Karl Vacek wrote
> Kingpins didn't fit, water pumps leaked from new, throwout
> bearings squealed within a week or 10 days, cam chains
> either didn't fit or else they stretched out to useless almost
> immediately, etc., etc. I learned NEVER to buy any
> Quinton Hazell unless it was a dire emergency and I didn't
> mind knowing that I'd be doing the same job over again as
> soon I had located a proper dealer part or a good-branded
> replacement.
I agree on the poor quality of certain QH components. MGB kingpins produced
by QH rarely fit without binding when the complete swivel axle is assembled.
This is down to poor tolerances during the manufacture of the component, and
it usually takes 15-20 minutes per swivel axle with a small file to remove
some of the high spots (usually around the trunnion area of the pin), then
reassembling the swivel axle, checking for clearances and binding, and then
doing it all over if it still wasn't enough. 15-20 minutes doesn't sound
bad if you're restoring one MGB, but I encountered this problem when I was
employed at a supplier who rebuilt the swivel axles for Victoria British and
TRF a few years ago (when they were out of their own cores). I was doing
batches of 20-30 pairs, strip down the old core, bead blast, rebuild and
paint. So at upwards of 60 units 20 minutes per each one was a massive time
consumer.
Since QH is the only supplier for some suspension joints for our cars, the
suppliers are almost forced to sell them if they want to keep customer's
cars on the road. It seems that QH suspension joints hold up fine for
casual weekend and show cruising, as I can't remember any customer ever
complaining about a failure or other fault with the joints. The same with
some water pumps that we supplied of QH make, never had any problems... and
at the time QH was the only producer of water pumps for cars like the
Sunbeam Alpine.
> They're still around, so I assume they must have improved, or
> else there must still be sufficient numbers of non-particular
> customers out there. Which is it -- are they good parts
> now ??
It is non-particular and un-informed customers, as well as the need to
supply a component even if it isn't first rate and / or there are no other
producers of that component. I'd still exhaust my list of NOS suppliers
seeking original components before purchasing Quinton Hazell parts. Quinton
Hazell closed or sold their clutch manufacturing operations quite a few
years ago... for the obvious reasons mentioned above about their other
components.
Kai
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