Daffy's SE

[ManiacLachy]

Ahh 3.73! In your initial FB post you wrote 2.73 which had me concerned! Maybe a little short, in my inexperienced and basically irrelevant opinion, but pretty close to your original SE diff - should be fun spinning those wheels

[Daffy]

Just over 2 weeks left before the new diff and kit arrive from the US, the wait is getting painful not having dríven it for over a month and a bit
Just counting down the days now before we get thing up and running again.

[StanTheMan]

.....

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Here is me giving you a hard time when i didn't drive Patchy for 15 months

[Daffy]

It’s been a long wait, but finally some light at the end of the tunnel, the Getrag diff should be here in just over 2 weeks as with the rest of the parts from the US. In the meantime the new speedo setup is ordered and an engineer teed up for a new certification. More to come very soon.

[Daffy]

Been a painful bit of a wait due to after the holiday period on manufacturing, but the 1st half of the heavy duty rear end conversion has finally arrived with the Kmiata stage 2 Getrag diff conversion kit! The CTS diff is currently stuck on a ship somewhere in the pacific, due to arrive early April (4 weeks later than expected due to a shipping port holdup), but hopefully we should have the full version of Kmiata’s/V8 Roadsters BMW 6 speed box and 3.73 CTS diff driveline all up and running shortly- more to come.......

[ManiacLachy]

[Daffy]

In the interests of not going against the forum rules of naming and shaming, I wont- but I have to say that I tried to give some business to an Aussie company (over 40 years in business apparently, but NOT MX5 Specific and specialised in US parts) with the simple task of locating and supplying of a CTS Getrag diff for the final piece of the unbreakable driveline puzzle, (which these guys assured me was an easy find for them)- these guys not just screwed me around for over 2 months, but outright lied to both me and mechanic Daz..... at one stage telling us the diff was on its way in a container ship but held up in a shipping port.... then..... when I called to follow up this week, they didn’t have the guts to give me a straight forward answer after all this time, simply telling me to contact Daz to find out what happened before hanging up on me. (Daz called them that morning too, just before I did) W...T...F, No guts enough to tell me, as the paying customer, that they in fact had NOT sourced or ordered the diff at all, (possibly under quoted- thus not worth their while... I crunched the numbers- this was a VERY likely scenario), as well as telling Daz that no one in the USA had any new CTS diffs like I was after in existence anymore (NOT F***NG TRUE), and not providing ANY correspondence during the entire time over the past several weeks AFTER THEY TOOK A FULL PAYMENT- I’m more pissed off they blatantly lied to me . If it was an under quote thats fine, I’m reasonable and would understand, I would have re negotiated for a fair deal for me and them so we could get a mutually beneficial outcome for all where I get what I need and they still turn a profit. Refunded now via PayPal, but F**k me.. over 2 months of F**king around that was time off the road and both frustrating and not necessary. So, doing what I should have done in the 1st place (as this would have all been sorted by now weeks ago), contacted a company in the US (at 1am due to the time difference) and got a brand new 3.73 CTS diff tee’d up that should be here via FedEx within 10 to 12 days that should see the Problem Child up and running by mid April, (thanks to the darling wife’s brilliance in online searching) and all sorted within 24 hours from start to finish on our part, what they couldn’t seem do all this time.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a massive fan of giving what I can to supporting the Aussie automotive businesses, but this sort of situation for me has yet again just left a really sour taste when dealing with Aussie based companies. Its definitely not all operators out there- I know of heaps of great auto businesses in Oz that bust their ass day in and day out, having a red hot crack at building reputable companies with a focus on customer service, but unfortunately some drop kicks taint the mix that really make it hard for the operators that bust guts and put in big effort the to give credibility and repute at keeping the Aussie market alive.
Having said all that, mid April, the Problem Child will be a running reference for those of you looking for a viable option to a rock solid driveline..... more to come soon.

