Patchy's Fawlty Towers risk management. Enter at own risk

[bruce]

Are they maybe concentrating servicing their local market and neglecting overseas orders?

[ManiacLachy]

No, they're in Bulgaria or somewhere. They've just become the go-to for a turbo setup, and he's a one man band. The business has grown to big for him to handle and he's slipping behind. A common story it seems. Unless he makes some changes, soon he will develop a reputation for being unreliable and it'll all collapse.

[bruce]

He needs to expand his operations - employees, space, more admin. Either that or just shut shop and leave with a good reputation.

[Daffy]

That's a shame. I think Kraken is struggling under the weight of his own success right now………

YUP……

[greenMachine]

Dunno why everyone wants to ship stainless steel from Bulgaria. Not like it can't be obtained elsewhere.

I get that it is (looks like) the easy button. But the issues with delivery have been around for some time - as Stan knows. I chose to wait till he had what could only be obtained there - the manifold - and ordered that when it looked like a delivery was near. It turned up as scheduled. Lucky, but I also made my luck.

ICs and zorsts are not rocket science, and good exhaust shops can fabricate that stuff locally. May not be as nice, but then I am not into 'nice', as long as it works and doesn't break, and the muffler is an off-the-shelf Magnaflow. I am running a Mania-sourced IC, not sure what advantage the Kraken one has over it but it was in stock and delivery was straightforward (granted, ANY freight now is fraught).

Just my 2c.

[StanTheMan]

well the appeal was with the exsaust. it fits , its cheaper than locally made one. and you don't need to tow it to a exsaust shop.

I have the complete system front to back. Im sure it will fit.Im missing the coolant & Oil lines as well as the inter cooler.
Again the appeal to me is that its going to fit without much fuss.While my mechanical knowlege skills are reasonble Im not that good at home fabricating. Thats kit got massive appeal to me. Now with international shipping. perhaps takes the wind outy of it for him.

I can get a pretty identical inter-cooler kit from Bofi racing.... but a fair amount more pricey.

Its not too dissimilar to NitroDann. His thing had a lot of appeal to me personally. There was problems. No business runs without problems.

Kracken also supplies other dealers globally. I have no Idea how he actually manages to keep up.

Around feb I had asked him . Juts send me one of your standard inter cooler kits . but he assured me i would have it the following month. And he love doing out of the ordinary stuff. so I said ....ok if it appeals to your artistic side . Im all for it. cause he gets off on doingt these extra special things. But I guess he had supply problems and I feel Ive been extremely patient.

[bruce]

People who make promises and don't deliver should not be in business. Simple as that.

[StanTheMan]

i guess that will be natural selection.
when he does deliver, he does incredibly beautiful work. in particular his custom work. He must work 24/7 to keep up with global demand.

[StanTheMan]

well I'm juts not a turbo man, I want drama.
Kracken kit is getting ditched.

new rebuilt head

soooo pretty.jpg

BP-4 W New valves.jpg

3 inch exsaust & downpipe.jpg

so the old head has been resurected,
valve guides replaced
Volvo springs
new valves reseated
cams .... 238@0.50 10.8mm lift cant recall the overlap
head has had a hero shave
going onto a VVT block
so im expecting 11:1 compression.... at least.

[StanTheMan]

im eyeing off this weekend....

[93_Clubman]

cams ... 238@0.50 10.8mm lift cant recall the overlap

Are they the cams from the US I sold you a few years back?
Sounds like it'll be an awesome setup.

[StanTheMan]

yes . they lasted 5 min before i bent some valves. then drove around for months thinking.... the cams were not all that good . LOL
I do recall jumpng out of my skin in the first 5 min..... but then later though I had overreacted without realizing I had no compression in 1 cylinder until the valve guides broke off. ....hence the idea of the turbo got born.

[StanTheMan]

well big day yesterday.

Feenix.jpg

F33nix jacked up.

VVT Head came off.

Feenix Headless.jpg

APR studs got added. No idea if they are required . I figured with 11.0-11.5:1 compression..... It cant hurt , since i originally got them for the turbo. But turbo is not happening. Ive also got some hardened rods.... which haven't been installed. lets ee if i bend my current ones first....then once i sell or decide to keep my turbo bits. I can prepare the new block with appropriate pistons high compression or not.

APR Studs on F33nix.jpg

once i then figure out what the can or can't do with the cams ...as far as RPM goes......I may decide to install the rods as well with the appropriate Pistons.


The head torqued down timing done , cams drowned in engine assembly lubricant.....

Head torqed timing done.jpg

That's where its at. a lot of stuff to go back on. may not get to it today.....but I was totally stuffed yesterday arvo.....getting old....don't have the strength any more.

[StanTheMan]

on a siden note,
I invested in some good quality Cam gears .

Cam Gear.JPG

the difference in quality is immediately apparent once you tighten the bolts. Its hard material. no chance of over tightening or breaking the bolts. the markings are also easily apparent. It made installation & getting timing right an absolute zinch compared to the cheap flea-bay ones I had previously.

Its the classic example.....It could have saved me heaps. and worked first time around

[bruce]

Nice to see you've got somewhere undercover to do all the engine work (compared to last time).