A parts review for the V8 fans!

[EFE 1230]

If your into cars, tuff V8's then you will have heard of "PROCOMP", if not here's a little review of their products.

and believe me it is only one of many tales worldwide!




http://cgi.ebay.com.au/355-stroker-Holden-Torana-308-5Litre_W0QQitemZ160389908814QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_ Car_Parts_Accessories?hash=item2557fbc94e

[EFE 1230]

Just in case the listing is pulled here's the quote:



I have for sale some very low km's 355 stroker parts, less than 2000 ks. These parts have been replaced over several removal and tear downs of my motor.

Brought as a PROCOMP 355 stroker kit and head, manifold, cam kit from Sydney Speed supplies AKA at racing world.

First up is a wonderfull set of valve springs that went soft within 400 ks, next is a set of 7/16 screw in studs 1 is sheared off 2 are bent other than that they are in perfect condition.

I also have a set of big end and main bearings that I never used as the brand new crank needed grinding, It had a 1thou taper and was also barrelled from over polishing, This kit was ordered balanced for the cost of $250 extra and was so out of balance it shook the car severly at 2800 rpm, I thought the needles on my dash were going to shake off.

Up next is a set of pistons and rings, these items have about 1200 ks on them, the rings failed to seat and created a nice smoke haze behind me, they would suit a buyer looking for a unique look to there car SMOKE. 1 piston has a small crack, nothing to worry about as it is barely visible, the teflon coating (or as I call it paint) is worn off, this happened in 2 hours while running in the cam and tunning. These pistons have had 27 thou taken off them as they stuck out of a non decked block that far, they have also had the gudgeon holes honed to alinge them as the pin was very tight in these full floating pistons.

Next is a cam shaft, I was sold it as a solid but its either ground wrong or a hydraulic it is very noisy at the 22 thou clearence as on the cam card, A copy of a camtech cam with a camtech box and cam card. On talking to camtech they DONOT and will not have any thing to do with procomp. This badly made cam also damaged my valves where the collets seat so I also have these up for sale sizes are 2.02 inlet 1.6 exhaust.

OK this was the final straw that made me write this, I was putting the head back together after getting them back from the machine shop, seats cut and new valves, I put the valve stem seals on and realised I had to put the spring seat washers on before them. so i had to remove the seals. I PULLED UP ON THE SEAL TO REMOVE IT AND PULLED THE TOP CEAN OFF THE VALVE GUIDE NOT ONCE BUT TWICE. Im not quite sure whats going on there, either I have super human strenght or these items are super weak, Ill let you be the judge. So I am also selling these there seems to be at least 10 good ones.

By buying my items that are already broken you can save yourself the heart ache of buying off sydney speed AKA at racing world and you will know you are buying rubbish, better still just put the money in a pile in front of you and set it alight where at least you will get some thing usefull out of it, WARMTH

I also have other item from the kit that are just as useless as the rest please contact me if you are interested in any thing. LOL AS IF.

The buy now is a rough estimate of what I have spent to fix every thing so far, its getting close to the $4000 I payed for the kit in the first place, I could have brought a C.O.M.E 355 stroker and head kit for that. And they may have cared if I had a problem.

[timbo]

Someone's not a happy camper.Good on him i say, these rogues need to be named and shamed.

[EFE 1230]

First page of questions"

Question & Answer Answered On
Q: good onya mate hope ebay dont pull ur listing i got caught with a chev high rise manifold that didnt bolt on and was told to use more gaskets to help it seal also some nice shiny roller rockers that fell apart 20 mins into cam break in they didnt want to know or offer any help pro comp are scum i feel for ya keep listing till thay buy it back 29-Dec-09
A: Hi If it gets pulled I will relist. Thanks for your support. I ecxpect my rockers to shit themselfs as well. Cheers.

Q: hi sorry to hear about your loss. i'm thinking of building a 355 but now i'm a bit concerned. have you heard any bad reports on eagle stroker kits item no. 250552643915 29-Dec-09
A: Hi no aint heard any thing bad about the Eagle kits, A mate of mine has used one and they seem like a good thing. I had a guy respond to this add, he used a C.O.M.E kit and had a few issues, High Performance World are doing a eagle kit for 1500 on there web site, there worth checking out. Cheers.

