Little Venting - SPF Construction

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Jim Craik

Lifetime Supporter
Re: Little Venting

After reading all these comments about quality control on these cars I am amazed. I have purchased four of the Superformance cars, I am on my second roadster and currently own three to include a Daytona Coupe and a GT-40. Yes, I have had a few little issues, which is to be expected with a hand built car, but nothing like you folks are talking about. My cars are dependable, and ready to go cruising when I am. Have had a few wiring issures with the Daytona, easily repaired, back on the road. I installed the engine in the last Roadster, Olthoff installed the other three engines, all without issues. Am I the only satisfied Superformance customer, or did you guys have bad luck and buy a dud?

I'm also with Ken, Mike and Dave:)
 

Mike

Lifetime Supporter
Re: Little Venting

I'm still waiting on some to check their left side chassis paint work up around the brake/clutch reservoirs? For that matter, take a small wrench and lightly ding the chassis paint anywhere and tell me what happens? Hey SPF, tell the factory to invest an extra couple hundred dollars if that and properly prep before paint or powdercoat the chassis before letting Bubba start installing the rest of the components. I'm going to start a business. We will take your brand new SPF GT40 and make it right. It won't be cheap because the work is extensive but, when you finally take possession, you will be satisfied and it will be done right!
 
Re: Little Venting

I've had the clutch/brake reservoir issue as many have or will have soon had. Big deal. My mechanic took care of it and now everything is fine. These are basically limited use "toy cars", not a frickin Lexus.
For my part, I'm glad Jim Price and High-Tech spent a few years designing and tooling up production for this unique vehicle that gives me a rush everytime I fire it up. To me, its worth a little aggravation now and then. Its the nature of the beast. Just my .02 cents.

Mike
 

Mike

Lifetime Supporter
Re: Little Venting

How did he resolve the leakage? I believe one can buy some modern plastic Girling caps and trim them down to fit with a cutting wheel. You're still left with metal cans that rust, rubber lines that seap, and leaky connections in the ledal box. Sure it can be solved as you and I have done but why not just get it right from the factory on a high end $90k roller when it's easy? I have touched practically every nut and bolt on my car and enjoyed doing it. I still don't understand how the factory let's such sloppy crap go out the door when it would be so easy to just do it right the first time.

How much repainting did you do and if not are you seeing corrosion on the bare surfaces where the paint lifted? It's not a Lexus you're right but the build quality should exceed even a Lexus in my opinion.

How many miles do you have on yours? Does the clutch pedal fully disengage? Any issues burning up throwout bearings left riding the pressure plate?
 

Steve C

Steve
GT40s Supporter
Re: Little Venting

I do not have a problem with the frames/mono paint. Does not chip, adhesion is fine and no rust.

I did have weeping rubber lines fron the cannisters and was worried about possible internal corrosion of the (original type) metal cannisters so as shown in the SPF forum under upgrades to P2125 I replced the cannisters with Girling plastics in same location as the factory instal and replaced the rubber lines with braided teflon lines from the cannisters to the master cylinders.

While performing the upgrade I did notice some of the chassis paint had lifted BUT, the metal used on 2125 has a plating on it (I believe it is some form of Zink plate) and where the paint had peeled the metal shows no sign of rusting. As part of the cannister change I did clean up the paint that peeled but, needed to do no prep for the touch up and the touch up (just in the void under the cannisters) is fine.

Now I do have a "special order" blue frame and perhaps the prep and paint used is different than the standard black frames but, if one looks at the pics of 2125 in the SPF forum as noted above the paint is still shiny and w/o chips or scratches and easy to keep clean.

As far as I'm concerned I am happy with the value of what SPF has provided at the going price point (I'm sure other brands have issues too and maybe more than SPF customers have experienced if the onion is peeled back)

Steve P2125

PS: I came from a SPF Cobra that needed some attention (as I believe any roller does) so I was expecting the 40 to not be perfect but as per any SPF the overall quality (design/paint, components) has proven to be a real value. As crazy as this sounds with no more upgrades to do and all the minor fixes behind me I'm geting bored
 
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Mike

Lifetime Supporter
Re: Little Venting

Mine had no corrosion either but it has lived in the arid Colorado climate since new. A lot of scrubbing, sanding, repainting, and a new reservoir system and it 's back to perfect. I still think you guys are missing my point. Doing it right the first time during initial assembly would add nothing to the cost and would produce a product far superior to high school shop class grade craftsmanship found in several areas on these cars. As Alan stated above, ignorance is bliss. Do I love my car. Yes! If I ran the factory, quality control would be a much higher priority. They should consider the Six Sigma approach.
 
Re: Little Venting

The paint on my chassis does not chip off easily. I changed my reservoirs because I wanted easy access to them. The 'tin can' ones leak, but that's the original design and I've seen that on other Girling tin can ones. I did my own powertrain install and have disassembled all parts of the car except removing the fuel tanks and the dash. With all your complaints against SPF why do you own one and do you like anything about your GT40? It seems that customer satisfaction is related to miles driven.
 

