First off I'd like to point out I have nothing against RB or his business. In fact I would like to mention that once I got his N54 External PCV Kit (See here) my car went from clouds of smoke to barely anything visible—see my post Huge Clouds of Smoke After Turbo Swap. Rob also has great customer service.
I am aware that no kit is perfect, but I gotta say that his High Flow Oil Drains (HFOD from here on out) disappointed me a little bit.
A few weeks back I got a PM by a member on this forum linking me to his YouTube channel where he reviews Rob's HFODs advising me against them. At that point however I had already placed my order so I awaited eagerly with my car still on jack stands to see if I could make them fit.
I got my package in the mail and my initial impressions were that it wasn't bad, although for the price ($190) I sort of expected a bit more.
Package contents: Two ziplock bags with 2 aluminum fittings, 1 hose, 1 heat shield and 2 clamps each with "R" and "F" written in Sharpie marker for Rear Turbo and Front Turbo.
Additionally, the package includes instructions that specify that "some grinding may be needed" in order to make the front oil drain fit...I would expect some fabrication needed for an eBay 40 bucks solution but not for a $150+ part which I think could've been better engineered.
Anyways, on to the install.
I knew that the clamps were going to be a pain to install as Rob provides similar style hose clamps for both his PCV kit and the HFOD kit, but that was ok.
The rear HFOD came on after 30-45 mins — the fitment is extremely tight. Be ready to have your thumbs hurting for days as you have to bend the provided hose from the turbo to the oil pan and there's little room to play with, but we all know how BMWs are, everything is annoyingly tight.
After spending the rest of the day (from around 10ish until 6PM) trying to make the front HFOD fit to no avail, I emailed Rob and gave up.
Having the great customer service that Rob has, he emailed me within the hour with some advice on the coolant line that the drain needed to clear but I tried it and it didn’t work.
Also, I don’t see how the threaded rod and nut provided would screw onto the turbo since the nut would screw to the rod first. Just poor design in my opinion.
I proceeded to order the OEM $90+ part from ECS tuning, installed it and no more smoke.
The Aftermath
After a long rant, Rob said he would reimburse $50 and “toss the [front drain] in the trash” upon return.
In Short
I had a fitment issue with my (per Rob’s description) Alibaba-China cast DAW turbos but like I pointed out to RB, it does seem like it is more of a design issue as the person who PM’d me previously had a problem with his Pure 600s.
RB claimed via email that these HFODs are supposed to and do fit OEM turbos, but in my opinion, if you have an OEM turbo you're probably okay with the OEM drains.
The Good
I ran my car with just the Rear HFOD and ZERO SMOKE from the rear turbo. If you see in my other post in the video of my smoking turbos, my main issue was with the REAR turbo, it wasn't draining properly which RB's drain fixed 100%.
Rob's excellent customer service.
Rob's agreement to refund me 50 bucks (it's somethin').
The Bad
The front drain is plain and simple poorly designed. It doesn't clear the coolant line.
The Ugly
$190. Though I am sure you can email Rob and ask to only get the rear drain. I don't know. Maybe?
I am aware that no kit is perfect, but I gotta say that his High Flow Oil Drains (HFOD from here on out) disappointed me a little bit.
A few weeks back I got a PM by a member on this forum linking me to his YouTube channel where he reviews Rob's HFODs advising me against them. At that point however I had already placed my order so I awaited eagerly with my car still on jack stands to see if I could make them fit.
I got my package in the mail and my initial impressions were that it wasn't bad, although for the price ($190) I sort of expected a bit more.
Package contents: Two ziplock bags with 2 aluminum fittings, 1 hose, 1 heat shield and 2 clamps each with "R" and "F" written in Sharpie marker for Rear Turbo and Front Turbo.
Additionally, the package includes instructions that specify that "some grinding may be needed" in order to make the front oil drain fit...I would expect some fabrication needed for an eBay 40 bucks solution but not for a $150+ part which I think could've been better engineered.
Anyways, on to the install.
I knew that the clamps were going to be a pain to install as Rob provides similar style hose clamps for both his PCV kit and the HFOD kit, but that was ok.
The rear HFOD came on after 30-45 mins — the fitment is extremely tight. Be ready to have your thumbs hurting for days as you have to bend the provided hose from the turbo to the oil pan and there's little room to play with, but we all know how BMWs are, everything is annoyingly tight.
After spending the rest of the day (from around 10ish until 6PM) trying to make the front HFOD fit to no avail, I emailed Rob and gave up.
Having the great customer service that Rob has, he emailed me within the hour with some advice on the coolant line that the drain needed to clear but I tried it and it didn’t work.
Also, I don’t see how the threaded rod and nut provided would screw onto the turbo since the nut would screw to the rod first. Just poor design in my opinion.
I proceeded to order the OEM $90+ part from ECS tuning, installed it and no more smoke.
The Aftermath
After a long rant, Rob said he would reimburse $50 and “toss the [front drain] in the trash” upon return.
In Short
I had a fitment issue with my (per Rob’s description) Alibaba-China cast DAW turbos but like I pointed out to RB, it does seem like it is more of a design issue as the person who PM’d me previously had a problem with his Pure 600s.
RB claimed via email that these HFODs are supposed to and do fit OEM turbos, but in my opinion, if you have an OEM turbo you're probably okay with the OEM drains.
The Good
I ran my car with just the Rear HFOD and ZERO SMOKE from the rear turbo. If you see in my other post in the video of my smoking turbos, my main issue was with the REAR turbo, it wasn't draining properly which RB's drain fixed 100%.
Rob's excellent customer service.
Rob's agreement to refund me 50 bucks (it's somethin').
The Bad
The front drain is plain and simple poorly designed. It doesn't clear the coolant line.
The Ugly
$190. Though I am sure you can email Rob and ask to only get the rear drain. I don't know. Maybe?