Q: i like what you have done, although the guy from AT racing world,isnt the pro comp guy himself, what he does is lists his crap on ebay, you buy it and it gets sent to you directly from sydney speed supplies, it goes on ATs account you pay the AT guy and he pays them,same shit different guy...right, now i also purchased some rocker covers like three years ago, from sydney speed, long before most were buying crap, they were so badly warped like nearly 6mm i took them back to his store at the summernats, he didnt like the bad rap so he swapped them for me no questions asked, an air fare and ticket to the nats couldnt be too much could it???....but thats why the AT guy doesnt want to help he has to pay himself...contact the procomp guy direct and see how you go, i found him easy to deal with, im sure a phone call and a link to your add may see some cash your way!! 29-Dec-09
A: Hi aready tried talking to them, they rekon I didnt get my crank from them first up and when I persisted they offered me a discount on any thing else I wanted to buy. The biggest problem has been that I fix one thing put it back together and in the car and 2 weeks later its out and apart again, this has been going on since august, this is the 5th tear down. They have stuff my drag session, in tas we have a meet once a month, 6 meets for the year/session, first meet I pulled out cause the smoke it was blowing, missed second meet waiting for parts, pistons, rings and valves and will miss next one waiting to have valve guides done. Pissed off. Thanks for the support, Cheers.

Q: gday there, well done mate....this is getting everywhere!! i found it on aussiev8.com forum, where the admin have been threatened with legal action if they dont delete and stop any anti-procomp threads!!!....... what ever youve started is a long time coming!! they even had a stall at summernats.... im really surprised that something much more sinister hasnt happened to sss/atracing/ procomp! BAMMMMMMMMMM 29-Dec-09
A: Hi yea mate I posted it on there, The response has been awsesome from every one. So ive heard its on quiet a few car forums now, the more the better, aussie V8 admin are weak, no other forum has a ban on talking about procomp. Im doing as much as I can to hurt these pricks Ive contacted a couple of companies that have products that procomp have copied, and we all know how the yanks like to sue, lol Thanks for your support, Cheers

Q: Nice work bud. I was gonna settle for one of there flywheels as they are hard to find at a good price. Not happening now. The thing will probably shake loose and cut my legs off.. 28-Dec-09
A: Hi I brought one a those to replace my cast one. Its a tight fit going on to the crank, has to be pulled on with the bolts. The bolt holes have been drilled not quiet in the right place so to fix it they drilled them to a larger size. This makes the holes to big for the bolts and the shoulder on the bolt is what the flywheel is held by, you dont want a loose fit between the two. The fly wheel is also thinner and the bolts have to be shortend or they end up screwed all the way through th crank into the back of the block. I got lucky there I tried to turn the motor by hand and found out, lucky it wasnt by the starter. Cheers.

Q: Good onya fer havin the balls to tell the world of rip off scum ..... hope it works out for ya .... 28-Dec-09
A: Hi by the responses I getting its working very well, its stopped a few people from wasting there money on there shit, and cost them money. Cheers.

Q: hi mate i brought a pair of sheet metal rocker covers from these arsoles for my vk v8 and had to take booster off to get them on,,and when i did they pissed oil everywhere .not happy ,,would not return money for returned item ,and there gaskets are shit cheers 28-Dec-09
A: Hi is any thing they sell any good, shit a set of covers cant be that hard to get right. Cheers.

Q: HI. In your item description at the top of your listing you should use all of the 55 characters available so that more people can find your listing. Use more common words like DRAG RACING SPEEDWAY HOTROD V8 etc . That way more people will find your listing as they are some of the words that i type in when i go looking for stuff on here. I only found your listing from the ozrodders forum. GOODLUCK. Cheers. 28-Dec-09
A: Thanks for the tip will do that. Cheers

Q: well done boss for doing what you can to stick it up em! i have heard nothing but bad reports too 28-Dec-09
A: Hi thanks for the support, Cheers.

Q: So glad I saw this add, I was about to burn my money by the sounds of it. NOT NOW Cheers 28-Dec-09
A: Hi glad its saved you from wasting your money, Another happy customer lol Cheers.

Q: just food for thought!if these scum bags get enough bad feedback they will most likly change there trading name,i will be watching very closly to see if they pop up under another and would be good if others did the same,lets get rid of the assxxxx for good,daniel. 28-Dec-09
A: Yea I had thought that, I am very wary about buying any thing that sold from sydney. I figured out that sydney speed and at racing world were the same when I ordered a set of head studs from at racing world and they came from the same address. I was extremely pissed off that I had gave them pricks more of my money. They also go under another name that was on the boxes the parts came in, American some thing cant remember the mane thou, if I do I will list that as well. Cheers.

