Get what you pay for. You know, except for when you don't.

I had a choice between which sender to buy when deciding what to replace the old one with after it relieved itself of its integrity.  I could've gone with the $150 unit from a known and well regarded parts source with an established history of providing original and repro AMC parts, or I could go with a unit sold by someone with a fairly respectable reputation on eBay for $50 less.  The way I figured it, the eBay option didn't seem too bad.  The price was in the "different supplier, lower markup" range, and it appeared to mostly match the defining details of an appropriate sender, aside from the length of the filter sock.

What I received today left me a little bit underwhelmed.  For one, there's no ground terminal on this new part.  This is a little irritating, since it means that the producers either have no idea at all about how this part actually works, or they're too cheap to provide this basic connection.  Maybe both.  Who knows?

What's more concerning is the rheostat assembly itself.  Look at this.

As I'm sure you're aware by this point, my phone camera isn't the best.  All the same, you can still see that the resistor wire is already unwinding from the board.

Don't get me wrong - I didn't have any expectations of getting a part that was the same quality as one that costs a third more.  I did, however, expect to get a unit that was worth the price I paid.  Fresh from the box, and using this means I'm back to having to repair a sender.

But wait - there's more!  Dig this.

Here we have a wire that is bent in such a way as to guarantee fitment problems, since it interferes with the flange that is supposed to seat in the fuel tank opening.  Since the ring terminal is soldered to the base of the post, using this sender means I'll need to either desolder and reposition the terminal, or loosen the post and twist the wire out of the way.  Not a serious task, but also not a task I should be bothered with after spending $100 on a sender.  Once again, does the manufacturer have a clue how this part works?  Do they care?  I think we both know the answer. . .

So now we're back in the shop, where I can take some readings with my meter.  At least it's going to be usable once these kinks get worked out.  Right?

Haha!  Nice try, buddy!  Max resistance range for this rheostat is 80 Ohms!  Empty reads 10 Ohms and full gets you just under the 80 Ohms shown above.  Meaning, they've put the older year resistance board in a '78 package.

I was grudgingly willing to fix the lack of a ground terminal, the wire wrapping, and the obstructed flange, but as we've seen so far, there's not a lot that I'm prepared to do for the incorrect resistance range.  While I may conceivably be able to rewrap the board with the resistance wire from the Dorman unit, that's going to be really fiddly work with no real demonstrated history of success on my part.  I'd also be fighting against the guide ridges in the edges of this board, since the spacing and relief is for a lower gauge wire.  That's a lot of time, effort, and expense for no guaranteed payoff.

Looking at the packaging that the part arrived in, I assume that this is an upstream problem, and not a matter of the seller trying to pull a fast one.

Having seen my fair share of boxed goodies from overseas, I imagine this is one unit from a box of many that are similarly packaged for easy distribution.  Based on that, I'm willing to give the seller the benefit of the doubt and expect that they'll be willing to handle the problem amicably.  We'll see how far that gets me.

For now, though, I'll need to get what I probably should have in the first place so I can get my car running.