Ricky@Race-Tech

This is going slightly of topic, i'm not sure if mods want to remove but it might help some people. I've no idea about the "large chunk of metal missing". The flange is alluminium, not the hardest of materials but it would take some force to do that. Remember the car was mapped once already, and I assume, didn't have an issue in this area. Therefore I am completely baffled how anything could affect the flange while it was still bolted to the car? Also if the flange wasn't flat, why didn't this cause an issue from the start? Why wasn't it noticed the first time it was mapped? As for the gasket, actual yes phenolic material is used often, it is much cheaper than PTFE. PTFE has a melting point of over 300 degrees (closer to 400 for the actual composition we use) It is a better insulator, it also doesn't required another secondary gasket to be used either side. Therefore I cannot see a single negative other than cost. Our gaskets are a similar price to people selling phonolic gaskets so therefore IMO they win in all area's. If anybody required we can make a phonolic gasket for approx 75% of the cost of our normal items. Regards Ricky

Hello, Right, so the issues that were causing the problem turned out to not fix it. It seems to me like the problem wasn't noticed to be the intake gasket until they realised it was one of ours? BOTH the cold start issue you had and idle issue are fixed in the map. The car no longer has an IACV so you wouldn't experiance "hunting" from a vacuum leak! Please return the gasket, i'll inspect it and refund if there is an issue. Your intake was covered under a warranty. If there were issues, why weren't they noticed upon fitting the first time around? Or the second time? I'm sorry, but when investigating a vacuum leak, who doesn't inspect the gasket first? Come on? You wrote "the TPS didn't sit in the bracket sometimes" I said, "how could it sometimes sit in the bracket", meaning; 'how does it sometimes not sit in the bracket?' It either does or it doesn't. It wasn't fitted, shimmed or bolted on by us, so i cannot comment. But we use the same item and don't have any issues. We have another couple of topmount turbo kits here, Both have fairly bad shortfalls, but this isn't the place to discuss that. You haven't asked me or told me about any of the issues. You just ranted off on here about how "bad" we are. For what, to me looks like a lot of instal issues or book passing. I don't intend to post on here again. If you actual want help with anything give me a call or send me a PM.

From what I have read we are talking about bolts coming loose and an intake manifold gasket thats is "faulty". Remember, we didn't tighten the bolts and i'll wait to receive the intake manifold gasket back to see what/if any issue is there. Matt sent me a PM at the same time as posting on here asking for a refund on the gasket. To which i've replied and will if it is returned and is indeed faulty.

Hang on a minute. It sounds like all your errors could be avoided. The intake was removed and pressure tested and a leak was found you say? Then it was put back on and the problem was still there? What made you/them look at the intake and NOT the gasket? Our intake manifold gaskets are PTFE, which is the best material you can use. The perform better than all the harder cheaper thermo plastic gaskets we tested against. In both sealing and insulation. The downsiide is its hard for us to cut and isn't cheap. But we stick to it because its the best. What you are saying here is the inlet was removed then refitted and the gasket was "laughed at" but only the second time around, why was it ever refitted? Vbands on the external wastegate don't make the seal, the valve seat does. I've never actually seen a leak here. What was done to make it seal? The Vband that came off? How did that happen? If it was tight? More to the point. How did you not notice it? The noise must have been horrendous. The TPS doesn't sit in the bracket "sometimes" how can this happen? What TPS is being used? Can you find a better turbo kit and intake for the Starlets? It seems strange you have wanted to slag off us/our products for the last few months. Yet when we offered for you to look over it, it was declined.

The excess heat and burning oil would cause an issue to the engine. The turbo isn't designed to run without a water supply.

Agree 100% here.

You called me on a Sunday afternoon, (if I remember correctly) shouting the odds and saying things you probably wouldn't say in person. Obviously there was nothing I could do to help you at the time, so told you to calm down and send the manifold back the following day. I didn't say it was to be expected, I said it sounded like you had a high EGT problem, and I wouldn't recommend running a TD04 at high boost for extended periods on track. You declined my offer, did you carry on using the manifold?

Sorry to quote you directly but what you are saying isn't true at all. The cooling circuit on a turbo doesn't cool the turbo much during the running. (the oil does most of the cooling, so the engine would get warm anyway) What the water lines are there for is to keep the turbo cool AFTER the engine is turned off. To stop the oil burning and causing issues with the turbo.

It is an old, Used intake. Most were custom made so it will have had a different temp sensor. As said, either relocate. Send it to us etc.

What sensor are you using and what seal?

You need it. Best place is boost pipe just before the throttle body. But if it was a standard off the shelf intake it should have the provision for the sensor. What is stopping you putting it in the intake?