What are your favourite brands for specific replacement parts? Everyone seems to have their favourites and I think we should put them on public record. For instance:

My favourite heater hoses are Goodyear Hi-Miler Blue. About twice the cost of regular hoses, half the cost of silicone and the resilience and flexibility of silicone without the leaking problems.

For thermostats I choose the Stant SuperStat. High quality throughout, very reliable. If it fails it fails open.

For rads I choose Modine. The triple core rad I put in my 84 Connie five years ago was an exact match and looks and cools now as good as it did new. I use Havoline longlife premixed rad fluid, it doesnt contain silicates that erode aluminum parts. Ive used it for five years on my lincoln and thats the one part of my car that DIDNT give me trouble. And it's red.

Krown is the best rustproofing service I have ever used. I treat all my cars with it, and the T40 compound has excellent washout resistance and stops rust dead.

GM Optikleer Washer fluid is a little pricey, but is noticeably better than any other fluid Ive used. Doesnt stain my tank, doesnt freeze, doesnt streak. Bosch also makes a good quality wiper.

CR and National both make good quality seals, Spicer/Dana arent so good but their Ujoint trunnions are generally pretty good and Ive had good luck with them.

Let's open the discussion!

_________________
I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

No contributors after forty views? Weird.

Shocks: KYB. My luck with MOOG has not been good.

Gaskets: Victor Rienz. Sometimes they even include a bottle of urethane silicone.

Krown also makes the best penetrating oil Ive ever used. T45 is generally used as a rust inhibitor, but works great on hot parts. You can actually spray this stuff on heated nuts and bolts without flashover. Amazing.

_________________
I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

No opinions, but where can Krown be found? How does it compare to POR-15? I've never used either one, but I will this summer. I need to repair the rust on my floor, after I fix the leaky winshield seal.

_________________
'71 Dart Swinger

Come to think of it, Im not sure if Krown has any locations in America. Id imagine rustproofing shops are a little sparse in your area; you might have to travel nort or towards the coast to get yours done.

_________________
I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

For filters, I use Napa Gold for the oil, Fram for gas and air. I also use their PCV valves. For oil, I also use Napa, because its made by Valvoline and its usually less expensive. I do use Valvoline trans. fluid and rear axle lube. Brake parts I like Raybestos. I like Autolite 66 spark plugs: I also run their wires. For cap and rotor I use Bosch with the brass inserts. For most other stuff, I try to stay with name brand stuff, even though most of it is made over seas now. Its also a matter of using what is available, as far as wear items go (alternators, water pumps, etc.).

Hellwig Front Swaybar; the best thing I've ever bought for any of my Mopars. If you have a stock swaybar, or none at all, budget $175 for one. Definately one of the best bang-for-your buck upgrades. You will get a big, fat smile.

_________________
Scott - waywardgarage.com
Why is the rum always gone?

Nice. Ive been using Valvoline for awhile now. I second Raybestos for brake parts: The rotors I bought for my Linc were first rate; I researched that decision because I was planning to use Genuine Ford parts throughout and they only had one rotor left. The Raybestos rotors were a perfect match and didnt wear any faster than the Ford ones. There was even a circular milled finish on the face.

I used a Bosch cap and Beru rotor on my VW engine about 6 years ago. Ive put 90 000 miles on that engine and only replaced the cap and rotor once. Brass contacts do seem to last longer.

Ive used the Purolator PureOne oil filter since they came out. What an amazing filter. Silicone gasket, silicone bypass valve, bigger outlet holes, better paint, much more filter media. Keeps my oil clear for nearly the whole life cycle. It still isnt black by the time its ready to be changed.

I still havent looked at starters, alternators or water pumps. When I buy water pumps I either go OEM or specify sintered bronze or cast iron impeller. For starter and alternator, I almost always have it rebuilt in town; I have a good guy closeby who supplies a test graph readout with each rebuild.

_________________
I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

A couple of recommendations for general stuff:

Penetrating sprays: Kroil ($$$) and PB Blaster($$)

Epoxy: Brownell's Acraglass and Brownell's Steel Bed. With Acraglas, you can add powdered aluminum, bronze, steel, stainless steel, etc to get the properties you want. It can also be dyed a few colors. Steel Bed has powdered stainless steel in it. Both are strong, have reasonable working times, and stay put. Look for them at gun stores or get the Brownell's gunsmithing supply catalog.

Later!

