The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk re-pop emblem

I just bought some new parts and one is a new front hood emblem and the gasket to go with it. I am in the process of painting and have the hood sanded and thought i would put the new emblem on for grins and see how bright and shiny it is compared to the old original rusted one. There is no way it will fit flush without some major bending....is this common with new re*pop emblems? This one came from Jim Carter. Do ya think they all come from the same place?

Yep, they all come from China, welcome to the world of repro parts!

On occasion you'll find more than one source but more often than not the demand is low enough that there's only one manufacturer. If it was me I'd make Jim Carter aware of their quality problem and give them the opportunity to correct it. I'm having my trim re-chromed because of the re-pop quality issue.

I'm also hearing this more and more. I recently went to a junk yard that was selling out and found an AD hood (buried behind several other doors and hoods) with an almost perfect front emblem. It was worth the effort, I got the emblem and a straight front fender for $60.

I bought a re-pop front emblem. The curve is okay, but the studs don't line up with the hood holes. I kinda jammed it on there and it made the center trim go off center. Almost everything in the reproduction realm I've bought for my truck is faulty in some major way.

This reproduction emblem fit just fine.

AD_Pickup,
beautiful truck. your emblem looks like it went on with no problem....lucky you! Where did you get yours?

Blue 50, it has been over 4 years since I got that emblem, it was either from Jim Carter or (at the time)Chevy Duty.

I'm glad I saved all my chrome parts. It might be better to pay the cost for rechrome work, at least you know they will fit.

As said earlier,,,welcome to the world of reproduction parts.
You have to be a ,,,machinist,mechanic,carpenter,and general all around wizard to get the stuff to fit properly,,,no matter which dealer you buy it from. They pretty much all come from the same supplier,and are all made in Taiwan, or China.
If theres any way you can salvage your old part for rechroming or rebuilding,,DO IT!!! You'll thank yourself in a few years down the road.
Ive been there,,and definitely done it.
Marty

Guys, I'm having the same issue right now with a hood ornament/nameplate purchased from Jim Carter. Received it; found the back had several sharp edges protruding, so we dollied them down so that they wouldn't gouge the fresh paint. Put masking tape on the backside to trial fit on the hood. Only three of the four mounting clip holes would line up on the hood, plus the recess for the hood bullnose molding was off-center by a good 3/16". Pulled the nameplate back off the truck, pulled the masking tape off the backside, and brought most of the supposed chrome off on the tape. Final solution to this mess is to return the China-Mart repo to JC and wait for my OEM hood ornament to come back from one of the best plating shops in this area: United Bumper Exchange and Plating in Shreveport, La. Plus, replating is only costing $10.00 more than this import junk cost.

Got a body mount kit. The holes in the cupped washers were bigger than the bolts. We are getting more and more junk from these suppliers and I think it is time that we made our concerns known to them. Contact them and let them know because if we don't, they won't know and if they hear from us then they in turn could put pressure on their parts manufacturers. Hopefully somewhere down the line these deficiencies will improve.

The sad part is.......They dont care.
This has been going on for years....and it doesnt change.

thats why they dont care if they have to replace it a few times they dont pay much for it i had to order my widowes 3 time before i got ones that wernt broke in shipping they wernt even packed good

cooterhead 50, you say the tape pulled off the chrome. When I got mine over four years ago, it was stainless steel. Are they casting and chroming them now?

I ordered two rear stake pockets from JC and one came primered the other bare, the holes are in the general area of where they should be is the best I can say about them. One of the parts looks like it split when it was stamped so they mig welded it up from the inside for a couple inches. Thankfully I have a good shop and tools to rework this stuff, like 54panels says you need to be pretty creative sometimes. It is also starting to become more clear now why originals on Ebay are so expensive.

Well I am going to let Carter know about this regardless...I was thinking that maybe the stainless are a different casting and fit better. This one is chrome and it also has sharp edges on the back....just waiting to scratch the new paint!!!

Back at you AD_Pickup and Blue 50. . .The one I got from Carter was made from sheet metal, had sharp edges on the back like you described. Where the chrome pulled away looked like maybe stainless underneath. Whatever, I'm gonna let Carter have this piece of C**p back, along with a few choice words about their quality issues.

