Earlier this Spring we took an opportunity to spend a day with Kim and Al Kussy who are the founders and leadership at Aerospace Components in St. Petersburg, Florida. The company has been a massive supporter of sportsman racing for as long as we can remember and their components can be found on some of the highest profile vehicles in the sport. We’re talking machines like Mike Murillo’s Mustang and many, many others.
Aerospace Components is well known for their hard working, reliable, and efficient drag racing brakes but the company does a whole lot more than just stoppers. Stick with us as we check their facility out!
Aerospace Components is interesting because of not only their product line but also because of the fact that they take such pride in the work they do at their 35,000 sq/ft Florida plant. From CNC machines that are working nearly every minute of the day to the careful hand assembly of fuel pumps, shifters, brake calipers, and vacuum pumps, this is a company that not only understands the racer, they employ them! Given the chance to meet some of the men and women that make up the heart of Aerospace Components, we learned quickly that the race track is home for almost all of them and in different ways. From sportsman bracket racers to aspirational small tire competitors who want to claw their way up in those challenging categories, the people of Aerospace Components are just as in tune with their products as the customers bolting them on.
Beyond the parts and the innovations that Aerospace Components has brought to the aftermarket and racing world, the thing that husband and wife team Kim and Al Kussy are most proud of is their workforce. Many of their employees have been with the company a decade or more.
If the company has a hallmark it is the quality and creativity of their machine work and that stems from Al Kussy who is the chief engineer and has a background in precision machining. We’re not talking “close enough” stuff, we’re talking millionths of an inch, this is going to space, it really needs to be right, kind of stuff. Like many great American success stories, the Aerospace Components beginning was a humble one. Making some parts for his own dragster soon became making some parts for other people’s race cars, and things blossomed from there.
So what type of precision machine work was Aerospace Components Chief Engineer Al Kussy doing before the racing world took all of his time and energy? He was making things that literally went to space. These are some parts that did not make the cut during the space shuttle program. Know what they are specifically?
Al’s wife Kim serves as the President of the company and she is as hardcore a racer and lover of the track as Al is. Her big block Chevy powered sportsman dragster has been used as the testbed for many of the most popular items that the company sells today. Al and Kim have been sweethearts since their teens and made the move from Michigan to Florida on a snowy night a few decades ago. They have never looked back.
You have likely seen some of the Kimmy’s Garage videos that Aerospace has produced. Well here’s the dragster you see in those videos. This is the car that Kim has raced for years. Not just people who make racing parts, Kim and Al are racers themselves.
Many people may not remember the days when Aerospace Components manufacturer rear end housings but they did and one was recently brought back to the plant for some modifications. It has been years since they were in this business but chatting with Al during our visit, he seems to have his wheels turning once he was looking over the classic piece that the customer wanted modified. Both he and Kim seemed genuinely and happily surprised to see that housing awaiting its mods.
Al and Kim were both smiling when a customer brought this rear end housing in to the shop for modifications. They have not sold these for years but as you can see, the quality of their product speaks for itself. This one has survived lots and lots of hardcore drag strip action!
One of the things that Aerospace Components has the ability to do is custom work. If you have an odd or different application that they may not have a shelf fitment for, call them and explain what you are looking for. There is a better than average chance that they have (a) done it once or twice already or (b) want to do it so that they can add it to the already huge repertoire of applications they have manufactured over the years.
As brakes are a huge part of the Aerospace Components business, they have a dedicated manufacturing area for their billet calipers that are CNC machined to perfection. The raw materials come into the plant in long lengths and from that point forward, every other step is handled in house. A band saw cuts the aluminum blocks and the CNC machines do their job to drill and shape the calipers. After they come out of the CNC machine the calipers are hand checked and assembled to ensure 100% quality. That isn’t for a special line of calipers the company makes, that is for all of them.
This is where Aerospace Components brake calipers begin, with chunks of billet aluminum.
After the huge piece of raw material are cut to the proper size it is off to the next step.
The raw material gets loaded into dedicated CNC mills and the caliper halves are precision machined to the tight tolerances that Aerospace Components mandates for their products.
After this machining process is completed, a technician removes them from the machine and they find their way to the next step in the process.
This quality control check area is an integral part of the process because each piece is cleaned and inspected to make sure that the parts will function perfectly when they arrive at your door.