A couple of fav's of mine: Dist. caps and rotors and plug wires- Borg-Worner Nascar Select line at Pep Boys. The Select line caps have brass contacts, and the rotors have been high quality too. The Select plug wire sets have a spiral metal core, and seem to have the lowest ohm resistance of any resonably-priced wire sets around here (reno, nevada). Air filters: ANYTHING but Fram...Fram Air filters have a dense paper media that restricts airflow, though they probably do filter out a little more dirt. I've personally seen several cars fail smog tests strictly due to Fram air filters. On my own cars I like K&N air filters, still need to convert my Super Six to one...Summit Racing has their own house line of K&N type filters, that lok to actually be a K&N, but for lots less $$$. Sway bar bushings: any urethane available to fit. Replacing the stock rubber ones w/ urethane frame mount and end link bushings is just like going to a fatter sway bar for far less $$$. Just my experience and opinion here, folks, I'm always open to new ideas from others a different slant

_________________
Dare to be Different...

Ooh, this is one of my favourite topics. I have a favourite brand of practically every part and supply. I'll share some samples, but first: I wanna know more about Krown. I'm getting a '65 Dart with 19K original miles and though I won't drive it in sloppy winters, I still want it protected, and I'm in Toronto.

Now:

Distributor cap: NEVER a NAPA Echlin. Their SL6 caps are ground off center, so half the contacts on the underside are too big and the other half are too small. I gravitate towards Standard-BlueStreak for this cap.

Distributor rotor: a NAPA Echlin long-tip rotor # MO-3000

Breaker points: NAPA Echlin CS-851a (in American distributor) CS-723 (in Canadian distributor)

Spark plug: Autolite 925, double-extended nose plug.

Wires: Magnacore or BorgWarner

Filters: NEVER Fram.

Wipers: Anco

Headlights: Cibie

Brake shoes: Bendix or Raybestos

oil;wallmart"supertech"..tires-;road runner,roadhuggers...fuelfilter;one with a clear shell...hood scoop;one duster or dart 340 scoop on the only side of the hood u need one on...front rims;keystones that give u a wider track {offset}had em on my supersix volare wagon and made it handle like a dream...rear tires;old school town and country early radial snowies{awesome}{I used to pull away from full sized ford and chevy pickups in the snow w 'em}...parking brake;cut the cable...volare grille;broken...Oil pressure switch;BOLT...plug wires;any that isn't broken...alternator;one that charges...battery;one that accepts a charge...ETC....the point being;it's pretty hard to kill these things. 225's RULE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yeah, I ment Borg-Warner distributer cap and rotors... I agree about the Fram oil filters, their other stuff is ok. Good old WD-40 has never let me down (even got the nuts loose that clamp my manifolds together... ) Oh yeah, free stuff is always good too...

Holy CRAP. 19k??????


As with any rustproofing service these days they won't drop your headliner or door panels to treat your car. There is a place in Quebec that will remove all interior panels and carpeting to treat the entire car without drilling one hole, this is probably more what youre looking for and it costs about $600. Resprays are recommended every three years. I think it is mentioned on CAA's website, but Ill dig it up and send it to you privately when I get around to it.

Krown drills holes. If you think that's gross might as well stop reading here.

However, and this is true of any chain store you go to, some places are friendly and some arent. I had an excellent experience with Hamilton's branch, the owner is Christian and extremely friendly and has a hard working crew that won't bogart the goop if you ask them to. However, I had the VW Van done at the Oakville branch this year and the kid working there showed open contempt for my vehicle the whole time he was working on it. Luckily for him I had forgotten the wallet at home and had to ask the owner for a few favours to pay the bill or I would have flattened the kid.

What does it for me is that Krown uses two different formulations in their rustproofer and it isnt wax based. Ziebart is wax and is marketed towards soccer moms who are more concerned with it not dripping. Idiots.

Rust check as far as I know only uses the red oil, and the branches I went to kept asking me if I wanted a bill or not, and asked for straight cash, no tax. That didnt impress me. Not to say there arent many fine Rust Check depots to be found, but first impressions are lasting and I did give them a fair chance.

Most rustproofers offer other detail services which I do not partake in, such as running boards, interior cleaning and paint protection. I am only getting my front bench cleaned out of necessity and then it's getting wrapped in clear vinyl permanently. I stay away from glazes because it's very difficult to blend paint repairs into panels that have been treated with it. All I ever do is wax and polish.

_________________
I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.