Q: I work in the industry and thought id add that its seems their aluminium castings tend to be soft and a lot of the machine work is out. Heard a few cases of valves and seats being pulled into the heads and bolt holes being out and a lot of 'fixing ' needed to be done to make the parts actually work and/or fit. They are cheap... to start with. Too bad you got in so deep. Best of luck. 28-Dec-09
A: Hi yes a bit of work is needed mine had a issue with the push rod holes being drilled a bit off, I was also wondering adout the hardness of the alloy. I will investigate this before I have new guides installed. Cheers.

Q: rip it up man cause they did you little matey..cheers 28-Dec-09
A: Thanks mate, cheers.

Q: Great work buddy,I got stuffed around by them that much when I bought a dissy of them that never worked and now sits lonely on a shelf in the shed,but my lesson not to buy from them came at the cost $200 not $4000,good on ya for trying to stop people making the same mistake. 28-Dec-09
A: Thanks for your support. Cheers.

Q: Great work buddy,I got stuffed around by them that much when I bought a dissy of them that never worked and now sits lonely on a shelf in the shed,but my lesson not to buy from them came at the cost $200 not $4000,good on ya for trying to stop people making the same mistake. 28-Dec-09
A: Hi I have a garbage bin full of there stuff. I hope enough people read this to put a big dent in there profit. Cheers.

Q: Just thought I should mention it, there is an eBay seller named Procomp in USA who doesn't seem to have anything to do with these products. It might be a good thing to mention this so people don't end up thinking that seller is the same as the one you mention, in fact posting the eBay ID of the seller who IS selling the crap might be an option. If eBay choose to kill this listing due to it then that's pretty poor especially if the seller has a string of negatives already over similar past transactions. eBay lost it for me once they allowed people to hide negatives by going private with feedback. It just made it a whole lot easier for scammers to rip others and for people to operate illegal businesses and elude paying tax as regular businesses do. 28-Dec-09
A: the for the heads up I will find there Ebay ID and add it. I have Email procomp USA about these guy, hopping they may sue for using there mane and products.

Q: Maybe if we organise a huge Sims Metal skip to be dropped out the front of their premises, we can a;; arrange to pop on over at the same time. It wouldn't take more than 15 minutes for 50+ people to empty it all into the skip. Can you imagine them franticly trying to stop that from happening while waiting the obligatory 25 minutes for the cops to turn up? P.S. Be safe: safety glasses leather gloves and steel cap boots everyone, we would't want Workcover being dragged into it! 28-Dec-09
A: Thanks for your support, bloody fine idea you got there, that could be worth the air fair up. Cheers.

Q: sorry to hear ya had to find out the hard way mate of mine bought a 383 chev stroker crate from sss and all the gaskets had to be replaced they all leaked water think he had to get new roller rockers wrong ratio and when he last stripped the motor down and had it properly done by mick webb he found out 2 of the bores have been sleeved good to see ya sticking it up them 28-Dec-09
A: Thanks mate, makes you wonder how these pricks are still in buisness. Cheers.

Q: hi mate i know exactly how you feel i was building a motor for a mate with procomp bits just to see if any of it was any good and we stopped at the heads as the brand new harrop manifold didnt fit the heads.on questioning at racing (syd speed) they reconed our block was the problem and argued the point until we proved them wrong and finally got a refund (minis a couple of hundred bucks).one option you have and believe me in your position i would do is to click buy it now on all there products that are listed that way and leave negatave after negative or even threaten to leave negitaves unless the refund all your money.it would pretty much stuff there ebay store for a while and its not as if you have to pay for it all as it seems heaps of other people seem to get away with not paying etc on ebay.just a thought mate see what you recon something has to be done about these pricks. 28-Dec-09
A: Thanks mate, I had thought of that but I dont want to ruin my rating, but thee are ways around it keep watching there rating. If every one brought 2 items off them per week and didnt pay and left negative feed back there rating would be shit in no time. Cheers.

Q: man great stuff all those who read this should repost it i just looked on youtube at there vids you cant even comment on them this place is a scam great work hope you get ot sorted cheers 28-Dec-09
A: Thanks mate, Cheers.

