I have been made aware of the condition of the welds from the manufacturer through pictures sent from 3 people, I am very disgusted with the results, especially since the welding was supposedly from a welder with 20+ years experience in Indy car aluminum welding. I am bobled as to why he would send them out looking as such.



Heath,

The pedestals were not polished in the first place, the circled section around the weld is from the cleaning cycle of the AC aluminum welding, the action removes the oxide coating found on aluminum so it can be properly welded. If you had polished the pedestal after initially receiving it, then I am sorry but you will need to take the time to re-polish the pedestal. The burning near the o-ring groove should not effect the sealing. Due to the design and torque specs of the pedestal (oem and aftermarket) the o-ring does the sealing between the pedestal and flange on the rear iron, not the pedestal itself, there appears to be sufficient material in place and sealing should be no concern.





I encourage each of you to contact the manufacturer with your dissatisfaction of the upgrade:



MRC Manufacturing

404-310-0835

respeed@mrcmfg.com

attention: Billy Waits



I am working with him to either repair or replace all of the units.

 

Well first off it was advertized as a nice Billet Aluminum piece. Every thing billet aluminum I've seen sold in the past was nice and polished looking. No major thing, I would have just liked to know that I wasn't going to have as nice of a piece after it was "updated." I would have declined the update then and took a different route.



Second, I have no desire to have to contact a 3rd party. We all bought them from you. When I buy something from wal-mart, I take it back to wal-mart not the original manufacturer.



If I'm not going to get a refund which I'd prefer, then I'd at least like one that hasn't been fucked up yet (ie before the update). I'd rather have it fixed myself than to chance this again. I'm not impressed by the update. The welds could have been done a whole lot better IMO. I'm no welder by no means but it looks like something I would have done if I would have welded it myself.

 

The divet in the aluminum is probably where he took some of the curve off of the pedestal to make a more flush surface for the nipple to be welded too. The welds look like a welder with 20+ years of experience. They do not look terrible, infact they look really good. I'm sure there is a reason they do not look polished anymore. Could possibly because he had to super clean them prior to welding.

 

The welder did not need to take "some curve off of the pedestal" in that one area, nor did he need to remove any material surrounding the space for the o-ring. How do I know? I know because my "repaired" pedestal is fine in that area:



http://www.flickr.com/photos/rick_deckard/sets/1702252/



As you can see, my pedestal does not have the same problem. Instead, my pedestal is now defective in the manner that the center post has been welded to the base. Note how the weld(s) burned through to and are blocking the inside of the center passage.



I don't really care whether the welder has 20 minutes or 20 years of experience. I do care whether the product is satisfactory. In this case, the pedestal is completely unacceptable to me.



Now, if any of you believe that the repair job is fine, you're welcome to purchase this exact pedestal from me for what I paid for it, plus shipping. In the meantime, I'm still waiting to hear from Daniel regarding the status of my refund.

 

Yeah sure I drive a 1JZ Toyota. I'll be sure to buy your exact pedestal.



The welding looks fine. The product may be a POS for all I care. The product is not to everyone's liking...Ok great, get them returned.

 

The welding on mine is not fine, nor is a blockage in the center passage. Reduced flow here is not beneficial.



It doesn't matter whether the product is to everyone's liking-- everyone didn't buy one. What is relevant is that it's not to AgentSpeed's liking, my liking, or by his own admission, Daniel's (eyecandy's) liking. I'm glad to hear that you approve of returning them, though we've established that you don't own one of the pedestals, or need one, or care whether the product is a POS...

 

What the **** are you arguing about here? I said the product should be returned to sender if it's not to someone's liking.





When did I say blockage in the center passage is fine? (I didn't)

I didn't even make a comment about YOUR pedestal (except that I wouldn't buy it)

I know reduced flow is not beneficial. Remember, I've built 7 of these damn motors and had done quite a few oil passage/galley/e-shaft mods to help out flow as much as possible.

I also never said YOUR welds were "fine".



My comments were towards AgentSpeed. He did not like the welds. The welds themselves (ON HIS PEDESTAL so you don't get confused) looked fine to me (little hard to judge because the fuzzyness of his picture). The 1st picture I would be concerned about IF the area was higher than the rest of the surrounding area. The area is sealed off by two O- rings that need to come between a level pedestal and the rear iron. If that area in red prevents the O-rings from sealing, then it IS a problem. If it seals fine, then it is a cosmetic problem. A raised/divet area should only be a concern if it affects performance. If it does not affect performance, then it is a cosmetic problem. He SHOULD get his money refunded because he sent a polished unit and got an unpolished one back (I never argued against that). He also should get his money back because he didn't like the craftsmanship (I never argued that either). If it were me, I would test it first at least. That way I could send it back to the seller and say, "Thank you. Your product worked and did not leak. However I sent you a highly polished pedestal and received a non-polished one. I also do not like your welds. Please refund me my money."





If YOUR pedestal is not to your liking...then ******* return it. I advise all buyers of this produt that if is not to their standard, then return it since the seller seems to already accept the fact that they are POS and is honoring returns.

 

Who's arguing? We're just having a conversation.



Look-- you quoted my post when you last said, "The welding looks fine." Since my (quoted) post also included pictures of my pedestal, the inference is that you were referring to my pedestal. If you wanted to refer to AgentSpeed's pedestal when quoting my post, then you should have specified AgentSpeed's pedestal.



Regarding AgentSpeed's pedestal, he already stated what remedy he asked for before you posted in this thread. I understand your point as to whether it still works, but he wasn't asking for advice-- he simply stated what he sees as wrong with the item and what he wants to correct the situation. Your speculation as to why the divot is there wasn't correct (as we can see from my pedestal), and if left uncorrected, may lead others to believe a divot should be there.



Regarding my pedestal, I am attempting to return it. We'll see whether Daniel is honoring returns (other than Scrub's).



Still upset? You're not going to throw more of the "" guy at me, are you?

 

 

That's it-- now you've gone too far. I didn't want to do this, but you've forced me to unleash the Gang of Five: