My Journey with VF - The TRUTH

[mspiredm3]

Oh boy oh boy, where do I start!

Note, I am not a human calendar, so some of the exact timing on things might be slightly off, but you get the idea.

FIRST STOCK MOTOR

So, I switched from my AA kit over to VF's 2.5 kit. VF installed the kit and ran it on their dyno. I was there the first time it was being dyno'd and I was being very active with the dyno session, making sure things were looking good, ect. I saw the AFR's were in the low to mid 12's right off the bat (verified by both the sniffer and my own in car wideband) and mentioned it to Nik right away, in which he replied that it's fine, I actually pressed this issue a few times and was assured that it was fine over and over again. Boost was only supposed to be at 10psi or so, as per Drew's stage 2.5 kit and results, and based on what Nik had told me, but my boost was showing 12+psi! (Verified both with the dyno's boost meter and my own in car gauge). Others than have since "upgraded" from to the T-Trim blower have also seen 11.5-12.5psi, instead of the 10psi it "should be". Again, Nik said this was ok. The meth was not hooked up AND NIK KNEW THIS. At this point, I had no reason not to trust VF and Nik, so I went on my way. I drove the car for a while, and it performed very good and was very fast.

A week or two later, I returned to VF to do dyno tests with race gas, to see what it would do, and to help promote the kit. During this trip, as I was chit chatting with Nik, I asked him how he was going to market this new stage 2.5 kit, if it would be sold with a meth kit or not, and he stated that there was no need as my car was "running fine". Again the car was strapped to their dyno, showed the same dangerous low to mid 12 AFR's (some where even on the high end of 12's IIRC), and again I showed my concern about this to Nik, and again I was assured it was OK.

A few weeks later I attended a track event at Famoso Raceway. Right off the bat, I noticed how extremely low my traps were; somewhere around 110MPH IIRC. Drew was there with his Stage 2.5 e46, and he was trapping over 122MPH. After a few attempts down the track, the low oil level sensor came on. I popped the hood, and guess what, oil all over place! At first, I didn't even want to believe the motor was gone/blown. The first things that came to mind were either it was extreme oil blow by, or a blown supercharger.

I was obviously wrong...

After the track event, I immediately visit VF to help diagnose the problem and see what's up. Compression wasn't too bad, 4 pistons showed decent numbers, but 2 pistons showed higher numbers. I can try to find the exact numbers if needed. In the next couple weeks, I talk to many people, do some tests (install oil catch can), and try to get advice on what is actually wrong. Finally, Nik tells me it has to be the rings/ring lands, and that I'm probably going to have to rebuild the motor. Great!

"Nik, what are you going to do for me now?"

This is where Nik starts to create a stage 3 kit. He offers me all the parts at "cost" and a "reduced rate" for labor. I agree to this, but I really shouldn't have; VF caused the motor failure and should have had to eat some costs for their mistakes. I later find out that other people that have "upgraded" to the stage 3 kit have paid the same price I did, so I wasn't really getting a better deal since VF had blown my original stock motor.

SECOND MOTOR BUILD

VF wasn't able to start on the stage 3 build right away because the tech they hired to build the motor had started on building 2 other motors. One being another stage 3 (which had it's fair share of problems, but I wont get into that as it is not my place), the other being Tom Pham's blown stock motor, which was being built back to stock spec. A good few weeks later, I drop my car off at VF for them to start on the motor build. The build takes about 2 months or so, which is a very long time for what is being done. I am told that the tune used will be the same tune that was created for the custom Evosport car they had done a while ago. (which used different compression ratio pistons, and diff brand items as well, not to mention a built head)

I go pick the car up and am instructed to baby it and break it in for 500 miles. The carat this time, is running the stock crank pulley and the normal stage 2 pulley on the T-Trim supercharger (same 12psi). I am told the car has the standard stage 2 software on it as well. This is the setup I was told to break the motor in with. So, I leave VF, and I'm actually very surprised how well the car is driving considering it was still the stage 2 tune.

The VERY NEXT DAY, I start seeing slight signs on white smoke exiting the exhaust. I think nothing of it, and figure the motor just needs to be broken in and things need to just fall into place. The following day, while starting my car, a very big puff of white smoke exits the exhaust for a good 10 seconds. I call Nik to tell him about the smoke and he tells me that it probably just needs more break in miles, and not to worry. The white smoke issue continues to gradually get worse as the miles get racked on. Keep in mind I am babying the car***8230; I call Nik once again to express my concern about the smoke, and again I am told not to worry. Within these 400 miles, I check my oil level and IIRC I had to add about ¾ quart of oil.

After putting about 400 miles on the car, I head to VF to drop off the car so they can update the tune, install the larger fuel pump, and larger crank pulley (to bring the blower to 15psi). On my way to drop the car off, my buddy/ride is following me, and see's the white smoke blowing from my car. He calls me and expresses his concerns, so I push the car a LITTLE harder (take it to 3psi max) so that he can see how bad the smoke is while driving behind me. It's BAD! I can even see it in my rear view mirror!