[bruce]

That's why I'm reluctant to use local businesses for mechanical stuff as they generally disappoint. Anything specialised is a shot in the dark.
I don't know why you didn't just ring up a US company in the first place. The internet and cheap international calls have made it so much easier.

[ManiacLachy]

Man, that's frustrating! Glad you got it sorted (even if you're still persisting with the wrong ratio )

I might give Daz a call soon, and come have a chat with him (I still have the details you gave me ages ago) I'll let you know when I'm heading up to see him, and if you're free from harassing honest citizens you can come have a chat.

[bruce]

Quick look on fleabay reveals that there are complete rear end cradles (diff, shafts, brakes, etc) available in the US. A message to one of the sellers for a diff may have worked out.

[Daffy]

Quick look on fleabay reveals that there are complete rear end cradles (diff, shafts, brakes, etc) available in the US. A message to one of the sellers for a diff may have worked out.

I knew that there are a few second hand cts diffs available in the USA via ebay etc bruce, but for my piece of mind I wanted a new one and I wanted an Aussie company to be my go to for it. That was my whole gripe in my previous post... I knew that I could source one (new or used) relatively quickly and easily via a few different suppliers in the USA, but after consulting with said Aussie company, they assured me that they could get a new one for me door to door weeks ago- I just wanted to have an Aussie company benefit from the purchase rather than sending all $$$ overseas, but they dropped the ball bad, and alas all my $$$ are now totally benefiting a USA company instead of some going towards supporting local Aussie suppliers. The only ones to now that have a gain from my purchase in Australia is the Government with their goods and service tax as well a the bonds/customs import cost.

I really want to see the Australian auto supply after market survive, but as previously said, muppets like these make it hard on good Aussie operators trying their best to make it work for the local market. As for the mod kit itself that V8 Roadsters/Kmiata supply, I could get local fabricators to knock up something similar, but at a much higher price than what’s already available- I worry for our local manufacturing market, as they have to factor in the high cost to make up components locally, but its nowhere near as disappointing that some middle man Aussie supply companies (as the one I had dealt with) cant even co-ordinate a simple buy, import and distribute parts task at a modest profit margin on their part without screwing over their customers, forcing customers and their hard earned $$$ to go with the overseas alternatives instead of keeping it local.

Man, that's frustrating! Glad you got it sorted (even if you're still persisting with the wrong ratio )

I might give Daz a call soon, and come have a chat with him (I still have the details you gave me ages ago) I'll let you know when I'm heading up to see him, and if you're free from harassing honest citizens you can come have a chat.

I’ll give you a call in the next few days Lachy for a deep and meaningful

[93_Clubman]

telling us the diff was on its way in a container ship but held up in a shipping port.... then..... when I called to follow up this week, they didn’t have the guts to give me a straight forward answer after all this time, simply telling me to contact Daz to find out what happened before hanging up on me.
No guts enough to tell me, as the paying customer, that they in fact had NOT sourced or ordered the diff at all
AFTER THEY TOOK A FULL PAYMENT

So glad you've sorted it yourself Daffy, but hat a staggeringly shortsighted business - can't believe they thought that approach was ever going to end well. They have too much business if they think they can treat upfront paying customers like lobsters.

[greenMachine]

Daffy, that would leave a very bad taste in my mouth.

I have my fingers crossed that there are no more setbacks, and that work progresses rapidly to a successful conclusion!

[ManiacLachy]

I’ll give you a call in the next few days Lachy for a deep and meaningful

I miss our romantic phone calls. Things get hot and heavy when you start talking about E85 and high boost

5-6pm is usually a good time while I'm walking the fur baby.

[Daffy]

Finally some progressive news. The new Cadillac CTS diff is in Australia and on its way (should be here Monday.) The Problem Child’s busted, twisted metal rear end is out and ready for the new butt cheek implant- all things running right, I should have it back up and running next week after being off the road and hurting unsuspecting V8’s for nearly 3 and a half months with the “unbearable driveline” underway and finally in. Till then, here’s a few pics of the broke ass rear end tear down.