The cheapo ones are. I installed a GM Delphi unit in the Chevy Blazer. Damn thing was over $600. Had to drop the tank, which was not bad. Unbolting the frame mounted trailer hitch was a HUUUUGE PITA.


BTW, seriously biting my tongue over the Pick-N-Pull deal.

Cayman tune up
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1583469766.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1583469818.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1583469854.jpg

Spent the extra $$ for the "upper grade" Geba water pump for my 944 - and although the bearing does feel both smooth and solid, the pump interior exhibits an alarming amount of casting artifacts...some of which are it the area of coolant flow. Further research indicates that this is par for the course these days - and that sending the pump back for a replacement would only offer more of the same. So...I will do my best with my Dremel!

Meanwhile, the original Porsche unit which I'd earlier extracted, and which had been installed years ago as a "rebuilt" unit...still feels very smooth and solid - with absolutely no casting artifacts, and is obviously night and day above the Geba pump.

Upshot...I'm seriously thinking of re-installing the original Porsche pump - for a very important reason, which is that even though this old pump might fail more quickly than the new one, my sense is that this failure would not be catastrophic...that it would exhibit signs of failure (like leakage), while the new unit would basically explode right away. Does this make sense?

I had my new tires mounted on my El Camino yesterday. The place I use is not a tire monkey volume place, but a mechanics shop, and they have a road force tire balance machine and someone hat knows how to use it properly. The mechanic even has a El Camino he is restoring and looked at mine for how the rubber weather strips go in, and said mine was what he wants his to be someday.

As I was waiting on the tires to be mounted some customer called and talked to shop about bringing in her car and the parts she ordered from Amazon for service. They just said no, we don't use customer provided parts anymore. They have had too many customer provided bad parts. They will only work on cars where they source the parts from their suppliers and they only use dealer provided parts or NAPA.

"Pick-N-Pull" is fine for cosmetic parts. Things like door handles for instance are better bought second hand than new.
I recently replaced my drivers door glass with a good second hand one from the same year. It matches the other glass perfectly.

But I have seen someone use second hand brake pads!
Maybe as an emergency measure to get you home but otherwise not a good idea.

I could see some limited instances where "Pick-N-Pull" is probably ok. If you have a work truck, for example, and it doesn't matter if fenders don't match. Or if someone smashed out your window, and you need glass N-O-W. Or a side mirror etc to avoid getting a traffic citation. The dealer will take a lot longer. But calling the parts "better" than new, eh not so much.

They're not "better" but sometimes with an older car the patina on the part can match really well.

The drivers door glass I bought wasn't perfect but it matched the condition of the other glass.