I arrive at VF and am very worried and express this to Nik. He assures me it's probably nothing, and that the motor just needs time to break in.

REALLY NIK? A blind man would have known right there and then that the head gasket was blown!!! Why didn't you try smelling the exhaust smoke to see if it had that sweet smelling scent to it that burning coolant smells like? Why didn't you do a leakdown test? Why didn't you check the coolant level?

Anyways, it takes VF another 2 weeks or so to put on all the remaining stage 3 components on and strap it to their dyno (which the car was in no condition to start with). From what I am told by Nik himself, he dyno's the car back to back, playing with different size pulley's, checking things, ect, ect. The car actually makes a decent 560rwhp at 15psi. I am told that when pushing the car to 19psi, the power stopped climbing, which was most likely due to the T-Trim being maxed out and being out of it's efficiency range. So he settled at 15psi.

I am told to come pick the car up the next day. I call Nik to come pick up the car, and he says he did some more dyno's this morning and the car was smoking pretty bad, so give him a couple days to see what's going on.

A couple days later I am told to come pick up my car, and that the smoke is again most likely due to the car needing more break in miles. I picked the car up as per their request, and was told to baby it a little bit longer and see if the smoke issue went away. From the moment I picked it up, the car was smoking worse than when I had dropped it off. Ten miles after I picked it up and was babying it down the freeway, the smoke continuously got worse, and enormous clouds of smoke were starting to exit the exhaust. The low coolant indicator lamp lit up and the water temp rose steadily. I do not recall if the oil temps rose or not, but I think they slightly did as well. I pulled over immediately and shut down, popped the hood and saw that the coolant level was non existent, and the oil dipstick showed the famous "milkshake". I call Nik, and explained to him the symptoms; he finally agrees the head gasket is gone.

The car returns to VF and inspected, ect. Nik then comes up with this T-Fitting excuse; trying to pass the blame and swindle his was out of having to rebuild the motor.

Now this is where you start to see Nik's true colors. Nik states that the small T-fitting on the fuel line caused the lean condition, chipped a piston, and blew the head gasket. Please tell me how that is possible, even with a smaller T-fitting, when the car didn't even see one single PSI, and began to smoke from day one? That is IMPOSSIBLE! There is no way to have detonation and lean conditions when the car was BABIED and saw no boost, very little load, and under 3500RPM in order to follow the break in procedure. The motor didn't see anything more than .5psi (That's half a PSI), and believe me, I was pressing my max value button on my Defi gauges like every 3 minutes to make sure I wasn't hitting ANY boost.

(By the way, from what I remember the T-fitting was not smaller than the fuel line, for all I know VF changed this to try to make an excuse to get out it. But we will never know. (From the bottom of my heart I would not put this past them at alll)

I explain all of the above to Nik, and he finally agrees that the head gasket was most likely installed incorrectly (he actually tells me that he thinks the tech used too much copper sealant on the head gasket, which is what caused the failure). At first he tells me that he will have VAC rebuild the motor, but then backs out of that because it would cost him too much. I believe he told me this at first in an effort to alleviate my initial anger and concern, knowing that I would 100% trust a motor built by VAC.

THE THIRD MOTOR

A company called Ronin starts working on the third motor build. Nik assures me that they know what they are doing, and have built a few motors in the past. The build takes another few months.

Ronin pulls the head off first to see what's going on inside, and to see if they really need to pull the engine and do a rebuild. At first I am told by Nik that the motor is "partially hydro locked", that one of the CP pistons had a chip in it, and the head gasket was history. Great!

A few weeks later Ronis starts on rebuilding the motor, Nik tells me he will have them use brand new CP pistons and the old ones will not be used just to be on the safe side (lie? Who knows). The build takes another few months. I instruct VF to drive the car for a little while, and to make sure things are ok before I make yet another trip down there. While VF is putting some miles on the car, the CEL comes on and throws Vanos codes. Nik calls me, tells me he is sending the car back to Ronin to check it out. Supposedly Ronin takes the Vanos apart and finds milkshake sludge in there and cleans it out.

I am told to come pick up the car, and that it is running fine. I pick up the car and start the break in procedure again. Within the first 100 miles, the Vanos code returns. The car runs like complete **** the whole time with AFR's are all over the place. Extremely rich on any start ups and when coming to a stop; I'm talking low 10:1 AFR's! This is with their "stage 3 tune" too. I tell Nik about it and he says not to worry, he will fix it after I break it in and bring it back to him. This time, I break in the motor with over 1100 miles before I visit VF to have everything checked out and to run some dyno's.

First, me and Jeff Moss (VF's in house tech) take the car for a road test, monitoring fuel pressure, tracking the Vanos to make sure it is reacting to spec, and monitoring AFR. I was in charge of only monitoring AFR, while Jeff was in charge of monitoring the GT1 tool being used to track the Vanos, and the fuel pressure. During these road tests, I AGAIN see AFR's in the low to high 12's! Me and Jeff discuss this and even he assures me that that is a fine AFR. I wasn't able to see the fuel pressure or the GT1 tool, but Jeff tells me those both check out fine.

