I am a vendor on NAM and a few month ago I installed the Alta Twubo kit on my car and hopefully on my customer's car too. But I had nothing but horrible experience with this kit and horrible customer (VENDOR) support from Alta which lead me to write this post. I was trying to avoid this posting as much as possible but after the discussion I had with Alta and their final conclusion was very upsetting.

First, they send me the turbo with the wrong housing (human error)no big deal. Removed the turbo (1st time) to change out the housing. With less than 500 miles on the kit, shaft play developed on the turbine Removed the turbo (2nd time) to sent back for warranty and paid additional $940 in advance (refundable). Re-install new turbo and with less than 400 miles, the turbo manifold cracked about 1" on the weld at #3 cylinder Removed turbo again (3rd time). I was frustrated because I was invited to attend this car show (3 months of planning) to displace our twincharged setup and with the faulty manifold which will set us back. Alta agreed to sent me their latest manifold which will be after the car show, that won't help me at all. So they offered me this one time only on another (old version) manifold which I desperately needed. I think what is the chance of cracking another manifold WRONG. The replacment manifold cracked at the same place in less than 200 miles. I now have given up trying to fix this problem and Alta will not help at this point even when I'm as a VENDOR.

Conclusion: Alta sell a faulty designed system and they are blaming the installer on their part. With evidence and knowing 2 other twincharge owners have had several cracked manifold issue. Now I am stuck with a system without a manifold Remember if Alta choosed to treat their vendor this way, imagine you as a customer

I would not recommend this Twubo kit to any of my customer here in Hawaii. I cannot be held respondsible to this un-reliable product and having any of my customers go through what I experienced. This post is to WARN all those who are thinking about this un-reliable kit and the lack of support from Alta.

Also, I have not received my $940 deposit back after more than 2 monthsand more than my fair share of long distance phone call and e-mail. Alta never return phone call by the way, they just leave you hanging day after day. They are good at directing me to different people with no end result.

ESMHawaii

 

Thank you for this info, I had a bad feeling about the manifold. I want to get a Fireballed kit but I'm out of cash as of right now. I have spoken to Peter at M7 as I will be testing driving a Mini soon similar to mine with Head and cam but will have the the M62 kit on. You should look at gettting the Fireballed manifold, it is a work of art and looks very durable. Good luck with everything and once again thank you for sharing your story, I know sometimes posting on this board bites you back.
Mario

 

I had no other choice but to share my horrible experience I know it will bite but I just cannot contain it any more. Hope others be careful.

 

Sorry to hear that, sucks that it came down to posting this on a public forum...

 

Andrew, I feel your pain. You have run into quite a bit more unfornate luck than myself, especially with the defective turbo. The non-refund on the Turbo is unacceptable & I can't imagine why it has not been done yet.

I do want to state for the record, the only major issues I have had with this kit has been the manifolds & my downpipe hitting the swaybar. I have since corrected the downpipe clearance issues, but still have the manifold failures. I am currently on my 3rd manifold & it is in fact cracked on cylinders 2&3. The manifold was apparently not tested before release as it starts cracking within a very short order of time. I have developed cracks within 1 week of install. I have been dealing with the cracks until I get a replacement, but the replacement just cracks in short order as well. I was more than likely one of the 1st people to install this kit on the car (at least on NAM) back in Feb of this year. I have spoken with Alta on several occasions on these manifold failures & have been promised a 3rd revision shortly (as in, its currently in transit). Supposively it is made out of heavier gauge SS. When I get the manifold, I will take to it with the micrometer to verify. At that time I will post pix of all 3 cracked manifolds & the new 3rd gen manifold. I will then install the manifold and then report back on my findings.

I am trying to handle this in a professional manner, as I know emotions can get the best of you when you feel like equipment failures should not occur as often as they have been & you are not getting quick enough reponse from the said Vendor.

 

From what I've seen the manfold seems to be to short and stubby not to mention not properly braced. Add to that the fact that the turbo (which weighs more than the manifold) hangs from it. In my mind it would seem like a larger fella hanging from a spindly tree branch...somethings gonna break.