Sad part about all this is communication, in my opinion, that could honestly be taken care of at the Manufacturer with some tweaking/adjustment. I know everyone does not fit in this category but I feel its just that the ones in charge do not do their job or they are incompetent. I was almost accused of "vendor bashing" a while back over the inner to outer cowling panel. I sent an email or two back and forth to a fellow and he informed me the "manager" was going to talk to the production plant and get back to me. I even offer to SEND THEM a nice original to examine but as you can guess I never heard from them again either way. So, I do not order any parts from them. What I do order may come from the same manufacturer but I do have a say in who's packet the money goes to. It also irks me to think that someone would package a product and send it out knowing its in the shape some of you have mentioned. Needless to say, I took my old rusted,cruded inner panel to a guy who repaired THREE sides of my old one and it is great. Total charge $30. I spent over $20 on shipping to get, then send back to the vendor, the one that was plain out sorry. It may not help but if we do not let them know if something is good or bad things are not going to change. Cooter50, try the "catch more flies with Honey than vinegar" approach and if not satisfaction then tell them what you think. Give them a chance first.

I have an old cast/pot metal front hood emblem that I have been holding onto for a very long time.
It has pits here and there but overall in great shape. It was on a 49 deluxe that I had, And kept it before selling.
After reading all these horror stories, I'm glad I held on to it.
It will be repaired soon ( holes filled/chrome ) so I could run it on my truck.

Does anyone else have one?? I ask this question because I have never seen one on a truck or a swap meet??? :confused:
Javier

well ya had me wonderin so i just went an checked my repro emblem , SS From LMC , fits curvature of hood perfect an all the holes line up fine ....it does have a few edges i would be concerned abought if it was goin against the paint but the gasket also fits just right an that will keep the paint from gettin messed up ...I guess I was lucky , from teh horror stories i just read !

RaNfLaS,
Yeah, I've got one of those cast ones, too. I like it a whole lot better than the tin ones. It's not in the best shape, but plenty good for my driver.

RaNfLaS, I have my original cast one, too, but I wanted a nice, fancy finish on the leading edge of the truck. I wonder how much it costs to have one rechromed. Cooterhead, can you give us an idea?

Tom R, I walked in to the bumper exchange place with my OE emblem in hand, and they quoted me $50.00 delivered back to the shop 55 miles from Shreveport. They did my two original bumpers better than new for $400.00. Thought that was a bit pricey, but you gets what you pays for. I should be seeing my emblem sometime this week or next, and I'll report on it. By the way, I paid Carter $39.00 plus S&H for import junk, so I way less than $10.00 away from the cost of redoing my original.

From my past experiences,,,if you have a halfway decent orig. piece,,,,spend the extra $$ to have it rechromed.
Youll thank yourself a few years later down the road.
All this repro. parts plating is done overseas...that tells you something right there.
Second,,when you look at some parts prices and its only 15 or 20.00 difference between painted or chrome,,,that tells me everything i need to know.
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL CHROME PLATER

Thanks, cooterhead. I'm looking forward to finding out how you like yours, then I might mail mine to them. The environmental laws here in New York make it very expensive to get stuff plated here.

Tom R, they called me today to inform me that their salesman will be bringing the ornament in tomorrow or Thursday. I'd say that is pretty quick service (left it with them last Thursday morning). The salesman said they take mail/shipped in parts, give an estimate, and if the customer gives the go-ahead, they do the job. If the estimate is not accepted, they ship back--no problem. Soon as I have mine back, I'll let you know what I think.

The problem with the zinc-cast emblems like the fender and hood ornaments of my 41 Sedan is that they get those pits even if you get a NOS. The material is eating itself. They where simply not made to last 60+ years.

My plating guy said even if he fills all those pits and do a expensive tripple chrome job he can not guaranty that it lasts more than 5 years.

It´s all about greed. I was asking a chinese manufactur about prices.

They say if I order 2000 emblemes it`s about a Dollar a piece!

Yes you heared right: 1$ !!!!!

Now you know why you get crap.

The chinese guy said: we can make everything in any quality - but you get what you pay for. And most poeple only want to pay the cheapest price so they can make a lot of money.

I saw chinese made repro Rolexes (not the ones for $10 but for $150) that only an expert can tell from the original. If they can do that delicate work, they are able to place the studs of an emblem in the right position.

But you have to pay more than $1 for a emblem - maybe $5

I wonder why nobody is making the in aluminum?
No rust no pitting easy an cheap to make and you can buff them to a crome like look.

my ct 2 - Frank

Got a call from the body shop this morning a little after 8:00; salesman had delivered the hood ornament. Sent wifey up there to pay for the little jewel and to bring it home. When she got home with it, I was amazed. Going in, the thing had some chrome left on it, but it had a bad case of pimples. I would say that the plating shop had buffed 99.8% of that out. The replate on this ornament is almost shaving-mirror quality. Based upon their work on my bumpers (original to the truck)which have a mirror finish, and what they did with the hood ornament, I would highly recommend them. Hope this doesn't get my wrists slapped for advertising: United Bumper & Radiator Exchange, 601 Fortson St., Shreveport, La. 71107 Phone: (318)222-9518 Toll-free 1-800-673-2211 (don't know if that is nation-wide or not).