Parts: OEM, Aftermarket, Custom, etc.,.

[crimsonavenger]

I just thought this would be a good topic to cover, and I didn’t really know where would be a better section to post it.

What do you do when the factory discontinues a factory/dealer only sold part?

But I guess if you were going to cover the topic in general you could also include the other avenues included in the title. Just to confirm, this is only for functional replacements, not add-ons or mods, ie. general diy repair.

Topic

[Konrad]

One of my cars is almost 19 years old and is one of roughly 1000 units imported to the US. Many parts are no longer available at the dealer. To obtain these rare parts, i signed up to several communities where i can occasionally find someone parting out a crashed unit. When one of these vehicles comes up i tend to buy up the components that i expect to fail in the foreseeable future. Scouring eBay and Craigslist is another source of used parts. Most people who own these cars know how rare the parts are so they are never cheap. Needless to say i have a lot of spare parts laying around, but that just comes with owning an old car.

Some parts can be rebuilt and i have many guides written by owners of these vehicles on what components to use and how to rebuild them. The few parts that were weak from the factory and are no longer available have to be replaced with adapted aftermarket components. For example, i’m now using reliable GM LS series ignition coils along with a wire harness that i made.

Also, since these cars were a bit more common outside the US, i sometimes look at international eBay sites and talk the seller into shipping to the US.

It can be tough, but it’s totally worth it.

[EricTheCarGuy]

That’s an interesting topic, thanks for bringing it up. It might be more suited to ETCG1 than ETCG. Just because a part is discontinued does not necessarily mean it’s not available. I know of some websites that actually buy new old stock to handle this market. Otherwise you’re stuck with the aftermarket which can be OK if it’s a quality part. In some cases it might even be better than the OE.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[Author]

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