G.Mac Posted January 5, 2011 Author Posted January 5, 2011 Getting closer to Zero hour now, thats Gary Moulson just quoted me happy and I now have insurance Now just need to chase Paul at Zen up as I STILL dont have my sump not long now Graeme Will be phoneing my MOT man soon
braveheart Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 C'mon get the turbo on turn the boost down you know you want too.. Don't be a fanny lol hope its built before mines goes need some competition he he. Ref plugs wish i went racing 8a at the start would of got rid of alot of migranes. Wouldn't touch 7bs again. All the best Greame more pics of shinny bits please..:-)
G.Mac Posted January 5, 2011 Author Posted January 5, 2011 yea a set of 8's are winging thier way from Mark as we speak! Graeme
Joe G Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 Engine in then Gmac?? You get your hands dirty today lol
G.Mac Posted January 20, 2011 Author Posted January 20, 2011 Well after £3000 and months of broken promises Paul down at Zen is becoming very close to being told to ram his dry sump up his own sump and give me my money back Grrrr Graeme
Richie Cross Posted January 20, 2011 Posted January 20, 2011 Well after £3000 and months of broken promises Paul down at Zen is becoming very close to being told to ram his dry sump up his own sump and give me my money back Grrrr Graeme Bummer. Not being totally up to speed with sumps...were they supposed to be making one for you? (is it that hard??) or getting one in for you? They've either got it or not? Are sumps hard to come by??
paul555sti Posted January 20, 2011 Posted January 20, 2011 That's poor service Graeme! Has he been keeping in touch with you to let you know what's happening with it?
G.Mac Posted January 20, 2011 Author Posted January 20, 2011 I ordered the sump kit way back in September after being screwed by Ron at Raw performance for 3000usd. I payed Paul at zen £3000 over the course of 3 months with the last payment being at the start of November. When I ordered the sump kit Paul told me that he had one kit left, and after receiving the first payment he would sent the parts required to close up my engine which never happened. Every time I phone him up he has excuses as to why it has not been sent (too busy, forgotten and the latest making installation instructions as this is the last kit left) I phoned him AGAIN last week before coming to my work and he told me he was very sorry been busy etc still making the instructions, anyway I instructed him to send the stuff out or we would have have come to other arrangents. He assured me that it would be sent out to arrive at my brothers house no later than Friday last week and it has still not been sent. Also he has not even bothered to order the oil holding tank as of last Tuesday either now saying it might need a modification to the design ( he has only had since September) and that it would take 10 days to manufactor and would be sent out seporate to the sump and pump I tried to phone Paul this morning but only got his answer phone so I left a MSG stating if I did not have the sump kit in FULL by the te I come home on Wednesday I want a full refund bearing in mind I have also bought a set of headers from him along with 2 rolls of wrap for £700 I think that for someone who has paid £3700 to a company, is being treated like crap and I am very dissapointed Graeme
Richie Cross Posted January 20, 2011 Posted January 20, 2011 That's total $hit mate. Too busy, forgotten aren't valid excuses when you're running a business in my opinion!!
braveheart Posted January 20, 2011 Posted January 20, 2011 Hi Greame, not a good excuse. Drop a msg on 22B for him to get in touch with you, hope you get this sorted asap. Im sure there is another issue there Paul has a very good name for getting things done on time ect.. but some people do drop the ball time to time no excuses for him the time you have had to wait.. Chris
Joe G Posted January 21, 2011 Posted January 21, 2011 Not so good bud!! IMO thats severly extarcting the urine!! Even worse that this is happening after the escapade you went through with Ron!! If you need a hand with the car when you are back give us a shout!! Joe
G.Mac Posted January 22, 2011 Author Posted January 22, 2011 Had another wee chat with Paul today, he didn't realise how frustrated I was, everything seems to be ok as we have come to an agreement. All going well all parts should be with me by Wednesday. Looking forward to getting the parts fitted will get an update and pictures posted once I get the bits Graeme
ciaranrb5 Posted January 22, 2011 Posted January 22, 2011 did think it was unlike paul to be honest he tends to be very very reliable. Look forward to this beast being finished. You might be able to keep up with me once it's finished
braveheart Posted January 23, 2011 Posted January 23, 2011 Glad it's sorted Greame doing a big build is frustrating and alot of stress, parts here in Wednesday nice one. In sure you and ciaranrb5 might have a chance to keep up wih me ha ha )when both your builds are done hope you 2 don't have to many demons rise..