I get back to the shop and AGAIN express my concern about the AFR's to Nik, and AGAIN I am told that the AFR's are fine, and nothing to worry about!!!!!

The car is strapped to the dyno and puts out very weak results, somewhere around 450rwhp. The graph looks on point for most the RPM range, but then flattens out around 6000RPM. Again AFR's are in the low to high 12's, and again I bring this up to both Nik and Jeff, and again they say it is fine and to stop worrying! Jeff thinks it's probably due to a obstruction in the exhaust and instructs another tech to start taking apart the exhaust system. LMAO, the car is losing 100rwhp up top from an exhaust restriction that has no other symptoms?

Nik says the tune is a "low timing file" and that we should try the "high timing file". So after about 2 hours of waiting for the ECU to be "flashed", we put the car back on the dyno, and guess what, EXACT SAME RESULTS!

"What's going on Jeff?"

He can't figure it out.

It finally clicks in my head (ya, I can be slow sometimes, lol) that the only answer is that something is wrong with the Vanos. I mention this to Jeff and he agrees. Funny how the customer knows more than the "tuner" sometimes***8230;

By this time, Nik has left the shop, so Jeff calls him for instructions on how to proceed with my car. Nik tells him that I should come back in 3-4 weeks, because they are booked. Really?!?!?! After all I've you've put me through, you aren't going to make me a prority?!?!? I call Nik a couple of times to express my anger (just moments after Jeff talks to him) and he fails to answer. I offer to leave my car there, so that I don't have to make yet another trip down there, and they straight up deny me!

From this moment on, I am done with VF in my mind and heart. I am furious and have given up on them. Aren't I patient? I think most people would have flipped a lid months ago.

This new "high timing file" makes my car run even worse! The car struggles to idle, dies coming to a stop, and all the other problems I had with the previous "tune".

I email Nik and show him my frustrations, We email back and forth, and well, that email shows SO much about Nik's character, his company, his intentions, his lies, how shady he is, ect ect. Maybe ill post this email sometime.

Anyways, Nik finally has me take my car to Southbay Autohouse, an independent Euro car mechanic to get the Vanos checked out. They don't rally do much of a diagnosis, but rather tell me that it's just better and safer to replace the Vanos (a new Vanos unit costs $2500!!). I push them to see if the Vanos is installed incorrectly, but they really just want me to replace it. So, I start talking to Dr. Vanos (really nice guy btw), instead of purchasing a new Vanos unit, I sent mine to get completely rebuilt, including a new solenoid. I had to pay for this as Nik told me he didn't have enough cash flow to keep fixing things on my car, without me paying him the remainder of what I owe him. (In the emails with Nik, I tell him that I will make NO payments to him until I have a sound and running car, I have already made a big down payment and a couple of payments)

The new Vanos was put in and I was told to come pick up the car and this is where I am now. The car's AFR's are still horrible, and I think even more lean at WOT based on pushing the car slightly to see where it stands.

Now, would you let VF touch your car after all of this? After they have blown two motors? After they repeatedly tell you that high 12:1 AFR's are ok with 91 octane and 15psi? After all the lies, shady acts, trying to bass blame, ect ect? Not to mention the things I have seen about their tuning capabilities, or lack there ok (maybe ill share those stories later as well). What about other cars that have blown their motor, even with a stage 2 kit, that no one even knows about yet, that isn't very reassuring either...

[sirzepp]

Wow....sorry man. Sounds like torture.

[MarketMaster]

sounds like a job for HPF. Have you called and talked to them?

[DIRT11]

Sounds like you trusted the wrong people.Hey I trusted the wrong people as well , although they did not blow my motor up but , who knows if I had not moved the car to AA it could of happened I am sure.One big difference you were there at the scene of the destruction while I was 750 miles from the impact zone. Sorry for your hard lesson learned.

[98 528i]

Sorry to hear about that man, it sucks putting your trust and money with someone that just doesn't care. I've been there before, and once they've got you by the balls they've got you, and they know that. I really feel when it comes down it most these guys are all the same. You should have gone with a HPF kit instead, from what I've seen at least they get their shit right the first time.

[robertyoke]

In response to this thread, I would like to address some of the points raised. I do not plan on picking through every single interaction with Mspired as I do not wish to argue over semantics seeing that our goal is to reach a solution for him. A written offer was emailed to Mspired on 12/21/09 to credit all the stage 3 work and cover the costs of an independent motor test.

