New 1967-76 400-430-455 Timing Cover

Hmm. Tacos or Lo Mein for lunch?uzzled:

 

Incorrect, or covers are cast specifically for us with no chance of anyone else getting them, there is no "contract" and the covers are cast in California, not mexico.. and yes there is a fair bit of machining in the timing covers, theres a few OPs that they go through from cast to finish. Being its machined in house in the shop we have complete control over the final product and only sell parts that are of the highest quality, if they dont pass our pretty strict requirements and we cant fix whatever it may be we dont sell it (which happenes rarely). You'd be hard pressed to find others who do this. :beers2:

 

Good info Mike. I had Pizza anyway. None of that crappy California Pine Nut stuff either.

 

I ordered a T/A 1531 B timing cover on May 13, 2009 ,then I read that Pro Form will be offering one for less money on the board .... well Pro Forms efforts may work out just fine ,but made in the USA counts big time to myself & the products I have bought from T/A have been first rate & so is there service ! I guess my family will just have to have frozen pizza for a while .

ick

 

Mike @ TA performance gave me Tech advice on a set of used headers I was installing on my Buick and did not try to sell me something else, he told me different things to try to get them in. That says alot for this guy and his company. I since have bought a couple $100 worth of stuff through him just because of this. We need to keep supporting an individual such as him. I belong to the Chicagoland GS club and everyone I have spoken to has the same comments about TA performance... they are awesome to deal with, help you all the way and stand behind their products. Hats off to Mike and his gang. :TU:

 

TA Performance is GREAT and I think we should all pledge our support to Mike and company. I bought a set of their Big Block engine-to-frame mounts with the hardware and am converting not one, not two, but three 1969 GS cars from 350 to 455 configuration. I have to order two more sets of those, plus their famous front cover and of course headers for all three cars, so let's support Mike and TA Performance and let ProForm, Summit, and Jegs continue selling their stuff to the Chevy crowd.

 

The Walmart Parodox.

Here is a review on the TA timing cover. Similar processes are used for many of their products.

TA put up every penny to develop the timing cover and owns every piece of tooling, core boxes, blue prints and patterns. They have a neat room full of patterns for different components.

At least a year of development was involved, and this would be where the majority of Mike's week was spent talking, fitting, measuring, researching, traveling, etc. Original Buick blue prints were utilized to ensure spot on fitment to the block to start. Previous Buick engineers, other engine builders (both Buick & non-Buick) were consulted as were TA's existing modification process being used on OE timing covers. Causes of Buick's oil pump anomolies were determined and engineered out.

The TA Timing covers are sand cast by an aerospace foundry of 356-T6 aluminum in the United States. Sand cast and heat treated alloy are the foundation for eliminating the oil pump's problems. Original and all the offshore timing covers are die cast, which is a fraction of the cost and a huge compromise in quality. I remember the pallets coming in and having spec sheets for each run. After they are cleaned up & blasted they are trucked by US truck drivers to TA's facility in Scottsdale, AZ. There, even more tax paying Americans take those timing covers and set them up for CNC machining. There is quite a bit of maching on them, not as much as a cylinder head, but still a solid hour+. Throughout the process they are quality checked. Then the finished covers are packaged in US made boxes.

FYI on another investment that TA incures for all of their products/inventory: They are required to do a yearly inventory and pay tax on that inventory, even if it was there last year. For many products it is necessary to do large enough production runs to get the vendors to do the work and/or get a reasonable price that TA has to hold inventory for several months or even longer.

On the assembled oil pumps they are meticulously assembled and additional hand work is performed making the pump extremely efficient - solving the oil pump problems that plagued the Buick Big Block for 20+ years. This assembly is so efficient that it is able to support Rod Hendrickson's Alcohol Supercharged engine that produces well over 1000 hp.

The photograph in the Proform Catalog sure looks like a TA cover, and it is missing the front seal and dowel pins. Either it is one of the early pictures that I took or they have one and removed those items for reverse engineering.

TA has been doing a great job supporting the Buick community and is constantly re-investing. If the (extremely small) market is diluted with distractful (because they are a step backwards) competitive products, then revenue that would otherwise be used for future Buick components is diverted away. As a consumer, you think that competition is a good thing, in such an isolated market it is detrimental. If a company or entreprenuer wants to get involved, make something that we are lacking. As an example, there were two competitive cylinder heads, that proved to be a flop. We at TA were puzzled why people using our heads on a daily bassis found it necessary to be involoved with such projects? Why didn't one of them undertake something that was needed at the time, such as oil pans, performance water pumps and good thermostat housings???

Please remember that a Buick Timing cover is a complex, multi-dimensional component as opposed to a one dimensional Chevy stamping.

The Walmart Parodox: force vendors to continually cut costs, to the point of sending the product's production overseas. Resulting in a crap product from i.e. China and a reduced quality US product, because the US company had to cut corners to keep it made in the USA. Then when Walmart wants to reduce beyond that, they edge your company out and go direct with the manufacturer. China is very desperate right now and expect them to steal even more manufaturing.

 

BRAVO!!!!! :TU:

 

Couldn't have said it better.........

 

YEA!! right on brother!!

i hate walmart too!! people around here want one in every tiny town. wouldnt it be horrible if anyone had to drive fifteen minutes to get to a walmart, or even worse, shop at a local store owned and run by local people? they should just put a walmart every mile so nobody has to step out of their tiny sheepy box, and be a member of the thinking, independent world.

sad that america has gotten so commie in the last 10 years.

anyhow yea. you were right on and im glad somebody on here said something.

TA performance is expensive, but they make great parts and they put in their personal time and energy into making NEW toys for us.

if you want cheap, buick isnt for you. buicks were NEVER about practical,
they are the sophisticated, EVOLVED mans chevy!!!

practical is GREAT, but thats what my toyota tacoma is for. a 67 riviera is a WORK OF ART, nothing less. and art aint cheap, art cant be measured in the price of paint and canvas. paint and canvas are hella cheap.

gotta go though. thanks for listening

mathew in renton, WA

 

Summit part number PRO-69510 ($272.95) now shows a shipping date of August 28.

 

With what appears to be multiple sources for BBB timing covers, can anyone confirm or deny if TA is supplying Silver Seal with their covers? TA1531B=$499.00 / Silver Seal TW455= $499.00 as opposed to PROFORM 69510=$273.00(Summit). Just wondering if anyone has laid hands on them for comparison. Jay

 

Oh, thanks Jay Vanous / Martian,

The ProForm part from Summit is not available until August 28, 2009, although I think most of us are going to support TA Performance and just order from them.
--Dennis
Milwaukee, WI USA