Mike

Lifetime Supporter
Re: Little Venting

Is there primer under the paint on your chassis? Regarding the rest of your post... some of us have higher standards towards attention to detail than others I guess. I love the car but stand my assertion that the factory could do much better work without a substantial increase on costs.
 

Seymour Snerd

Lifetime Supporter
Re: Little Venting

With all your complaints against SPF why do you own one and do you like anything about your GT40? It seems that customer satisfaction is related to miles driven.

Yes, and miles driven is inversely related to time the car spends in the garage being fixed... and that was pretty much Michael's point in the first post.

The rhetorical questions of "why own one" and "do you like anything" are truly unfair and constitute a gross misinterpretation and/or misreading.

Michael began his first post with "I love my car...." Later he said "I wouldn't sell this car for any reason I can think of now. ... Every time I climb out all sweaty, smelly, and hot, I have a ear to ear grin." Later on I said "None of us is questioning the value proposition." How many times do we have to repeat that?

So how about we simply drop the "but you bought a race car" and "why do you own one?" rebuttals. They've been asked and answered repeatedly. The quality and safety issues are facts and stand on their own. If you want to argue that you don't care, that's your prerogative but if that were the case why reply at all? The interesting question to me is "why does criticism of a product you simply own bother you so much?" Some car owners react as if they comments are directed at them personally. Why work so hard to defend against someone else's mistakes?

IAE the implication that pointing these things out makes us inconsistent in our values or simply whiners or pussies is a red herring.
 
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Mike

Lifetime Supporter
Re: Little Venting

I work in software development and design. We use Agile as our dev process and track defect rates which are measured against software quality SLAs. I am accustom to delivering quality. I would be curious what sort of quality assurance process is used by Hi-Tech throughout manufacturing and what metrics are tracked around build defects and quality control? I'm not being sarcastic folks. This is 2012 and there are several methodologies out there that help manufactures produce high quality products. Which one does Hi-Tech utilize?
 

Larry L.

Lifetime Supporter
Re: Little Venting

In one of my 1st posts I stated:


"...I realize no '40 will equal a modern exotic in the build quality area and I'm truly not expecting that! (E.g.: I know all GT40s leak no matter who makes 'em...and what they call "door seals" won't keep out any wind noise either (!)...they're loud...they tremble, vibrate and shake...and no one will ever mistake a GT40's interior work for that of a Veyron, etc., etc.) While I'm not "looking for perfect", what I am hoping to find is at least 'decent' panel gaps and paint/body/upholstery work that I'm not going to have to 'fix'." (At that time I forgot to include 'mechanicals'.)


Then I asked:


"Serious question: Is that expecting too much???"



I never really received a direct answer...until this thread. (The question wasn't 'side-stepped' back then, it just wasn't really addressed at all.)


Now I'm doing the 'hands-behind-my-back', 'pacing back 'n' forth' routine with regard to the likely prospect of having to deal with tearing down (at least in part) and redoing/replacing/properly installing some of the components I will have/would have paid a company $90K to assemble/paint correctly the 1st time. 'Not too sure I want to deal with all that - especially when I KNOW I really shouldn't have to. As Michael said, it doesn't take a whole lot of effort to do things right the 1st time. One would THINK that would be 'job one/priority one' for any company no matter WHAT product it makes/sells.


As my father (God rest him) used to say, "Life is not simple." 'Twould appear life is a piece of cake compared to getting a "continuation series" GT40 on the road. And that mindset has nothing to do with a lack of "commitment" or "dedication", or anything of the sort as someone suggested. IMO one just should not have to accept as "a given" that part of a GT40's purchase price includes REWORKING/REDOING/REPLACING/REINSTALLING whatever the buyer finds subpar once his car is received. That's just not the way things are supposed to work in the car biz (or ANY biz). After all, SPF (or anyone else) is NOT 'doing someone a favor' when they build a car. THE CUSTOMER is doing THEM a huge favor by ordering it. Therefore, the car ought to be built in a manner that reflects that reality.


'Just my unsolicited $.02. I'm stepping off my soapbox now...
 

Mike

Lifetime Supporter
Re: Little Venting

Well hello Larry! For those that don't know Larry, he can afford to buy any car he likes. For those that think I'm here to bag on SPF please tell them Larry how I have spent to last 6 months trying to talk you INTO buying an SPF and INTO calling Olthoff for the install. To address the issues I've come across I've suggested Larry work with someone here in the states with a direct connection to the factory to build one from scratch while making sure they address some of the short comings during the initial build. I understand his reservations and people like Larry don't need or half to deal with sub standard craftsmanship. I think you can find what you're after with an SPF GT40 my friend, it will just take a little extra attention up front. So now that I'm "On the SPF Team", come on SPF, build the high quality car you're capable of building so people can brag about the quality when they're trying to talk their associates into a purchase. Every person that has ever laid eyes on my SPF wants one. Some like Larry can stroke a check tomorrow if they so desire. Make it an easy sell!
 
Re: Little Venting

The interesting question to me is "why does criticism of a product you simply own bother you so much?" Some car owners react as if they comments are directed at them personally. Why work so hard to defend against someone else's mistakes?

