All things made in China aren't equal.  Quality is typically the product of the company having them made, so I would feel more confident with the Raybestos one.  I would also see about returning the one that failed.  Locally I've never had an issue with a NAPA sourced master cylinder, though you will pay a bit of a premium for it.  You may also have a Berodin near you.  My neighbor uses their parts a lot, because they have a labor warranty as well.  If the part fails prematurely they cover a set amount of time to replace the part with a new one provided under warranty.  As a professional mechanic that's a better deal for him.  To my mind it also means they have skin in the game and more confidence in the parts they sell. 

This type of stuff definitely sucks and its why in the past 10 years I've gravitated to buying mostly OEM parts when I can.  As a rule I do use Raybestos and Bendix brake parts, Mevotech chassis parts, and Randy's gearsets.  I consider those manufacturers to be as good if not better than OEM quality. 
 

Prices are a sticky subject.  Do they seem inflated?  Sure, but then given how long we've all been in the hobby looking at a rare car like a Boss or Shelby, or even a run of the mill offering like a V8 fastback; we all remember what they used to cost back in the day.  I bought my '67 fastback for $3,900 in about 1992.  It was a running (kinda), driving (mostly) car that looked decent from 50'.  My total investment in the car by '96 was around $13,500, and I remember thinking I'd never get my money back out of it if I had to sell it (not that I thought I ever would and thus far have been proven right).  Fast forward to 2024 and the car I initially bought would probably sell for closer to $20,000, and in the condition it was in in '96 would be more like $50,000.  BUT, we also have to look at what's happened in the world in that time.  I remember $20 filling the tank with high test and having change left over.  I remember a date consisting of diner and a movie running $30.  That tank of gas now costs more like $55, and diner and a movie is more like $70.  Anyone own a house they bought 20-30 years ago that isn't worth at least twice what you paid for it?  Point being, inflation is part of the rise in prices.

Another thing to consider is that classic cars trade like all commodities.  Most economists would tell you that other commodities like say gold or silver are worth today what they were worth 2,000 years ago.  The amount of effort and cost to extract those metals is the same as it was in Roman times; the difference is that everything costs more now that it did then because of inflation.  Sure, the markets do experience upward and downward trends depending on other market conditions (people tend to flock to commodities in inflationary times for example, raising prices).  But overall things with intrinsic value tend to just adjust with inflation, and classic cars aren't much different.

Then you have to factor in what happened when the largest generat

Merry Christmas to all!

Ron68 wrote:

6sally6 wrote:

I'm kinda that way about watching submarine flicks.
Whether I say it out loud or just think it...."That ain't how its done...that is sooo phoney...eye-roll...eye-roll....what made-up cra-/poop...man! that's just stupid."
So I don't watch them (usually)
Yeah....'made-up-drama'...and most folks seem to buy-it (or else nobody would watch them)
I DID like the car series Cut-Chop-and Rebuild though
6sal6

I get that watching any aviation related movies - it is as if the writers know absolutely nothing about aircraft or how they work - which is very true.
 

I do this almost any time they do anything with cars, firearms, or martial arts too.  If you shoot someone and they fly back 15 feet you would fly back 15 feet too due to basic physics.  There is also a very specific place where you are guaranteed an instant kill, even with a head shot.  Anyone who's ever hunted would tell you a deer shot through the heart still can run for 100 yards or more.  They don't drop dead instantly.  You could live days after being gut shot, and according to two ER doctors I know they almost never stitch a gunshot wound closed (its a puncture wound and could trap an infection inside leading to sepsis). 

People aren't bags of blood either.  Ever cut yourself and have blood fly everywhere?  Yeah, me neither.  I've even seen guys get cut with saw blades and do serious damage and it still doesn't happen like that. 

If it were as easy as its made out to be in the movies to break someone's neck none of us would have survived childhood. 

And don't get me started on the cars.  The lingo that goes along with it most of the time is flawed somewhere, and the stunts and now the CGI they use is absurd. 

There's actually a whole series of YouTube videos with actual snipers, fighters, etc. who rate how accurate movies are.  The truly realistic ones are few and far between. 
 

Yeah, that aspect of it hasn't changed since they first put This Old House on TV.  I remember watching that with my dad and him laughing whenever they talked about "the budget".  He had mad respect for Norm though, and the show we really liked twas The New Yankee Workshop.  That was basically entirely informative, and you could get the plans for anything they built if you wanted to duplicate it at home.  Of course, none of us have Norm's shop, which was just awesome, or in truth probably Norm's skill, though I've built some nice stuff over the years and know a few guys who are hobbyists that churn out some amazing stuff. 

