i am looking to rebuild my engine and heads. iv looked through summits catalog and website and there prices are very cheap for their brand products over the brand names. im trying to stay on a budget buy i also don't want my engine to crap out quickly and not have to replace the cheap parts with expensive parts soon. so is the summit brand parts good enough to put into an engine and are they reliable. for a set of 8 pistons they sell them for like 90 bucks when KB pistons are 210 dollars. is it worth going the summit brand products or not and if anyone has summit brand products in their engine, how do u like them and are they reliable. thanks

Living not to far from them in Ohio, I now people who have used their products without any problems. Someone just bought their brand of cold air intake system and all the parts are from KN filter. I have their wiring harness being installed in my car, 18 universal, and it looks just like a Painless setup. I bought engine parts years ago for my old Chevelle. and no problems. If I am not mistaken, their brand is supplied by a "name brand" and sold under their name, just like years ago, K-Mart power tools were made by Black and Decker. I would not worry about the name on the parts. Summit stands behind what they sell and I personaly have not heard anything negitive about their product line. CJ

I have bought several Summit brand parts and have had no problems. The most recent was a set of Summit heads which are actually Dart heads without the 'brand name'. Not sure who makes their pistons, but I believe Hastings makes their rings.

Mark

The nice thing about Summit is that if you have any problems with their products, they will ABSOLUTELY stand by them. They don't make anything either....most of their stuff is from top brand name companies sending it out another door with the Summit name.

I have found www.competitionproducts.com to be interestingly cheap. Just another option to throw out there...

Bought most of my engine parts off them. They are pretty flexible on the return policies, I had a couple things I returned about 6months later to them and they didn't even charge a restocking fee (though their policies said they would).

They will price beat any price too!

I have an ignition box and billet distributor that I bought from them. I believe they are mallory products that have been rebadged. The products were quality and are working well. Really good prices for them too.

:thumbsup:

I bought a set of their 'p' rod bearings. Don't really like the looks of them...the overlay has visible machining lines underneath meaning it's a thin or poor overlay... but they're going in a 305, so ain't skeered:). 9 or 13 bux I think. They feel smooth so they'll run ok. Just thin on top where it's soft.

I have one of their engine lift plates, it fits better than my Jegs plate. And one of their crank turning tools. Busted hell out of one of their stainless hose cutters first try.:hurray:
They said I have 2 years to send stuff back and that a restocking fee comes in at some point, like lluciano is atlking about. I guess I've spent 3 or 4 grand(I don't add that **** up, skeered to) at Summit in 2008 alone and that hose cutter is the first thing I had a problem with.

I've thought about buying some of their pistons someday. 90 bux wtf yaknow:)

Oh yeah I have a little 69 buck summit k-1105 hycam kit I am trying to barf. Ain't barfed yet and we are at over 40 gallons(I think) of gasoline at idle:). Even shuffled the lifters around once after it had idled a couple 3,4, 6 or 8 hours. Need to log that crap but I just don't care.:D. It's test almost came to an end because I brought home the pieces for that engines next life. Then changed my plans when I decided nope ain't puttin the vortecs on my 283. Am going to go ahead and get tfs 30300003 1.94 heads. So that cam destruction test will continue until I want to part with that grand for heads. And the zz wants to go play in the 66 for a burnout contest...so ain't no hurry to do the 283 into a 312. Oh yeah the zz has an 89buck summit HEI that sparks pretty damn good.

I have found www.competitionproducts.com (http://www.competitionproducts.com) to be interestingly cheap. Just another option to throw out there...Especially on their clearance rack, er, flyer.

I bought the summit alumium radiator for my camaro and it is great. It is accually made by Northern though.

Summit owns trickflow, so I bet there aluminum heads are made by them. I have Summit aluminum ball milled valve covers. Only paid 65-70 bucks for them and they seem very nice.

Summit owns trickflow, .....
REALLY? How do you know this? If this is the case, I need to look a little harder into their heads!! I didnt know this. I hope its true, if so, their heads would be a great upgrade for me and they wouldnt be outside my price range.
I complain about my pay alot, I know, but money is hard to come by lately, especially in my line of work. :(

Call summit and ask who makes there aluminum heads. I would bet the farm its trickflow. I know summit owns TF, the sales rep told me when I ordered my Trickflow 195cc heads. Also, on the bottom of the parts index page in the front of their catalog, it states the names Trickflow, TFS, Track Heat etc are registered trademarks of Autosale Incorporated. Summit Racings real legal name is Autosales Incorporated and Summit Racing is just there dba for Autosales Incorporated

Hmmmmmm.......

Summit does what a lot of companies do; have their vendors do private label stuff for them, and it's almost always going to be a quality manufacturer whose products they sell. Customers who know this end up winners by saving money and buying quality products. The vendors making them aren't worried about losing market share, it's a form of convenient distribution, and there's always buyers who have to have their label when they buy, if you know what I mean. I walk into Lowes and see Roper washer/dryer at a ridiculously low price. I ask who makes it...they say Whirlpool....they're on the truck. It's smart buying, and you're often treated better by the "distributor" than the manufacturer if any issues arise. In the aforementioned case, Summit.

I try to buy most of my stuff from Summit when feasible, why? Because of their great customer service, quick order processing and timely communications!

Recent Example:

-On 30 April at 8:46 pm I placed an order online for a few small parts.

-At 10:02 pm on 30 April, I received an email saying that my order was being processed.

-The next day (1 May) I checked my emails and saw that I received an email at 5:09 am saying that my parts were shipped. I clicked on the UPS tracking link and saw that UPS had picked up the package at 4:24 am (1 May) and that it was due to arrive on 2 May.

-I received the package on 2 May at 9:29 am. That means it took approximately 36 hours to get it to me from the time I placed the order. Wow!

I am running a few Summit items. Their ignition system and roller rockers and the main two. Both are working great so far. And their customer service is pretty good too. Just wished they had a Summit "Holley" carb

Few years ago i bout some alum. small block heads from summit- They came in a Brodix box.

If you're looking for pistons and bottom end parts, kits from Eagle are hard to beat. You may need to go through an engine builder to get them.

John