Tig welding 4047 on block

fmorelli

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Aug 11, 2017
3,748
3,592
0
57
Virginia
Ride
E89 Z4 35i, F10 535d
Glad to hear the JB Weld is holding. My experience has been that works better in situations like this one than one would typically imagine.

On the valve cover .... ouch ... is this a common problem with the VTT cast aluminum cover? Seems they wouldn't be selling weeping valve covers as a business model.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RuskiRacer

RuskiRacer

Captain
Jul 17, 2019
1,209
757
0
Ride
2009 e93 335i
Glad to hear the JB Weld is holding. My experience has been that works better in situations like this one than one would typically imagine.

On the valve cover .... ouch ... is this a common problem with the VTT cast aluminum cover? Seems they wouldn't be selling weeping valve covers as a business model.
I'm glad to see the jb weld is holding up. I have a customer with a motor that is stress cracked i belive so I'm gonna attempt a similar fix.
 

shushikiary

Sergeant
Jun 4, 2018
304
173
0
Ride
335xi
Not leak, seep. The oil goes through the pores of the aluminum and makes the surface slightly oily and look wet. It's a very slow process, it takes weeks to get enough oil for it to drip at all.

It's a classic problem for cast aluminum valve covers going back to even the hot rod days. It's why glyptal was made in the first place.
 

RuskiRacer

Captain
Jul 17, 2019
1,209
757
0
Ride
2009 e93 335i
I have a set of cast aluminum, polished valve covers on a SBC.
NEVER has it seeped through.
So apparently, they do not all seep.
Wonder what the difference is ? Thickness perhaps ?
Or quality of the casting. I don't think its any secret that vtt gets a majority of there products made in China
 
  • Agree
Reactions: SlowE93 and Torgus

Torgus

Brigadier General
Nov 6, 2016
2,671
2,194
0
Boston
Ride
ACF 6466 E92 + METH
Glad to hear the JB Weld is holding. My experience has been that works better in situations like this one than one would typically imagine.

On the valve cover .... ouch ... is this a common problem with the VTT cast aluminum cover? Seems they wouldn't be selling weeping valve covers as a business model.

Almost every VTT part seems to have 'issues' to some degree. FFIM manifold has issues, dual hpfp has issues, lots of complaints about leaking valve covers, their turbos, list goes on.

Selling subpar products and then blaming the customer for the install is their buisness model as far as I can tell.

Just a distributor of cheap Chinese knock off parts etc.

With all the threads you have moved to the Octagon about VTT you surely know this ;)

You all healthy again from the Covid?
 

Torgus

Brigadier General
Nov 6, 2016
2,671
2,194
0
Boston
Ride
ACF 6466 E92 + METH
Also, most cars have cast rearends. My cars....Not 1 seeps oil.
So thickness, or quality of cast ?

And zero quality control @VTT. When you order the cheapest stuff from China and then put on a 40% margin this kind of stuff tends to happen.

China is notorious for this shit. You can get great quality products made there but you have to pay for it. When another china cast vendor offers you the same cast VC for 1/2 the price but with shit quality control but your margins increase 20% a greedy company compromises on quality for margin.

VTT return policy: if you install it you can't return it. You don't know about the shitty fitment or quality of their products until you install and find out the issues. At this point it is your problem not theirs. Blame the customer 100% seems to be their customer service model. You used the wrong oil, warranty declined, you installed it yourself, warranty declined etc. Remember when vtt was going to require you to send in a Blackstone oil report before you could get a warranty replacement? The only reason you do this is to make returns cost more, take longer, and easier to deny. God forbid you did an oil change and did not send it to Blackstone. Warranty denied!

Why people are surprised at VTTs quality this many years later is beyond me. They have had bad quality and CS since day 1. Things only got worse when they outsourced everything to China and just became a Chinese distributor of cheap parts with high margins. What a great American company.
 
Last edited:

RuskiRacer

Captain
Jul 17, 2019
1,209
757
0
Ride
2009 e93 335i
And zero quality control @VTT. When you order the cheapest stuff from China and then put on a 40% margin this kind of stuff tends to happen.

China is notorious for this shit. You can get great quality products made there but you have to pay for it. When another china cast vendor offers you the same cast VC for 1/2 the price but with shit quality control but your margins increase 20% a greedy company compromises on quality for margin.

VTT return policy: if you install it you can't return it. You don't know about the shitty fitment or quality of their products until you install and find out the issues.
Vtts best product is probably there billet valve cover. Maybe thats not made in China
 
  • Funny
Reactions: SlowE93

SlowE93

Major
Jul 2, 2017
1,648
1
954
0
Just a plane ticket away !
Ride
E93
And zero quality control @VTT. When you order the cheapest stuff from China and then put on a 40% margin this kind of stuff tends to happen.

China is notorious for this shit. You can get great quality products made there but you have to pay for it. When another china cast vendor offers you the same cast VC for 1/2 the price but with shit quality control but your margins increase 20% a greedy company compromises on quality for margin.

VTT return policy: if you install it you can't return it. You don't know about the shitty fitment or quality of their products until you install and find out the issues. At this point it is your problem not theirs. Blame the customer 100% seems to be their customer service model. You used the wrong oil, warranty declined, you installed it yourself, warranty declined etc. Remember when vtt was going to require you to send in a Blackstone oil report before you could get a warranty replacement? The only reason you do this is to make returns cost more, take longer, and easier to deny. God forbid you did an oil change and did not send it to Blackstone. Warranty denied!

Why people are surprised at VTTs quality this many years later is beyond me. They have had bad quality and CS since day 1. Things only got worse when they outsourced everything to China and just became a Chinese distributor of cheap parts with high margins. What a great American company.
Not surprised here.
However, I am surprised their CBC works so well.
😐 at least 1 guy I know of says this.🙄
 
  • Funny
Reactions: wheela

Torgus

Brigadier General
Nov 6, 2016
2,671
2,194
0
Boston
Ride
ACF 6466 E92 + METH
Vtts best product is probably there billet valve cover. Maybe thats not made in China

Likely. You can hopefully only fuck up so much right? VTT has moved on to newer platforms and is fleecing them. N54 is old news. Time to fleece newer owners of newer cars who have more money and are less likely to complain.

It is hard to see a casted VC is not 100% flush unless you look for it and not off by a degree or two which could lead to a gasket leak, a hairline crack when tightening to torque spec, or the casting is of such low quality that oil can seep through the casting(which is bonkers). It is very probable to get 4 good sand castings and 1 bad. This is why you have a QC department which does an incoming QC check on all deliveries of components. This is standard manufacturing practices 101. Every product has an initial QC step even down to the simplest component. It can be quick in the terms of a VC or many other parts. But why do that when you can import a pallets of Chinesum cast turbos etc. with your logo and sell for a healthy margin.

If I owned a company importing Chinesum twin turbos at the least: Balance them in the states with correct graphs to prove the balancing and make sure the wastegates are set correctly. This would likely fix many of the issues. Or you know have someone like DAW who has been proven to be using fake balance sheets, stolen warranty language, etc. Just to give one example.

At the end of the day it is a MHI turbo design made for a 10T wheel. People stuff a 20t in basically the same housing. Some still use the same bearings etc. made for a 10t on a 20t which weighs much more etc. At least use TD04 internals vs TD03 etc.

Blah blah blah
 
Last edited:

RuskiRacer

Captain
Jul 17, 2019
1,209
757
0
Ride
2009 e93 335i
The crack on one of my customers blocks
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20220426-072819_Video Player.jpg
    Screenshot_20220426-072819_Video Player.jpg
    92.6 KB · Views: 27