Thread: 1 (one) guy's opinion

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You may agree or disagree with the info in this post. It is based on "my" experiences building 1 (one) 32. I am not a professional nor do I claim to be one. The following are vendors I purchased from and how I feel about them and their products. At the end is some advice for all novice builders.

BeBops**9
Purchased the body from them. Fit and finish is good. They delivered when they said they would and have worked with me on a couple of items.

Vision Rod and Custom**9
The chassis looks good and the car drives and tracks well. Everyone who has driven the car, and there have been at least 10, have been impressed with how the car drives. I initially had an issue with the car bottoming out in the rear. I spoke with the owner at the Nats and all I had to do was ship him my springs and he replaced them free of charge with heavier springs. End of problem.

Summit**10
What can I say I love Summit. When I finished the car I returned several parts one of which had been discontinued. Cash refund no questions.

Speedway**8
They have a lot of various parts that are hard to find.

Alan Grove**10
A/C & alternator bracket fit like a glove. Not all parts do.

Lokar**7.5
Pretty good quality. Directions (if you are a rookie like me) leave a lot to be desired.

TCI**7.5
Transmission shifts good and seems to be ok. It leaked when first filled because all the pan bolts were loose. Made me question if anything else was loose??

TPI**9
Instruments work good and speedo was easily calibrated. Good value for the $

Newstalgia**9
Wheels and tires. Free mount, balance, and shipping.

Hot Rod Air**9
Seems to work ok. Hey in America could somebody design an air unit that easily fit in a 32?

Insulation 4 Less**10
Insulation for the car. Good value for the $$

Odessey Battery**9
I love that little sucker! I can't believe it starts that 350 from the trunk. I have no idea on the longevity. It was high $$ but if it last worth it.

SS Auto Chrome**9
Bought this SS block huggers off EBAY. What I like besides stainless they have real thick flanges.

Drive Shaft Shop**9
Good value and good service.

Total Performance**8.5
I did not buy much from these guys. It was all good quality. I did purchase one of their trick emergency brake kits.

It is a Snap Wire**8.5
It works and is resonably priced.

Watson's**8.5
Purchased a couple of things. They were good quality. I do not recommend the Brake light modulator.

Signal Dynamics**10
Purchased a brake light modulator from them. It cost more but it works great. I also had one of their MC headlight modulators for almost 20 years with no problems. After going to the Nats there are plenty of rods that need all the help they can get in the tail and brake light dept.

Ron Francis**7
Purchased two of his top of the line switches, ignition switch, 12 volt acessory power (like a cigarette lighter). Switches would not work in a glass dash. Ignition switch over rated. Acessory power was a piece of plastic crap that I tossed. I called once with a question about the Synergy switches and got some smart ass on the phone.

DJ Street Rods**9.5
Finally someone is making a windshield trim piece for glass cars that give you car the old school look. They make them for several different mfg bodies.

Borgeson**8.5
Parts worked and good quality.

Eldebrock**9.5
I know everybody has a carb story but the car started and ran great with carb right out of the box.

Interior Supply & Services**9.5
Seat frame and foam. Seat fits well and sits great. They had the best prices I could find on a seat frame.

Ididit**9
I have had a couple of minor issues with the column but the CEO looked at it at the Nats and said he would make it right and I belive him.

Advice:

Make every effort to go to the Nats or some major events to make major purchases. YOU CAN NEGOTIATE.

INSULATE, INSULATE, INSULATE, INSULATE!!! I kept hearing how hot rods were hot. I drove one car I was considering purchasing and the guy told me at hwy speeds you had to keep the windows up or it sucked heat into the car and he did not have air!!! When my son and I started we put sound deading mat in, we filled crevices with spray foam, and put foil foam insulation everywhere. On the firewall we put sound deading, foil foam insulation, 3/4 inch plywood and filled the voids with foam. Two layers of foil foam in the headliner and guess what? We were at the Nats in a black car, 95plus degree heat, no air, and the car was not hot. You could reach out the window and put your hand on the top of the car and you could have fried an egg on it. Inside (interior not in) I could touch the foil foam insulation and it was barely warm.

Agree of disagree it is just my opinion.

Walker Radiators ... 9
Costs a bit more but fits like they should and cool very well. Keeps my 430 HP SBC col ... even in bumper to bumper traffic.

Jet-Hot coatings ... 8
great product but turn around time was slow IMHO

Vintage Air ... 8
On the upper end on price but ... it cools great and is very small and compact

Bob Drake new 32 head light conversions ... 10
Some of the money I ever spent ... bright, bright headlights

Total Cost Involved suspension ... 8
Stainless is polished great, everything well engineered.

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

Summit: 10, parts arrive promptly and even when they go south ( MSD box went on me ) they promptly made an exchange
EZ Boy Rod Interiors: 10.. great product choices, great quality, great service
Classic Inlines ( Ford 6 performance parts ): 10, mike is a great guy to deal with... I had gotten the wrong pushrods with my roller rockers, and Mike sent out a set of the correct 1's promptly.. also sold me 1 pushrod when my engine ate 1 of them when the rocker fell out of adjustment, and he only advertises them in sets...

