CAT Parts

[bsbn]

this isnt a china bashing, its consumer reporting. CAT parts are junk!
I was going to build a 440 and bought some cat parts for it. Here is what went wrong. the connecting rod caps were stuck on so tight that i couldnt remove them with out damaging them. yes I know there is a tool for this, but if you put these rods on a crankshaft you will never get them off again. The fluid damper has way to tight of a press fit its .007 and no relief cut for aligning the key. I didnt use either of these parts. Yesterday another adjuster from the SS 1.6 roller rockers broke, so i took them off the engine and orderd the comp cams roller rockers that i should have bought to begin with. I have run the engine but haven't even drove this car yet and I'm allready having to fix it. I am very worried about what is going to go wrong with the cat steel flywheel on this motor when I dump the clutch for the first time.

[Dukes2fast]

I had a similar problem with the 440 balancer. I called them and they were very helpful. I gave them the exact measurements of my crank snout, sent back the balancer and they sent me a new one that pressed on perfect. As far as the keyway I just used a small piece of stock to keep checking it was lined up and it went on fine. Give them a call and see what they can do for you.. I hope it turns out ok.

[dwc43]

I'd get that flywheel out before it explodes and takes your right foot off and trashes your car. I'd never knowingly buy any of these china made for crap parts just to save a few bucks. Cheap stuff never lasts long and I've proven that to myself in some of my early race cars.

We used to have a Stanely Tools fact. in town before it went to mexico. They started to import some of there cheap for wal mart hammer heads from china. Someone droped one on the floor during inspection by accident and it exploded like it was a piece of glass. The heat treat, or no heat treat was that bad and all of it was sent back over seas. They tried three loads and canceled the whole deal cause they all broke at some point. Had to go back to making there own hammer heads. Something that they should have never stopped doing in the first place.

In other words, buy quality parts to start with. You wont go wrong that way.

[mopar_nocar]

i have used the CAT roller rockers. i just bought Crane adjusters for mine and never had a problem...btw, crane had the same problem for a while, but they fixed it.

sb

[bigiron]

I agree with DWC... maybe for different reasons... I have used cat parts before with sucess but it goes the other way pretty often also... The big problem is QC, there are alot of bad "lots" comming out of china... and you can't be sure of which ones are good or bad...

The bad thing is it's attractive price... so it's a gamble... if your one of the unlucky ones that get a bad lot and then get mad and have to buy quality parts anyway, you've lost... but there are alot of lucky ones out there also... It really boils down to good or good enough... Like ol' Clint said once... "Do ya feel lucky..(experlitive)... well do ya...."

As for the flywheel... I don't gamble on parts that can hurt me...

[charger_dan]

definitely lose that flywheel.
pony up the bucks for a quality billet steel,
sfi-approved, made in usa piece -- such as mcleod.

compared to the price of losing your right
foot and cutting your car in half,
it would be a bargain at twice the price.

[SB Racer]

BTW, what brands are original US? Eagle at least uses those China castings, Oliver? Lunati? If I have understood right many companies say made in US but actually their product is only machined in states, castings from east?

[bigiron]

You are right SB... But rest assured both Oliver and Lunati are manufactured in the good ol' USA...

But it is getting to be the norm for many companys to manufacture parts offshore or overseas and still advertise US made...

What burns my butt is the "reputable" companys that built that reputation on American sweat, now builds there crap with china or tiwainian junk and passing it off as American built....

but I won't get started on that subject.... I don't have a tall enough soap box...

[Tarrbabe]

I have heard some say that they got junk from overseas but it's good to have a name.
As for quality, wasn't it Big Daddy Don Garlis that lost three toe's to a flywheel explosion? I witnessed an explosion once at the strip. Took out the floorboard, dash, windsheild, hood, and roof of the 57 Chevy. I felt bad for the guy even though he didn't get hit by anything. It was like slow motion when it came apart because it was so quick, nobody had time to move. A LARGE chunk of red metal passed in-between my legs. I almost shit right there. At first I was mad but later realized how lucky I had been.
If you ever witness something like that you would NEVER buy a less than top grade flywheel/clutch.

[bsbn]

got my comp cams roller rockers today and they work good. the cat flywheel is sfi approved, and has a sticker on it. how loose is sfi with thier approvals. I cant drive this car until i get the front brake calipers on backorder from summit. it sounds mean, i want to drive it

[dwc43]

I had a parts manager that used to race a Nova that another guy owned. He dumped the clutch at the line and it came out of the car. One piece went through the side of his right shoe and took a chunk out of his bigtoe and then went through the stock type dash board and out the lexan windshield. It's not worth gambling your life on cheap parts. And Big Daddy almost lost his foot near the ankel from that explosion your talking about, Tarrbabe. I have it on a tape where he's doing an interview and talking about it.

[pishta]

I sold my CAT damper (not because I didnt trust it but It was for a small block). I run an automatic. I do run a CAT water pump, wonder if it will explode? probably wouldnt do much.