Thread: Gotta love eBay...but cheap China Junk?

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Hi All,
Lots of sellers are putting new aftermarket items on ebay that just seem too inexpensive to be any good... and I could only assume its cheap China junk....im always skeptical.

Take for example this HEI distributor...
Ebay item # 140171630606.
I need one for my mild sbc 350 build, and am tempted to buy one since its under $50.00 complete!...but Im suspicious...cheap China junk? Pehaps.

The low price is tempting compared to a new GM one costing over $100. Supposed to be a brand name called ProComp...anyone heard of them?

Thanks.

Here is there web site..... http://procompelectronics.com/catalog/

Good Luck
MM64

I had one in my 1970 Monte Carlo SS 454. It was in there for two years, about 20,000 miles. No problems.

China is going to bury us and while we supply the shovels.

I absolutely hate the idea of buying car parts from China, but they have got us by the shorts. I was looking for some nice looking S/S mufflers. I looked every where and the least expensive I found were still over $150. I went to EBay and found these for $18.99, yes less than $20 bucks, the pictures looked pretty good so I thought I'd give them a try. I gotta tell you they look fabulous. The tig welding is about the best I've seen and the polished Stainless in flawless. They might rot out after 200 miles but that is the chance I am willing to take for 1/8 the cost, and damn it, I kick myself for doing it. I feel like a traitor.

John

Thanks for the link. So ProComp does exist. I guess Ill get one of those distributors and find out for myself what the quality is like...havent read anything bad about them.....yet.

John has a point...Yes we are supplying the shovel for China to bury us. Even U.S. corporations outsourcing jobs to foreign countries...like tech support to India (drives me insane!) But as usual....money talks... there lies the dilemma...

Boy, oh boy, now you got me started. "TECH SUPPORT TO INDIA".
Back in August we changed our home ISP from netzero to Mdiacom. The gal at netzero tried to sell me a "backup" plan for $4.50 a month. I said No several times. Saturday we got our credit card bill and Netzero had charged us for 2 months of the service. So I called their support number and got "Jason" whom I could barely understand soon and found out he was in India. He insisted that I had purchased the plan and I insisted I hadn't ect,ect......Well, I finally had to ask for his supervisor, when I got "Susan" and I couldn't understand her, because she was in the Phillipines, I finally flipped out and demanded to speak to someone in America. NOPE couldn't do that , but they would cancel my service.

What is the country coming too anyway..

Pro comp is out of Australia and seems to be good stuff.

Can't you get one from a salvage yard near you? That's where most the ones for sale come from. last year I bought 2 for $25.00 a peice with caps & coils at a salvage yard.

Try to buy anything made with copper lately? The Chinese went across the US and bought all the scrap copper they could get, shipped it to China to sell back to us! Who the hell did I tell, that I wanted everything (Anything) from china, We didn't like it before, and we're being forced to like it and support them!
On 48 hours dip $-it Stoner said that it's a good thing to have all our labor done in china, we don't want our people doing that type work! F U!


Pat

I just posted about the same thing myself. I went w/ an GM HEI out of a scrap yard over the Procomp. Here is why- Procomp is not listed w/ the better buisness bureau. They where sued by MSD for making knock offs that looked exactly the same but of lesser quality. There are 6-7 state attorneys who have felt the need to look at or are currently looking into their buisness practices. I've heard people complain the coils went after ony a couple months or the plugs/clips fell apart. There is very little, more like NO customer service available from what I heard. What really made my mind up was thinking about that cheap, chinese gear that will be in direct contact w/ your camshaft. If it shears or breaks do you think Procomp will want to hear how their parts' failure lead to your whole engine being destroyed? From what I heard thats a resounding NO! They are in it to make $$ thats it, not provide performance, quality, or knowledge.
Just my .02
PS- they are not made in Austalia. People seem to be being mislead into believeing that. Funny b/c even people in Australia have trouble getting replacement parts. You should read about their rims that can't be balanced b/c the lug holes are drilled off center. And they will not replace them from what I read. Google Procomp and enjoy

Thanks MT...I Googled them and came up with results from other forums about guys complaining that the products are cheap crap. Im thinking Ill visit the junkyard this weekend, or better yet theres a local car show and swap meet, maybe Ill score one there...I love swap meets...something about trading my garbage for somebody elses garbage makes me happy.

I got to get to a swap meet. Never been to one, but sounds fun.
I got lucky just today and got an HEI in good shape out of an '85 Suburban for $15 at a local scrap yard (first yard I stopped at too- woohoo! heh). Many of the GM's where missing the HEI's. I guess it's a popular item.?
Thanks for the help on my post regarding an oil pump driveshaft and best of luck at the yards and/or the swaps.

It amazes me the scrap yard let it go that cheap.