We know that this is a brake caliper but it looks like automotive jewelry to us!
Here’s some history. You are looking at the first caliper that ever came off of a CNC machine at Aerospace Components. Constant refinement and updates have kept these brakes at the forefront of the industry.
We think that it shows a lot of pride that the first piece the company manufactured in their brake line is still at the shop. That is just plain cool!
The same story can be told of the vacuum pumps that are recognized as the best in the industry. These pumps are also very popular sellers for the company and as everyone knows, when racers find something that is reliable, that works, and that they have had good experiences with, they sing it from the hills. The billet Aerospace Components vacuum pumps are mechanical art work that allows you to make more horsepower, what’s better than that?!
Here are a set of freshly machined housings for Aerospace Components vacuum pumps. These are among the best in the industry with high quality interior components designed to last as long as your race car.
Again, these are quite literally mechanical art that help you make more power!
If you were wondering, the company does make their own pulleys as well. Why? Because they know the quality will meet their standards.
With a myriad of CNC machines, Aerospace Components has built their business on manufacturing their products and not relying on outside vendors and suppliers to dictate their quality.
Speaking of making horsepower, you cannot do that without fuel and Aerospace Fuel pumps have been designed by racers with the racer in mind. Obviously the manufacturing quality of the pump body is like jewelry because of the machining skills exhibited in all of their products but there are things you can’t see like the high quality electric motors with carbon brushes that only draw 9.5 amps (in the highest volume pumps, 7.5 in the SS250 model). There’s a unique integral pressure adjustment that can be used when the pump is running and is really easy compared to other methods. Again, these are things that matter because racers developed the products!
Here is the testing unit used to flow and check the hand assembled Aerospace Components fuel pumps. Why is it here? Because guessing isn’t good enough for Kim, Al, or their employees. Quality is job #1.
Note the gauge and built in pressure adjustment that is there so that you can properly set your fuel pressure without making a mess. Doing it right at the pump and locking it down is a great feature of these pieces. Oh, that’s an Aerospace Components filter as well. It is all available in their catalog.
We’re going to take you on the rest of the tour through the photos and captions below. We were super impressed with the facility, the people, the attitude, and the approach that Aerospace Components personifies. From the longest tenured machinist on staff to the newest member of the team, they all work hard to turn out some of the finest racing parts on the market and the best part it, this stuff is all made in the USA!
What’s that on the left? Let’s just say it is a “fun project” that Al is working on. To the right you see one of the company’s Pro Terminator shifters. Designed for true one hand operation, these can be found in thousands of race cars of all shapes and sizes across the country.
Another look at the “fun project” and the shifter that has become the favorite of so many racers.
We shot these photos back in the very early Spring. More than likely these brakes are now on race cars across the country. Pretty cool, right?
Note the packaging here. Bolts and fasteners are separated and bagged for ease of use by the installer. This is first class stuff from the components right to how they get to their customer.
We were going to ask for some “samples” but the whole crew at Aerospace Components was hustling so hard we couldn’t possibly ask them to work even harder!
The rotor hats are also machined from billet. Like There are lots of options for your particular application but here’s how they end up on your brake rotors.
This lathe operation takes that billet and forms it into the end shape but it’ll be awful hard to install without any holes, right?
Out of the lathe, they are checked, inspected, and loaded for the next operation which is to be drilled.
You can see the threaded holes have been added to secure this piece to the rotor and the multiple bolt patterns have been drilled in the hat so that the end user can fit them to his or her car.
They don’t get much fresher than this. The fact is that we were very, very impressed with what we saw at Aerospace Components. These are products Made in the USA by Americans and shipped all over the world. So cool!
A sincere thanks to Kim and Al Kussy for allowing us to tour their facility during a busy workday at the shop!
I’ve had the Aerospace Brake kit on my AMC for many years, the car has been on the road each summer from 2009 to now, and it’s still functioning and looking like new.
Interestingly back in 2008 when I purchased the kit, it was the only aftermarket brake kit for AMC’s available, so not only is the quality great but they even have kits for uncommon cars.
http://www.bangshift.com/forum/forum/bangshift/project-cars-update/3614-mike343sharpstick-s-69-javelin-project/page65