Franko6
Vendor , w/Business number
Oh, yes, I remember you, Taylor. You believe I lied to you, maybe about 4 years ago. It would not be the first time the facts were manipulated from the same source. I could demonstrate the proofs, but it's not my call to advise people against any particular vendor, unless I can absolutely prove they are swindling people. For example, JBMorrison, who bilked people with his fake Brazilian Bosch knockoff nozzles. He is no longer there to steal from people, as I vetted him out.
I only know that we regularly fix the mistakes made by other shops. And the reason is, the TDI is an engine with very specific idiosyncrasies that we very well understand.
Here are a few reasons customers find our work to be superior. 1)We always torque-plate a cylinder head when honing. 2)We balance rotating assemblies. 3)We particularly re-balance flywheels, because we find the 'factory' job is not all that good. 4)The deck height job we do is very accurate and we find this is often done incorrectly. 5)Head studs are needed only if the issue is excessive boost and high horsepower requirements. 6) We use name-brand parts, from known quality vendors. 7) We use cutting-edge technologies for improved ring sealing and piston treatments. 8) I don't know how others get away with it, but honing a re-ring job is necessary, as without doing so, the cylinders are glazed and the rings take forever to break-in. 9) We work very tight tolerances, which is our craftsmanship 10) We have tricks we do on cylinder heads that others have not even considered. 11) We are well ahead of the curve on many building techniques.
As example against the need for head studs, I notice FTB agrees. He and I don't always agree, but I respect his opinion. However, at 200hp, and that is not what I would call a 'small build; we usually include the ARP's.
PD 100 rods against ASV pistons would not be the choice for me, although it has been done. Beveled rod against a straight wrist pin... and the ASV's usually demand decking the block.
I will warn, it's usually not just the head warped lengthwise and a mutually warped set of cam journals, there are few machinists with the proper tooling to correct that. On an overheat, the block is warped the opposite way; in a valley. Correcting the block decking regularly creates a piston protrusion error.
To correct the misinformation (which I looked again and now do not see it), the stock exhaust valves in a TDI are not sodium filled. They are Iconel heads against Chrome-Moly stems. The durability of the OEM valves is what I would call legendary. Of the 1,000's of cylinder heads we have reconditioned, I would say the average head had at least 1/2 of the valves reinstalled. We consider our build's average life expectancy to be 250,000 more miles. So, continued use of an OEM valve is really not a problem. When we judge a valve good, it's good.
There are some poor quality aftermarket valves. We have felt the heat about naming particular brands that we consider sub-par, so we will not do that. But we know there are some 'white box' valves that are pure CRAP. Examples are exhaust valves that are solid inconel and completely non-magnetic... no chrome-moly stems means the stem prematurely wears... and then, the Chinese valves that break off at the keepers... we do not install junk or reuse bad parts.
And when we recondition valves, we dress the tulip of the valve so that it is very smooth and transitions well. We reuse VW valves as often as reasonably possible, as they are superior to many of the aftermarket valves. There are valves that the tulip is very rough and the design of the seat has a lip that is taller than the tulip. It's just one of the cheap, poorly-made aftermarket valves. The original valves are worth the consideration to keep in service. So, to settle reconditioning cost per valve, it's $5... and if we replace valves, they are not ones that break off at the keepers, or look like cheap junk.
Unfortunately, Taylor, if you read back on what happened in June 2013, we feel that not only you, but I fell into the trap, and I helped spring it. Because of your hard feelings, we refunded. I have many that refute your opinion. I only know I often have found engines melted and pistons cracked from over-fueling injectors. We have the names and the incidents to whom this event has occurred.
I'd port, install a Stage II cam, I think the BRM style piston is lighter and would be a better fit to a PD rod, and you should consider some of our cylinder/ piston reconditioning techniques. It's cheaper, less time and cutting-edge technology, applied.
We have built plenty of engines with your exact needs in mind, which by the way, stay together. You can keep your opinion of me, if that is what you feel is appropriate. But if you look logically, even in just this thread, there a number who believe in me, and I appreciate them saying so.
Besides the things I know here, we are breaking new ground on some great piston treatments that save a lot of work, save pistons and reduce down-time and expense. There are new methods we are using that can reduce the labor, help make existing pistons reusable, reduce overall time and cost for the rebuild. But you would have to change your mind about me.
