Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Originally Posted By: Trav
OE quality with few exceptions is superior to aftermarket inc water pumps.
I imagine you are old enough to remember the days when sometimes you sought out certain aftermarket brands because they had a reputation for being equal or better than OEM at reduced pricing.
How times have changed.
The Chinese waterpump I put in my adult daughter's now deceased Taurus lasted about 14 months before leaking. I had no other choice due to the circumstances.
Absolutely! I started trade school in 1972 so i remember all the good brands. Standard, Blue Streak, Bendix, Perfect Circle, Delco Remy, Budd, Kelsey-Hayes, Sealed Power, Mellings, Borg Warner, TRW, A&P, Moog, Monroe, etc. All were USA manufacturers with very high OE quality or better, many are now Chinese junk or just low quality parts.
I can remember buying new Delco starter solenoids, brushes and bushings kits for GM starters for $10 then turning the armature down with a small hand crank cutter.
Pressing in new water pump bearings was common, bearing, seal and gasket $7 and 10 min work.
Cars today are more complex but in many ways the mechanics are not as good. Back then you learned how to rebuild parts, you knew how they worked and how to diagnose them. We rebuilt almost everything.
I was good with carbs, i still have a Rotunda service kit for the VV carbs and a set of jet reamers with depth gauges and can still rebuilt a QJet, AFB, 2bbl Webers, Pierburg and Stombergs from memory.
Because i kept up with the technology I have a lot of skills long forgotten like running a Sunnen in the car boring bar (not a hone) on old inline engines, i learned this from an old timer back then.
Talk about memory lane. LOL
