Thread: 1 (one) guy's opinion

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One I forgot.

I also have a walker radiator and it does fit and has performed flawlessly.

Danny - Great list. Thanks for sharing your lessons learned and thanks for the info on Signal Dynamics - I have never used any of their stuff, but plan on looking in to it.

Danny, have to agree with you on just about everything except the Ron Francis wiring harness. I had great luck with the different ones I bought.

I have a few more I can add:

Yogi's . . . . 10 . . . excellent people to deal with either on the phone or in person; friendly and accommodating.

Outlaw . . . . 9 . . . no disappointments; excellent quality and customer support.

Heidt . . . . . 9 . . . excellent quality, very good customer support.

Dan Fink . . . 9 . . . grill inserts are works of art but pricey.

Bill's Hot Rods . . . 10 . . . hands down the nicest alt/ac brackets I have seen; great guy to deal with.

Dakota Digital . . . 10 . . . very nice people; excellent customer support; will go out of their way to help you.

Centech . . . 9 . . . nice wiring harness and components, excellent customer service (he's a street rodder which helps).

I guess I'll add a couple and comment on some already noted:

American Autowire**9 Their basic mega kit had everything included but the wiper switch in the price not a bunch of add-ons like others. Good drawings, instructions and schematics.

Billet Specialties**9 Good quality, not particularly pricey compared to some tho I did have a wheel valve hole a bit off.

Lokar**9 Great quality parts. The instructions are horrible and rate a 4. I again spoke to one of their reps at NSRA Burlington this past Saturday and his response was that most are being rewritten and are about 60% done. My e-brake cable instructions - thank goodness for me being a Mech Engr.

Brookville '30-'31 body (Deuce - don't say it ) Mine - it rates a **3 for quality.

Summit**10 - there is no better tho their 'handling' charges are getting up there

TCI Chassis **6 My Stage 3 Chrome and stainless arrived with everything dumped in a box which means everything shiny went back, after a battle, for replacement. The engine mounts are an inch too far back which caused more then a few assembly headaches - but lots of radiator clearance.

Street and Performance **8.5 After a while they got my brackets almost right but still needed a .125 shim under the a/c bracket for perfect alignment.

Dick Spadaro Early Ford **10+. He put up with my regular trips to his shop, argued with TCI and Brookville with me plus stopped by my house to see what my pain was on the body.

Of all many I have dealt with in my build, only Brookville totally upset me. The fact that there were so many quality problems probably has cost me over a year in time to finish my car. Rework, rework, rework. And yes, I am well aware that there will always be some extra work on any repro bodied car - but not on every single piece. Everyone else was more then helpful.

Although there will be some differences of opinion in rating these companies, for the most part the report card seems to be pretty consistent on most of them. Here are some of my opinions:

Sanderson Headers: 10, three sets so far, all have fit well and the finish holds up.

Patriot Headers: 3, the bolt holes in their headers didn't come close to lining up and we had to wallow them out egg shaped to make them go on. Some were off by 1/2 inch.

Speedway: 9. It would be a 10 based on customer service and response, but I knocked it down one point because a percentage of their stuff is crap. But if you pick and choose, you can get good value and good stuff. Most of it is ok in all fairness, just a small percentage is not.........probably due to them wanting to be competitive.

Summit: A 10 in the customer service/ return departments. No hassles, fast shipping, and good prices. I do wish their techs had more hands on experience as they sometimes give a wrong or incomplete answer, but not often enough to be a problem. I don't care for their "handling fee", after all, every company handles the order, isn't that part of the deal?

Lokar: 9.... I agree the product mostly gets the job done, but I have noticed some irregularities in the chrome on my shifter starting to appear. Not bad, but not really high quality chrome IMO. Also the neutral safety switch sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. I do like the push down gear changing system vs the "to the side" system Gennie uses, but both are ok.

Coker: 10 for sure. Corkey runs a good company and stands behind what he sells. Been dealing for over 20 years, only one bent wheel in all that time and they sent a new one pronto.

Dan Fink: 10++++ Makes a work of art and that alone makes the somewhat high cost worthwhile. It also gives you something to brag about........."I have a Dan Fink grille."

Edelbrock: 10. IMO their carbs are the cats meow on the street. You bolt them on and forget about them. When I switched over I took a bucket full of Holleys and sold them for $ 10 at a swap meet, and have never looked back.

Total Performance: 6, maybe 7. Some of Mickeys stuff is ok, but some is marginal IMO. Body is a perfect example...........very thin and shows shadowing much more readily than even the two Speedway bodies I have. Very disappointed in that, and also that the chrome steering arm I bought from Speedway, that was bought from TP, snapped in half and was made from cast steel, not forged. But he does manufacture to a specific market and has been successful for something like 30 years.

Brookville: A 9+, maybe even a 10. I realize they are stamping bodies to Henry's tolerances, and we all know how close those were , so they are actually not too bad. We have the roadster pickup body, and may pick up a '29 roadster body at Turkey Run this year, so we are evidently pretty pleased. They do require some tweaking, especially if you want to exceed the original fit and finish. I find them good on the phone too.

TCI transmissions: How about a minus 5!! Terrible customer service, don't stand behind their products, and a very high failure rate from what we have learned since buying ours. My Sons C4 failed after 200 miles due to the torque convertor (also TCI) breaking apart, and filling the Super Streetfighter with metal shavings and wiping out the pump and clutches. They reluctantly replaced both, but it cost us $ 100 freight up and $ 100 in freight back. Luckily Speedway kicked in $ 75 in gift certificates to help defray the cost, but we will NEVER buy another TCI again. I have always dealt with Jackson Racing Transmissions, and theirs don't fail and I can get help when I need it. (Did I mention we will NEVER buy from TCI again???

PRC Radiators. 10+. Great aluminum radiators, good price, and super customer service. 4th one we have bought and all are a work of art.

Walker Radiators: ZERO. From all reports they build a good radiator, but I think their customer service stinks, at least in their approach to handling customers. Twice we have tried to give them business and they REFUSED to build the ones we wanted because they say the radiators would not do the job. On one instance I then went to the Brassworks, who did build it, and it worked fine, and in the second instance the radiator (that the sell through Total Performance) came with a warning sticker " not guaranteed to cool properly." IMO they are too conservative and only want to build full sized '32 Ford and similar unchopped radiators. But at least they could explain it NICELY, rather than a curt "NOPE, WE WON"T DO IT."

I have a lot more, but those are enough for now.

Don