In early 2009 VF built 3 motors:
1) Tom Pham from Southern California had been running our stage2 supercharger on his E46M3 and after 2-3 months experienced an engine problem. He explained that the car broke down after he continued to push the car hard despite it going into limp more than 4-5 times consecutively. During dis-assembly our tech found that the oxygen sensor wiring was extended by adding extension wire and the solder joints were loosely wrapped in electrical tape. The solder connections on one front oxygen sensor harness were shorting on each other and the other front oxygen sensor harness was not even connected. We removed the pistons and took them to CP Pistons who are 13 miles from our office and their technician confirmed the pistons had lean combustion damage. Per Tom's request we rebuilt his motor with stock pistons. 4 weeks after the car was completed and returned, Tom came back with concerns over an intermittent harsh engine vibration which was very apparent. Tom believed our engine rebuild had a problem. We performed leakdown, compression and scan tool diagnostics and road tests. After 2-3 weeks, we chose to use South Bay Autohaus for an independent opinion (a well known aftermarket performance and work shop with BMW dealer techs in Los Angeles - they recently built a low-compression M6 with twin superchargers). They immediately suggested the clutch as a potential culprit and with Tom's ok, they removed the transmission and found the clutch was separating (falling apart). They replaced his clutch assembly which resolved the engine vibration. South Bay Autohaus comp'd the work by 60% as a gesture of goodwill and Tom was pleased with the result.

2) Tony D. from Wisconsin. He had been looking for VF to add more power to his black convertible E46M3. Having run happily run our stage2 kit for almost a year and dynoing it at 470whp at his local speed shop, he shipped his car to VF in Jan 09 (6 weeks earlier than his appointment). We removed his working engine, completed the low compression rebuild (same spec as Mspired) and re-installed the engine with our stg3 upgrade components. The car dynod at 560whp on 91 and Tony flew in and drove his car home.

3) Mspired.
Mspired had been running our Stage2 kit with a T-trim supercharger upgrade but without water/meth. VF-Engineering never formally released a spec or calibration for what became known on the forums as a stage 2.5 when some enthusiasts swapped the standard Vortech S-trim supercharger for a T-trim and added water/meth injection. The effect of the T-trim was an increase in boost and power which 2-3 users such as DLSJ5, Airfrcd, had been running successfully but only in conjunction with water/meth. Currently a few others are running this setup as well. When Mspired's motor failed with the T-trim the Water Meth was not functioning, we immediately offered to rebuild it with forged internals and increase the boost as done on an Evosport E46M3 in prior which made 570whp on pump and 600whp on race gas. We offered to do this work for $5500 including all parts which was our raw cost.

We followed the same low compression build as (2) and all aspects were documented as we had in the above 2 builds. Copies of all the receipts from the machine shops for the block and cylinder head and a full clearance spec sheet was given to Mspired when he collected the car. The plan was for him to break-in the motor and repair his torn rear subframe mounts so we could then dyno the car. Due to his circumstances he was unable to return the car for 1 month. The sequence of events that followed were that his low comp engine began to emit smoke which gradually increased instead of decreasing. Our engine builder was called in and he advised to continue to drive the car and suspected that the rings needed more time to seal. In hindsight, it may have been a better choice for us to have broken the motor in without the 8psi stage2 system in place or pulled the head immediately. The engine failed soon after dynoing the car (560whp on 91). The wideband in the car was not used for reference and was not functioning until after the low-comp engine was rebuilt. References to AFR that have been made, I believe are from our Dynojet "sniffer" which we use as reference only and do no longer publish AFR data from it. The Dynojet "sniffer" is widely known to be 0.50 to 0.75 of a point leaner than the actual AFR after the cat. So what is 12.5 AFR on the Dynojet sniffer is typically 11.75 -12.0 AFR. Some may confuse this with a wide band reading before the cat but Mspired's car I believe runs catless.

I have given my explanation of our observations in MSpired's previous thread about the engine failures, but this was interpreted as VF putting the blame on Mspired in both cases. If you re-read it, you may note that it is purely stating what we found to have caused the failures, the stock motor went because the WM unit was not working. When the low comp engine failed we chose to have it inspected and rebuilt independently and used Ronin Automotive as they are an established and experienced service provider. At no time was Mspired asked to pay for this rebuild.

Ronin Automotive leaked tested and advised the head gasket had been breached. Upon removal, there were 3-4 breaches (2 mm breaks in the 0-seal around the cylinder allowing water to enter cylinders) initially we suspected hydrolock but there were no symptoms of this and the motor did not seize up (bend valves etc). 2-3 cylinders did have a small amount of coolant sitting in them but that was from when the head was removed. The piston tops had very minor damage but at that point, it was decided to do a full rebuild. VF supplied new CP Pistons which come with new rings, gaskets, etc and the motor was fully rebuilt (Ronin used their machine shop vendor to have the block tested and head pressure tested - the cylinder walls were not damaged and the block was re-prepped and head pressure tested which VF paid for in full.

During the rebuild at Ronin Automotive their technician found the T-fitting which is 4mm ID that was in the stock 7mm fuel line and it is not ficticious. When I mentioned that we found this fitting, Mspired felt that we were outright placing the blame on him and even though I explicitly told him "I am not blaming the motor failure on you and I will rebuild it at my cost". He has kept it in his mind that we are blaming him. In hindsight, had we found it during the first low comp build we may only have had to replace the head gasket which did not seal properly. Nonetheless VF paid for all the labor and new parts for the full rebuild.