Good luck with your build. I hope you have no troubles with this 'easy' engine. I am not your enemy, nor did I ever tell you anything but the truth.
I only know that we regularly fix the mistakes made by other shops. And the reason is, the TDI is an engine with very specific idiosyncrasies that we very well understand.
Here are a few reasons customers find our work to be superior. 1)We always torque-plate a cylinder head when honing. 2)We balance rotating assemblies. 3)We particularly re-balance flywheels, because we find the 'factory' job is not all that good. 4)The deck height job we do is very accurate and we find this is often done incorrectly. 5)Head studs are needed only if the issue is excessive boost and high horsepower requirements. 6) We use name-brand parts, from known quality vendors. 7) We use cutting-edge technologies for improved ring sealing and piston treatments. 8) I don't know how others get away with it, but honing a re-ring job is necessary, as without doing so, the cylinders are glazed and the rings take forever to break-in. 9) We work very tight tolerances, which is our craftsmanship 10) We have tricks we do on cylinder heads that others have not even considered. 11) We are well ahead of the curve on many building techniques.
As example against the need for head studs, I notice FTB agrees. He and I don't always agree, but I respect his opinion. However, at 200hp, and that is not what I would call a 'small build; we usually include the ARP's.
PD 100 rods against ASV pistons would not be the choice for me, although it has been done. Beveled rod against a straight wrist pin... and the ASV's usually demand decking the block.
I will warn, it's usually not just the head warped lengthwise and a mutually warped set of cam journals, there are few machinists with the proper tooling to correct that. On an overheat, the block is warped the opposite way; in a valley. Correcting the block decking regularly creates a piston protrusion error.
To correct the misinformation (which I looked again and now do not see it), the stock exhaust valves in a TDI are not sodium filled. They are Iconel heads against Chrome-Moly stems. The durability of the OEM valves is what I would call legendary. Of the 1,000's of cylinder heads we have reconditioned, I would say the average head had at least 1/2 of the valves reinstalled. We consider our build's average life expectancy to be 250,000 more miles. So, continued use of an OEM valve is really not a problem. When we judge a valve good, it's good.
There are some poor quality aftermarket valves. We have felt the heat about naming particular brands that we consider sub-par, so we will not do that. But we know there are some 'white box' valves that are pure CRAP. Examples are exhaust valves that are solid inconel and completely non-magnetic... no chrome-moly stems means the stem prematurely wears... and then, the Chinese valves that break off at the keepers... we do not install junk or reuse bad parts.
And when we recondition valves, we dress the tulip of the valve so that it is very smooth and transitions well. We reuse VW valves as often as reasonably possible, as they are superior to many of the aftermarket valves. There are valves that the tulip is very rough and the design of the seat has a lip that is taller than the tulip. It's just one of the cheap, poorly-made aftermarket valves. The original valves are worth the consideration to keep in service. So, to settle reconditioning cost per valve, it's $5... and if we replace valves, they are not ones that break off at the keepers, or look like cheap junk.
Unfortunately, Taylor, if you read back on what happened in June 2013, we feel that not only you, but I fell into the trap, and I helped spring it. Because of your hard feelings, we refunded. I have many that refute your opinion. I only know I often have found engines melted and pistons cracked from over-fueling injectors. We have the names and the incidents to whom this event has occurred.
I'd port, install a Stage II cam, I think the BRM style piston is lighter and would be a better fit to a PD rod, and you should consider some of our cylinder/ piston reconditioning techniques. It's cheaper, less time and cutting-edge technology, applied.
We have built plenty of engines with your exact needs in mind, which by the way, stay together. You can keep your opinion of me, if that is what you feel is appropriate. But if you look logically, even in just this thread, there a number who believe in me, and I appreciate them saying so.
Besides the things I know here, we are breaking new ground on some great piston treatments that save a lot of work, save pistons and reduce down-time and expense. There are new methods we are using that can reduce the labor, help make existing pistons reusable, reduce overall time and cost for the rebuild. But you would have to change your mind about me.
Good luck with your build. I hope you have no troubles with this 'easy' engine. I am not your enemy, nor did I ever tell you anything but the truth.
