never seen such a thing, it's unChinese, and besides it's hard to do because there is always someone around the car....almost.