Currently the car has an error for Vanos correlation and we again chose to have this independently rectified by South Bay Autohaus. They re-indexed the cam timing and refitted the rebuilt Vanos. Mspired collected the car 2 weeks ago and 4 days later the Vanos code came back and we received a call from him, that "he was done". South Bay Autohaus have left voicemail for Mspired offering to rectify the issue and VF has offered to cover this cost and stated this in writing.

In hindsight this has been a poor sequence of events combined with perpetuating lies/rumors about VF software and "VF being sold" being mixed into the issue. VF Engineering has sold in excess of 300 units for the E46 M3 and with volume and doubling power levels, technical issues come with the territory. VF-Eng has been creating supercharger systems for 10 years in California, and we have a strong track record for reliability with several thousand systems in use. It would not be accurate or fair to depict the credibility/character of VF-Engineering under a dark cloud based solely on one case.

The fine details are between MSpired and VF and Mspired had been sent a written apology and offer for full refund and costs for inspection/diagnostics prior to this thread starting. I know that VF could have handled the situation differently and many lessons have been learned. VF have stepped up each time to cover costs and have offered to credit Mspired back for all the motor work entirely before this thread was started. Mspired has been very reasonable and never once threatened us to "go to the forums". He has been a gentleman. VF want to resolve the issue which is not something we are proud and neither something that has happened before. We hope that the community and Mspired can forgive us for the time this has taken and that we can start to rebuild our relationship.

Wishing you well for the Christmas Season and New Year.

Sincerely
Nik Saran

sounds like vf-e is trying to make it right

[obnoxious2]

In response to this thread, I would like to address some of the points raised. I do not plan on picking through every single interaction with Mspired as I do not wish to argue over semantics seeing that our goal is to reach a solution for him. A written offer was emailed to Mspired on 12/21/09 to credit all the stage 3 work and cover the costs of an independent motor test.

In early 2009 VF built 3 motors:
1) Tom Pham from Southern California had been running our stage2 supercharger on his E46M3 and after 2-3 months experienced an engine problem. He explained that the car broke down after he continued to push the car hard despite it going into limp more than 4-5 times consecutively. During dis-assembly our tech found that the oxygen sensor wiring was extended by adding extension wire and the solder joints were loosely wrapped in electrical tape. The solder connections on one front oxygen sensor harness were shorting on each other and the other front oxygen sensor harness was not even connected. We removed the pistons and took them to CP Pistons who are 13 miles from our office and their technician confirmed the pistons had lean combustion damage. Per Tom's request we rebuilt his motor with stock pistons. 4 weeks after the car was completed and returned, Tom came back with concerns over an intermittent harsh engine vibration which was very apparent. Tom believed our engine rebuild had a problem. We performed leakdown, compression and scan tool diagnostics and road tests. After 2-3 weeks, we chose to use South Bay Autohaus for an independent opinion (a well known aftermarket performance and work shop with BMW dealer techs in Los Angeles - they recently built a low-compression M6 with twin superchargers). They immediately suggested the clutch as a potential culprit and with Tom's ok, they removed the transmission and found the clutch was separating (falling apart). They replaced his clutch assembly which resolved the engine vibration. South Bay Autohaus comp'd the work by 60% as a gesture of goodwill and Tom was pleased with the result.

2) Tony D. from Wisconsin. He had been looking for VF to add more power to his black convertible E46M3. Having run happily run our stage2 kit for almost a year and dynoing it at 470whp at his local speed shop, he shipped his car to VF in Jan 09 (6 weeks earlier than his appointment). We removed his working engine, completed the low compression rebuild (same spec as Mspired) and re-installed the engine with our stg3 upgrade components. The car dynod at 560whp on 91 and Tony flew in and drove his car home.

3) Mspired.
Mspired had been running our Stage2 kit with a T-trim supercharger upgrade but without water/meth. VF-Engineering never formally released a spec or calibration for what became known on the forums as a stage 2.5 when some enthusiasts swapped the standard Vortech S-trim supercharger for a T-trim and added water/meth injection. The effect of the T-trim was an increase in boost and power which 2-3 users such as DLSJ5, Airfrcd, had been running successfully but only in conjunction with water/meth. Currently a few others are running this setup as well. When Mspired's motor failed with the T-trim the Water Meth was not functioning, we immediately offered to rebuild it with forged internals and increase the boost as done on an Evosport E46M3 in prior which made 570whp on pump and 600whp on race gas. We offered to do this work for $5500 including all parts which was our raw cost.

