I've been noticing a trend of poor quality after market part over the last couple of year. Weather it be a swingarm, intake, exhaust, or a throttle body. We pay a VERY high premium for these parts and in turn are getting parts that either don't fit, have to be modded to fit, or flat out is the wrong part. For the prices we pay for these parts there is NO excuse for a part not to fit right.
First off was a FCI intake I got last year, the supplied hoses have to routed in a manner where its inevitable to avoid kinks. The box that came in the kit I had to take a heat gun and shape it so a very common dual exhaust would clear. I also had to bend the battery bracket so that it would not rub a hole in the intake horn. The air intake sensor would hit on my seat, the list goes on. IMO, inexcusable for a intake that cost more than the intake on my diesel pickup that fit perfect. Of all things it came with no instructions. I consider myself very mechanically inclined and too me hours to install not to mention trips to the auto parts store to get additional parts to make this already expensive part fit correctly.
Most recently a White Knuckle TB and intake. This part cost almost double what a larger LS1 throttle body would cost. You would think you'd be able to bolt this thing up and go. HELL NO! I got this thing in the other week and noticed some major blemishs. Due to poor quality control there was a part of the throttle body that was milled through to expose the TPS screw holes. I thought not a big deal, its just the TPS screw holes. After further inspection I noticed the throttle body plate had small bits of material that would prevent it from closing fully. So I took off the the buterfly to remove this material and noticed the two small allen head bolts were not that tight and did not have any sort of locking compound. I started to install this thing and realized that the suppled boots are TOTAL junk and would never think to install this on a off road vehicle where theres a lot of sharp hits and vibrations. The supplied boots are very flimsy IMO would not hold up. So I took DL700's advice and tried to modify the OEM TB boot. After about a hour of grinding away on the boot satisfied onthe TB fitment I tried to bolt it up. I noticed when installing the supplied air intake that with the intake horn would NOT clear the seat or the frame portion that holds the gas tank down. If I bolt everything down the seat would bend the supplied boots down and eventually tear the TB from its boots. IMO if your paying 600+ dollars for a throttle body this thing should fit a little better. I don't mind paying a bit more for a part that fits correctly.
Intake sitting too high:
(http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a195/preddy08/CIMG2364.jpg)
Supplied boot not even cut straight. TOTAL JUNK and too soft to use.
(http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a195/preddy08/CIMG2370.jpg)
Supplied hose clamp that wont even fit in between the TB and boot.
(http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a195/preddy08/CIMG2365.jpg)
POOR quality control
(http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a195/preddy08/CIMG2351.jpg)
Fitment of OEM boot after a hour of grinding. Looks like I gotta get back to grinding.
(http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a195/preddy08/CIMG2366.jpg)
WOW cant see pics at work, But that is crazy :thud: Just like you said for the price you have to pay you would think they would be PERFECT :dunno:
I couldn't agree with you more Preddy. For the premium cost we pay for quad parts they should bolt on perfectly without having to modify anything at all. I have spent countless hours making shit fit that for the cost should bolt right up. I understand that these people have to cover overhead and R&D but for the price most of them are charging the parts should still fit PERFECT.
Maybe it just means we should all get into trophy trucks instead! :nod:
In the spirit of Christmas, maybe we should start a Naughty or Nice Parts list! ???
Nothing pisses me off more than paying good money for shit that isnt right! :mad:
I'm on board w/ that.. I think between all of us, we could get a large chunk of what the ATV community has to offer for the rappys.
honestly preddy, i would have sent the thing back, with just a look at the tb there is no way it would even touch my bike. Yoy are putting your motor in jepordy with a poorly put together/machined tb like that, what if you wouldnt have noticed the loose screws? they would be somewhere in the vacinity of aarons circlip, or way worse it could have ruined an expensive head/piston/cylinder/cam/valves. send it back and look for something else.
I can understand how sometimes aftermarket parts require some tweaking to fit but IMO that TB issue is simply a "manufacturing defect" and I'd have sent that back immediately.