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View Full Version : A little Vortech rant



DanCobra96
04-09-2007, 07:08 PM
They make a nice supercharger, that's my opinion. I've been running one on my Cobra for about 8+ years, upgraded the original S-trim with a V2-SQ a few years ago. I threw a belt one morning when it was like 20 degrees out and I used too much throttle to warn it up, so the input seal went sour a year or two later. No biggie, I fixed it.

Well, this winter I decided to polish it up (actually MansonOzz), so I disassembled it to make it easier. Then I decided to get the parts to do a minor rebuild while it was apart. Well it seems the only part you can't get ANYWHERE is the face seal on the high speed side, and I had already bashed out the old one (bad mistake), there was nothing wrong with it. In the process. I damaged it a little, and tried to "straighten" it out, and it seemed to be alright. When I finally got it running last week, I noticed it would "howl" at above like 4K, couldn't be sure cause the tach isn't hooked up yet. Everything was too hot to "feel" all the components to try and isolate the source, so I came back the next morning and could tell it was the head unit of the S/C. I figured it must be the seal, or maybe I bent the output shaft in the assembly or something. So I took a WTF attitude and decided to send it to Vortech and get it fixed right. This was last Friday so they were closed, so I called them this afternoon (they sleep late), and talked to a service rep. to get a RA# and ask what to expect. I also explained EXACTLY what the entire history was, including that I had removed the serial tag to polish the case. That's where things went south. He asked me to hold for a minute. Came back and said, "we have a policy of not servicing units without tags." I asked what my options were, and he said I didn't have any. Now THAT is a bad attitude if I ever heard of one.

So now I was pissed, I was not going to buy a new head unit for $2200 just because I took the tag off. Tim convinced me to take it apart again and see what might be wrong. I told him I thought it had to be the seal or a bent output shaft, so we took it apart. We immediately saw a broken face seal (it is made out of ceramic/graphite material), that was a positive finding actually, and we checked the output shaft for straightness and it was fine. I already had a Viton double lip seal that everyone else uses when they rebuild their own Vortechs, so we put it back together with a lip seal. Fuck Vortech, it's obviously their unit, I wasn't asking for warranty service, just service. I had even sort of agreed that maybe it was more of a major rebuild ($1083) and they would need to re-tag it. Now I'll keep my fingers crossed, hopefully it will be ok.

When I hung up, I said, " Guess maybe I'll have to call K.B. next." LOL

tstang90
04-09-2007, 08:19 PM
VORTECH's C.S. is horrible. I had many calls with a guy named I think marcus or mario.
Total air head. I dont think he was able to help me with one inquiry that i ever had.
Good Luck

itslegal
04-09-2007, 08:43 PM
Dan, i have heard of horror stories with them, next time contact spence as they( rhodes ) are a dealer for vortech, he has a good relationship with them.

Mill Creek Mafia
04-09-2007, 08:54 PM
well that seems pretty ignorant on their part....

DanCobra96
04-10-2007, 09:38 AM
Mike, thanks, but I think I'm ok for now.

Billy, yeah, they want to be the ONLY ones to work on their units, and for good cash I might add, but then won't do it. So the consumer is out in the cold. Not good policy, or smart.