Abe is such a tease

 

Well, surprise surprise. Skunk2 didn't bother to send me anything on Thursday so I called them back.

Thursady afternoon:

Me: Hello, I called in this morning and spoke to X about a part I purchased that had been packed with the wrong ancillary parts. He said he would email me a form I had to fill out and email back. I never received the email so I wanted to follow up.

S2: Nobody by that name works here, your ticket number is not in our system, we don't know what you are talking about.

Me: Ok, let's start over then. What do I need to do to get this moving again?

S2: Email us pictures of box, parts, packing materials and the original invoice. Plus a brief description of what the problem is exactly.

Me: ok, what is your email address?

S2: support@Skunk2

Me: No, what is YOUR email address?

S2: I'm sorry, it has to go to the other address to be assigned a ticket number.

< I was prepared for this, mailed everything off at 3:45pm >

Friday AM

< crickets >

Friday 3:45pm

Me: Hi. Per the request of X at your support desk, yesterday at 3:45pm I emailed information about a product that was shipped with the wrong accessory parts to your support desk. It's been 24 hrs and I've not seen a reply, so I wanted to follow up and make sure I sent all the information you requssted.

S2: Nobody named X works here, there is no ticket number in our system that matches your name or email address, we never received your email, we don't know what you are talking about.

Me: Ok, **** this. Just sell me the part I need because I need to get this resolved. I have my credit card ready.

S2: Humm... I can't seem to find the part number in our system so I can't set up an order. Why don't you give me your info and we can contact you as soon as we get that part number.

Me: When should I expect a call back?

S2: Maybe Monday.

 

That

Blows

Donkey

*****


Sorry, bro...sounds infuriating

 

They need a company directory of employees on hand it looks like. That **** is infuriating. I have patience up the wazoo, but phone calls like that brings the angry italian out in me.

 

Oh, it is. As much as I hate to say it, its what I've come to expect.

Speaking of expectations, I'm also expecting to be told I bought a knock-off, or that Doap was never an "authorized re-seller" and thus I have no claim for support, so something equally silly. Honestly I don't care at this point. I just want the part so I can install the TB and get it tuned. I'm half tempted to tap the ******* thing for hose barbs and remote mount the IACV like a caveman.

On the bright side, once I get the part I need I'll have both the NA and NB IACV mounts so that'll help resale value when I inevitably give up and part out

Serious question time: Does everyone else have these problems with vendors or is it just me? Are my expectations that far out of whack? Am I expecting too much?

 

Honestly instead of waiting for the right 99 throttle body gasket I used gasket maker and bolted the bitch on! Sure it will be a bitch if I ever remove it but...meh.

 

I've had the same experiences with Skunk 2/Kraftwerks. They seem to screw up or send the wrong part every time.

hang in there

 

Junk2 is called Junk2 for a very good reason.

I think they are even worse than the other crappy knockoff egay china companies, because they ACTUALLY pretend to be legit. Mishimoto is another company I hate equally as much.

 

I have low expectations of other people actually doing their jobs, but you really seem to be a corner case in being able to find true incompetence in both the individual employee as well as company practices and procedures.

 

Despite the setbacks, I finished a bunch of crap over the weekend. I'll post progress pics later.

For now, I'd like to get some feedback on this...

One of the parts I've been sitting on for at least the last 2~3 years is a Hondata thermo isolator intake manifold gasket. It looks like this:

This is one of those "while I'm in there" kind of parts so I figured I'd order it just for good measure.


The manifold and head could be port matched for better flow, but I decided I didn't want to screw around with it for the time being


Its about 3.5mm thick, but its a very hard plastic so I don't expect much compression. With my highly calibrated wrist I torqued the manifold nuts to "angry monkey" tight.

