Buyer Beware Alert - Another Repop Electrical Part

[Slotts]

The following is only my opinion. However, I do feel the need to let my findings be known to the Mopar community.

You know the old adage, "You get what you pay for." Well, sometimes you don't even get that much...

New to hit the market is a repop, reproduction for the Cuda and Challenger E body 2947713 dash dimmer switch.

As many who have already purchased, installed and now understand that repop electrical parts can have a lot to be desired. There seems to be a disconnect with trying to market something that appears to be the same but without the understanding of electrical tolerances, stock materials chosen for a specific reasons and assembly procedures for which the original engineers were tasked with. Also, these products can be driven by one even more important requirement. Keep the cost down! (Money) With this part, even the mounting nut .095" is slightly over half the thickness of the original mounting nut .148".

The original engineers developed these electrical parts knowing full and well the demands that would be required to meet or exceed the project requirements, circuit loads, circuit breaker tolerances, etc., all with the technology available at that time.

When a part is copied only with appearance of the original part being the requirement, the manufacturer does not necessarily have all of the information as to why a particular type of material was required in the first place. So, for example, the usage of tempered or annealed 410 or 420 spring stainless steel strips and 302 stainless steel wire can be overlooked and sheet metal and steel wire are used instead. Sometimes copper clad and brass clad steel are used instead of solid nonferrous metals.

This concept is nothing new and not just isolated to electrical car parts. How many of us have purchased some off brand cheap power tool that worked for a couple of weeks and blew up that was made overseas?

I recently acquired two of these E body repop dash dimmer switches for this reason. One for show and one as a test mule. In under three hours, the test mule failed. First, the dimming circuit portion of the switch was tested and failed due to the wiper arm warping away from the resistor coil tray. After that occurred, next was testing the dome light circuit. Without the pressure of the now warped wiper arm pressing down, the tray now was not sitting level. You can see in the pictures on the opposite side of the switch, with the tray tab pushed down on the arm to make a ground connection, does not even touch the rivet head.

You can be the judge of whether this would be an acceptable part to install into your E body.















Jim

[Cuda Cody]

Thank you for sharing your findings.   

[Burdar]

Thanks for the info Jim.  The last time I drove my Challenger, the dash lights didn't work.  I remember the headlight switch was a little funky when I put the dash back together.  When the car comes back out of storage(don't know when that will be) I'll be sending you my switch for restoration. 

Do you sell switches outright or just restore those that are sent in?

[RUNCHARGER]

Thanks for saving some grief.

[erik70rt]

Thank you!  I need one of those switches, too.  Nice to know to stay away from this junk.

[Shane Kelley]

That does suck. But great information know.

[CudaMoparRay]

Great in depth presentation and commentary thanks

[HP_Cuda]

Sadly I'm not surprised.

Need to get original parts and rebuild them.

[61K T/A]

Damit, why do vendors cheap out on this stuff? Especially electrical. Thanks for the info.

[LinceCuda]

Thanks for info, nothing worse than when one  finds the time to work on their car it ends up being all for nothing.

[Slotts]

Thank you all for reading this thread and the comments mentioned both publicly and privately. 

Do you sell switches outright or just restore those that are sent in?

Hey Darren, I can offer both. Drop me an email whenever you are ready and thank you! 

I have been restoring Mopar parts for some friends on mine locally when they realized I was a Mopar guy and not afraid of solving electrical issues. I took it a step further looking into what made these parts "tick". I began to see a trend that is was almost a given that the dash dimmer switches didn't work properly or at all. That lead to having 302 stainless steel resistor coils produced, MADE IN USA, for the E body, and both B body thumbwheel versions of their dash dimmer switches.

Some members may remember me from (that other e body forum) and some new to this forum may not. I have since turned this into a business servicing and restoring many different Mopar electrical parts. One of these days I may get a chance to finish my web site. www.jsrestorations.com Need some HTML tips and tricks from Cody! (Hint, hint) 

The following pictures are example of a Mopar 2947713 E body dash dimmer switch from received, the restoration and completion.





























Jim

[Chryco Psycho]

Thanks for the warning !
It frustrates me that someone is willing to go 90% of the way & still cheap out , why not do it right for a few extra $$ after all the $$ spent to get that far 
Missed you at Carlisle as usual !

[Brads70]

Thanks for the warning !
It frustrates me that someone is willing to go 90% of the way & still cheap out , why not do it right for a few extra $$ after all the $$ spent to get that far 
Missed you at Carlisle as usual !

  Seems just crazy! Thanks for all you do for the Mopar community! Your a class act !