Topic: Remember JC Whitney MC parts ??

[willbird]

The JC Whitney catalog was common adolescent reading material. I was remembering their "TT Pipes" they had avail for common bikes back in the day. Something cheap and simple like that would be nifty to include in a test stand for running an engine that was not yet installed in a bike. The closest thing I see avail now is "drag pipes" which are anything but cheap.


Bill

[ZTatZAU]

Remember it well having grown up on the south side of the Windy City.  Cars, trucks, motorcycles... Whatever you needed for whatever you were fixing, putting together, hopping up, or customizing... JC Whitney had it in their original warehouse store on South State St.

ZT

[ofreen]

I ordered jeep and m/c parts from J.C. Whitney back in the 70's.  It wasn't unusual to take 6 months to get something from them.  I remember receiving stuff from them that I had forgotten I'd ordered. It makes me laugh now when I hear someone complain about something taking a week to be delivered from Amazon. 

[C317414]

In the mid 70s, my buddy and I ordered engine overhaul parts for a beat up old Mercedes his dad gave him.  JCW was the cheapest source by a huge amount.   We thought the parts would be cheap repro items.  Instead, we got Mahle pistons and rings plus German made gaskets and bearings.

[ekpent]

I remember ordering pod filters, brass swingarm bushings for a cb750, some handlebars and am sure some other stuff way back when.  The one vivid memory of that deal was the handlebars looked like they came off a barn find. The were not 'square' but bent and I had never seen such bad chrome before with scratches under it in the metal etc... Sent them back.

[Tracksnblades1]

The JC Whitney catalog was common adolescent reading material. I was remembering their "TT Pipes" they had avail for common bikes back in the day. Something cheap and simple like that would be nifty to include in a test stand for running an engine that was not yet installed in a bike. The closest thing I see avail now is "drag pipes" which are anything but cheap.


Bill

Don’t forget Montgomery Wards and Sears..
Old school Amazon..

[Don R]

 I threw away more than one order for VW stuff when shipping was as much as the parts. 

[Bankerdanny]

It was the highlight of my month when I got my latest JCWhitney/Warshawsky's catalog. I was more interested in the VW parts than motorcycle when I was in my teens and early 20's (late '70's through late 80's). But also loved the hot rod parts for cars. I pretty much read and re-read the catalog cover-to-cover every time I got it.

I grew up about 40 miles SW of downtown Chicago and visited the original location on South State Street several times and also the later location a few miles west on Cermak. I was sad to see that the company had merged into carparts.com

[grcamna2]

They had a Great catalog.    I used to look at the catalog pictures and wonder 'are they as good as the picture' !? 
I ordered a complete points plate from them in the late 70's for my Honda 305;it was a quality Made in Japan complete points plate in a bag,wrapped in brown paper from the factory for a great $ deal.

[beemerbum]

Same here. I grew up in Chicago. JC on south State street  even had parts for my MG sports car.  Great store!

[70CB750]

Shopped parts for my jeep from them - before Quadratec and 4WD took over the jeep market. 

[grcamna2]

It was the highlight of my month when I got my latest JCWhitney/Warshawsky's catalog. I was more interested in the VW parts than motorcycle when I was in my teens and early 20's (late '70's through late 80's). But also loved the hot rod parts for cars. I pretty much read and re-read the catalog cover-to-cover every time I got it.

I grew up about 40 miles SW of downtown Chicago and visited the original location on South State Street several times and also the later location a few miles west on Cermak. I was sad to see that the company had merged into carparts.com

I wonder if they still have and renew their stock of(motorcycle?)NOS JC Whitney parts over at carparts.com ??

Whitney wasn't always the 100% best parts but sometimes you got lucky.

[willbird]

I never bought a single thing from them though LOL. 

[HondaMan]

The JC Whitney catalog was common adolescent reading material. I was remembering their "TT Pipes" they had avail for common bikes back in the day. Something cheap and simple like that would be nifty to include in a test stand for running an engine that was not yet installed in a bike.

Yep, but don't put them on the bike itself: the flanges would vibrate, crack, and the pipe(s) fall off, causing a flat rear tire at speed. The rider survived, the bike was mighty expensive to repair.

I remember ordering pod filters, brass swingarm bushings for a cb750, some handlebars and am sure some other stuff way back when.  The one vivid memory of that deal was the handlebars looked like they came off a barn find. The were not 'square' but bent and I had never seen such bad chrome before with scratches under it in the metal etc... Sent them back.

Here's the one funny part about this: those swingarm bushings were actually very good, and made correctly for the 750K0-3 & CB500/550K1/2 frames. They didn't fit after those models, though.

I also bought some side covers for a CB750F0 from them. They looked OK, came in gray. About 2 months after I sold the bike the owner came by to have me install a Transistor Ignition in it, and one of the side covers had lost one of the bungs that attach to the frame grommet. When I pulled it off to look at it, the whole cover cracked in half(!). They are still sitting in my garage, I guess I really should just throw them out. I got a new set from Frankenstuff, which are pure gold IMHO.

[HondaMan]

Shopped parts for my jeep from them - before Quadratec and 4WD took over the jeep market. 

