Knock off Performer RPM

[482supersnake]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/134267846962?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160811114145%26meid%3D6670dd5109e848dd8b0d7a866058a296%26pid%3D100667%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D8%26sd%3D125255394601%26itm%3D134267846962%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2351460%26brand%3DRacing+Power+Company&_trksid=p2351460.c100667.m2042

[hbstang]

i dont know where its made,but the new tech scanners make it easy to duplicate parts almost exactly.at least externally.in some countries R&D means recieve and duplicate!

[Rory428]

Looking at "lipstick performance", listed as the seller, shows that they also sell a wide variety of PRW products. You have to wonder if there is nothing that the companies that design and manufacture the genuine article,  in this case, Edelbrock, can legally do. Every now and then you hear about counterfeit reproducer of, say, Louis Vuitton or  Gucci purses, Tiffany jewelry, or Rolex watches, getting raided, and heavily fined, wonder if Edelbrock or other do retaliate in a similar manner. So many of these ripoff products don`t even bother to at least some minor visible difference, they are a blatant outright copy.

[1968galaxie]

There would be little market for "knock-off copies" if Edelbrock wasn't gouging consumers with insanely priced manifolds.
And on top of crazy "gold chain" pricing for FE intakes - they are also not available.
What a way to run a business - high prices, and no availability (perhaps not doing any castings in the USA at all)
It would not surprise me when Edelbrock starts offshore casting.

One must remember that US companies like Edelbrock essentially copied many factory Ford (and GM and Dodge) intakes. The F-427 is very close to the aluminum police interceptor. Edelbrock had a similar BBC intake (copy of a factory part) and one must not forget the
Edelbrock dodge 6 pack manifold copies.

[thatdarncat]

I’m guessing many who follow various Gearhead media have by now heard of “Riley’s Rebuilds”, the teenage young lady who started a business rebuilding Edelbrock carburetors in the family garage, and now has so much business she has hired a few of her friends from high school to help her. Since she gained the attention of the media both Edelbrock and Holley have been both sending her care packages of carbs, parts & promotional stuff. And just this past weekend she flew to California and got a tour of the Edelbrock foundry, and had dinner with Camee Edelbrock.  She has posted some pictures & videos. So apparently Edelbrock still has a foundry in California, and her pictures show intakes being cast, and I believe she said they showed her the carburetor bodies being cast too. I can’t answer if all their castings are still being made there, but it still seems to be a substantial operation. Here’s a screenshot from her post this weekend.

[Katz427]

I doubt edelbrock really cares too much. The costs of producing aluminum castings has about doubled in the last year and a half. The business model for a lot of product has really become poor. A company in Edelbrocks position needs volume products, like LS, SBC,SBF to justify their business plan. ( All the LS intake manifolds in the picture ) I talked with a couple of sales reps, and those products that have low volumes, can't  be produced profitably, at a price point the customer may be willing to pay, and will probably be removed from the product lines. Yes, they know that some enterprising person , can get product made offshore, and make enough too keep busy. That is the situation the whole industry is in.

[1968galaxie]

Yes the cost of manufacturing is going up (along with retirement savings going the opposite way).
I am not sure why people complain when a "copy" of an intake comes out that is 40 or 50% less cost?
Edelbrock copied many of the items in their catalog. FE cylinder heads - did Edelbrock not copy a Ford head? (answer yes)
It seems OK for Edelbrock to copy - but God forbid if someone else does.

If Edelbrock is moving towards making only high volume intake manifolds and cylinder heads, then we should all applaud ANY replacements that are available for the FE.
Even old worn out corroded street master and street dominator manifolds are now commanding $800.00+
FE is once again becoming a F___ Expensive engine to build. So sad.

