The title read Air Gap intake, which I thought was an Edelbrock- Instead I got some low quality piece of carp called a "Crosswind Intake Manifold" that is butchered, horrible...(may I repeat horrible 30 times) quality...

Is there much difference in the performance in the 2? I'm so pissed at Midwest Motorsports...

 

personally i'd call them up and see if i could get a re-fund, then go get the edelbrock

 

What's so horrible about the quality?The fact that it doesn't say Edelbrock on it?I've never used the crosswind,but I've used the single plane that Professional Products(the company that makes the crosswind) makes,with great results.Other than some port matching,and minor casting flash cleanup,the ones I've used have been excellent quality,at a far better price than Edelbrock.

 

any pictures?

 

If you put one of those cross winds next to an Edelbrock, the difference between the two is obvious. The polish on a "polished" cross wind is as far from show quality as you can possibly get.

I'd also contact the seller. I wouldn't imagine the seller will be too upset, as long as they sell Edelbrock. The Edelbrock is a lot more expensive.

 

Doesen't sound to me like he got screwed at all,except maybe by himself.He said himself the ad said "Air Gap",not Edelbrock Performer RPM Air Gap.The Crosswind is much more affordable,and while he's never said what he paid,I'm sure it's much cheaper than the Edelbrock.
The polish factor is kind of a silly thing to worry about,IMO.If you want top notch polish,pay for it.The polish job on an Edelbrock looks pretty crappy compared to the polish a custom polishing shop would do,it's all in what you pay for.If your not happy with the intake,request a refund.But I'm real confident your not gonna get an Edelbrock out of the deal.

 

I am getting a refund, minus shipping, paypal and 15% restocking fee.

The problem I have is the auction had a PICTURE of the Edelbrock airgap...

The intake is pure crap...it has numerous (20-25) scratches (VERY DEEP) and large burrs all over where it connects to the heads. Not to mention the inside has lots of dime size dimples on the inside. I would honestly take photos but I have already boxed it up.

I contacted Midwest Motorsports and the man on the line said it was as described...I pointed out the photo NOT being the intake I bought or even the same brand and was told "Check the item number, it matches" I was also suprised he added the words "Air-Gap" in the title when air-gap has nothing to do with this intake...



I think of this as thinking I'm buying an alpine stereo and getting a pyramid copy...

Oh, here is the kicker, I paid $180 for it, and the Edelbrock Air gaps go for $190ish.....

 

For $10 more I'd have gone to a reputable dealer then. Of course hindsight is 20/20. Fight the fees if it has an edlebrock in the picture, threaten to fight the credit card fees (say your paypal account was funded by a CC that does that theft protection).

 

ive seen the ebay auctions that say just air gap on them, you can clearly tell in the auction its not an edelbrock.

and usually if someone is selling an edelbrock they would note it and the part number somewhere in the auction, so they arent mistaken and get what its worth.

summitracing.com sells them for 194 no tax and dont they have free shipping?

 

If all of that is true, I think the appropriate response is called "negative feedback", with as much of the details as you can fit into the space allowed.

If what you say is true, they are trying to sell the lesser product based on the reputation of the Brand product.

"Air-Gap" is a registered trade mark of the Edelbrock Corporation. Perhaps it's time to drop a bug in their ear that PP is preying on the public using their name (as if they didn't already know that).

 

Some of you guys don't seem to realize that some of the parts like that on Ebay (especially those ones) are factory rejects that didn't meet basic quality standards... basically some guy selling the manufacturers junk on Ebay to any poor sucker that falls for it. Sounds like thats what happened here.

 

What five7kid said.

In addition, it appears that Midwest Motorsports is being intentionally deceptive. That is not a good business practice and that is not a company with which anyone should do business.

Project, you might want to post a negative (but factual) vendor review.

 

Make sure you give us the link to your review on the seller. I'd post your review after you get your money back.

 

Post the item # for the auction or a link to it.

If it was the wrong picture and misleading you shouldn't pay squat for return fees (I would make them reimburse you for return shipping too). Paypal doesn't charge a fee for a refund either, they just reverse the transaction, you get your money back, and the seller doesn't get whacked with any fees.