[EFE 1230]

Page 2:


Question & Answer Answered On

Q: Thanks mate, i have heard in past about the quality of these procomp products but felt surely that they could not be true in this day and age. Obviously your report and the many others on car forums are correct and these arseholes should cease production immediately. Surely they should have just refunded your money or replaced product? If they replaced product maybe you could have picked out good parts from the two of them - ha ha. Thanks champ info like this is priceless - good luck in future. 28-Dec-09
A: I tried to deal with them over the first problems I had, there response first up was I didnt buy the crank off them, after accepting it was one of there cranks they refused to give any money back, and there best offer was more of there crap at a discount. By the looks of the responses Im getting a full refund would have been cheaper for them. Cheers.

Q: hi there, i was wondering why you wasnt at the last drag meet.i can see why now. good to see some one stick it to them procomp rip offs. hope you got it going for the next round paul 28-Dec-09
A: Thanks, Sorry to say I wont make the next meet either, I have to get new guides put in the heads and my machine shop is closed till the 11th. Cheers.

Q: good on ya mate i sure will be telling everyone that i know who is in the car scene;and trust me i do know quite a few [sorry about ur loss]. 28-Dec-09
A: Thanks mate, The more people that hear about them the quick they will be out of buissnes. Cheers.

Q: hi bud your add has been posted on alot of car forums and ive read it and also read other peoples comments and your questions seems it aint very good stuff from what i gather these guys would have had more parts come thru the windows of there shop than gone out the door {i hear it has happened quite alot to} a mate is looking at 1 of there combos on ebay {the head up package} so just wondering is that what u got? this is not the first time ive seen adds like your on ebay warning people and without them lots of other people would lose GIVE YA SELF A PAT ON THE BACK :) 28-Dec-09
A: Hi, yes I brought the head up package, complete heads, cam, lifters, roller rockers, screw in studs, guide plates. The only parts that are left from the kit is the bare heads and they need the guides repacing, the manifold which needed work to get it to fit, and the guide plates. Tell your mate not to waste his money, you can get YELLA TERRA alloy from Victorian performance whare house for just under $1900, he will burn that kind of money buying and fixing the PROCOMP CRAP. Cheers thank for your support.

Q: gday mate im very sorry 4 ur loss;as a lot of people have been riped by them [we all know who]some thing has got to be done about it cause they have been selling rubish can only be used as pot stands; i will never buy anything from them in my lifetime a loy of people have taken 4 a ride;the only thing we can do is make sure u tell everyone u know in the car seen to watch out for rip off bustards;like them.ebay has to do something about them and worry about thier shitty little fees they are making off them 4 heaps of listing;a lot of people i talk to wont go near ebay cause im sure they know they rippind people off;trust me watch KARMA bite them on the ass;sorry about ur loss. 28-Dec-09
A: Hi thanks for the support, Ive been puttting links to this add every where and just finnished airing my problems with procomp USA. My intention is to cause as much shit for these pricks as possible. Ive taken it up the a#s til now, now its there turn. LOL I intented to screw these bastards over no matter how long it takes.

Q: MATE YOUR A LEGEND! 27-Dec-09
A: Thanks

Q: I am sorry to hear about the absolute crap rip-off that happened to you. 10 points for placing the information on the net so that other people do not get shafted. What ever happened to people giving a f#ck about their craftmanship and reputation? What goes around comes around. hopefully some bad stuff happen to them in the near future.... Chin-up mate. 27-Dec-09
A: Hi, If this add is costing them money im happy, Im hopping lots of people are saved from making the same mistake I have. Cheers thanks for the support.

Q: sorry to hear m8 but way to go with the add! lets a lot of new people realise the quality of there products. keep up the good work!!! 27-Dec-09
A: Thanks for your support. Cheers

Q: i thought that everyone new that procomp was crap at least they do now u also forgot to mention that they stole other peoples designs and hard work (torque power) ect good on ya mate 27-Dec-09
A: Hi yea forgot to mention that its all a copy, speed pro pistons a copy, inlet manifold torque power copy, crank harrop copy, gaskets felpro copy,cam camtech copy. These companys should sue the shit out of them. that give me a great idea I will contact these companies and stir them into doing some thing about them stealing there designs.

Q: that description is gold sorry to hear ya bad luck mate i almost pissed meself with your description lol lmfao i love it 27-Dec-09
A: Hi Ive saved a few people some money, cost them money and gave people a laugh. Best $4.50 I ever spent. Cheers and thank for your support.

