| Watts Shop Performance |
| Quality Control |
| This is what separates premium parts makers from average parts makers. Some econo parts may have fairly good paper specs, but the cleanliness of the parent material used to make them, machining accuracy and heat treating is not up to the best of the made in America components. Most premium parts are made only from pure base alloys free from contaminates manufactured with tight machining tolerances to prevent occlusions, tool marks and stress risers that may cause cracks and fatigue failures. Then the parts must be heat treated after forming, a critical process that makes or breaks (literally) the finished product in terms of ductility, hardness, strength and fatigue resistance. Heat treating is akin to voodoo and the leading outfits hold their proprietary methods closer to their vest than a Nevada card shark. All this stuff- good materials, complex tooling, high quality standards and complex heat treating cost bucks, which is why the really high end stuff is sometimes called unobtanium. As is the case with military aircraft, high end automotive technology has progressed to the point that designing and making a part or system able to deliver the performance it needs to survive and do the job is no longer an issue; the problem is being able to afford the solution. |