Where to find best part prices?

As I am rebuilding my 911S engine, I am starting to research the part prices of the parts I plan to replace including chain tensioner kit, oil return lines, oil hoses, gaskets, pistons, rings, etc. I have noticed some big differences in the price of OEM and aftermarket parts between resellers. Some items are the same but others aren't. For example the price for a left chain spocket support at PAP and Pelican are both about $98. But for the right chain spocket support the price at Pelican is about $238 and about $140 at PAP.
Which resellers have the best prices?

Pick and choose. Check EBS, too. EASY might have some very nice used parts, too. Also, post your needs to the wanted section, as your fellow members invariably have hoards of aprts they don't need.

Although they do not have many parts as Pelican or P. Products Foreign Intrigue in my personal experience sell the cheapest Porsche parts around . They are published in the Excellence Mag.

;)

pelican just recently was supposed to have lowered some of their prices.
perhaps a call to them might get an adjustment in that price. who knows, it couldn't hurt.

Jerry St. Germaine at EuroEast in Battle Creek, MI. Pelican can't touch his prices and he can get all of the same OEM parts. I've bought thousands of dollars of stuff from him over the last year or so.

price isnt everything. alot of places like tweeks and pap will sell inferior parts or even the wrong parts listed as somthing else. ie.. if i ask them for ball joints for a 65-68 911 or 912, they will sell me ball joints from a later model (69 up) because they wont have the swb ones listed and wont think twice about the difference.

i shop from places who have fair prices (infact very competitive with the big catalogues), great service and knowledge such as classicandspeedparts.com and strasse. when i go used, i go for EASY, Parts Heaven or Parts Obsolete. the parts guy i go to 99% of the time, (Will at classic and speed parts) is extemely knowledgeable about these cars and the differences between all the years -infact he specializes in parts for early 911s, 912s and 356s. for example, he knows turbo tie rods will not fit properly on a swb car because they will not thread all the way, and will cause the car to be a potential death trap, and will advise customers of this when trying to buy turbo tie rods for a swb car. instead he will advise them to buy stock ones instead. will pap do that? tweeks? no, they wouldnt, because they are just order takers and dont know those kinds of things. cheepest isnt always best. service and knowledge go along way. not only that but when i call CSP, Will knows who it is as soon as i say hello, and will ask me how work is going, he'll ask me who i thinks going to win the world series (he knows im a baseball nut).. he knows me, and treats me like a friend, not just another sale. its old fashioned, personalized service that you can trust.

ive been to pap a few times when ive been in a pinch and dont feel like ordering the part from califronia cause i want it now.. (i live only a few miles away). needless to say i find i usually get the wrong part or inferior parts, or most likely they dont even have what i need. in the end i usually end up buying it again from csp, only this time i get the correct part, instead of one for a later 911.

tweeks doesnt really have squat for the early cars, and what they do is of lower quality. performance is a notch above tweeks, and has a wider variety.



its kind of like the difference between buying used parts at a swap meet and buying used parts from EASY -you know that jim at easy would set you right, and wouldnt sell you crap, where as a joe schmoe at a swap meet just wants to get rid of his junk and wants the money.

Was just posting my thread on the 917 engines, when I saw this. Here's blurb from my recent website announcement:

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- Many people commented that our prices were too high. I performed a detailed analysis of our prices over the summer. I discovered that the main problem was related to out-of-date pricing data from our suppliers. As a result, we overhauled our back-end systems and put into place a system that will keep all of our pricing up-to-date (we're still working on perfecting it). When we instituted this new pricing system in November, about 80% of our parts prices were reduced - some dramatically. I'm sure some of you noticed this when it happened. Obviously, if we're overpriced on an item, you guys will buy it elsewhere. Likewise, if we're under priced and losing money, well, that's not good either. This new pricing system works to keep our prices in check and reasonable, 100% of the time.

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We now offer free shipping on most parts in the catalog. In addition, this quarter we will be rolling out our 110% price match program:

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- Finally, our customers have asked for a price-matching program. In late Q1 of 2006, we are planning on rolling out our 110% Price Match Guarantee, with an online form that you simply fill out to submit a price match. We're still working out the details on this, but the plans have been put in place to at least roll this out for an extended trial period during the Spring.

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The bottom line? Pelican is as strong as ever for 2006, and we've tailored the entire company to meet our customers (you early car guys) exact needs. We've upgraded our servers and added more capacity. A better catalog combined with a better search engine allows you to find what you're looking for right away. Our advanced Message Center means better, faster communication, and no lost emails. Pricing has been updated and brought in-line with a reduction in prices on 80% of hard parts in our catalog. Same day shipping is now available on most parts, and is on-time and reliable. Finally, FREE ground shipping and reduced air-shipping on most parts adds tremendous value for our customers. It all adds up to this:

Pelican Parts - Why shop anywhere else?

Thanks again for your support!

Wayne R. Dempsey
CEO, Pelican Parts Inc.

P.S. Check out the exciting 917 thread!!!

Thats great but the prices differences on some items are really big. For example, at Pelican the price for a chain tensioner update kit is about $660. Most other places have it for $450-$495.

don

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Originally Posted by dhopkins

Thats great but the prices differences on some items are really big. For example, at Pelican the price for a chain tensioner update kit is about $660. Most other places have it for $450-$495.

don

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$560.50, not $660. Genuine OEM quality parts. Not sure what the other guys are selling, and I haven't seen it in a long time anywhere for near to $500.

-Wayne

I'm not a business guy, all I'm doing is posting my personal experience and what I know. Jerry is a friend of mine and has pulled back the curtains, cleared the smoke and removed the mirrors to show me how he can sell to me and others at a lower price. Pelican, Tweeks, EuroEast, etc. don't make OEM parts. However, they all buy them from the same places and then turn around and resell them. Jerry lives in Battle Creek, MI. He and his wife run the business. They don't advertise in 10 different Porsche magazines every month, mass mail catalogs, rent booths at high profile events, etc. He uses eBay and word of mouth, which has been enough to sustain him so far (Chicago, Canadians and NoVa guys use him quite a bit, I think). As a result, he needs to make far less on every part they sell to make the same profit per part as the larger guy. Bottom line, their overhead is less. How much economies of scale play into it--I don't really know.

Anyway, when I order ball joints, brake rebuild kits, torsion bars, shocks, whatever--they come in OEM packaging from the same warehouses that the bigger guys get them from. To satisfy my curisioty one day when I was visiting, he walked me through exactly how he does it on one of my orders. You'd crap if you knew what the mark-up on these parts are. Sure I get "good guy" pricing on some stuff from Jerry, but I know he charges complete strangers less than they would pay elsewhere.

Am I biased and would I like to see Jerry get more business? Yes. I didn't say Jerry's better or worse than the bigger guy. I don't need to because I don't care. I want OEM stuff for less. Period. And, there's nothing more objective than price. As far as "service," that's what research and PET is for. All I know is I have about $20k or more in purchases left on my resto and every dollar counts.