....and some added comment.

I'm happy that Don's unassembled Brookville body is great - and that he didn't get my assembled roadster - but since we've had this conversation at least 2-3 times before..........

I do have to say that their customer service has gotten better over the past couple of years.

Total Performance**5/6 - How could I forget these folks. Some of their stuff is good and other pieces - crap. A word of warning about using the steering shaft to steering box slip connector - don't!!!!! They break!!! Their front brakes - don't!!! They are NOT up to the task.

TCI C4 Transmissions - that's coming soon. In my past cars they have been good. I do have a rebuilt spare non TCI trans and converter under my workbench after reading about Don's experiences earlier JIC.

Originally Posted by IC2

....and some added comment.

I'm happy that Don's unassembled Brookville body is great - and that he didn't get my assembled roadster - but since we've had this conversation at least 2-3 times before..........

Never bought a Brookville car ...
But I must say that even when building a original 32 roadster or a original 32 3W coupe ... even Henry's stuff did not fit like the majority of street rodders want today.



A little nip here, a little trim there ... adding a bit here ... is what it takes to get a real good fit. Both my cars are sitting on original 32 frames ... and have all original 32 Ford sheet metal ... but I have over 100 hours in getting the fenders and the hood to fit as nice as I like. PLUS ... some professional $$$ help from a friend. Neither of my 32's have any patch panels or aftermarket sheet metal ... BUT I am glad Brookville does make their stuff ... so folks can buy their panels and stuff.

I should have wiped the coupe down before the photo ... it has buffing dust on it ... the hood is now BLACK ... and is in final sand and buff ... but the dust went all over the 3W

[QUOTE=Deuce]Never bought a Brookville car ...
But I must say that even when building a original 32 roadster or a original 32 3W coupe ... even Henry's stuff did not fit like the majority of street rodders want today.

aftermarket sheet metal ... BUT I am glad Brookville does make their stuff ... so folks can buy their panels and stuff.

Yeah, but at least Hank's parts came a lot closer to drawing then my B'ville assy. When you have a chance, go take a look at my Review on the "other forum" and then you'll have a chance to see some of the problems I encountered. I expected tweaks and twists but not wholesale remanufacturing of literally every part on that body. Yes, I too am happy they make repro parts, but those are only as good as the installer can make them, just like any other repro or crash part. I would have been much better off doing like Don and buying a couple of pallets of pieces and doing my own assembly. Possibly mine is the exception, built on a Tuesday after a holiday weekend, but others that I have talked to have had many of the same problems.

I cannot WIN
If I put down Brookville ... I am being a snob and uppity ...
If I say they are OK ... I get corrected ...

My wife and a LOT of my friends say I am too picky about the fit and finish on my 32's ... and I can usually tell a Brookville 32 roadster or 3W from 10 feet away. I do know that their 3W dashes are off a good bit and that the grill shells are off so much that Ray Charles could see it.

Originally Posted by Deuce

I cannot WIN
If I put down Brookville ... I am being a snob and uppity ...
If I say they are OK ... I get corrected ...

My wife and a LOT of my friends say I am too picky about the fit and finish on my 32's ... and I can usually tell a Brookville 32 roadster or 3W from 10 feet away. I do know that their 3W dashes are off a good bit and that the grill shells are off so much that Ray Charles could see it.

Too picky???? Never seen that, must be kind of like a racer having too much horsepower????

Heck Deuce, I'm the only one here who calls you a "Deuce Snob"!!!!!! But, I gotta say the time and $$$$$ required to attain the level of quality your cars have is readily apparant.... Takes that to make a Deuce, or any other car to stand out from the crowd. I still think you're a "Deuce Snob", but you do have the car to back it up so I don't have any problem with it at all!!!!!

For comparison, a number of years back one or the other of our two Super Gas cars won locally every Sunday for the first 8 weeks.....everybody hated us because of it... Never had a year like that since as the competition has gotten sooooo much better!!!!!

High Performance and High Quality does nothing but make everyone else work harder on their own program.... So, you keep being a Deuce Snob and I'll keep trying to win every race we're in...and soon everybody catches up, we have to work harder and do better just to keep up!!!!!!!

Now you know my feeling when I bitch about mine!!!

Their grille shells - not even sure that I had even mentioned mine. I probably have close to 40 hours on it to get it presentable. Golahan Jr and I had a rather strong discussion at York about 3 years ago and he said the problems had been fixed - BS. They're as bad if not worse now. Sunken at the top, heavy die lines down both sides, right side raised detail incorrect, a Dale's grille required complete inner fit reshaping. Flimsy. Sides too long.



Fit and finish on your cars - that's your prerogative as to where you want to be. Mine - well let's say it's OK, better then an OEM, but could be better, but I built it for me