Zen_Performance Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 Now that I have sorted this out with Graeme, and the package is off to him via UPS as I write this, I thought I would add a little background to what it is that Graeme has purchased and why it's not a simple thing to sort. Our dry sump kit comprises of a huge number of parts and just about every single one is bespoke. The pump itself uses only the pump gears from the manufacturers stock of standard parts. All the bodies, studs, shafts, relieve valve and bracketry are unique to Zen. The tank is a Zen designed tank, shaped to fit in a paticular place in the engine bay that you simply can't put an off the shelf solution. The drive system uses 3 pulleys components and accompanying parts, only the screws, two pins and a flange are off the shelf items. The sump is much more than just a sump pan, as it comprises the mount for the pump, scavenge filters and a windage tray, all bespoke parts again, and the sump itself takes 10 hours of machining. The accompanying parts are all made to our spec, or made by modifying standard parts in house by me and to bring together each kit currently takes some hours and relies on parts coming from a number of suppliers, not just the manufacturer of the core elements. What this means is that it's not a straightforward product, and Graeme will be the first person to install the whole system themselves, that isn't a tuner or WRC trained engine builder, or had me come and do all or some of the installation. Given the distance involved it means that when the system gets to Graeme it should be as easy and obvious as possible to fit and get running. Getting to that stage hasn't been easy and has been one of the main holdups in getting this out to Graeme, but without it, I don't think it would have been a kit fit to send out to a DIY builder. It's not an ideal situation, and I would liked to have all these things ironed out before letting a single kit go, but many of the kits have been "needed" and sold/installed on the basis that it is new and there might be a few issues on the way to getting the car fully sorted. But without it, I can think of at least 3 cars that would have suffered had they had to continue with a baffled sump solution, and many that are just nearing the finish of a build that would be hopelessly delayed if they had been kept waiting for parts. The unfortunate side effect is that many cars have had to have very hands on support from myself, which is just not sustainable as the number of installations grows. Graeme got a good deal initially, and to help make up for the inconvenience I have now included extra parts and some further assembly FOC to help with the installation that will save both money, but more importantly time. For the sake of accuracy, I would like to point out that Graeme last paid at the beginning of December.The cost of the core kit has been set on a par with what Ron was asking for Cosworth kit, but I have also supplied the required dry sump tank and lines, and kit requires two less lines and no need to purchase an uprated 12mm stock pump, making the overall spend required less than the Cosworth dry sump route. I don't like to operate like this, and Graeme has been very polite and amiable throughout, giving me no real reason to think that he was getting anxious. However in light of his previous experiences with traders I will be, and have been making an effort to keep Graeme and everyone else I deal with much better informed. Cheers Paul Zen
simon_mcwilliam Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 Hi Paul I will be ordering one of these kits later in the year what is the rough lead time from order to delivery. Do you have one kit on the shelf ready to send or do you make it up as you go Cheers Simon
G.Mac Posted January 26, 2011 Author Posted January 26, 2011 (edited) Kit arrived this morning before I got home from the ship, after a little bit of head scratching I think I have figured out where all the hoses go, got the windage tray installed and also the pump installed to the sump pan. All I need to do appart from fit the kit is to phone Paul to find out in what way my water pump needs modifying and to get a male to male fitting (ooh err, easy tiger!! ) to join the supply hose to the standard position oil pump housing. So the plan of attack for tomorrow is to give my brother a hand swapping out the turbo in his car as the bearing has gone and re-fit everything. Tidy up his garage so I can work on my engine during the hours of darkness in a decent light and a bit of warmth! Hope to be updating the thread a bit more often over the coming days and weeks Graeme Edited January 26, 2011 by G.Mac
G.Mac Posted January 29, 2011 Author Posted January 29, 2011 Oh the joys of people using impact guns, so far I have managed to get 2 of the bolts holding the flywheel on but one of my extension bars is Dead, so who will sell high tensile bolts for a flywheel on a sat?
G.Mac Posted January 29, 2011 Author Posted January 29, 2011 well got a bit of progress today. Unfortunately the oil tank for the dry sump wont fit with the top mount intercooler so it will have to wait till the car is run in and ready to be mapped when the new radiator and front mount will be fitted. Engine is all ready to go in once I source some new bolts for the flywheel as these were over tightened and were a complete barsteward to get off and unfortunately the bolts are now not re-usable. AP's are also on but there was lots of swearing in this department too, on the passenger side the bolt holding the caliper was cross threaded and sheared off and also the bolts into the suspension have been horsed right up without any grease so again were a nightmare to get off, ended up with me bouncing on a breaker bar to get it loose and as many of you will know I weigh 17.5 stone!!!! So thats all work stopped till Monday till I can get some new bolts for the flywheel apart from me pumping the full tank of year and a quarter petrol out the tank tomorrow Graeme
ciaranrb5 Posted January 29, 2011 Posted January 29, 2011 well got a bit of progress today. Unfortunately the oil tank for the dry sump wont fit with the top mount intercooler so it will have to wait till the car is run in and ready to be mapped when the new radiator and front mount will be fitted. Engine is all ready to go in once I source some new bolts for the flywheel as these were over tightened and were a complete barsteward to get off and unfortunately the bolts are now not re-usable. AP's are also on but there was lots of swearing in this department too, on the passenger side the bolt holding the caliper was cross threaded and sheared off and also the bolts into the suspension have been horsed right up without any grease so again were a nightmare to get off, ended up with me bouncing on a breaker bar to get it loose and as many of you will know I weigh 17.5 stone!!!! So thats all work stopped till Monday till I can get some new bolts for the flywheel apart from me pumping the full tank of year and a quarter petrol out the tank tomorrow Graeme Top mounted intercooler? why? Good to hear your making more progress than me
paul555sti Posted January 29, 2011 Posted January 29, 2011 Top mounted intercooler? why? Good to hear your making more progress than me Running it in on the top mount before all the other stuff is fitted.
ciaranrb5 Posted January 30, 2011 Posted January 30, 2011 Running it in on the top mount before all the other stuff is fitted. correct sorry read 2 lines instead of just the first
Zen_Performance Posted January 31, 2011 Posted January 31, 2011 Graeme, Did you get my emails? Cheers Paul
G.Mac Posted January 31, 2011 Author Posted January 31, 2011 Yea, just got it, (not checked it for a couple of days ) Thanks for the info, gives me a much better idea of what is going on with fitting the kit I will need to get a couple of photos of the kit as it is truly a work of art and made from quality parts I am getting some spare flywheel bolts from Craig McD today so hopefully will see the engine slotting in either tonight or tomorrow All the best Graeme
G.Mac Posted February 4, 2011 Author Posted February 4, 2011 Some news from a couple of days ago- The engine is IN the hole but unfortunately there is a but the engine seems to be sitting approx half an inch too far back in the engine bay as the brace coming from the bulkhead down onto the gearbox won't fit and the engine mounts are sitting flush on the crossmember so it's not as if the engine is tilted arrrgghhhh. Just need to wait for it to stop raining long enough to let me roll about on the ground to get the mounts back off and check them Graeme
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