The Woodright shop was another great one.  He used all old tools.  That was really cool to see how it was done before industrialization. 

Maybe public access should do some car shows.  Or maybe the problem is just that the majority of shows dealing with muscle cars are just too close to what we all own.  I will say that Chasing Classic Cars was a decent show, because they mainly fixed up stuff I'd never have any interest in personally, but it was fun to learn about Cords and Packards and a bunch of other also ran manufacturers who were all but gone by the '60s. 

However, in really thinking about it I think what most of us don't like about guys like Gas Monkey isn't that they make money off the hobby; its that we don;t think they are really car guys at heart.  They're like that guy you meet at a party that knows all the specs of a car out of a magazine, but hasn't a clue when you start talking about repairing or modifying a car.  Its the same reason I never really read magazines like Motor Trend.  Anyone with enough money can buy a shiny, fast new car.  Not just anyone can rebuild a wreck, make a worn out musclecar handle like its on rails, or turn a boat anchor into a strip hero.  Guys like Richard Rawlins pay guys like us to do that stuff, so we respect the mechanics and techs but not so much the guy who just writes the checks.

RTM wrote:

I'm watching Gas Monkey now. He just bought a 65 Shelby for $300k and sold it for $400k.

Yeah, the car you used to be able to buy for $30k.  Thanks a lot @$$ monkey!
 

I've never been a fan of adjusting them while the engine is running.  It tends to throw oil everywhere.  I've seen guys cut up old valve covers to try and make shields to lessen it, but its still an unnecessary mess IMO.  No reason not to do them statically, especially on a hydraulic cam. 

Personally I've never had much luck trying to turn the pushrods.  They always come out too tight when I do it that way.  I move the pushrod up an down instead.  when the slack is gone I go another 1/2 turn
 

If you want to avoid metric tools you are relegating yourself to vehicles built in the '70s.  Even by the '80s they were half and half.  Today basically everything is metric.  I'm now genuinely surprised when a standard socket fits better.  Though, in fairness there is a reasonable amount of crossover.  5/16 and 8mm, 9/16 and 14mm, and 3/4 and 19mm are generally considered the same size. 

6sally6 wrote:

425-450 HP.... 150 Nitrous shot....top loader 4 speed...dual disc clutch...narrowed trac-loc with 3.00:1 gears
Couple of Big Fat Mickeys on the back..as close to bullet-proof as there is....RIGHT!?

Seems a lot more like: Diesel dually with locked up rear some moron swapped a new driveshaft into and quickly discovered that the original drivehsaft being mangled wasn't due to anything having been wrong with the driveshaft. 

"It won't move!"

"The brakes are just stuck, floor it!"
 

RCodePaul wrote:

TKOPerformance wrote:

Hah, I forgot about her!  She was great.  The problem with flippers is that they aren't part of the hobby.  They've monetized our hobby.   

That's a better way to say it. They are present, they think they are part of it. But it's really entities that drive the hobby - suppliers, innovators, tech boards - all aspects of the hobby that are additive. These are vital and while money is a part of it, it's not all of it. The flipper thing is that they are interlopers gouging away at the hobby getting in the way of true restorers, hot rodders, restomodders. 

Correct, and its the same in most every industry as well.  Almost all the flip houses I've ever looked at for people are exactly the same.  Shortcuts are taken, things are done wrong, and they don't care because when these "fixes" fail they will be long gone.  People who don't know any better just look at the shiny exterior.  People like us are smart enough to bring a magnet. 
 

RCodePaul wrote:

Not a fan of that guy. The only good part of that BS show was when the upholstery gal would call him "a$$ monkey" and tell him to beat it. Flippers just seem like a scummy part of this hobby. 

Hah, I forgot about her!  She was great.  The problem with flippers is that they aren't part of the hobby.  They've monetized our hobby.  Then people with more money than sense bid their junk up at auctions making these cars even less affordable to the average hobbyist. 
 

I often have been critical of past work I did as well, but then I remember a couple things:

1.) Like you said, you had to start somewhere.  It would be a problem if what I turned out today still looked like what I turned out at 16. 

2.) It was the dark ages back then.  There was no internet, no Youtube, etc.  A lot of what we did was the old farmer method of "cut and try".  Kids today are spoiled with all the world's information at their fingertips.  We at best had a manual, or the advice of more seasoned people.