Profix & Pacemaker...Waste my time and money

[1991_Vn2nV]

I paid a rather large $1004 for extractors today. $650 for the Pacemaker competition headers PH 5029, $314 for ceramic coating and $40 to replace a low pressure power steering hose which PROFIX broke, in my opinion they should have replaced without charge...

Anyways... First issue... It was on their hoist for 6 and a half to 7 hours! I saw it go on, and was still on when i came back 7 hours later. It does NOT take this long to fit headers, especially when pacemaker reccomend 2.5hours fitting time..

The major issue... The extractors are hitting fairly heavily on the steering rack. There is a LARGE vibration when cornering or when the foot is flat to the floor. There is about 2mm clearance with the engine off, but the headers hit when the engine is on and moving due to rpm and when the steering rack turns, a bolt is hitting the header.

Now I have some big scratches down the side of the centre pipe (drivers side) on my $314 ceramic coating.

Do I demand another set of headers? I think it atleast needs that side re-coated because I did NOT pay $1004 for that. Also, do I demand a replacement or just a repair? Because im scared that if they just repare it, they will simply push the pipe out with a metal bar or something, bending it to increase clearance.

Opinions and suggestions would be good, because I need this fixed and I have work at 3 every day from tomorrow... And profix is a 35 minute drive from my house.

BTW I couldnt take it back today, because I only drove it down the road to a mates place to wire up my fog lights and by the time I left and noticed the vibration, they were closed. Theres no vibration at idle or driving normally, but foot down (3500rpm onwards) and taking a sharper corner (I live in the hills so it was a hell of a drive home) it really vibrates.

Cheers,
Dylan

[jswan]

i reckon you deserve some credit on these headers. firstly, i dont think they 'pacemaker' are suppost to rub against your steering rack. secondly, because of profix's fault its causing the ceramic coating too go. thirdly, it took way too long to put them on the car.

have you told profix about the problems your having? if not, i suggest to do that first, if you have contacted them about it then i reckon you should get the coating fixed and the headers put on properly at no cost.

[JD]

I paid a rather large $1004 for extractors today. $650 for the Pacemaker competition headers PH 5029, $314 for ceramic coating and $40 to replace a low pressure power steering hose which PROFIX broke, in my opinion they should have replaced without charge...

Anyways... First issue... It was on their hoist for 6 and a half to 7 hours! I saw it go on, and was still on when i came back 7 hours later. It does NOT take this long to fit headers, especially when pacemaker reccomend 2.5hours fitting time..

The major issue... The extractors are hitting fairly heavily on the steering rack. There is a LARGE vibration when cornering or when the foot is flat to the floor. There is about 2mm clearance with the engine off, but the headers hit when the engine is on and moving due to rpm and when the steering rack turns, a bolt is hitting the header.

Now I have some big scratches down the side of the centre pipe (drivers side) on my $314 ceramic coating.

Do I demand another set of headers? I think it atleast needs that side re-coated because I did NOT pay $1004 for that. Also, do I demand a replacement or just a repair? Because im scared that if they just repare it, they will simply push the pipe out with a metal bar or something, bending it to increase clearance.

Opinions and suggestions would be good, because I need this fixed and I have work at 3 every day from tomorrow... And profix is a 35 minute drive from my house.

BTW I couldnt take it back today, because I only drove it down the road to a mates place to wire up my fog lights and by the time I left and noticed the vibration, they were closed. Theres no vibration at idle or driving normally, but foot down (3500rpm onwards) and taking a sharper corner (I live in the hills so it was a hell of a drive home) it really vibrates.

Cheers,
Dylan

yo dylan out of curoisity what profix did u go to?

[1991_Vn2nV]

I went to the one at Modbury as its close to my dads place... No exhaust stores in gumeracha lol.

Im going in tomorrow to speak to them... See what they say.

The thing is... I would think its the headers... not the installation. So are pacemakers all done from a set mould? They would be surely.. But then why havent others had this problem?

[jswan]

btw, does it make it should good. like normal driving.

[AirStrike]

First of all the time it took I can't see how you can complain, most work shops do quite alot of cars going back and forth betweem them all. They would have to have waited for your car to cool down before doing anything so theres at least an hour.......
There there are problems that you will run into aswell.
As for the fitting that to do with Pacemaker, not the place that fitted them really. May I ask why you went with the PH5029's and not the standard PH5009's? Alot of money to blow on a 6................
AirStrike

[AirStrike]

I went to the one at Modbury as its close to my dads place... No exhaust stores in gumeracha lol.