I've tried to contact Alta about there kit. I wanted to try and customize the turbo a little more to see if I can get better spool up than what Trickle told me he was getting. There answer was to run a 15% pulley with the kit or spend a few grand and get an upgraded final drive gear set such as the one Helix offers. They were supposed to send me some correspondance via email and/or phone. That was about a month and a half ago....

Then there was Mini Madness. George gave me the speech on how Twin Charges suck and the other vendors were doing it all wrong and the key to it all is a standalone...which he can't replicate. We chatted for quite a while about his setup which was actually pleasant and informative. He too was supposed to send me pics and a price breakdown via phone or email. That was about 2 months ago.

On to Fireballed. Well Hubie and Brian have both been quite helpful on the phone. I have chatted with both of them. I mentioned to them that I would like to get the kit piece by piece as it's a little easier for me than shelling out $6000 at once plus the fact that i am still unsure of whether I will switch to turbo only and / or a front mount intercooler. I am just waiting to see if they'll send me pics of the manifold like they said (hint hint fellas...lol) and i will be able to get the ball rolling between Xmas and New years...oh ya!!!

Seann

 

Wow...

 

I tried reason with them, one of the main staff said I should be an expert on the removal by now which I didn't find it funny at all. You all realized a lot of parts needs to be replaced with each removal, gasket, bolts, lock washers, lock nuts, coolant, oil which cannot be reused. Not to mention the cost of labor for removal and re-install which total to more than the kit itself

 

This is not good I would be livid if this was me

I hope you guts get this sorted out one way or another.....

 

Are you surprised at this?

 

The staff said " NO " already. What more can I say but to warn everyone else.

 

You replace bolts, washers, nuts and gaskets with minimal use every time you remove the manifold? Plus, you are an Alta dealer and you do not even install their products on your personal car yourself? Seems like you are making it a lot more difficult than it needs to be.

 

And you think they tested this so call new manifold? I bet you not. It is just (lets try a thicker gauge SS) and see what happen. You'll be the first. All the manifold I've had was with the brace on it (version 2) QUICK FIX

 

You want them to spend months testing a product, when their customers need manifolds asap? BTW are you still a dealer for Alta?

 

[quote=sr20de;1280703]You replace bolts, washers, nuts and gaskets with minimal use every time you remove the manifold? Plus, you are an Alta dealer and you do not even install their products on your personal car yourself? Seems like you are making it a lot more difficult than it needs to be.[/quote

I did all the install/removal myself. But my time has value on it don't you think? I have many happy customer who are willing to pay $85 an hour for my service including head/cam, full flywheel/clutch/quaife, supercharger and pulley install.You cannot re-use those product because it might leak and the bolts and nuts will back out even after one run.

 

Well they should of thoroughly tested their product before going to market

 

Bro, I am not the first incidence. See TrickleX's post, It has been an on going issue but did they inform their customers? NO Seems to me that they will find anything beside their manifold to be the blame

Am I still a dealer for Alta after this lack of support? You got to be joking man, I might be a "POOR" man but I'm not a "DESPERATE" man.

 

+1. Totally agreed. But they won't admit it is a bad manifold.

 

Definitely, but unfortunately we can not go back in time.

 

Then take it off the market until the problems have been rectified, refund all monies promised

 

I know all about the on going issue. And, I know you have been bad mouthing the kit on this forum since day one, even when you were a dealer for Alta, and I'm sure Alta did not appreciate that. It seems like Mr. Trickle has gotten his replacement manifolds and he isn't even a dealer. To me it seems like you went about this whole situation the wrong way, especially for being an Alta dealer.

 

That will not help current customers with cracked manifolds.

 

It sure sounds like you work for Alta doing damage control. Does this sound about right?

Bill

 

Not at all, all the info I have can be found right here on this forum. I just think it's rediculous that a vendor on this forum is bad mouthing a product. He should be helping to rectify the situation for his and all other Alta customers, not crying about it, that's the consumers job. What he is doing is bad for business, and very irresponsible.

 

Yep, Put yourself in my shoe for once bro then post. Other wise