Frustration with aftermarket parts?

[HH5053]

Hello everyone
I'd like to know what your experiences have been as far as replacement/aftermarket that are other than NOS.
My own example would be as follows:
I am well under way in restoring my 79 carbed, 5 speed with around $1400 invested in replacement parts due to the age thing more than anything else and to this point I am more han satisfied for the most part. If you'd like see, a seperate posting in the suspension thread.
I thought myself fortunate in finding a replacement for the apparently rare rear trans mount (the shaped metal part with the molded on rubber damper) as mine has a bit of a crack in the rubber. So the $65 part duly arrives and although I noticed the shaping of the replacement part featured an offset that varied by at least 1/2" from the original I decided to see if it would fit anyways. Needless to say after an extended period of moaning and gnashing of teeth and such no amount of seduction or other form of coaxing would address the fit issue. Looks like this one goes back to the vendor as it seems that reshaping the new part is well neigh impossible.
Unless there is some other part # and a mistake was made, I find it frustrating that the supplier wasn't more inclined to verify the fit of new vs original and in this case especially the shaping of the replacement part as the differences are easily spotted on the bench.
Your thoughts/experiences would be appreciated.

Thanks again, JIm Hayes

[ventura ace]

As I recall, I ran into the same thing a long while back when replacing the tranny mount, and was told that the OEM part was very hard or impossible to come by. The hole placement was correct, but there was too much material that blocked it from being able to mount into place. I ended up filing off the material to make it fit.

Alvon

[katsi]

Wow, don't mean to brag but I scored a 79 5 speed NOS tranny mount the other day for 8 bucks. I picked it up just in case. Best of luck. Keep searching craigslist and ebay. I locally found a new, never used, altinator, radiator and manual on craigslis for a hundred bones. Picked that up too - just in case.

[So Cal Mark]

original trans mounts are no longer being made by anyone

[racydave]

Jim, I have had to cobble a few parts to make them fit, but have been lucky so far in that it was always a pain, but do-able. Chances are the mount fits another application, and is the closest thing available. I get the same at work building Police and emer vehicles.

[lanciahf]

I feel this is the worst part of Fiat Ownership is the quality of the spare parts. Sometimes its better to hold on to your 30 year old parts.

Following are Crap parts I bought from vendors that I'm supposed to be nice to and support.
A Arm Bushings - Squeak after 6 months
Speedo Cable - IAP - I'm supposed to file it down until it fits??? PS it never fits!!!! WTF I went back to an old one I found in the dirt.
Water Pump - SRL Brand - Just Shit, Thank God I found a GMB pump from a local auto parts store that can't spell Fiat.
Brake Master Cyl - SRL Brand Shit and leaked when new
Dist Cap and Rotor. Really Shitty, can't begin to tell you how shitty they are.
Dist Pick Up - Got 6 months out of that one.
FI Crankase Breather Hose. Shit Quality - Limp Rubber - Collapses on itself and sends engine into crazy mode. Try troubleshooting that one....


Any more I'm afraid to buy anything for it.

PS my car is a garage queen and rarely used.

[So Cal Mark]

I can tell you that as a vendor it's also quite frustrating. Every trade show I attend I chat up mfgs about building parts and get the same response. Lately though, now that the recession has taken hold, some mfgs will talk but they still want quantities in the thousands. How long would it take to sell 1000 trans mounts?

[lanciahf]

Mark,

Maybe the way to go for hard parts is use Lada parts like Val??? He swears Lada parts are of good quality.

[So Cal Mark]

the Lada ign switches are the only ones available these days. I'm assuming Val has a Russian connection for his parts. Other than the ign switches, I haven't found anyone with that connection