thebeerbaron

iTrader: (1)

In a belt-and-suspenders move, I purchased the timing cover oil baffle from KPI when I was buying everything else. I didn't read the web page description well enough.

Emphasis my own. "aftermarket oil pans" includes the KPI oil pans.

I'm actually not entirely certain why the oil pan matters. Properly trimmed, the baffle should simply fit the area behind the timing cover. The flange of the oil pan would, at best, push the edge of the baffle up into the timing cover.

Here's my before picture.


And here's the after-trimming picture. I ended up with a little too much gap in a couple places, but there is no interference and I'm pretty sure that the oil pan flange covers the outside edge gaps anyhow.


I thought I'd at least get through mounting the oil pan yesterday, but I ended up doing many, many test fits of the oil pan to ensure clearance. As you can see here, the old oil pickup was definitely hitting on the bottom of the sump. This probably contributed to the weld failure and oil pump self-disassembly.

The long rub mark in the crossover area is from the pan rubbing against the windage tray.

I spent quite a few hours applying dykem to the pan, test fitting, checking, and massaging the pan. I'm still not done. I haven't been out to the garage yet today, but I hope to wrap this up. I'm confident that the oil pickup is not hitting the bottom of the pan now and that the oil pickup tube is not hitting on anything. At last check, there was still some interference between the windage tray and the pan. Once I get that fixed, I'll clean the pan again and pop it on.

Looking at the flange lately, I'm disappointed in my old self for accepting this part back in the day. It is really unimpressive.




My Fluidampr arrived from KPI today. I emailed them for an update earlier this week, more than a month after I paid for it and three weeks after the last update. It just so happened that it got shipped out the same morning my email arrived in their inbox. And with that, I'm hoping to be done purchasing parts from KPI.

thebeerbaron

iTrader: (1)

I sometimes wonder if I'm being over-critical of KPI. Maybe I'm frustrated at things that are just inherent in the aftermarket auto parts world. But I keep coming back to the fact that there are other vendors who do both the engineering and customer service better.

I'll take your feedback - am I being a whiny little bitch, or is my irritation justified?

Roda

I think we are a bit spoiled by a few really good vendors in the Miata community who do both the engineering and customer service ends of the job very well. I also think KPI might have grown a little too much, too fast. Balancing the line between the community screaming "take my money" and getting things perfect is a little hard when you're moving fast. As a counter, some of the threads I've read dealing with the V8R LFX swap have documented a lot of post-sale engineering that was required of the customer to get things right, so KPI isn't alone.

thebeerbaron

iTrader: (1)

It's done. I've smacked my pan around as much as I can and I'm pretty confident there isn't any significant interference between the pan and anything else. There was no interference I could find with dykem, but the last few tests didn't involve me torquing the pan down to the block.


The pan is on. I've used three cans of brake fluid cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. I hope it works out.


I measured the capacity of the oil pan while I had it out and off. 6 quarts to a point where I don't think it'll get picked up by the rod ends. Given the interference between the windage tray and the crossover part of the pan, I went with the assumption that there shouldn't be any measurable amount of oil above the crossover.

Maybe I can get the transmission connected up to the engine this week between my work hours..

SUV-ETR

This one is really tough. As a business owner, unboxing the K-Power swap completely blew my mind. The number of engineering problems that needed to be solved is wild. But IMHO what's even more amazing is the diversity of the solutions used (needed?) to put it all together. Sometimes, with this kind of product, the engineering is actually the "easy" part. The complexity in the supply chain, manufacturing project management, etc. needed to actually ship and support this kit must be a huge challenge. There are bespoke machined parts, stamped parts, welded parts, cast parts, electrical wiring, several different kinds of metals, along with OEM parts from several other cars involved. Every permutation of those things likely requires a different supply chain, manufacturing skill set or partner, quality control process, etc. If any one of those pieces falters, the customer experience suffers. And the customer expects something that "just works." They have no visibility into all that, and typically don't (and shouldn't have to) really care.

Contrast that to some of our other favorite folk. Super Miata/949 makes a ton of different parts, but there are few integrated assemblies and even those are comparatively simple. 9Lives basically has three manufacturing processes for everything they do: the extruded airfoil, the CNC router cutting aluminum or plastic, and TiG welding. None of their products have moving parts, and they have relatively simple integration to the customer's car. The simplicity and elegance of the 9Lives business model has always impressed me. Compared to KPI, they're (comparatively) free to focus on execution and customer experience.

Is that a valid excuse for KPI? No. But as someone who appreciates both the engineering and the business side of this stuff, I do have a healthy dose of sympathy for the challenge KPI took on to bring this to market. It is high on the scale of, "I can't believe this works at all, much less that is is a viable/sustainable business!"

Neal