52 replies to this topic

[wraithrslib]

Hi Paul Nice build mate;-) so did you get a refund with the dodgy Manley rods I hope my billet Manley crank is all right lol

cheers wayne

[implanted4]

heya Wayne,

theres a story with those rods.. i sent an email to Manley, and got a reply from Trip Manley himself. heres the cut n paste from the thread in rslc where i commented... Trip Manley is a top guy. I got a set of new ones to replace them, and gave em to mick in a deal for new tyres LOL

below is part of an email conversation ive had with Trip Manley regarding the issue. I initially contacted Manley through their sales email address, and Trip responded in person. He has been absolutely fantastic to deal with, and id recommend Manley to anyone based on their support in my situation, i feel they went well above and beyond what would normally be acceptable, i initially asked if the rods were not correct due to a manufacturing issue or wether id damaged them. I did have them checked at Phillip heads, but with Brian not having the rod length handy, he just chose the shortest rod as zero, and measured the others compared to it, which showed they were longer. Anyway, an unexpected resolution given id already put 20k klms or so on these rods..

what more can be said? Fantastic result..

without further adieu ...

(oldest email at the bottom. some personal details deleted)

.................................................. ...

From: Trip M [mailto:TripM@manleyperformance.com]
Sent: Thursday, 7 July 2011 08:48
To: Meeson, Paul MR
Cc: David Athanasio; Adam Bressington; Pete C; mick@techworkz.com.au
Subject: RE: A matter of concern - conrods too long [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]


Hi Paul,

I am well aware that your motivation to contact me was not driven by any greed whatsoever....and I respect that....thanks.

I will ship a set of Subaru H-Beams (Manley P/N 14024-4) at N/C to Fabre on their weekly shipment this Friday.

Adam/David - please make sure the set is forwarded to Paul...obviously at N/C....to the address he has provided below.....thanks.

Paul - any kind and complimentary words you speak about Manley Performance on your Forum would be greatly appreciated.

Best Regards,

Trip
-----Original Message-----
From: Meeson, Paul MR
Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2011 6:01 PM
To: Trip M
Cc: David Athanasio; Adam Bressington; Pete C; mick@techworkz.com.au
Subject: RE: A matter of concern - conrods too long [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]


UNCLASSIFIED

Hello Trip,

As we have established, im not a mechanic, far from it, so i went with the desription given to me by the guys at phillip heads.

I digress, however. I will accept your hospitality, the Manley Brand was chosen the first time around due to your reputation, and the original source i bought through having used Manley for quite some time. Im not sure why this was never picked up on the first time, but it does not matter now.

If you can replace the rods that would be awesome, but as ive mentioned below, that was never my motivation in contacting you in the first place.

Id like to ask if youd mind if i tell the members of my forum. I think it is a testament to your commitment to customer satisfaction, that you have gone this far to determine the issue, where some manufacturers would simply not make the effort.

I commend your integrity and generosity, i am most humbly grateful.

my postal address is:xxx

Kind Regard's

Paul Meeson
Directorate of Terrestrial Communications Reform
APW-2-033
PO BOX 7953
Canberra BC, ACT, 2610
ph: 02
mob: 04

IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Department of Defence and is subject to the jurisdiction of section 70 of the Crimes Act 1914. If you have received this email in error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Trip M [mailto:TripM@manleyperformance.com]
Sent: Thursday, 7 July 2011 02:43
To: Meeson, Paul MR
Cc: David Athanasio; Adam Bressington; Pete C
Subject: RE: A matter of concern - conrods too long [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]


Hi Paul,

We received the rods today via Fabre. My Manufacturing Manager (Pete) checked them right away and quickly realized the problem.

First and foremost, allow me to apologize.....the rods were NOT the correct center to center.

Not that it matters (because it doesn't), but these rods were from a very old vintage....probably 2006 or 2007. Our best guess is that on a small handful of rods the big ends were "over-honed" and someone attempted to fix....but only cut the body side of the big ends of the rods.....and this will not work.....