So here is my issue: with this gasket in place, I cannot reinstall the lower manifold brace. I can probably make a spacer of appropriate thickness to fit between the brace and the block to make things line up again, but I'm on the fence as to if I actually "need" the lower brace or not. With the aggressive engine mounts, the vibratory nature of the BP, and the possible compression of the plastic spacer I'm concerned with long term durability. The last thing I need is the manifold coming loose and causing vacuum leaks from hell.

Anyone with any insight into this particular set of circumstances? It's not beyond my ability to create problems that do not exist, but I'd like some feedback if just to prove I'm (not) insane.

 

I would absolutely retain the brace, esp since its so easy to make it fit again (as you proposed with a spacer).

Seriously. I would not take a chance with our ***** motors.

 

Its probably a good idea, it just sucks. Not sure where I'm going to find a chunk of 0.138"/3.5mm aluminum. I'll swing by the hardware store tonight and see if I can get lucky with something as simple as a washer.

 

I don't see why not. That bolt is really big, and threads into the iron block, you can use any material you want. alum, steel, whatever.

 

A lathe would be quite convenient about now. Its not the material I'm worried about, its the thickness.

 

That's what she said

 

 

Ok, here is where I was after this weekend

• Squaretop
• Hondata intake gasket
• catch can
• Tien strut tower bar
• Cappuccino washer bottle

Tonight I installed the intake tube Gesso was kind enough to tig up for me

As its made of aluminum, its going to need some insulation. Its obviously heatshield fabrication time as well, as I don't want all this thermal control going to waste. Now you will all bear witness to my fabrication skills, or rather, lack thereof.


I started with a general shape out of cardboard


Its got some overlap over the framerail but I'll block it later


Add some sticks, slam the hood...


TAA~DAA!!


Another angle. You can see the hood ribs


From the front. Its a lot taller than I thought it was


Wooden sword hood prop


Remove, flatten, transfer to a taller sheet of cardboard with dots


Connect the dots!


Cut it out...


Lookin' good so far


Much, much taller than expected. I had no idea there was this much clearance.


So yeah, re-installed


That's the little fill-in corner I was talking about.


Smash it with the hood again a couple times, then trim as appropriate.


Extend it a bit further and add more sticks, repeat hood abuse.


Scab on some more cardboard and we have a template!

Note to self: use regular cardboard, not double wall heavy duty cardboard.

Now I need to pick some material and actually fabricate this thing. I have almost no fabrication tools so this is going to be a bitch. I need a piece of material that is about 33"x12" and easily shaped.

I'm seriously considering a chunk of black ABS plastic of some sort. I can easily cut and drill it, and bending can be accomplished with a heat gun. For insulation I plan on covering the engine side of the thing with DEI Floor & Tunnel Shield. Its seriously reflective and has an actual insulation layer that's about 1/8" thick. There is no way heat is going to get through this thing, even sitting and idling in traffic.

I also need some sort of rubber trim, kinda like door trim of some sort that will clip to the edge of the ABS. Something like this would be perfect:


I'll undercut my pattern by about 1/2" or whatever and make up the rest of the space with that sort of trim so that it seals up real good.

Off to Amazon to find some plastic and some rubber trim!

 

Either aluminum or ABS plastic with some heat wrap like mine. Way way way more hood clearance on the NB than NA, surprised.

You also need a steam cleaner to clean your bay.


Also, I want that cappuccino wiper fluid tank, but couldn't justify the money for it. Luckily when I got my inspection done they overlooked that and the lack of a horn...thank god for car enthusiast techs.

 

My office is out in the middle of a lettuce field, I **** you not. I've been dodging muddy pickup trucks, harvesters and line transfer trucks in this thing on a daily basis for the last 6 years. Honestly I'm surprised its not dirtier.

But yes, I'll pressure wash it in the next couple weeks. Gotta make it pretty again.

I snagged the cappuccino tank off the classifieds either here or CR a couple years ago back when you could still get them for under $50. Its been sitting in my garage ever since.

 

LOVE the stick and cardboard method for making a cold air box that follows the hood contours! I need to try that out.