[Healeys] Mind if I Rant?

Bob Spidell bspidell at comcast.net
Sun Jul 14 09:45:33 MDT 2019


I found an obscure British car parts dealer in an industrial area in San 
Jose (or maybe Los Altos).  They had an OEM front bumper for a BJ8--I 
presume it would fit any 6-cyl car--on the wall.  The owner of the shop 
told me he'd had it for years; no one wanted it because it cost a 
hundred or so bucks more than the crappy repops.

Who's doing this?  Surely, no one on this list who's complaining about 
crappy fitting parts has sprung for the cheap version over the quality 
one, right (I'm guilty; I bought a cheaper rear brake cylinder over the 
pricier one a couple years ago)?

Bob


On 7/12/2019 6:38 PM, Don via Healeys wrote:
> When I bought front and rear bumpers for my 67 BJ-8 from Moss . I had 
> a show coming up and I needed them quick . Well they weren’t even 
> close to fitting. When I called Moss back , the salesman said , when 
> you ordered them , didn’t the salesman tell you they will need to 
> modified to fit ? Sent them back , ordered a new set from AH Spares . 
> Fit first time .
>            Don ,
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Jul 12, 2019, at 4:43 PM, Michael MacLean <rrengineer.mike at att.net 
> <mailto:rrengineer.mike at att.net>> wrote:
>
>>      As far as repops go, I asked a Moss rep one time why a lot of 
>> the reproduction parts and the rubber was so bad and did not fit 
>> well.  He told me that he could sell better parts for our cars but 
>> very few people will buy them.  If he lists both a premium part and a 
>> cheaper version, almost 95% will buy the cheap part. It would be 
>> foolish to inventory such slow moving parts, so they sell what the 
>> majority will buy.  Everyone wants the parts to be cheap.  S
>>      So, I guess you get what you pay for.
>> Mike MacLean
>>
>> On Friday, July 12, 2019, 8:29:19 AM PDT, Richard Collins 
>> <gonnagitcha90 at hotmail.com <mailto:gonnagitcha90 at hotmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>>
>> Yup, fully agree with the rant:
>>
>> The rear bumper brackets were not even close to fitting the 
>> attachment holes on my rear bumper, both purchased at the same time 
>> from the vendor. As a result, one each of the bracket bolts hold the 
>> bumper to the car with the other hole in the bumper empty. Looks 
>> weird but doesn’t impact drivability. The bumper is so thin that any 
>> rear ender will destroy it anyway.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Richard C
>> BN7 440
>>
>> On Jul 11, 2019, at 23:41, Bruce Steele <healeybruce at roadrunner.com 
>> <mailto:healeybruce at roadrunner.com>> wrote:
>>
>> Amen to that.  The inner forks of front bumper mounting brackets I 
>> bought a number of years ago were a bit over an inch shorter than the 
>> outer forks, which required sectioning and welding in extensions to 
>> bring them level.  In retrospect, I probably should have taken an 
>> inch out of the outer forks, as the bumper sits too far proud of the 
>> shroud. I’d totally forgotten about this until I took my aux lamps 
>> off and reinstalled the bumper for a show this weekend.  After the 
>> show, the bumper is coming off and the lamps are going back on.
>>
>> Bruce Steele
>>
>> Brea, CA
>>
>> 1960 BN7
>>
>> *From:*Healeys [mailto:healeys-bounces at autox.team.net] *On Behalf Of 
>> *Michael Salter
>> *Sent:* Thursday, July 11, 2019 1:39 PM
>> *To:* Michael MacLean <rrengineer.mike at att.net 
>> <mailto:rrengineer.mike at att.net>>
>> *Cc:* healeys at autox.team.net <mailto:healeys at autox.team.net>
>> *Subject:* Re: [Healeys] Mind if I Rant?
>>
>> Mike you are pretty well "on the money" there.
>>
>> I have encountered endless problems with repop parts. I fail to 
>> understand why manufacturers have so much difficulty getting things 
>> right.
>>
>> My suspicion is that we are all partly to blame for accepting the 
>> junk and trying to make it work.
>>
>> I will go to untold lengths to purchase a good used part any time as 
>> so doing invariably saves me hours and hours of frustration...
>>
>> I feel your pain.
>>
>> M
>>
>> On Thu, Jul 11, 2019, 4:19 PM Mike MacLean, <rrengineer.mike at att.net 
>> <mailto:rrengineer.mike at att.net>> wrote:
>>
>>     I am beginning to understand what a restorer friend of mine once
>>     told me. He said he could restore three BJ8 cars in the time it
>>     took to do a 100. Virtually no parts I have bought from the usual
>>     suspects for my BN2 are easy to install.  Nothing fits like it
>>     was made for the car.  This morning I made an attempt to bolt up
>>     the two bump stop boxes over the rear axle.  None of the holes in
>>     the part lined up with the holes in the body above the rear
>>     axle.  I will have to auger out at least three of the holes in
>>     the bump stop box to get all four bolts in. This car is fighting
>>     me every step of the way.  I guess it's like my restorer friend
>>     who has since passed told me when he sold me that rolling frame
>>     with a few body panels on it, "Go ahead buy the car, it will give
>>     you a reason to live".  I am beginning to understand what he
>>     meant.  Half the time I am pulling my hair out and inventing new
>>     curse words, but I go out to that garage everyday and try to
>>     accomplish something on the car, even if I end up beating my head
>>     against the wall, I keep coming back.  Rant over.
>>
>>     Mike MacLean
>>
>>     ______________________________________________
>>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://autox.team.net/pipermail/healeys/attachments/20190714/aa8c2563/attachment.html>


More information about the Healeys mailing list