We followed the same low compression build as (2) and all aspects were documented as we had in the above 2 builds. Copies of all the receipts from the machine shops for the block and cylinder head and a full clearance spec sheet was given to Mspired when he collected the car. The plan was for him to break-in the motor and repair his torn rear subframe mounts so we could then dyno the car. Due to his circumstances he was unable to return the car for 1 month. The sequence of events that followed were that his low comp engine began to emit smoke which gradually increased instead of decreasing. Our engine builder was called in and he advised to continue to drive the car and suspected that the rings needed more time to seal. In hindsight, it may have been a better choice for us to have broken the motor in without the 8psi stage2 system in place or pulled the head immediately. The engine failed soon after dynoing the car (560whp on 91). The wideband in the car was not used for reference and was not functioning until after the low-comp engine was rebuilt. References to AFR that have been made, I believe are from our Dynojet "sniffer" which we use as reference only and do no longer publish AFR data from it. The Dynojet "sniffer" is widely known to be 0.50 to 0.75 of a point leaner than the actual AFR after the cat. So what is 12.5 AFR on the Dynojet sniffer is typically 11.75 -12.0 AFR. Some may confuse this with a wide band reading before the cat but Mspired's car I believe runs catless.

I have given my explanation of our observations in MSpired's previous thread about the engine failures, but this was interpreted as VF putting the blame on Mspired in both cases. If you re-read it, you may note that it is purely stating what we found to have caused the failures, the stock motor went because the WM unit was not working. When the low comp engine failed we chose to have it inspected and rebuilt independently and used Ronin Automotive as they are an established and experienced service provider. At no time was Mspired asked to pay for this rebuild.

Ronin Automotive leaked tested and advised the head gasket had been breached. Upon removal, there were 3-4 breaches (2 mm breaks in the 0-seal around the cylinder allowing water to enter cylinders) initially we suspected hydrolock but there were no symptoms of this and the motor did not seize up (bend valves etc). 2-3 cylinders did have a small amount of coolant sitting in them but that was from when the head was removed. The piston tops had very minor damage but at that point, it was decided to do a full rebuild. VF supplied new CP Pistons which come with new rings, gaskets, etc and the motor was fully rebuilt (Ronin used their machine shop vendor to have the block tested and head pressure tested - the cylinder walls were not damaged and the block was re-prepped and head pressure tested which VF paid for in full.

During the rebuild at Ronin Automotive their technician found the T-fitting which is 4mm ID that was in the stock 7mm fuel line and it is not ficticious. When I mentioned that we found this fitting, Mspired felt that we were outright placing the blame on him and even though I explicitly told him "I am not blaming the motor failure on you and I will rebuild it at my cost". He has kept it in his mind that we are blaming him. In hindsight, had we found it during the first low comp build we may only have had to replace the head gasket which did not seal properly. Nonetheless VF paid for all the labor and new parts for the full rebuild.

Currently the car has an error for Vanos correlation and we again chose to have this independently rectified by South Bay Autohaus. They re-indexed the cam timing and refitted the rebuilt Vanos. Mspired collected the car 2 weeks ago and 4 days later the Vanos code came back and we received a call from him, that "he was done". South Bay Autohaus have left voicemail for Mspired offering to rectify the issue and VF has offered to cover this cost and stated this in writing.

In hindsight this has been a poor sequence of events combined with perpetuating lies/rumors about VF software and "VF being sold" being mixed into the issue. VF Engineering has sold in excess of 300 units for the E46 M3 and with volume and doubling power levels, technical issues come with the territory. VF-Eng has been creating supercharger systems for 10 years in California, and we have a strong track record for reliability with several thousand systems in use. It would not be accurate or fair to depict the credibility/character of VF-Engineering under a dark cloud based solely on one case.

The fine details are between MSpired and VF and Mspired had been sent a written apology and offer for full refund and costs for inspection/diagnostics prior to this thread starting. I know that VF could have handled the situation differently and many lessons have been learned. VF have stepped up each time to cover costs and have offered to credit Mspired back for all the motor work entirely before this thread was started. Mspired has been very reasonable and never once threatened us to "go to the forums". He has been a gentleman. VF want to resolve the issue which is not something we are proud and neither something that has happened before. We hope that the community and Mspired can forgive us for the time this has taken and that we can start to rebuild our relationship.

Wishing you well for the Christmas Season and New Year.

Sincerely
Nik Saran

sounds like vf-e is trying to make it right

You know all companies are trying to bully there way around when they start quoting their numbers and how much they've sold and yadeyade crap.

You state that you have lots of customers and you HAD lots of costumers just because you guys were the first to market. Every now and then when i peruse m3forum (since you guys obviously pay off the mods to ban anyone supporting any other aftermarket company other than VFE) I still see rampant complaints about your stage 2 tuning not being perfect. And the saddest part is, you guys haven't done anything to rectify the problem let alone address it. This is why customers who buy your shitty kit still need to run over to AA to get a proper tune. This is why you are losing marketshare to AA and HPF. I want to see anyone dare buy one of your kits for the e92.

PS - Get a supporting vendor if you are who you say you are.

[a32guy]

You know all companies are trying to bully there way around when they start quoting their numbers and how much they've sold and yadeyade crap.

