RobDon's Leon -

[Willie]

We all hope your not but totally understand.
Mine is in bits and SORN just now due to financial issues.
Mine will be very lucky to be on the road this year.

Hoping to see more stuff happening soon, hope your all well.
Life first car later

 

[sambryant]

hello rob, great shame about swaping bits on your car, i really hope your financial difficulties improve quickly. life comes first car comes second. you have been a great inspiration to this forum and im sure you will continue to be in the near future
sam

ps your car looks great as always

 

[RobDon]

Hopefully it will be a short/mid term problem but I won't be getting rid of the car, I've only just finished machine polishing it and I will be at Crail for the big event in July.

 

[rsmith]

I don't have the time or the inclination to log, I drive my car and enjoy it, plus I know it well enough after 8 years to know if something is working better or not. My 'ass' is very knowledgeable!

As mentioned before I've been running the Hitachi bolt-downs for years and not one has ever failed.

I am done messing around and constantly changing things on my car, it is done, finished, time to just enjoy it now, I have no money to modify it any further so I am calling time on it.

I totally hear ya, I've been driving various different LCR for the past 7 years, I know myself when something is wrong or better/worse.
Drive your car and enjoy it, I go through highs and lows with my car, sometimes I just couldn't be arsed and then all of a sudden I have my inspiration back, that and we have so many new taxes over here that my payslip now looks like a shopping list so justifying big spends on the car is getting harder, but maybe better as I really think out my purchases now.

Summer is here so now is the time to get out, go to the shows, have some craic, enjoy the machine you built so well, before you know it you'll have the itch back again.

 

[RobDon]

Fortunately the parts I have sold have not had any impact on the performance of the car, they appear to have been expensive parts I did not need! I have also sold the Auto Style front seats and Turbosmart dual port BOV and raised another £400, which will keep the bank manager happy.

 

[INA]

I don't have the time or the inclination to log, I drive my car and enjoy it, plus I know it well enough after 8 years to know if something is working better or not. My 'ass' is very knowledgeable!

Unfortunately a Dyno is more knowledgeable. I dont see how an OEM inlet manifold + 60mm throttle body does the same job as an SEM + 70mm

Rob I dont mean to be a ***** when I say this but are you doing this on purpose?

 

[RobDon]

Doing what? I sold the SEM because I have serious financial problems just now, did you not read the above posts? The SEM was doing very little on my car, is an expensive part and I have proved it to myself, but the bigger issue is financial, not a personal vendetta against INA.

You have a 2011 C63 AMG on order do you? Lucky you, I am trying not to lose my house and feed my children.

 

[INA]

Doing what? I sold the SEM because I have serious financial problems just now, did you not read the above posts? The SEM was doing very little on my car, is an expensive part and I have proved it to myself, but the bigger issue is financial, not a personal vendetta against INA.

You have a 2011 C63 AMG on order do you? Lucky you, I am trying not to lose my house and feed my children.

Whether I bought a Mercedes or not mate has nothing to do with this thread....when you are asleep I am working and when you are up I am working. I work on average 90+ hours a week and anyone in my social circle knows this. I have 2 personal life issues..
1. I hate to lose
2. I like poker
...pick your battles.
I am sorry that you are in a financial jam and I (and others) with your permission will do anything in my utmost power to make sure you come out of it but lately your posts seem like they only want to slag our products.

"my butt dyno tells me no difference"

We have countless upon countless upon countless of dyno plots , data , 3rd party opinions that say that the SEM manifold + my throttle body combo makes power period.

I have 100+ posts on Audizine of people that have GONE from 1.8T to 2.0T coils and noticed a difference , people on vortex that logged last week and logged this week and showed a difference.

If I am wrong tell me "sam you are wrong and you are over thinking this" but based on what customers and friends are telling me about your posts I dont think I am too crazy here.

If I am tell me I am....

 

[RobDon]

You want honesty ... ok ... I say it like it is, I am a black and white person, I sugar-coat nothing for anyone, I am honest and tell it like it is, if something doesn't work or doesn't fit or makes no difference I WILL SAY SO. If dyno plots show small power increases from the SEM on smaller turbos then good for the dyno plot, I feel NO difference on my car and feel personally the SEM was a waste of money for me, every car is different though, the REVO stage 3 map is written for the stock manifold and TB.

I have NO personal vendetta against INA but history speaks for itself with regards to INA and 034 products. I have no INA products left on my car so you won't hear me slagging off INA just for the sake of it (I have never done that anyway), nor will I buy any INA or 034 products ever again.

 

[INA]

You want honesty ... ok ... I say it like it is, I am a black and white person, I sugar-coat nothing for anyone, I am honest and tell it like it is, if something doesn't work or doesn't fit or makes no difference I WILL SAY SO. If dyno plots show small power increases from the SEM on smaller turbos then good for the dyno plot, I feel NO difference on my car and feel personally the SEM was a waste of money for me, every car is different though, the REVO stage 3 map is written for the stock manifold and TB.

I have NO personal vendetta against INA but history speaks for itself with regards to INA and 034 products. I have no INA products left on my car so you won't hear me slagging off INA just for the sake of it (I have never done that anyway), nor will I buy any INA or 034 products ever again.

and I too will tell it like it is...
You post is a contradiction and I have bit my tongue for too long. On one hand you say you have no vendetta but on the other you will never buy another product from us? Forget 034 for a minute as we are just a distributor for them and work on projects with them. What INA branded product did you have Rob that did not meet or exceed your standards? The Baffled Oil Pan? Instead of working with me you decided to sell the pan which is fine....BUT we are onto our 7th batch of 20 pieces. Thats 100 oil pans sold all over the globe and for irony , some Seat Motorsport cars RUN OUR Oil pan! Same goes for most of the APR cars and the likes!

