Cheap, Offshore parts + Engine = Broken Engine

I'm sure if you're reading this then you already have a strong knowledge of the internal combustion engine and the components and sub-assemblies that make them run. You may also know that the automotive aftermarket has been flooded with inexpensive, imitation engine parts. These parts are affectionately referred to as "knock-offs".  Today I got bit by knock-off parts. Some time ago I acquired a 511 inch big Mopar from a friend for a screamin deal. The engine had some collapsed lifters (hydraulic flat tappet cam) and just generally needed to be inspected and freshened, Or so I thought. The block was replaced with another 440 block, crank turned, and heads reconditioned. Parts replaced were, lifters, bearings, rings, oil pan, pick-up, pump, etc.. Everything else was re-used. When this engine was initially built by my friend it was not tested on the dyno so we did not have any hard numbers when it came to output. I was never hot on the camshaft choice but it was an extremely good deal and available at the time. I really wanted to know what this engine produced so I reused the original cam. After a long while, here it is on the dyno. After a careful break in we were ready to make some pulls. Then the distributor started acting up which was also a knock off. We dismantled the distributor, replaced some springs, adjusted,tweaked and reassembled. We made a total of 5 pulls and decided to pull the valve covers and try a different preload adjustment on the lifters in the search of a little more power. What we found was several of the adjusters were either broken, on the verge of breakage, or machined incorrectly. Check out the pics! In the one photo you can clearly see how crooked the thread was machined! The closer we looked at the adjusters and the rockers themselves, the decision to remove and replace became quite clear. We narrowly avoided having a catastophic valvetrain failure. The decision was made to replace the entire rocker and shaft assemblies with something of much better quality. The moral of the story is basically that old adage "You get what you pay for". Oh and if you want to know more about the engine's performance on the dyno-leave a comment. J.Rob