[TomP]

I think Edelbrock is between a rock and a hard place . They  do indeed want to make the parts we want but are at the mercy of rising costs.
 I had a great two hour long chat with Vic himself not long before he died a couple years ago. Local trade show was two days with almost nobody there the second day and Vic himself sitting in the Edelbrock booth. I specifically asked about FE stuff. He was there in 1958 when they were developing the first FE parts. The F427 was developed before the Ford PI intake. That's why earlier ones have the oil fill hole. He said the FE aluminum heads were a great surprise. They only planned one batch and they sold out fast and have made more and larger batches since. They did plan a more race oriented Victor head but decided the market was not large enough smaller companies can fill that. Edelbrocks casts heads and intakes for many other companies too.

Certainly with Vic's passing and now being owned by "investment" people it's not going to be the same.

[stubbie]

From my experience of "when accountants start running a business". They only produce what makes the money. Not what the individual wants.

[e philpott]

Edelbrocks lead engineer went to Speedway just recently , been waiting a long time for the new VR 950 Holley spin off copy (oh no not Edelbrock lol) for an employee with an 18 degree headed 427 SBC project , maybe they are casting but it doesn't seem like it

[fairlaniac]

In the recent years I've had a hard nut when I would see Speedmaster repopping everything in sight. I always went off on my "f^c#ing Chinese" rant, I still do  Anyhow I recently got to see a Speedmaster vendor stand at a large cruise event. I was impressed with what they had. The display would rival an Edelbrock display. It's obvious the parts are copied but as someone previously mentioned, isn't that some others do "parts development"? I want to bitch about all of the Chinese knock-off stuff Speedmaster has but in the end, they are offering parts that cost less and are readily available. It seems that they are reinvesting and coming up with better and nicer products than 5 years ago. Maybe I'll just mutter my chant to myself.

[Barry_R]

Edelbrocks lead engineer went to Speedway just recently

He actually went on line to distance himself from Speedmaster.
Apparently he did some minor consulting or something for them, and they misrepresented the relationship as something entirely different.
Not good.  But when no other parts are available???...

Comp and Bullet are out of FE cam cores - again. 
Scat is out of rods - again. 
Edelbrock is out of intakes - again.

[Rory428]

Yes the cost of manufacturing is going up (along with retirement savings going the opposite way).
I am not sure why people complain when a "copy" of an intake comes out that is 40 or 50% less cost?
Edelbrock copied many of the items in their catalog. FE cylinder heads - did Edelbrock not copy a Ford head? (answer yes)
It seems OK for Edelbrock to copy - but God forbid if someone else does.

If Edelbrock is moving towards making only high volume intake manifolds and cylinder heads, then we should all applaud ANY replacements that are available for the FE.
Even old worn out corroded street master and street dominator manifolds are now commanding $800.00+
FE is once again becoming a F___ Expensive engine to build. So sad.

NO, Edelbrock did not "Copy" a Ford head, they did THEIR OWN research and development, and made a number of improvements to an old design. Where the Chinese ripoffs do an exact copy of Edelbrocks products. And I really doubt that anybody has ever paid anything approaching $800.00 for "old, worn out, corroded" Streetmasters or Street Dominators. On the other hand, it seems that there is no shortage of people that have been burned by inferior Chinese  FE products, like Speedmaster/PRW rocker arms, connecting rods etc. Not to mention that I have seen some of those cheap Chinese knock of heads that used Chevy sized 1/4" bolt holes for the valve covers, rather than the correct 5/16" bolt holes. If that is an example of the attention to details the ripoff companies use with their products, you can keep buying their crap if you wish. This WalMart mentality of buying cheap foreign garbage is hardly a good thing for anybody. (Except the offshore companies making this crap.)

[1968galaxie]

Of course Edelbrock copied a Ford head - yes there were some small changes made. They even copied the 427 machined combustion chamber.
Regarding used old FE manifold prices - here in Canada $800.00 is U$550.00

Those ProMaxx FE heads look quite interesting - the casting quality is unbelievable.
There are CNC versions of this head available - I believe ford FE guy Scott Foxwell has developed a CNC version.
345 cfm I recall with 2.19" valve.

[blykins]

ProMaxx originated from a guy named Stevens.  It's a Chinese copy of an Edelbrock.