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..

View attachment 341359View attachment 341360

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..

View attachment 341359View attachment 341360

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

 

[GSCJR]

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

This week, I priced out a timing kit from the jobber for a K24 @The Critic, it was a Cloyes and it was not cheap. Thank you for posting this, @The_Eric.

 

[The Critic]

Just buy a chain and tensioner from Honda and reuse the rest.

 

[Trav]

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?

I never used them but a quick google shows They may be China, see what you make of it.

https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/threads/use-caution-when-youre-buying-from-sa-gear.571786/

 

[The_Eric]

Well that sucks. I guess I'll have to decide between Melling and INA then. I'm currently siding with Melling as this is an older design and I'm hoping to get a NOS chain..

 

[gman2304]

20 years ago I used Cloyes in my 1987 Buick GN. Things might have changed since but it was running great when I sold it.

 

[Trav]

In 2006 they were still made in USA, lots of things have changed in 20 years.

 

[The_Eric]

Well I ordered them both and will return the one that I don't use - I'll update when they get here.

 

[The_Eric]

Well the plot thickens..The van has a head gasket out of it.

The other day my wife left for work but came back shortly afterwards to say that the van was running rough then stalled. I put her in my truck and started the van up and drove it back to the house. Later I scanned it - misfire on cyl1. It had spark and no other obvious issues so I cleared the code and all was well. Until today - she said that it ran rough again when she started it up but it cleared up quicker. By now my spidy senses were starting to tingle.. See, last time I was in there I noticed that the coolant level was low. I didn't pay it much mind as it did have a bit of a seep at the upper rad hose (in the winter). Same code, misfire on cyl 1. Well now I'm starting to put the pieces together. I went back to work and grabbed my combustion gas chemical tester annnnnnnnnd... Blue turned to yellow. So now I get to do head gaskets too! Or maybe I'll replace the engine with a lower miles used one? This one has 225k miles, but at least it is in good shape otherwise.