Brandon-
Thanks for the reply.
All of the items in the SSI kit were tested
extensively in-house, on an independent engine dyno, on my personal cars, and on more than a few of my own customers cars (people that have me work on their Stangs on the side). The SSI was actually far behind schedule due to the extensiveness of the testing. I did EVERYTHING I could to make sure it was the very best it could be. I did some downright mean stuff to it to make sure it could handle the real world of boost
and N2O.
It doesn't look like the real cause of this customer's leak will ever be determined because, instead of giving me the info that I needed in order to replace whatever was wrong (which I normally do), the customer went ahead and had the shop modify the parts.
Nobody ever contacted me to verify the length of the tube. Sure, after the car was already up and running, he posted an unreadable photo of the tube next to a ruler on a table in his thread. I needed EXACT measurements to determine whether or not the tube was made wrong.
I
still don't have proof of the tube being wrong.
Since this thread is geting pretty long and lame, you might be unaware that the intake was initially installed (and given back to the customer) with no O-rings on the crossover tube at all. This means there was direct contact between the bare ends of the crossover tube (steel) and the sealing areas on the fuel rails (aluminum). That alone would cause significant damage to the O-ring sealing areas on the rails.
As I've stated before, if the tube or rail is damaged in the sealing area, it might never seal at all
even with extra O-rings.
I don't know, and like I said before, am never going to know if the tube was made wrong/damaged, or the rails were gouged due to this installation error.
The customer claims that MPW badmouthed the product when he brought it in for installation, and he claims that they told him that there had been a SSI related fire at MPW (which is why he says MPW recommended a different intake).
Not accusing here, but it is kinda interesting that even after that, THEY still left out the O-rings anyways. Even though there is almost a whole page dedicated to pre-testing the rails for leaks, and a complete parts list in the SSI instructions that I wrote and verified.
When I read the customer's first email to me and this "fire" was mentioned, I became concerened. I called MPW immediately (before I had ever spoken with or replied to the customer). The guy in charge there said that he never actually had a fire, but he did mention something in a negative tone about people talking on the internet. (I now know what he meant about that).
Going off of this rumor of fire, the customer decided then and there that he was not going to settle for the design of the rails. He set out on 2 missions. (1)To make the rails work without the crossover tube and (2) to tell the world (via Mustang forums) that the BBK fuel rails are badly designed and that you are in danger of your car catching fire if you have them. Recently he even sent me a P.M. telling me that he hopes nobody dies because of me.
Anyhow, he initally contacted me to see if there was a way to use the SSI rails without the tube. He was bound and determined (as it says in his threads) to get around the crossover tube design.
Now being a Mustang enthusiast, and a creative guy (and loving a challenge), I sat down and honestly spent the better part of a day researching a solution for him.
I just so happened to have a set of rails on my Cobra that I modified for the upcoming SSI-R box type upper that I'm developing.
Just for the record, the R rails still use the crossover tube.
The only thing that is different about them is that
the regulator doesn't mount to the rail. It's a remote mount that is linked to the rail via fuel line hose and a few fittings. I used that as a starting point and figured out how to modify our Universal Rial Kit (BBK Part # 5010) to work for him.(No crossover tube in that kit, but it's not designed to work with the SSI)
I spent quite a bit of time on the web and the phone researching the tools and parts that Nick would need to do the job. I even contacted the manufacturer of one of the unique pieces (that I had trouble finding) to locate one of their dealers that was local to the customer since I knew he lived on the other side of the continent from me. Then I pulled a set of rails out that I had polished for my McLaren and performed the same job that Nick would be doing on my own rails while I wrote the instructions and even took pictures for reference.
I put all of that together in an email and sent it to him and Nick. I also posted it in his thread.
For this effort, he accused me of having those instructions already made, because he claims I knew there was a problem with the rails and those instructions were for an emergency fix in case someone complained.
Now obviously, after spending that time and putting forth that effort FOR HIM, I'm wasn't about to let him or anyone come to the forums and say that I or BBK did him wrong.
After Nick modified his existing rails (again, nice job Nick) he posted that it was all good. I even congratulated him and sent kudos to Nick for getting it done.
Not being able to leave it at that, he posts "Nobody cares that it cost me an extra $300 to fix this"?
Well Brandon, I cared enough to go out of my way to research that stuff and create those instructions so he could have Nick modify our product to his liking.
I made someone else care enough to stay late and wait for their car that night because I had put off working on it to work on that stuff for him. I convinced the owner of the car that the time I spent on those instructions was worth him missing dinner with his wife and kids for.
By now everyone knows that I care enough to make sure that anyone that reads his side of the story gets a chance to read mine and that questions and statements made regarding this are answered directly and personally.
But on the other hand, do I (or does anyone) care that he paid a shop $300 to perform custom labor (which can be expensive) to assemble a few fittings onto a BBK rail kit because it was in HIS mission statement?
I can't say that I do.
If he REALLY wanted BBK to take care of the problem, all he would've had to do is give me the info that I asked for so I could get him a new tube, or new rails, or whatever it took to make him happy, (just like I did with the O-rings) but since it was his mission to eliminate that tube, he did not.
Instead he paid a shop to modify the product THEN posted that BBK should just whip out a $300 check and send it to him to cover Nick's services.
Someone at the shop printed and hung that post up over the usual Dilbert cartoon at the watercooler
.