I'd like to see SPF still be in business 10 years from now. Talking to a couple owners of another well known GT40 manufacturer they were far more dissatisfied with quality issues than SPF complaints I've heard. Looking at one of their cars I would rate it unacceptable with panel gaps 3/4" wide along with many other issues. That owner was so dissatisfied he sold his GT40 after only a couple of months. Another owner instituted a lawsuit. Does this excuse all quality issues with SPF? Of course not, but comments of 'shoddy workmanship unworthy of a high school shop class' or workers being stoned or drunk are not shared by many of us longtime owners. Maybe the joy of actually driving the car puts quality issues in a different perspective. I'd like to see quality issues addressed in a constructive way, not beating up on SPF workers as shoddy or on pot.
 
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Glenn B.

Lifetime Supporter
Re: Little Venting

I would like to offer a comment as someone who is old enough to have owned and driven 1960s cars in the 1960s. I can assure you, the quality of the product we are receiving from the various builders and assemblers today far exceeds what was produced in the period.

When I read of expectations of interior finish and panel gaps, I can't help coming to the conclusion that the whole point of owning these cars is missed. SPF and others have never represented that they would build an accurate replica of the period to today's design and manufacturing standards. They offered the market a replica of a raw, stripped-out, hand-built, race car...not a production sports car built on a robotic assembly line. Frankly, the closer and more accurate to the period these car are built, the worse they would be in comparison to today's output. In the 1960s, most of the racing cars at that time couldn't finish a single race without experiencing significant breakdowns and failures.

The realization has been lost that others gleefully pay millions for original versions of these cars with leaks, rattles, refabricated parts, poor paint and the like. Over the last week, pages have now been written on this forum because of a perceived lack of perfection.

The volume and vitriol over items like a leaking brake cap, a missing lock nut and paint chips has gone way too high. I would expect that the brake caps and lines leaked in 1966, too...the parts are the same, mounted in the same locations. It is time to come down to the reality: You bought a 1960s race car, built much in the same way they were in the period...on a human assembly line. Frankly, some of the crap we used to buy and drive in the 1960s can't hold a candle to the product we now can purchase from SPF and others.

You bought a replica of a very limited production, 46 year old design, that, originally, was both hand-built and under continual development. The GT 40 was a great car...but, it was never perfect. To expect it to be so now is no more realistic than expecting it then.

I didn't expect SPF to improve the GT40...just to build one to as close as possible to the way they did in the 60s and provide me the unique experience of driving a 46 year-old racing legend. They exceeded my expectations. I'll deal with leaks or rattles just like I did in 1966...get under the hood at night or on a weekend and take pride in fixing it myself. Then, I'll wash up and go for a drive.
 

Mike

Lifetime Supporter
Re: Little Venting

I respect all you guys and your opinions as owners and appreciate your feedback. My only comment is that while I too am happy SPF is building these fantastic cars and building them so close to original specifications, it is 2012 and manufacturing techniques have improved... a lot. Why not continue to build these cars as close to original specs as possible while at the same time bringing a level of quality and craftsmanship that simply was not available in the 60s when the originals were built? Shoddy may be a harsh word in some of my criticisms but those were not directed at design flaws or "period correct" limitations such as leaky reservoirs. They were directed at those things where when you lined up the pedal assembly and there was not sufficient clearance for the pedals to fully retract, you went ahead and punched the holes. There is simply no excuse for that lack of attention to detail. I'm glad you guys are happy with your cars whatever shape they may be in. I am too. It just took a bunch of work to get it to that point that could have easily been addressed during initial assembly.

One more example that I corrected Fri evening before taking the car South for some final fab work. The rear sway bar was misaligned and was starting to rub a gash in the bonnet when opening and closing. It took me 2 mins to loosen the collars and make a slight adjustment so that it cleared both sides. If I was installing them at the factory, that would be on my check list. Final adjust of sway bar position... check!

On another note, would anyone be interested in a very retro looking rear diffuser for these cars? Retaining the period correct look is paramount and if it can be done, I'll post pics when finished.

Thanks everyone for the interesting debate.
 

Larry L.

Lifetime Supporter
Re: Little Venting

For those that think I'm here to bag on SPF please tell them Larry how I have spent to last 6 months trying to talk you INTO buying an SPF and INTO calling Olthoff for the install. To address the issues I've come across I've suggested Larry work with someone here in the states with a direct connection to the factory to build one from scratch while making sure they address some of the short comings during the initial build.

'Totally true. In fact, I believe his sales pitch goes back even further than 6 months. The enthusiasm he's always exuded regarding the car - as well as the 3 or 4 videos of his car I've seen AND H-E-A-R-D - reinforced my original take on the SPF.

The whole thing is still not totally dead in the water...but, the vultures are beginning to circle.

(Maybe I should call Mr. Olthoff [and possibly Mr. Stander as well?] and see if all the issues CAN in fact be 'headed off at the pass' at the factory. The problem there is there's no way to know if things were in fact dealt with as requested w/o tearing the car apart and checking everything once the car arrives!) (I h-a-t-e having to do things by remote control just as much as I hate having wasted people's time in the event all goes for naught.)



...As regards the things Michael ascribed to me personally...well, he maaaay have overstated those things just a touch... ;)
 
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