As for Revo , I thought you had a custom remap?

I'll have the mapping checked once I get the 70mm TB on, it hasn't been remapped since the hybrid GT2X and TIG-ART tubular manifold went on, so worthwhile to have it looked at and adjusted if required, thanks for the input Bill.

These are your very own posts from 2008 right here on SCN relating to the SEM manifold + 70mm throttle body.

Butt dyno tells me there is definately more there, no doubt about it, I'll have the fuelling etc. all checked and possibly do a dyno run to see what it's making at some point in the near future.

OK. I fitted the SEM this morning with the 70mm throttle body and adapter plate. I spread a thin layer of gasket compound on the phenolic spacer to ensure a good seal with the gaskets. All fitted I did a TBA and adjusted the fuelling in Unisettings. With that all done I went for a long run, lasting around 1 hour covering varying roads - slow town roads, motorway and fast winding country roads.

I'm delighted to say the car runs superb, no problems at all, great throttle response, good vacuum, full boost, no big delay in revs dropping between gear changes and great top end, pulls nice and hard! Idle feels normal too. On cold start the revs did rise a little but nothing like with the 80mm TB.

When I came back I plugged my laptop back in to check for fault codes ... NONE! Checked the fuelling and it's fine too.

Overall I am very happy with the SEM now, it's running superb with the 70mm TB and I am more than happy to keep it on the car. I apologise to Issam and Don for losing my patience at times, but it's all sorted now, many thanks for sticking with it and getting the parts to me.

Roll on a bigger turbo now!!!

And there are loads more not only by you but by others.
I have worked HARD over the last year to repair my reputation on here after taking the fall for another's companies failed products (something unheard of in this industry). Read the reviews by members of this forum and you will see the hours , hard work and dedication everyone here at INA has put into making sure that you the customer are satisfied.

Look I understand you are under alot of pressure but I am not going to sit by and watch a friend / customer do this to our reputation. You are giving the image that I sell over glorified crap and I wont tolerate it. You dont want to run our products then that is your right , but give logical explanations as to WHY you dont want to run our products.
That is all that I ask...

 

[RobDon]

Nothing quoted above contradicts anything I have said previously or now, so I won't go over old ground, nor will I slate INA where it is not justified, I have never done that before, I only go by my own experiences. You won't hear from me again so you have nothing to worry about.

 

[INA]

You won't hear from me again so you have nothing to worry about.

thats not what I want Rob
I am extending any form of an ollive branch here.Dont throw it back in my face

 

[RobDon]

I don't know what you're offering or what you want from me, if you want me to back down and retract all comments I'm afraid that won't happen, all I speak is the honest truth. With no INA parts on my car I have nothing more to say on INA products.

 

[ibizacupra]

Adding a SEM & larger tbody, is a proportional gain type product. the more you already have the more you will gain... and low to mid 300bhp numbers will nett a lower gain than those pushing 400bhp numbers. Whether you can 'feel' this, I dont know. Never fitted or dyno'd one on a sub 400bhp car to gather my own data.

SEM does make gains when I have used it myself and it predecessor the Monstor 007 over stock mani/tbody - BUT, those gains were 32bhp over 450bhp (+7%?), so pro-rata that either way for an estimate of whats likely or possible.

Glad you are still happy with the power as is Rob. Plenty of folks using std intakes and throttles pushing 300+bhp numbers.

 

[RobDon]

Thanks for that Bill, that was my whole point, below 400bhp I believe the gains are pretty small and not really worth spending £750 on a large manifold and TB, the bigger turbo and power you go the gains will increase and the manifold and TB become a much more worthwhile purchase. After going back to the stock inlet and TB I feel the SEM and TB was an un-neccessary purchase for minimal if any gains at the power level I am at - that was all I was saying.

 

[traumapat]

Plenty of folks using std intakes and throttles pushing 300+bhp numbers.

+1
Hope things improve soon for you Rob.

 

[wayne lcr]

iam sorry but i carnt see how rob is slating ina products of by giving is point of view about your product.
he is saying that he dint think the product did much for is car and returning back to the old set up as the same affect.as rob as said hes in a bit of money troubles(we all go there somtimes in our life) just becose hes sold a product that belongs to you doesent mean its rubbish hes sold it becose he needs the money. ina might be doing well but rob doesent need you saying that you bought a merc and doing well.thats the last thing he wants when hes got money trouble. ive been in the position robs in i lost every thing house car family wife and me kids.
i hope you dont mind me posting this rob if its wrong in any kind of way please delete the post.

 

[wild willy]

I have 2 personal life issues..
1. I hate to lose
2. I like poker
....

This comes across SAM, Have a beer tonight and ask family and friends if these are qualities that you feel are of benefit to your business, as i feel these qualities don't do you any favours. Rob has every right to express his opininon on a public forum and if you read all of his posts his praise for you has far exceeded any negatives. I appreciate your frustration with us all at times but you don't seem to appreciate it when the shoes on the other foot. Through exposure of your products fitted by Robs alot of business has been put your way.

Sorry for chiming in Rob but the critisism seemed a little unfair, hope your situation improves soon and if its any consolation i'm in a bit of a muddle also.

 

[RobDon]

Thanks for the support guys, much appreciated.

 

[joehirth]

Keep at it Rob - I'm sure your financial problems are your priority, too right, they should be. Best of luck with the build too and you have our support.