I'll be glad when this whole parts shortage thing gets fixed, provided it ever does....

So here's where I stand on things:
-Heads done, waiting on valves and rockers. Valves should be any time, rockers not until at least March
-Rods, no definite word yet, but possibly first part of the year, best guess.
-Pistons. Will be able to order when heads arrive, which will be by end of this month or first part of Jan, but will take 14-18 weeks from order date...
-Found a liner, have it in hand, so good there
-New crank is about 4-5 weeks from order time, will be ordering just after Christmas....
-Pushrods will be once everything else is together....and about a week on them....

But at least I'm making some progress. Doing a few other things to the car while it's down, little updates or changes to make things easier for me when solo at the track....I don't anticipate running much or at all this coming year, but we'll see....My hands are tied on 99% of this, but it is what it is.....

many of these parts delays are avoided if you chose the right engine builder, one who stocks many of these parts and when waiting on parts, they get them before anyone else. One of the reasons I had PAR build my 648 was their parts inventory. They had blocks, heads and cranks when others didn't.

As the large investment groups continue to gobble up smaller companies this will continue to be the "norm" with mainstream parts. They have no concern to our schedule.

Look at the up and coming companies that are still run with the heart.

Call Van Greeeeer at Nickels/SUMMIT.

Dude gets it done!!

All I can tell you.

Van knows his shyt.

He saved me on MEAN GREEN.

I ordered a specific part # set of MSD spark plug wires wrong for a dragster, he knew they were wrong apparently because he didn't say anything, just sent the right wires!

That's a bad dude in my book when it comes to getting the right parts, even when you're wrong!

That would have been a nightmare in a rush to get a car ready in time.

BIG THANKS!

I'd love for the parts to be in stock somewhere, but they aren't.. Trust me I've called. I talked to T&D directly about my rockers, they are that backlogged....Gibtec is the same way. JE can have pistons in about 12 weeks, but for what I'm wanting done to them, same time frame. I don't know of any builders that have a lot of parts in stock, unless it's for a specific combo they do, and they ordered a TON of parts before stuff started slowing down. The little stuff and most commonly used stuff isn't an issue. No difference in rods either, the length I need makes it a little harder since they are not a "standard" size...

Oh well, is what it is, just sucks is all. Gives me time to do other stuff which isn't a bad thing....

quote:

Originally posted by Coloradoracer:
I'd love for the parts to be in stock somewhere, but they aren't.. Trust me I've called. I talked to T&D directly about my rockers, they are that backlogged....Gibtec is the same way. JE can have pistons in about 12 weeks, but for what I'm wanting done to them, same time frame. I don't know of any builders that have a lot of parts in stock, unless it's for a specific combo they do, and they ordered a TON of parts before stuff started slowing down. The little stuff and most commonly used stuff isn't an issue. No difference in rods either, the length I need makes it a little harder since they are not a "standard" size...

Oh well, is what it is, just sucks is all. Gives me time to do other stuff which isn't a bad thing....

I can dig it, we waited 3 months on Wiseco and T&D.

It'll be worth the wait for ya, I'm sure.

I think if I'd have ordered those items we waited on for 3 months through Van, We'd have gotten em sooner possibly.

I'm waiting on a custom camshaft from Lunati currently, I get it, it sucks.

I’ve been doing quite a bit of precision shooting lately. Same deal as race car parts and if they do have it you will pay dearly!

quote:

Originally posted by DragRaceResults:
As the large investment groups continue to gobble up smaller companies this will continue to be the "norm" with mainstream parts. They have no concern to our schedule.

Look at the up and coming companies that are still run with the heart.

Well said.

Most places that machine parts are needing either machinists, good material or castings. Sometimes all 3.

We have 3 different parts that are investment castings. We just received a letter from that foundry and any new orders are 38-40 weeks out. We keep running orders with them and now we are trying to find another foundry to send orders to also. Most that do investment aren't taking on any new customers because they don't have help.

I have been interviewing for a new machinist in my shop and companies are throwing stupid money at the few that are out there. Our local trade school that has a cnc program was on the news recently and the instructor said he can fill the classes he has so the amount of trainees is very low.

I have ordered 3 sets of shaft rockers in last year and it has been a long drawn out pain in the tail. ARP heads studs they told me it would be like 4 months for the ones for my heads and there was not a set in the whole Country. Crankshafts are a similar pain.

MADE in USA sounds great, but we can't handle what we have now as shown below. It will take a while until we can catch up that's for sure.

quote:

Most places that machine parts are needing either machinists, good material or castings. Sometimes all 3.

We have 3 different parts that are investment castings. We just received a letter from that foundry and any new orders are 38-40 weeks out. We keep running orders with them and now we are trying to find another foundry to send orders to also. Most that do investment aren't taking on any new customers because they don't have help.