Q: hey champion, that sounds really terrible for you! don't know if you can be bothered, but maybe you should post some pics up as well showing off the f**ked parts. would give something towards your cause...just a thought hey. good luck, brett 27-Dec-09
A: Hi took some pics today will post them for all to see. Cheers and thanks for your support.

Q: many thanks for making us aware of these issues, you have no doubt saved me money and hopefully many others as well. Brian 27-Dec-09
A: HI, Glad it stopped you from making the same mistake I did. Your the second person to that this add stopped from being ripped off by these theives. Cheers.

Q: Good on ya mate, about time someone stuck it to these rip off bastards, they are an absolute disgrace to the car scene. 27-Dec-09
A: Thats for sure, thanks for the support. Cheers.

Q: hi,i was about to buy a 355 procomp stroker kit from this mob.it ain't gunna happen now.thanks for the info.hope a lot more read your info.regards daniel. 27-Dec-09
A: Glad you read it before you made the same mistake I did. There were other problems as well rod side clearence, head gaskets with a 8 thou gap, guide plates dont line up ect, If I save other people from there crap, atleast it aint all been a waste of time and money. Cheers

[Elapid]

I bought a brand new P-C dizzy a few years ago for my 351C 4V XF UTE and surprise surprise it didn't get to the startline before the heap of shit failed. Once we found and fixed the problem it was fine. The magnet inside broke causing "Ute-no-go". That problem was common with their dizzys. Every one I saw on a car had the same fault. At least they were shiny and looked pretty.

Kris.

[hyofighter]

i think everyone that has bought there product gets a free problem , my tonner when i bought it had a procomp dizzy in it and no matter how well you set it with a timing light it would ping its brains out somewhere in the rev range or be sluggish as shit it nevere seemed to be constant it was like something was moving within the dizzy and the timing would be fine one day and way out the next

procomp discussions have been banned from the aussie v8 forum as it was a heated subject with everyone

[336LJ]

yep that business is the worst out of the lot of them. The guy I go to now for mechanical advice has been in the industry for over 35 years (racing motorsport, boats etc) and knows his shit.
some of the yank manufacturers send him prototype parts to test out.
needless to say as a perfectionist, he can't keep his hands and eyes off the finer details of engine components. Mention procomp around him and he'll tell you the full story.
Bunch of useless cunts
I forget who it was, but they are a quality brand manufacturing rods etc. He was talking to the rep for the company, and was told the story of how they were looking to outsource their work to china for cost reasons.
They were taken on a "tour" of the manufacturing facility... about 3hrs into a trip along a dirt road, they come to a village with large wooden and straw huts.. old mate opens the door up and here are these guys with machines and shit propped up by blocks of wood on a dirt floor!! they were like "noo fucking way. not a chance"

Weren't pro comp busted for copying dizzys n shit?

[EFE 1230]

One American mob (SCAT) I think but don't quote me has a facility in China that makes all their street stroker kits, but they actually control the process as if it was on US soil similar to the companies that produce in Mexico, however all their "race" competition kits are still made in house in the US.

A mate works at a company that outsourced to China, they copied the prototype perfectly, matched all the welds, used the same grade material all up an absolutely perfect quality product at less than half the local manufacturing cost, the deal was done and management sat back and waited for the first container load to show up while the workers stressed about keeping their jobs.

The container arrived with the entire order literally thrown inside through the open doors not packed LOL! and every piece paid for was so far out of tolerances the only piece that could be used was the actual prototype they made to get the contract!

The ENTIRE 40ft container of product was unloaded straight into a sims metal bin and everyone that worked on the production line got 2 straight months of overtime to fill the original order.......and everyone kept their job too!

[russo]

oooh thats no good shoulda went to trick and mansweto they cost lil bit more upfront but are top blokes and perfectionists

[pappas]

Trick and Manswetto build engines, I think in this case the manufacturer of the product not the build quality is the problem

Have seen a PC dizzy on a distributor graphing machine. There was plus/minus eight degrees variation from pole to pole.

PC were stopped from selling the 6AL knock-offs they were having made in China. MSD took them to court and won.

Scat and Eagle get their crank and rod forgings from the same joint in China. Eagle have some of their machining performed in China. As far as I know, Scat still do all of their machining in the USA.