The only thing you were incorrect about is that the rods were not .028" longer that they should have been.....The rods were actually too short (which makes more sense actually). The rod you marked as "zero" was, in fact, .031" shorter that the correct, nominal center to center (5.137").

Somehow, someway....these got past final inspection....and you were the unlucky one who received. Again, I am sorry. This is why I was so perplexed when you first contacted me.....we simply do not have these types of problems....especially with our conn rods. I'm sure Fabre can attest to this fact as well....

Anyway, I hope you allow Manley/Fabre to make this up to you in the future. I'd like to offer you a free set of H-Beam rods for your next build.....and win your confidence back.

Best Regards,

Trip

[implanted4]

Couple of updates:

installed the fake JL mids, dont sound terrible so they can stay...
Installed new rear bar, No major paint issues, dont have a white race tape bandage any more
got a MY02 sti carpet to go in, might do that today.
drilled couple of holes in the pre turbo inlet and installed some barbed fittings to connect the cam cover breathers to. getting rid of the catch can until i can get a decent one and mount it in the wheel well.
got some window tint coming, from ebay, pre cut stuff. will take pics and post when i install it

no pics im afraid, ill give the car a wash and polish some time this week and throw some new pics up..

whos got some decent coil overs for sale?

[wraithrslib]

Good to see that manley have done what they can to win back your confidence, and some pics soon to were your at would be good paul

cheers

[implanted4]

ok.. i think i underestimated how hard doing tint is, when you dont have tools like a board or window surface to prep on, or a nice garage to work in.

Working in a carport with breeze and dust flying around makes tint application hard.

i have a blemish or two on every single glass ive done so far. sux, but ill live with it. Worst was from the wind blowing the tint and it creasing..

done the passenger side front and drivers side gargo and rear glass so far.. heres some pics









and a couple of the car after a wash and polish, with the new rear bar skin on..

[implanted4]

car got driven for first time in 3 months yesterday.. my missus had a ball

must say i miss the old shit box

sti carpets do not fit wagons its in but too short. now on the hunt for a heritage / wagon i can strip of its interior .. anyone know of one?

did some detailing today, couple of pics.

[Evil_VZ-T]

Lookin good paul.. Want to detail mine haha.

Big thumbs up for giving tinting ago, if its anything like contacting my old school books id fail

[SAV84C]

If your cant find carpet from another wags you can always try this place

www.sibacarcarpets.com.au

[implanted4]

Lookin good paul.. Want to detail mine haha.

Big thumbs up for giving tinting ago, if its anything like contacting my old school books id fail

Hey Lance.. maybe early next year we should do a saturday at micks shop and give it good going over

[fatcat67]

Now I know who you are..........derrrrrrr.
Your engine build was the inspiration for mine. I had done a couple clevlands for my old XB hardtop (Ford man heheheheeh) but not a performance suby engine.
Why not have a crack. It's not rocket science, just the adoption of patience and care which is what your build thread basically showed.
They are almost identical.

[implanted4]

Now I know who you are..........derrrrrrr.
Your engine build was the inspiration for mine. I had done a couple clevlands for my old XB hardtop (Ford man heheheheeh) but not a performance suby engine.
Why not have a crack. It's not rocket science, just the adoption of patience and care which is what your build thread basically showed.
They are almost identical.

Hey Frank..

Thanks for the kind words, though ask some at RSLC, i have NFI what im doing and should have stuck to factory engines cos as you know, they are the shit and never blow up

But anyway, my rebuild is going strong, just got to get the tune more refined so she doesnt drink so much

I agree, i spent my early years tinkering with holdens and fords.. still love the old eskies and capris.. I will have a crack at anything once...

[Evil_VZ-T]

Hey Frank..

Thanks for the kind words, though ask some at RSLC, i have NFI what im doing and should have stuck to factory engines cos as you know, they are the shit and never blow up

RSLC..Haha so true, Tell me about it...


Are you going to stick with the bolt on turbo or eventually go twist mount for more efficency?

[implanted4]

mate i think ill get a blousch dom3 or something.. but yes, def bolt on. not interested in pushing the bounds of credibility cos im not going to engineer it..