You state that you have lots of customers and you HAD lots of costumers just because you guys were the first to market. Every now and then when i peruse m3forum (since you guys obviously pay off the mods to ban anyone supporting any other aftermarket company other than VFE) I still see rampant complaints about your stage 2 tuning not being perfect. And the saddest part is, you guys haven't done anything to rectify the problem let alone address it. This is why customers who buy your shitty kit still need to run over to AA to get a proper tune. This is why you are losing marketshare to AA and HPF. I want to see anyone dare buy one of your kits for the e92.

PS - Get a supporting vendor if you are who you say you are.

It was pasted from another forum.

[sikdogg]

This isn't the first we've heard of crap from VF. What is up with sucky Cali vendors. Not only do we have the crappiest FI vendor (in the San Fernando valley), now we have the second crappiest vendor in Anaheim.

The least VF can do is REFUND ALL OF MSPIREDM3's MONEY PLUS ANY MONEY HE SPENDS TO GET IT BACK TO STOCK!! Even that doesn't begin to reimburse him for the weeks of not having the car because of your F-up.

[BadBoostedBmwM3]

Hopefully this BS will end for you. I can't believe so many people have been having problems with this company.

[obnoxious2]

It was pasted from another forum.

oh lol. my apologies then. you can gladly paste it back over there if you so wish.

[highboostingm3]

Wow, VFE admitted to some stuff. I am glad that they gave their side of the story and admitted to some embarrassing ways they handled MULTIPLE SITUATIONS with mspiredm3. What it tells me though, is when someone makes mistakes over and over and over they aren't mistakes...they are on purpose. You can't apologize for that. This is when people apologize ONLY because they got caught and it's public knowledge!!!!!

mspiredm3 states:

The meth was not hooked up AND NIK KNEW THIS.

VFE states:

Mspired had been running our Stage2 kit with a T-trim supercharger upgrade but without water/meth. VF-Engineering never formally released a spec or calibration for what became known on the forums as a stage 2.5 when some enthusiasts swapped the standard Vortech S-trim supercharger for a T-trim and added water/meth injection. The effect of the T-trim was an increase in boost and power which 2-3 users such as DLSJ5, Airfrcd, had been running successfully but only in conjunction with water/meth. Currently a few others are running this setup as well. When Mspired's motor failed with the T-trim the Water Meth was not functioning, we immediately offered to rebuild it with forged internals and increase the boost as done on an Evosport E46M3 in prior which made 570whp on pump and 600whp on race gas. We offered to do this work for $5500 including all parts which was our raw cost.

I thought that Nik knew about the Water Meth was not functioning and said:

Again, Nik said this was ok.

So if Nik said it was OK like it was no problem, why does Nik state over and over in his quote above the fact mspiredm3's water/meth was not functioning and that 2-3 users such as DLSJ5, Airfrcd, had been running successfully but only in conjunction with water/meth? It's very obvious what he is blaming here, however why the hell would he tell mspiredm3 at the time, "It's fine just keep driving it bro, no problemo!"????

Wait a minute....further down Nik gets a tad more clear about it saying:

the stock motor went because the WM unit was not working.

So why did Nik tell mspired to keep driving the car and that it was no problem bro? ...sorry for laughing. .........

The VERY large gaps between the two stories lie in the fact that MSpired stated:

This is where Nik starts to create a stage 3 kit. He offers me all the parts at "cost" and a "reduced rate" for labor. I agree to this, but I really shouldn't have; VF caused the motor failure and should have had to eat some costs for their mistakes. I later find out that other people that have "upgraded" to the stage 3 kit have paid the same price I did, so I wasn't really getting a better deal since VF had blown my original stock motor.

Yet VFE states:

Currently a few others are running this setup as well. When Mspired's motor failed with the T-trim the Water Meth was not functioning, we immediately offered to rebuild it with forged internals and increase the boost as done on an Evosport E46M3 in prior which made 570whp on pump and 600whp on race gas. We offered to do this work for $5500 including all parts which was our raw cost.

Wait a gosh darn minute! VFE in the same post also wrote:

I have given my explanation of our observations in MSpired's previous thread about the engine failures, but this was interpreted as VF putting the blame on Mspired in both cases. If you re-read it, you may note that it is purely stating what we found to have caused the failures, the stock motor went because the WM unit was not working. When the low comp engine failed we chose to have it inspected and rebuilt independently and used Ronin Automotive as they are an established and experienced service provider. At no time was Mspired asked to pay for this rebuild.

WTF? Only the SECOND BUILT MOTOR was 100% free?

Then VFE later states:

VF have stepped up each time to cover costs and have offered to credit Mspired back for all the motor work entirely before this thread was started.

Hmmmm...what does he mean by costs? Why would he have to credit mspiredm3 back anything if he stepped up each time to cover costs? WTF?