This might be where all the broken plastic parts inside my 1993 Cherokee Sport came from? I got them all, pre-broke, with the car.

[70CB750]

Shopped parts for my jeep from them - before Quadratec and 4WD took over the jeep market. 

This might be where all the broken plastic parts inside my 1993 Cherokee Sport came from? I got them all, pre-broke, with the car.

I remember the quality was not good. 

[ekpent]

The JC Whitney catalog was common adolescent reading material. I was remembering their "TT Pipes" they had avail for common bikes back in the day. Something cheap and simple like that would be nifty to include in a test stand for running an engine that was not yet installed in a bike.

Yep, but don't put them on the bike itself: the flanges would vibrate, crack, and the pipe(s) fall off, causing a flat rear tire at speed. The rider survived, the bike was mighty expensive to repair.

I remember ordering pod filters, brass swingarm bushings for a cb750, some handlebars and am sure some other stuff way back when.  The one vivid memory of that deal was the handlebars looked like they came off a barn find. The were not 'square' but bent and I had never seen such bad chrome before with scratches under it in the metal etc... Sent them back.

Here's the one funny part about this: those swingarm bushings were actually very good, and made correctly for the 750K0-3 & CB500/550K1/2 frames. They didn't fit after those models, though.

I also bought some side covers for a CB750F0 from them. They looked OK, came in gray. About 2 months after I sold the bike the owner came by to have me install a Transistor Ignition in it, and one of the side covers had lost one of the bungs that attach to the frame grommet. When I pulled it off to look at it, the whole cover cracked in half(!). They are still sitting in my garage, I guess I really should just throw them out. I got a new set from Frankenstuff, which are pure gold IMHO.

  I put the swingarm bushings in a K6. Where were you when I needed you Mark !  Ahh - the pre-internet days.

[C317414]

Buying from JCW was a gamble; the quality of parts was hit and miss.  Some items were amazingly good, while others were total junk.

In the early 80s I bought an aftermarket cruise control from JCW for my Dodge van motorcycle hauler.  It could be set up to get a speed signal from magnets on the driveshaft, or from the ignition distributor.  I set it up with the magnets, but they fell off after one trip.  Then I set it up to get the signal from the distributor.  Due to torque converter slippage, the cruise control worked well on flat roads, but not so well in hilly terrain.

[MauiK3]

That early stuff was pretty cobbled together.

[HondaMan]

The JC Whitney catalog was common adolescent reading material. I was remembering their "TT Pipes" they had avail for common bikes back in the day. Something cheap and simple like that would be nifty to include in a test stand for running an engine that was not yet installed in a bike.

Yep, but don't put them on the bike itself: the flanges would vibrate, crack, and the pipe(s) fall off, causing a flat rear tire at speed. The rider survived, the bike was mighty expensive to repair.

I remember ordering pod filters, brass swingarm bushings for a cb750, some handlebars and am sure some other stuff way back when.  The one vivid memory of that deal was the handlebars looked like they came off a barn find. The were not 'square' but bent and I had never seen such bad chrome before with scratches under it in the metal etc... Sent them back.

Here's the one funny part about this: those swingarm bushings were actually very good, and made correctly for the 750K0-3 & CB500/550K1/2 frames. They didn't fit after those models, though.

I also bought some side covers for a CB750F0 from them. They looked OK, came in gray. About 2 months after I sold the bike the owner came by to have me install a Transistor Ignition in it, and one of the side covers had lost one of the bungs that attach to the frame grommet. When I pulled it off to look at it, the whole cover cracked in half(!). They are still sitting in my garage, I guess I really should just throw them out. I got a new set from Frankenstuff, which are pure gold IMHO.

  I put the swingarm bushings in a K6. Where were you when I needed you Mark !  Ahh - the pre-internet days.

Ah, I'd estimate that you honed them for [quite] a while to get the collar in? I just used to get one of the older-style collars (the K0/1/2 with the grease grooves) when someone sent me an arm with those in them, those are slightly smaller OD. While the bushings squished and shrunk the ID a bit on the way in, they could usually be honed to fit the earlier collars, at least. Then you could add the old-style swingarm bolt, too (switch to SAE grease zerks), and have a super setup.

[Tracksnblades1]

Looks like CarPart bought JC Whitney…

https://www.carparts.com/jc-whitney

I had good luck with JC Whitney back when I was 15…

I bought a tired Chevy SuperSport that needed punched out .030..
OEM pistons were  forged 11.25:1.

I ordered the “as advertised” unidentified “name brands” forged 11.25:1 offerings..
Much to my surprise, I received the factory OEM forged TRW 2304f I single valve trough type +.030…
Their “Premium” rings turned out to be TRW Ramco rings. For just a few dollars more than the regular ring offerings. The bearings were in a blister pack. Didn’t use them. Probably because I’d never seen bearings packaged like that. Everyone back bought 1/2 bearings individually boxed back then to tighten up the oil clearances. Bought GM’s Delco Morraine 400 bearings instead like it had and all the heavy GM trucks had of that time. Their Gaskets were the then current Felpro gaskets. Used them all except the blue Teflon .038 head gaskets. It had GM oem steel shim head gaskets, so I went back with them to keep the quench at .035-.038.