Im going in tomorrow to speak to them... See what they say.

The thing is... I would think its the headers... not the installation. So are pacemakers all done from a set mould? They would be surely.. But then why havent others had this problem?

They are welded from a jig.
AirStrike

[R0d]

when we had a motor conversion with a vr v6 into a hilux we had to wait for someone else to do the same thing and get headers / pacers for them to be cheaper because if someone else didnt have it done they would have to custom make them for us which is alot more. So what im saying is i think they do use moulds

[CALAIS 6]

OMG ****ING HELL DYLAN WHY DIDNT U SAY U WHERE TAKING IT TOO MODBURRY PROFIX
they ****ed me over in the vl twice
1st too make my exhaust fit easier so they didnt have to go bend pipe as often they beat the **** out off the underneth off my car cracking the floor pan

2nd they charged me 350 bucks too replace a injector that broke turns out they replaced 1 but mot the one that was ****ed they just flushed it asted a week before shat itself again


jesus dude i wish u ahd told me i would off done anything too stop u going near those cowboys oh and the scratched my drivers door too

[AirStrike]

when we had a motor conversion with a vr v6 into a hilux we had to wait for someone else to do the same thing and get headers / pacers for them to be cheaper because if someone else didnt have it done they would have to custom make them for us which is alot more. So what im saying is i think they do use moulds

See above.
AirStrike

[1991_Vn2nV]

First of all the time it took I can't see how you can complain, most work shops do quite alot of cars going back and forth betweem them all. They would have to have waited for your car to cool down before doing anything so theres at least an hour.......
There there are problems that you will run into aswell.
As for the fitting that to do with Pacemaker, not the place that fitted them really. May I ask why you went with the PH5029's and not the standard PH5009's? Alot of money to blow on a 6................
AirStrike

Well when I rang them at 10:30am (car was dropped off at 8am), they said the guy was half finished already...Plus when I dropped the car off at 8am I was told it would be ready by midday and I told them I had other things to do today. It wasnt ready until 3pm.

I went with the 5029's because I thought they'd be more suited when I supercharge the car later this year. I also have roller rockers and a custom ground cam next on my list. Price wise they are quite similar ($650 supplied and fitted... It was the extra that bumped the price up, low pressure power steering hose and ceramic coating). Alot of money to blow on a 6, but its personal choice.

[pow3rslave]

what a pack of ****s.
just out of interest, did you get a passenger side heat sheild put in?

getting pacies put in on thurs, just wanna know if it's worth the extra dosh.

[1991_Vn2nV]

Nah no passenger side heat shield man.

Gotta say, they give a nice noise in the cabin, much noisier than the stock manifolds... Good power too. None of this small power band crap people talk about, theres a fair gain down low too...

[pow3rslave]

on an NA with just bolt ons?
thurs i'm gettin VP lukes old twin cats and pacies put into my v6 (gonna go twin cats > 3 inch y > 2.5)

not hoping for a supercar, but a bit of a change would be ace.

[1991_Vn2nV]

Well.. you need to be realistic about the gains. Some people expect an exhaust on a V6 WILL turn it into a supercar or take like a second off 0-100 times and quarter mile times. Obviously thats head in the clouds stuff, but I got the kind of gains I wanted. In a straight line, its not overly noticeable, but when I floor it whether it be at 20km/h or 80km/h its very noticeable, much more pickup. They are the competition headers though and I have a stage 2 cam, not sure what differences they would make to the extractor performance.

Worth $650 brand new? Yes... The ceramic coating for $314 is utter b/s but im kinda anal about getting the best (despite driving a VN ).

[pow3rslave]

yeah, i think i'm being fairly realistic in my expectations, just some flames out the back and chirpys in 5th...