OK so going back to the bold/underlined above from VFE, let's look at what mspiredm3 wrote about the vanos:

Anyways, Nik finally has me take my car to Southbay Autohouse, an independent Euro car mechanic to get the Vanos checked out. They don't rally do much of a diagnosis, but rather tell me that it's just better and safer to replace the Vanos (a new Vanos unit costs $2500!!). I push them to see if the Vanos is installed incorrectly, but they really just want me to replace it. So, I start talking to Dr. Vanos (really nice guy btw), instead of purchasing a new Vanos unit, I sent mine to get completely rebuilt, including a new solenoid. I had to pay for this as Nik told me he didn't have enough cash flow to keep fixing things on my car, without me paying him the remainder of what I owe him. (In the emails with Nik, I tell him that I will make NO payments to him until I have a sound and running car, I have already made a big down payment and a couple of payments)

I don't get it. The vanos is clearly the fault of VFE and Nik told mspiredm3 to take the car specifically to Southbay Autohouse. Why would mspiredm3 be worried about paying for the vanos? WTF? VFE is supposed to be covering all costs as they claimed. Something smells there aaassssssss weeeeeeelllllllll!

One thing I have learned in business in my 14 years in my career is...when people make big mistakes over and over and someone calls them on it and then they brag something like this:

VF Engineering has sold in excess of 300 units for the E46 M3 and with volume and doubling power levels, technical issues come with the territory. VF-Eng has been creating supercharger systems for 10 years in California, and we have a strong track record for reliability with several thousand systems in use.

My response to them always is this, "If you have been in the business for so many years and have done so many transactions and you have so much experience, etc. then shouldn't you know better than to make stupid mistakes like this and treat a customer this way? What it tells me is YOU DO KNOW BETTER yet you have too much ego and too much greed and you have gotten away with things too many times to even care when a customer has serious issues because to you it is a numbers game and all a customer is to you is another number. This to you is simply an acceptable percentage in collateral damage. Say if you lose 20% of your profit margin to crediting a few problems and due to bad rep word of mouth, you still bank the other 80% profit margin and therefore the 20% loss is acceptable. That in my opinion makes me think you should suck a fart out of my asshole."

[jfdmas]

wow, since when was 12.5 to 13.0 AFR on 91 octain ok? no wonder the motor/headgaskets arent lasting long. Id be willing to bet that the reason the motor isnt making power right now is from extreme detonation. arent these guys checking spark plugs for detonation?

[highboostingm3]

wow, since when was 12.5 to 13.0 AFR on 91 octain ok? no wonder the motor/headgaskets arent lasting long. Id be willing to bet that the reason the motor isnt making power right now is from extreme detonation. arent these guys checking spark plugs for detonation?

No way bro. Detonation is good business! It means built motors! Cha Ching!

[bim533mer]

i have a friend that personally met this nik dude and from the conversation he had with him he sad that he is full of sh*t and dose not know how this place makes money

[SiGmA]

Interesting. From what VF has done to customers with issues before, I say fuck em. What a load of crap.

[n24tg]

M3Forums thread was locked two posts after VF responded in order to "let them settle the matter in private." Hopefully the OP keeps us updated here...

[YellowBed]

Thanks for letting use know of bad tuners/venders.
That's what these forums are about!

[EBM3WSNC]

You know all companies are trying to bully there way around when they start quoting their numbers and how much they've sold and yadeyade crap.

You state that you have lots of customers and you HAD lots of costumers just because you guys were the first to market. Every now and then when i peruse m3forum (since you guys obviously pay off the mods to ban anyone supporting any other aftermarket company other than VFE) I still see rampant complaints about your stage 2 tuning not being perfect. And the saddest part is, you guys haven't done anything to rectify the problem let alone address it. This is why customers who buy your shitty kit still need to run over to AA to get a proper tune. This is why you are losing marketshare to AA and HPF. I want to see anyone dare buy one of your kits for the e92.

PS - Get a supporting vendor if you are who you say you are.

True statement when I get into another E46 I am going HPF all the way!

[slvr98 M]

This reminds me of Mechtech back in the day. AA will fix your issues.

[jayzx7]

thats sucks to hear hope you get everything worked out. the best mod i did to my car was selling my vf kit. they will lie right to you and not even think twice about it.

[mspiredm3]

Cameron! Where the hell have you been bro!??!?!? Miss you on m3f and fanatics man, you always know how to filter through bullshit and show the truths. Hit me up on AIM bro, I should already be on your list, mspiredm3 if not.

As for Nik's post, I'll go through it by tomorrow. In the mean time, notice how he skips over and doesn't mention so many things from my original post.

[bim533mer]

vf is bull i have herd bad things from many people that is why i do my work

[e30polak]

Wow. That is a pretty fucked situation. Sorry to hear about the huge hassle you've had to go through.

[BigM62]

I hate to hear about these situations. Schatz&Krum in Sacramento,Ca., blew up my motor 2x. So, I know how it feels. But why the switch from AA to VF? . Cliff notes: "I tell Nik about it and he says not to worry"