[Ram Air IV Jack]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

That's the exact problem the one brought to me had. By the time the ports were straightened out to get a decent match to the heads and gaskets, there was no more than .060" left for a gasket seal at the top of 3-4 of the ports. Welding the outside top would have effected the look of the manifold. Also the flanges would have needed to be set-up in the mill and surfaced. The cost to make these repairs would have been substantially more than the manifold cost. IMO, if they are going to cast a crappy, core shifted manifold in China, please leave plenty of material so it can be repaired without welding. That would be much easier to work with.

Yup, Chinese parts man!!! You can get decent ones though and make them work but the quality control in China is terrible as reported here. Even if you find an OEM intake for $$$$, some slob could have worked on the ports and made it almost unusable. Finding a virgin OEM part is the best bet to get the correct fit but the cost can be a deciding factor to go with an overseas part.

[unruhjonny]

Originally Posted by Ram Air IV Jack

... the quality control in China is terrible as reported here. ...

I believe you are mistaken;
QC is only as good as what is paid for.

You can get fantastic stuff from there - but it will have higher cost to reflect more time put into the item.

[Ram Air IV Jack]

Originally Posted by unruhjonny

I believe you are mistaken;
QC is only as good as what is paid for.

You can get fantastic stuff from there - but it will have higher cost to reflect more time put into the item.

You can get some decent parts made in China, but it is a hit and miss deal. When you have forced labor making peanuts like what is common in China, quality control suffers. We see members talk about this here all the time. People buy this junk because it is available and cheap compared to OEM parts. Prime example is the terrible fit of the repro front fenders for the 68-69 A body Pontiacs. They will fit but a lot of cutting and fabricating is needed. Again, you can get decent parts made in China, but often times you have to try several items before one fits/works well.