 

i once sold professional products. they are ok as far as quality goes, with some work. i sold the "air-gap" knock off for $159, which i payed $100 for from the manufacturer, as a dealer. for you to pay $180, sounds like these guys are making some real profit! thats 80% profit. let me tell you, a local speed shop with good dealer conections makes on average about 30-33% profit from its sales. if you can get 50% profit off of a $100 item, your doing real good. but almost 80%? id say they are trying to get a few suckers who would not notice that they are selling a knock off, but would think they were buying edelbrock. im sure you will not let it happen again! lesson learned.

 

I searched eBaymotors for "air gap" and "air-gap" excluding Edelbrock. Every listing I looked at stated it was a cross wind.

I suppose by excluding Edelbrock I excluded this guy's listing.

 

Just a word to the wise,(I'm sure you've figured this out now),If your not saving a ton of dough,go with a reputable supplier.I bet you spent more for the PP after shipping,just something to think about.

One thing in defense,Professional products makes a good quality intake at a good price.(under normal circumstances)Yes,they usually need some minor cleanup,but for the $$$ saved,I've never minded a half hour of die grinder time.

 

I bought one of those. It was nothing more then a horrible knock-off of an edel. It looks like they basically bought an intake from edelbrock, reverse-engineered it, made cores from it, and started stamping them out. I could even see where they removed edelbrocks logo. Chinese stuff is bad enough the first go around when they actually make it from scratch. With a copy the quality only exponentially declines from there. Needless to say it went in the garbage.

 

the lovely thing about feedback on ebay is it gos in any order, and sellers generally wait for you the buyer to go first
in case you actually have a problem with there service, so they can give you a negative feedback to go with it
pisses me off to no end, i paypal people with in 12 hrs of the auction, half the time wait a week or two for my stuff (when i already payed twice as much to have it shipped then it really cost)
but yeah, noone gives negative feedback on ebay unless they are incredibly pissed or stupid, cos they are getting one in return
id love to use negative feedback as it was intended to be used
(when i pay $20 in shipping for a 1lb box and wait 3 weeks for it!@#$)

 

Theres alot of crap on ebay. And usually if its not crap you end up paying more then what its worth. The only real time I was truely happy with my purchase was when I bought a whole bunch of stuff off of a cash/mo only fly by night chop-shop. Got a bunch of nice stuff for practically nothing. Nice thing about criminals is they just want to get rid of the stuff so you get it for cheap.

 

I've had mixed luck on Ebay myself.
And I made the mistake of leaving neg feedback for a seller after he sent me some stuff that was diferent than advertised, then failed to respond to my calls/emails.
It ended up being a huge can of worms, and needed to be resolved by a mediator.
As dr1 said, the whole neg feedback system doesn't work the way it was intended to. Ebay is a crapshoot, especially with the stuff that's low priced.
I'd keep the crosswinds intake, or sell it to someone who wants it, and then buy an edelbrock from someone reputable.

 

Ive notice how auctions on Ebay can be very misleading and its almost tolerated. If things like this happened in normal stores the Better Business Bureau would be all over it. Somehow Ebay makes this kind of thing much more common with little to no recourse.

 

I've had a PP "Crosswind" -not "Air Gap intake for three years now, and I have no complaints.

Then again, my intake has been ported/gasket matched so alot of the flashing was removed. But I didn't buy it on ebay either.

- And no, I'm not even gonna try defending PP stuff. If you don't like it, send it back. I would.

 

Ebay is anonymous and frequently lots of miles between the buyer and the seller. If it costs more than I am willing to throw in the trash I don't buy it unless I can see it. They know you can't confront them in person so the dispicable of humanity smile and cash the check. Read all the problems that occure just on thirdgen between buyer and seller...my fav was the guy that did not produce the cam when the buyer picked up the car and said he would send in mail....then put the cam in the parts for sale section with his same nic....any online purchace from other than a known and reputable dealer is a risk.