I have been interviewing for a new machinist in my shop and companies are throwing stupid money at the few that are out there. Our local trade school that has a cnc program was on the news recently and the instructor said he can fill the classes he has so the amount of trainees is very low.

quote:

Originally posted by DragRaceResults:
MADE in USA sounds great, but we can't handle what we have now as shown below. It will take a while until we can catch up that's for sure.

[/QUOTE]

I try to buy American when ever possible. One thing I find interesting if it is Made in America why are so many things 60 to 90 days out? ARP? Crower, Jesel? T&D?

I understand to a certain extent about getting good help but how did we go from getting it next day to next year sometime?

Someone said I do not buy American or support DRR so I did some rough calculating and I have about $3,000 worth of DRR stuff on my cars. And it looks like your products are doing well on other cars around here. So that is a good thing. Always hope we can bring back all of the business we can here.

Appreciate that Curly! Hopefully I didn't come across wrong on saying we can't handle what we got, but I truly think that's true.

I applaud the people doing the work here in the states for sure! And I think we have learned the past 2 plus years on how we can be held hostage to global markets, BUT it will take time for our American Made Companies to catch up and or get to speed.

This goes for our foundries also. Which I think is mostly to blame for the long lead times in which we are currently dealing with from manufacturers. A lot of that falls on Unions I think and there shut down policies tied to covid in these facilities.

SL...

[/QUOTE]
I try to buy American when ever possible. One thing I find interesting if it is Made in America why are so many things 60 to 90 days out? ARP? Crower, Jesel? T&D?

I understand to a certain extent about getting good help but how did we go from getting it next day to next year sometime?

Someone said I do not buy American or support DRR so I did some rough calculating and I have about $3,000 worth of DRR stuff on my cars. And it looks like your products are doing well on other cars around here. So that is a good thing. Always hope we can bring back all of the business we can here.[/QUOTE]


It's not just our country or our industry. Often it just takes one interruption to disrupt the whole supply chain - you can be the best run company in the world but if ARP can't get the materials then they cant make studs & bolts, if Jesel cant get bearings, billets and hardware then they cant ship rocker sets. Most manufacturing has adopted a "just-in-time" business model where they run lean & mean to maximize profits and it has basically bit the whole world in the azz. That's why you see acres of new cars and trucks that can't be sold because of a few missing components. It's starting to affect our little racing world more as big tone-deaf companies like Holley are buying up more & more of the mom & pop manufacturers. I run a parts department for an exotic car dealership (no US brands) - our backorder lists are probably 3 times what they used to be. We have new Porsches here that are sold but are on "stop-sale" due to missing parts, we cannot deliver them until the missing components arrive. We have tires on backorder. A few weeks ago I was having a hard time getting motor oil. Almost every wiring harness for the Volkswagen group is made in the Ukraine (that means VW, Porsche, Audi, Lamborghini and Bentley could be affected)- fortunately in an area that has not experienced much fighting from the war but who knows what will happen?

ARP's problem was from not being allowed to work.

Kalipornia based, ya know.

Every company I deal with has told me 2024 will be back to normal(ish).

quote:

Originally posted by Curly1:

I try to buy American when ever possible. One thing I find interesting if it is Made in America why are so many things 60 to 90 days out? ARP? Crower, Jesel? T&D?

I understand to a certain extent about getting good help but how did we go from getting it next day to next year sometime?

Someone said I do not buy American or support DRR so I did some rough calculating and I have about $3,000 worth of DRR stuff on my cars. And it looks like your products are doing well on other cars around here. So that is a good thing. Always hope we can bring back all of the business we can here.

As Billy D said, it's not just one thing. Buying American is a great thing but it's really hard for those of us producing things here to keep it American. Getting raw stock that is only made in the USA will keep you behind. If you think every American made part is American steel or aluminum, I would be willing to bet otherwise.

Many mills aren't making what they did before if it is a low quantity item or they make it but it has to move behind the fast moving items. As he said nobody keeps inventory as has been done in the past, 1 because it gets taxed huge for something just sitting on a rack and 2 our stock dwindled during the shutdowns and with no help we can't get caught up.

So many people took early retirement in 2020 and after that the jobs they left had to be filled, so that left a void where they were and so on and so on. Heck I would have no problem hiring someone that has immigrated into our company legally but the language barrier is a killer. I wish I could speak Spanish or whatever else someone coming in speaks. It's extremely tiring fighting these problems every day. It used to be that I couldn't imagine retiring because I still love the work I do and the company I am with. That has changed and I am looking more and more to that date simply because it is such a constant struggle.

Something I thought was odd was I called last Tuesday and ordered a new converter. The guy I talked to said it would be about two months, I said ok and ordered it. Got a call on Thursday wanting a credit card # and got the converter on Saturday.