[1991_Vn2nV]

lol yeah totally man. Just ask profix

[immortality]

they should have replaced that broken hose free of charge, 2mm clearance isn't enough and they shoulda spotted it before it left there workshop. i had trouble with a set of headers on my V6 VN, the Y pipe was about 15mm out and would mate up properly, got new Y pipe which was better but still not perfect and these were supposidly jig welded!! was all good, lots of clearance etc, then i took it for a spin and when everything got hot everything moved, there must have been some tension somewhere which the heat in the xhaust relaxed cause after that the first muffler was hitting the chassis. (we had a muffler where u guys have the CAT i beleive) my fix was to remove the muffler

[Reaper]

I paid a rather large $1004 for extractors today. $650 for the Pacemaker competition headers PH 5029, $314 for ceramic coating and $40 to replace a low pressure power steering hose which PROFIX broke, in my opinion they should have replaced without charge...

Anyways... First issue... It was on their hoist for 6 and a half to 7 hours! I saw it go on, and was still on when i came back 7 hours later. It does NOT take this long to fit headers, especially when pacemaker reccomend 2.5hours fitting time..

The major issue... The extractors are hitting fairly heavily on the steering rack. There is a LARGE vibration when cornering or when the foot is flat to the floor. There is about 2mm clearance with the engine off, but the headers hit when the engine is on and moving due to rpm and when the steering rack turns, a bolt is hitting the header.

Now I have some big scratches down the side of the centre pipe (drivers side) on my $314 ceramic coating.

Do I demand another set of headers? I think it atleast needs that side re-coated because I did NOT pay $1004 for that. Also, do I demand a replacement or just a repair? Because im scared that if they just repare it, they will simply push the pipe out with a metal bar or something, bending it to increase clearance.

Opinions and suggestions would be good, because I need this fixed and I have work at 3 every day from tomorrow... And profix is a 35 minute drive from my house.

BTW I couldnt take it back today, because I only drove it down the road to a mates place to wire up my fog lights and by the time I left and noticed the vibration, they were closed. Theres no vibration at idle or driving normally, but foot down (3500rpm onwards) and taking a sharper corner (I live in the hills so it was a hell of a drive home) it really vibrates.

Cheers,
Dylan

IIRC items like exhausts & engine components etc must have 10mm clearance between themselves and fixed chassis items. Assuming your car is stock standard (dimensionally) in the engine bay then I would ask the vendor to fix the problem.

Be nice about it and if they are reputable then it should be fixed - if not bring out the baseball bat

Reaper

[PaRaDoX]

man they sound like a bunch of ****heads

if they break it, they SHOULD pay for it... i mean shit they're ment to be "professionals"

airstrike, the 6s arnt such a bad engine plus the 8s arnt exactly a comming out of the wood work... for instance i have 8 engine heads in my possession, 2 inlet manifodlds, about 40 injectors, only problem is all the majour performance gear comes from the states...

bad luck man ive had some DODGY as mechanics work on my car, like i had my tranny serviced... it started slipping... i wondered why.. checked the fluid and it had none left... got under there to service it like 5000km after their service and discovered ALL the sump bolts were finger tight, im NEVER going to a shop EVER again unless its a paint/chassis specialist.. im SICK of crappy mechanics...

[Clinster]

I certainly wouldnt take my car there regardless of where you live....
They have been in trouble in the past.
They maybe the cheapest but you get what you pay for.
That exhaust should fit not probs!!!

[1991_Vn2nV]

I rang Pacemaker this morning and they were quite helpful. Apparently there is a rib or beam on the bellhousing which needs to be cut into, as these headers were designed for the saloon cars which removed them completely to drop weight.

But he said I should get under my car and have a look with a torch, and I should spot one of the pipes resting against this beam, which is what is causing the clearance problems with the steering rack. He should there should be atleast 7mm clearance with the rack.

But unfortunately i will be 'very lucky' to get the pipe to go back to where it should be because they harden once driven due to the heat.

But he said if I could try and fix it myself, that would be the best bit because it will avoid a shit fight with Profix.

But that would void the Profix guarantee according to the back of my invoice. So I dunno whats going on. Im positive the other pipes looked fine yesterday, but I will see.

[CALAIS 6]

id go back confront them as i did when found out about underneth of my car its worth ago but they bassically told me too get ****ed

if there was gonna be clearance issues they should have known and told u about it

[1991_Vn2nV]

^^ Exactly. They should never have let me drive off with clearance issues like that. If they dont fix it, i will ring consumer affairs tomorrow and see what my options are, and, if possible... Demand a full refund and I will get them fitted elsewhere.

[defa]

if they are selling the headers they should research them before fitting them. i would be gettign my money back.. how much did they charge you for labor