My Stage 2+ endeavour was going too smoothly

[leshkin]

The final piece of the jigsaw for my Stage 2+ upgrade was the Loba HPFP, which finally arrived today for me to find that this happened:

A bit of a downer and to be honest I have no idea why it was so lightly packed, given its weight and the rather fragile plastic part

 

[S3DUST]

nooooooooooooooooooooooooo, gutted for you mate

 

[S3DUST]

you could take some pictures and moan at them alot and get some money back and swap over that part from your old pump ?

 

[Compkiler]

Get it sorted dude before April :-D

 

[leshkin]

you could take some pictures and moan at them alot and get some money back and swap over that part from your old pump ?

Nah, I'll wait for them to respond with how they will resolve it. I want ot keep the original pump, plus if you swap the platic over, it looks like I'll break a warranty paint marker, so don't want that to be affected. It is a major bummer - been waiting for it way too long and was goign to fit it tonight, then get some VCDS logs over to Rich at Unicorn, but that will have to wait now

 

[leshkin]

Get it sorted dude before April :-D

Haha, oh I definitely plan to!

 

[S3DUST]

Feel for you mate, i hate it when things dont happen like they should do ! Like you said it should of been wrapped better, at the end of the day its a 600 pound part and they should go the extra mile with the protection ! My Autotech internals was in a special foam case then in bubble and then an outer box aswel. All that for just a piston.....

 

[S3Alex]

That plastic moulding is pretty fragile at the best of times and had fractured on my pump in the car.

It began misfiring like crazy and turned out to be the cause as the ECU had no idea about the fuelling.

As far as I can remember this is not a replaceable part and the pump has to be exchanged.

I think they should do the right thing and replace without any questions.

 

[leshkin]

Oh I fully expect the pump to be replaced without questions. It would be difficult to argue against returning a brand new part, which is still in its original sealed plastic wrapping

The main thing that bugs me is the extra delay in getting the upgrade sorted and the additional bother of having to send it back.

 

[S3Alex]

I know how you feel.

When you've got the parts you just want it working not on its way back to be replaced.

Hope they pull their fingers out.

 

[Compkiler]

Imo, i would send it back, get a refund and buy the Autotech internals for half the price. Its a no brainer really! Even S3Alex has got Autotech so that must say something lol.... They seem to last!

 

[leshkin]

Imo, i would send it back, get a refund and buy the Autotech internals for half the price. Its a no brainer really! Even S3Alex has got Autotech so that must say something lol.... They seem to last!

Valid point, definitely. I did think about doing internals, but being able to sell the OEM pump after this means that I would recover some of the extra money I paid for the new pump, which makes the difference between this or upgrading internals very small and I have a new pump

 

[Rick @ Unicorn Motor Dev.]

Ouch! Better breaking now instead of when you are fitting it!

Rick

 

[leshkin]

OK, pump is back in the post and I should be getting a replacement as soon as they receive the returned one. Hopefuly, I'll be fitting it next week. I won't hold my breath though

I'm getting the coilovers fitted next week also, so should be a busy car modding week! I'm a little excited

 

[S3DUST]

I would give them the tracking number and expect that to be evidence enough for them to send one straight out, so reduce the wait a little ;-)

 

[leshkin]

Good point! I'll scan the receipt and send that right now!

 

[Mario8P]

Sorry to hear that buddy! Good thing they will be sending you a replacement.
Good luck

 

[RustyBucket]

Gutted for you but glad they're sorting it! I'm still trying to decide between the loba and Auto-Tech internals.........decisions, decisions

 

[leshkin]

Almost a month from my original order and still no working pump - starting to really regret this

Is this a common problem when sourcing a Loba pump? Sounds like many suppliers don't actually hold items in stock and order them direct from manufacturer. Just think it's a bit uncool to not set the right expectations

 

[Compkiler]

That sucks :-(
Just get it booked in now to get the autotech internals put in. Job done!

 

[grchmason]

Sorry to hear that mate! I would just get a refund and as above Autotech internals put in they always seem to have stock or can collect from any decent Tuner were about you located fella?

 

[leshkin]

I'm in West London - would prefer to get the full pump to be honest, but this is just getting silly.

 

[grchmason]

Ok mate thats fair enough I'm not far away in Windsor and theres a few Revo dealers around with stock of autotech internals

Fingers crossed you get it sorted soon mate

 

[lucky_bob]

Im been stuck for a month or so, cos even amd couldn't get hold of one, loba website been down same as tte site since end of last year...germans for ya...

 

[S3DUST]

I had problems getting my Sachs clutch! the dealer that I used got it from Loba and was not happy with them. There products are very good but they seem to be very unreliable? In my case they just randomly extended there holiday. It was ordered on the 23rd Dec and by the 17th December it still hadn't been dispatched? I had to cancel the order in the end and ordered from another supplier, 2 days later my clutch was here! I know this was ordered over Christmas and new year period and I expected it to take a little longer but not a month.....

