Melling water pump

Not once did I ever say I don’t like Melling nor did I infer it either. Another thing you misread perhaps? You are free to write it off as that but it’s not what I said.
So you just like to have a different opinion then. I do misread. A lot. But we do have the freedom of free speech. Roll on hoss.
 
Melling has no issues outsourcing China made parts, I bought a timing chain tensioner and sprockets from them, it was made in China and not even close the the machine work on the original made in Germany original, they were returned and replaced with German OE. Some other examples, I would put money on some if not all of their water pumps being Chinese. They may make an LS pump in the US as those engines are a good part of their core business. Not knocking the company but what was is not necessarily what is.

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When I was rebuilding the engine on the Mitsubishi, I had a look at Melling for the hydraulic lash adjusters and found out they were made in the the U.S. So I went ahead and bought all 12, only to find out I got 6 made in the U.S. and 6 made in China. The U.S. made ones were slightly heavier, so I kept those but ended up getting a set of 12 OE Mitsubishi ones for the rebuild.
 
I saw this subject on "similar threads", so I thought I'd comment.
I've been slowly gathering parts for this project that's been on my back burner. If I do an order from Rock Auto, I'll throw along some parts for it. To get up to date, this will be a Chevy 350 build, with the block from about 1980. It will be low-budget and fairly low horsepower, although the heads will be preassembled cast iron Vortec heads from Summit. (You can get these for ~$330/each if you catch a sale) That's cheaper and much quicker than any machine shop that I have access to. The closest one is also about an hour away and is backed up for months.
The camshaft, timing set, hydraulic lifters, push rods, oil pump and oil pump pickup tube have been add-alongs from Rock Auto and I've been trying to get Melling parts for it because all parts SO FAR have been Made in USA parts, or at least so stated on the boxes. Of course, the tooling for these small block Chevy parts from Melling have been in existence for many decades, so I know a Melling part for just about anything else will be a reboxed item from the land of almost right.
Now, low-cost, American-made pistons do not exist.
My project continues.

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/t...ns-for-1959-chevrolet-van.364272/post-6356321
 
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Melling has been a big name for a long time. I wonder about Elgin in Elgin Illinois. They were another well reguarded outfit and OEM supplier.
 
Hey this is Mark Melling. A little known fact is that we make more water pumps for the OE markets than we do oil pumps for the aftermarket! We came to the aftermarket using the same suppliers as we do for OE and they are more expensive than you find in other aftermarket brands. In total transparency some components do come from offshore (sadly we don’t have a choice in some instances) These are the same suppliers our OE customers have tested and approved. The key is to have quality components (bearings and seals in particular) and assemble them correctly and robustly of which we do on our line in Jackson Michigan. Our assembly operations uses the same technology as we do on the OE side of the business. The aftermarket line is actually located 50ft from the line that makes the 1.5 pump. We have gotten pretty darn good at making water pumps and I want to assure everyone these are not a buy and resold Chinese piece of …..!

Thank you to the gentleman that relied on our reputation to give our new water pump offering a shot! I am truly blessed to be the 4th generation at Melling and thankful to our employees that built our reputation and our customers that allow us to continue in business.
 
Update: After 1 week and 300 miles the new Melling pump, along with new ac/delco belts and tensioners, and a new thermostat are humming right along and quiet as a church mouse. The upper and lower radiator hoses after 17 years and 233,000 miles are surprisingly still like new so I didn’t replace them. The machining of the pump is impressive and looks to be a high quality pump along with a 3 year 50,000 mile warranty, but time will tell. The old coolant was still clean looking so I only replaced what drained from the lower hose and replaced it with 1 gallon of Prestone Dexcool orange concentrate along with 1 gallon of distilled water. No runs, drips or errors and For slightly less than $300 in parts and 2 hours labor.
Pretty sure this is the same pump I put on my 4.8 back in late winter. It seemed really good quality, only issue was in shipping from rock auto the one steel gasket was bent slightly. I put some rtv on it and used it anyway. No issues so far. This will be the 3rd water pump the truck has had in 250k miles.
 
Hey this is Mark Melling. A little known fact is that we make more water pumps for the OE markets than we do oil pumps for the aftermarket! We came to the aftermarket using the same suppliers as we do for OE and they are more expensive than you find in other aftermarket brands. In total transparency some components do come from offshore (sadly we don’t have a choice in some instances) These are the same suppliers our OE customers have tested and approved. The key is to have quality components (bearings and seals in particular) and assemble them correctly and robustly of which we do on our line in Jackson Michigan. Our assembly operations uses the same technology as we do on the OE side of the business. The aftermarket line is actually located 50ft from the line that makes the 1.5 pump. We have gotten pretty darn good at making water pumps and I want to assure everyone these are not a buy and resold Chinese piece of …..!

Thank you to the gentleman that relied on our reputation to give our new water pump offering a shot! I am truly blessed to be the 4th generation at Melling and thankful to our employees that built our reputation and our customers that allow us to continue in business.
My frustrations with the quality of a lot of aftermarket parts these days is what made me pay extra for your pump over all the other options they had. It really did look like a quality product and so far has had no issues.
 
Ironically, It’s been almost exactly a year and 10,000 miles since my original posting on this Melling water pump and It has been doing a wonderful job for me. I bought mine from Summit Racing for $126.00, thermostat included and w free shipping! I drove about 225 miles today to Bryson City, N.C. in the Great Smoky Mountains with the a/c on and the Melling pump kept my Chevy 5.3 nice and cool with no discernible variations in engine temps. I stopped to take a few pics and left the ac running and I couldn’t hear the engine running so it’s still quiet as a mouse. Not a lot of miles yet but I’m confident with the excellent three year warranty if it fails during the warranty period, Melling will make it right. As of now, I would recommend this pump to anybody. (y)
 
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Hey this is Mark Melling.

The aftermarket line is actually located 50ft from the line that makes the 1.5 pump. We have gotten pretty darn good at making water pumps and I want to assure everyone these are not a buy and resold Chinese piece of …..!

I am truly blessed to be the 4th generation at Melling and thankful to our employees that built our reputation and our customers that allow us to continue in business.

Thank you for your business ethics. I will remember this the next time I need a water pump.
 
When I was rebuilding the engine on the Mitsubishi, I had a look at Melling for the hydraulic lash adjusters and found out they were made in the the U.S. So I went ahead and bought all 12, only to find out I got 6 made in the U.S. and 6 made in China. The U.S. made ones were slightly heavier, so I kept those but ended up getting a set of 12 OE Mitsubishi ones for the rebuild.
I got 24 Chinese ones, they seem to be working fine
 
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