[aekOne]

wow that's looking fantastic mate! love it...

[wraithrslib]

Looking great paul very neat indeed, any reason why you went that way with the fmic piping? is the core inverted?
I think mick went a blouch 3 didn't he? and had great results so you should do well with it also paul look forward to figures mate, are you going to get an ET to compare?
looking forward to cruzing up to techworks to say hi to all you guy's


cheers wayne

[fatcat67]

Hey Frank..

Thanks for the kind words, though ask some at RSLC, i have NFI what im doing and should have stuck to factory engines cos as you know, they are the shit and never blow up

But anyway, my rebuild is going strong, just got to get the tune more refined so she doesnt drink so much

I agree, i spent my early years tinkering with holdens and fords.. still love the old eskies and capris.. I will have a crack at anything once...

Maybe some of the guys on RS believe you can't build an engine for the price of a factory one. Which, in a way, is absolutely true. But where's the fun in that? It won't make the same power but more importantly won't have the same torque as one you build. But on the other hand you can chuck them out as they stuff up. Each to their own.

But if you were to buy an later EJ207/255/257 with avcs heads and the whole bit your up for a few grand. It's at that point that a build makes a heap of sense especially if your doing it yourself.
I plan to build a second forged engine to have as a spare if the one that's running shits itself. The last one cost around $3800.00 including a hyperflow stage 2 sump which was $800.00, so it can be done relatively inexpensively.

Who cares what people say, if you go to the effort of building it yourself and it runs, then that's pretty impressive on its own.

By not engineering it do you mean your taking it off the road or that you just won't bother engineering the mods?

Tuning it yourself? Thats pretty cool. What final output are you looking at with the Dom 3? 280-300KW?

[implanted4]

Looking great paul very neat indeed, any reason why you went that way with the fmic piping? is the core inverted?
I think mick went a blouch 3 didn't he? and had great results so you should do well with it also paul look forward to figures mate, are you going to get an ET to compare?
looking forward to cruzing up to techworks to say hi to all you guy's


cheers wayne

Hey Wayne.. Ill get an ET some time in 2012, but i need to throw an lsd in the front of the 6 speed first. Power figures.. it kept up with micks 2 door when it had 257kw, and my car feels stronger now since i rebuilt the motor with 9:1 cr, so who knows. Ill estimate somewhere around 250 @ 22psi

[implanted4]

Who cares what people say, if you go to the effort of building it yourself and it runs, then that's pretty impressive on its own.

By not engineering it do you mean your taking it off the road or that you just won't bother engineering the mods?

Tuning it yourself? Thats pretty cool. What final output are you looking at with the Dom 3? 280-300KW?

Frank, im not engineering the mods, hence keeping the car looking as stock as possible.

Tuning myself.. yeah, i enjoy the challenge. got a good grasp on the basics now, need to invest in some knock ears to make sure im not seeing detonation. I invested in a tuning course at haltech and have bought a few texts to self teach. i have played with the tune on my own car and have many revisions of the tune where ive changed something to see what it does. Ill be tweaking the fuel maps and the target fuel map on the way north in a week, to try get close to 16:1 afr for economy... will report back and see what if any benefit is made

[wraithrslib]

Hey Wayne.. Ill get an ET some time in 2012, but i need to throw an lsd in the front of the 6 speed first. Power figures.. it kept up with micks 2 door when it had 257kw, and my car feels stronger now since i rebuilt the motor with 9:1 cr, so who knows. Ill estimate somewhere around 250 @ 22psi

Ah yeah the front lsd need one of those, Iv'e been happy in the past with the standard suretrac lsd but thinking of going a helical front for the new set up, I'll see how the suretrac does on it's first hill climb outing and drag runs

cheers

[implanted4]

quick update...

tweaked the tune for light load economy, with closed loop to 15.5:1 afr.. result 12.7 lt / 100 around town and 9.0lt/100 on the highway to qld.. afrs seem to be hovering around 15:1 most of the time. maybe can get better? happy with it as it stands anyway

grunt and economy