as a Mopar racer from 1970 until now. I think It need to be said that Chrysler is in some cases rip off their racers. If not for the weekend racer this sport would fold. the reason I am saying this is because some of the mopar parts are stupid in price. a cast aluminum Hemi valve cover. the one with raised rib is agout &750. hey GM performance' most expensive BBC retails for only $385. I was at a local track which is 95% GM and was discussing with a small group that I was going to build a Hemi. Someone said you better plan to rob a bank first. Come on Chrysler give us some help.

i see exactly what your talking about on a daily basis. everyone in my profession does. we've considered going into manufacturing for some of the items we now pay dearly for. maybe that's something you'd like to consider as well.

if you need it now you will pay but i cant afford to play that game and often buy brand new parts half of what retail is. just have to wait for it sometimes

Heck when I worked at a Dodge dealer I bought my SS springs from Mancini because I got them cheaper from Mancini then my Dealer would sell them to me for even with my employee discount. I mean just look at the 452 aluminum head which is more or less an Eddy RPM head with straight plugs but its cheaper to buy the RPM's. Ron

Maybe you guys should try calling around to different dealers.

My dealer beat Summit's price, another local dealer's price, Mancini's price, and another Mopar engine builder's price on a new Hemi block. For what it's worth, the other dealer I called was the most expensive (+$500), and the Mopar engine builder was the next cheapest (+$300).

Some dealers charge list, others will cut you a break.

I have always been a Mopar enthusiast, always. And have never understood why Chrysler in their performance market don't make their products more affordable. These valve covers blew my mind. $785. dollars. It almost ps'ss u off. Make these parts affordable, there are several cast aluminum Hemi valve covers for the $300. range. But the one I wanted are $785. not one ounce more aluminum. I not I just don't like the rip off by team players so to speek.

I would feel foolish to spend $785. on valve covers. I could, but im not. Chrysler has always been #3 in the American car line. A hemi under every hood.

I have a great local dealer, they are long time friends. but they can only discount so much. their cost on these valve covers I am talking about is not much under what they will let me have them for. Valve covers, for $785. *&%^#@ is a little gouging. But im saying Chrysler should take a look at their performance marketing. Its a joke. A mopar enthusiast should be able to buy 440 and small block Aluminum heads from mopar for no more than $650 a head. I have seen Ford and chebys less than that. Mopar double roller timeing chains for $80. come on. And you can buy better from a parts store for $35.

I was looking at a web site called cassel ent, a site for hemi parts and they have polished stage V covers for $550 that look great but it would be nice to see them a little cheaper. I would like to know when and how the hemi parts prices became to the point of being stupid.

Look up keith black cast aluminum VC. those are the one I will probably get. their polished and ribbed but 359. or 399. Not much different then the mopar performance or mopar Hemi the black ones with polished ribbed. their the ones that are $785. If KB can make and sell for $300 ish then mopar could. Ansen makes a cast aluminum for 299. I just don't like them as much. Im going to email mopar performance and complain and call them out on price gouging.

I would expect Mopar parts to be a little more expensive, as you'll sell one Mopar part to 5 Chevy parts. But in saying that, a lot of their parts are really over priced, and there are better options in the after market.

It's strictly economics. Supply and demand.

We are a handfull compared to the chevie and ford racer market. And Mopar guys want choices just like the other makes. The problem is too many choices for the same comparable part. Usually this would mean competitive pricing. But, when every guy who makes a run of parts has to say I only want 30 peices when the other makes can order 100's of the equivalant part who do you think is going to be cheaper. This I can understand.

Mopar on the other hand will outspend other makes in a particular year for NASCAR. Feeding and number of teams and covering the track at Daytona with Dodge Intrepids. Then allow NASCAR to rule them out of competition. Seems a better effort would be to make the Mopar brand parts more affordable so the little guy can get out and promote their brand. If we did not get beat up on so bad buying the Mopar brand we may have a financail opportunity to compete better.

Over the years their have been some Mopar labeled parts that were very affordable. The master cylinders is a good example of where this was not the case for no good reason. For years every tube chassis car in the pits had this master cylinder. You can buy the equalivant master cylinder through a parts store for half the price. Why? The other makes didn't mind spending the money and you would think the profits would have benefited somewhere else in our Mopar parts stores. The small block 420 intake. It was not legal in NASCAR so it was never mass sold. But, the chevy guys do not balk in buying them for $500. The killer is out of the box the intake is junk. $500 for an intake that cost no more to produce than anything. The R blocks began life at $2000. This block was the platform for all the high end W heads. Again Mopar had no program to buy a complete head ready to run that was competive. The lack of demand for the heads, block, and intakes caused the blocks to go up. Last I heard they were over $3000 and there were times when you could not get one. If they had just made the combo affordable to start with. Indy and edelbroc would have missed half their market. We raced our hearts out with the stuff and never got any support from Mopar and they never made the products affordable simply because they said there was not enough demand. Simple BS. Indy spent a boatload of money buying a head program from Batten and has sense sold a lot of heads. The Indy head is a great class option but for all out racing Mopar missed a golden opportunity.

It is not all Mopars fault. Here is where I dispute everything that I just wrote. You have 10 wannabee hard core racers Five run a Ford the other Five want a Mopar. All five ford guys will drop the $10,000 for a complete head package. Two Mopar guys step up to the plate and make the plunge. The following year 50 ford guys are repeating the process. The Mopar guy stands back and complains the price is too high.

Leon

Indy Legend parts are more affordable than Mopar.We understand that the market for Mopar parts is not as big as some GM stuff but have you ever tried buying Ford parts?Even some Pontiac parts are crazy.Most market prices are based on supply and demand.

well I just hang up the phone with a Chrysler parts person who listened to what I had to say and said they will have someone to call back. now Im not trying to shoot the piano player, Chrysler (mopar performance) may not do anything and if they don't Im not going to be a rude dude. I just don't think they have to sell this valve cover part #p5007796 for $700 plus. that is a good definition of rediculous. About 375, well ok I can do that and not feel ripped of by my team leaders.

thats why alot of dealers won't even order Mopar Performance parts because they are so high and Chrysler tagged them as non-returnable ( ie once they order them they can't send them back) plus a lot of times they can be on long deep back-order. I would look around their are some of us that still look out for the racers. Most of the time the high prices are dealers who really don't care to mess with performance parts in the first place.

I would imagine how many hands it passes through and each hands mark up has something to do with high pricing too.

I am not 100% on this but here is my reason for SOME of the high prices. It seems Mopar doesn't maufacture alot of parts but outsources them to other venders from making block, heads, assembling the crate motors, dist, etc... This in turn means the product is market up twice before it even gets to a dealer or vendor. GM and Ford seem to keep must of their stuff i nhouse which keeps the price lower.