INA or Melling timing set?

[The_Eric]

Hey guys, I am going to replace the timing chain in my wife's Grand Caravan w/3.3 and when I ordered the Mopar part, I was told that it was discontinued. This leaves me with aftermarket choices - I've got it narrowed to INA or Melling.. The last INA that I bought was made in Taiwan but appeared well constructed. Of course that doesn't necessarily mean that this set would be.. Melling has been a standard for a long time but I don't really know what they've been up to lately.

Any thoughts or experiences?

 

[MrBubba]

flip a coin, both are pretty much the best 2 options left out there.

Me personally I would go with Melling.

 

[Trav]

Toss a coin Eric, most of the INA stuff today for the US market is made in China, you may get lucky and find made in Taiwan but I wouldn't count on it. I have bought Melling and recently only a few parts were still US made most were made in China. Some of the China stuff is really okay if you buy from a retailer with a good name not ebay.

Edit: For a US model car the Melling may be NOS US made.

 

[PontiacHO]

My Pontiac 350 timing set was Melling and made in the USA.

 

[gman2304]

I’ve used a Melling water pump with thermostat for my 2005 5.3 Chevy. $160 OTD from Summit or Jegs ( I can’t remember ) with free shipping. Top notch machining and was quiet as a mouse when I sold the truck. My 2013 5.3 has the Melling AFM delete kit in it, cam, lifters etc and runs great after 18 months and 12,000 miles and gets 22 mpg highway. From my experience, Melling is good stuff.

 

[marc1]

Different engine and a few years ago but I put a Melling timing set in my Impala back in 2022 and the quality seemed fine. I have used Melling all my life and have trusted them and haven't seen any reason not to so far.

 

[Trav]

Different engine and a few years ago but I put a Melling timing set in my Impala back in 2022 and the quality seemed fine. I have used Melling all my life and have trusted them and haven't seen any reason not to so far.

Melling and Cloyes were at one time very good US companies that made their products in the USA and for some Legacy US vehicles they may still have some NOS but since around 2017 China has been their go to for manufacturing. For timing chains the gold standard remains IWIS but they don't make them for many US and Asian models. This what Melling and Cloyes are peddling these days..

 

[marc1]

Melling and Cloyes were at one time very good US companies that made their products in the USA and for some Legacy US vehicles they may still have some NOS but since around 2017 China has been their go to for manufacturing. For timing chains the gold standard remains IWIS but they don't make them for many US and Asian models. This what Melling and Cloyes is peddling these days..

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Interesting, I haven't heard of IWIS, I will check them out thanks.

For high end / race timing sets, I have used Rollmaster a few times.

https://www.romacusa.com/products.html

 

[The_Eric]

Melling and Cloyes were at one time very good US companies that made their products in the USA and for some Legacy US vehicles they may still have some NOS but since around 2017 China has been their go to for manufacturing. For timing chains the gold standard remains IWIS but they don't make them for many US and Asian models. This what Melling and Cloyes are peddling these days..

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Yeah replaced the noisy factory chain with a Cloyes because I knew it was a simple chain set up and how bad could it be??? Well it turns out that it can in fact be THAT bad

What is the opinion on S.A. Gear chains?

 

[Zee09]

I used Melling in 1983 on a AMC 360 Javelin... yeah it was great....
What that means today zilch..
Yes I have left already you're welcome