If I was you I think I would just go Autotech it's quite an easy job to fit if you keep things organised and if you would prefer to keep your standard pump then you could get a new one and upgrade that. It would make the job easier too as it would already be very clean. I don't think new pumps are that expensive sure I saw one for 160 the otherday so with the Autotech internals it would come out around 500....

 

[leshkin]

Yeah, I think I'll give them until next week and then look at canceling the order. This is getting very tedious.

 

[S3DUST]

Your in the same boat that I was mate, I had boxes of stuff, everything I needed apart from the clutch! All the other bits took just a couple of days to arrive and we're just teasing me being there, and the last piece of the jigsaw just never showed up and I couldn't even get some clear dates that it would be dispatched.... Very frustrating!

 

[leshkin]

Well, I have all the bits fitted and a stg2 map on, so have something to play with I guess

ST Coilovers are going on the car this week, but found that the EBC disks that were fitted from before i bought the car are warped and need replacing or shaving - haven't decided on that.

A few things to keep me occupied until the pump is here.

 

[LVS Racing]

Its a supplier nightmare I`m afraid..

I try my best to package items the best I can but its really down to the carrier.. I have had few items damaged and always down to the carrier, but I feel your pain..

 

[smurfworth]

I had problems getting my Sachs clutch! the dealer that I used got it from Loba and was not happy with them. There products are very good but they seem to be very unreliable? In my case they just randomly extended there holiday. It was ordered on the 23rd Dec and by the 17th December it still hadn't been dispatched? I had to cancel the order in the end and ordered from another supplier, 2 days later my clutch was here! I know this was ordered over Christmas and new year period and I expected it to take a little longer but not a month.....

If I was you I think I would just go Autotech it's quite an easy job to fit if you keep things organised and if you would prefer to keep your standard pump then you could get a new one and upgrade that. It would make the job easier too as it would already be very clean. I don't think new pumps are that expensive sure I saw one for 160 the otherday so with the Autotech internals it would come out around 500....

Did you find the clutch pedal is a fair bit heavier? I wasn't expecting it to be as heavy as it is

 

[grchmason]

Did you find the clutch pedal is a fair bit heavier? I wasn't expecting it to be as heavy as it is

Totally normal just gets lighter and lighter over the next few hundred miles mate

 

[S3DUST]

Did you find the clutch pedal is a fair bit heavier? I wasn't expecting it to be as heavy as it is

Yes it's definitely heavier, I would say in the region of 25% increase and also the bite point is lower too. My old clutch was dead so this may of skewed the results a little but it is definitely heavier than I thought it would be especially when cold, this does ease up when warm slightly...
I've done around 2000 miles on mine now...

 

[leshkin]

I got my pump today.... minus the cam follower, which was meant to be part of the kit I'm never using these people again! I understand suppiers play a role here, but as a retailer you can still make it easier for your customers by showing that you care and providing timely updates. The fact that the new pump came directly from Loba and was packaged in an extra box with more padding than the original one, which was repackaged by the seller so that they could insert their invoice into it. /rant

Will take my pump out tomorrow and check the condition of the original follower. Car has only done 47k, so there is a chance that my follower will still be fine to use.

 

[grchmason]

Sorry to say mate but don't do it without a new follower and seal it's just not worth the risk!

Glad you got the pump but can you enlighten me who it was supplied by so I don't use them terrible service!

 

[leshkin]

I PM'd you mate - prefer not to mention names here

 

[Mario8P]

Sorry to say mate but don't do it without a new follower and seal it's just not worth the risk!

Glad you got the pump but can you enlighten me who it was supplied by so I don't use them terrible service!

Totally agree!

And congratulations on receiving your pump safely this time

Leshkin bro just replace the follower and don't look back. That way you can have peace of mind for at least 15000 km. Don't forget that all the modified HPFP's add more pressure on the cam follower.

 

[leshkin]

Yeah, thanks for the advice guys - I might just fight it out and get what I paid for eventualy

 

[guile]

i feel your pain. it's frustrating how these relatively simple issues take the fun out of modding your car. i sometimes wonder why i'm bothering when i come up against these kind of set backs myself...

 

[leshkin]

Yeah, thanks for the support As soon as I saw the Loba logo on the parcel in the office post room, I knew what my weekend was going to involve... Imagne my disapointment when I inspected the package

 

[RustyBucket]

Gutted for you mate but thanks for sharing. You're experience here tipped me over the edge and I went for a new OEM pump and bought Auto-Tech internals to fit. However frustrating though, don't reuse the cam follower, its not worth the risk.