Taormina Racing

Gentlemen,

Apparently I have had my Catorce account locked by Internet Brands. I have tried to log in for the past month to answer some of these posts, and I always get the same message: Account Locked - Contact Internet Brands. Yes, they have a card on file. No, I don't know what the issue is, but I need to take care of some business on this thread, so I created this user name. Stand by for updates on two important topics - the Porsche Cases, and my personal update.

Taormina Racing

Regarding the Porsche cases, I know an awful lot about these, and here is the synopsis:

Porsche dug up about 100 cases (100 left and 100 right case halves) that were left over from 993 production. You can tell they are 993 cases by the oil gallery bosses on the top of the case, and also the 993 style oil filter console bottom connection. These are 25+ year old castings that sat unmachined.

Porsche did not actually machine these themselves; their plans and prints were either lost or unusable and their tooling was shot. So they worked with an outside vendor to machine these, and they made something like 30 964, 30 3.3 turbo, and some other variants.

They are all sold out basically because there were only 100 sets for the whole world, which obviously isn't a lot.

These cases are not a threat to my product in any way shape or form, mainly because:

• they still require a lot of machining for things that everyone wants like shuffle pinning, spigot boring, etc etc.
• There is only a finite quantity because I am told Porsche is not making any more. Remember, the hard part here is CASTING them, and their tooling is shot, and incomplete.
• From a straight up innovation standpoint, these cases still have all the same problems that they have ever had, there is no innovation in these, no modern fixes.

My $.02

scooter993

Adam-

Thanks for the update on the Porsche Cases... now, how about the ones we all paid for? any good honest information? looks like your old account was last used on the two weeks ago and then again today.. so not sure how you have been locked out. your pelican account was last used a week ago and today as well, but still no update on pelican.

just let us know what's going on... I don't think we are asking for much... feel free to email me and send my oil filter console refund!

Scott

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Taormina Racing

Scott, I am about to post an update here in a minute.

Here is a screen shot as to what I see when I log in on my old account. This is a paid advertiser account so I have no idea why this is happening and right this minute I don't have time to figure it out either.


As to updating on Pelican, or here for that matter, I am trying to run multiple businesses here, and quite frankly I do not have the time to update internet forums as regularly as I used to. And that's the rub; I have been on forums for 20+ years now, and all of a sudden when you don't post people think you are 1) banned 2) dead,or 3) out of business. That could not be further from the truth, but those here looking for an update should be well aware that I am not posting with nearly the frequency I used to, and I don't really plan on increasing that frequency because right now with all due respect I think my time is best spent making cases rather than posting on internet forums.

I will post an update today for sure.

Taormina Racing

Ok so here's the general update on where we are. Seems like you go away for a bit and people start talking smack. The irony here is that I have heard lots of complaints from my various customers about how they are impacted by COVID, life events, and other personal tragedies but the double standard starts where they expect me to be totally unaffected by the events of this year.

"But we have paid money and it has taken way longer and I have been waiting a year"

Yeah, so have these people: https://www.tesla.com/roadster/reserve#payment They put down 50 grand and have been waiting since 2017 on a car with no delivery date, no spec, and not much detail.

Did I mention making this case, even without the events of 2020 is HARD? Did I mention that I was into this little side venture close to $700,000 as of this month? I thought it was 600K until it was brought to my attention earlier this week. So please, keep your collective shirts on, I don't want to hear about when you think you were promised a case, because I am holding up my end of the bargain by pressing forward on an absurdly complicated project in spite of heavy losses and very little chance of recoupment in my lifetime.

Having said that, we are almost there on what is now the MARK 6 Case. Yes, MARK 6. That is how many friggin versions we are at.

And those of you who were slotted from cases 1-5 that are complaining about why you were bumped for the racers, I am going to tell you why. Production cases # 1-5 did not meet the standards for excellence we have here. So we made probably 10 prototypes and 5 production cases. The 5 production cases are all shipped, and only one went to Gamroth.

But I wasn't happy with those cases. In our company, we follow TPS - The Toyota Production System (look it up). As a rule, we focus on continuous improvement, increased efficiency in production, and the most important rule in the TPS is that we do not hide our mistakes, we do not cover them up. Therefore, it was my prerogative to give the first cases exclusively to race shops and mechanics. These cases needed some special know how and knowledge, and I did not feel like they should be in the hands of private owners. Scream all you want, but that is my prerogative. It's no different than Musk not wanting to sell prototype roadsters. I want you to have the best experience possible with my product, and if that means some hurt feelings because you didn't get your case on time, that's what it means.

Meanwhile, let me tell you about the Mark 6. This is the new case that is made by the Vortech foundry, and it's a beauty. It is made of 100% core sand, just like Ferrari and McLaren blocks. Also, it can now be made into an air or water cooled case. Try that, Porsche.

You'll note quite w few different features and bosses for the 997 TT if you look close.

With this case, we are finally here. We had to switch foundries due to bad behavior, missed schedules, and COVID shutdowns but we are now here. And next week I am picking up the four more castings, and four more the week after that, and off we go.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, and will now take your questions.

Thank you all for sticking with this. I have never given up even though I have had a considerable amount of my wealth erased this year as well as all of the same struggles you guys have faced.

sithot

Has Jeff Gamroth built an engine based on your cases he purchased?

scooter993

Adam-

seams like the first part of your update was towards me. but many of us have been waiting for an update, I have over 7 people that PM'd me asking is I heard anything and I'm sure that's just a small % that asked me.. anyways.. I think we all just wanted a update on what was going on.. Yes, covid caused issues, but I'm not one bitching about what it did to my business.. I was suppose to have my case before covid.. Many members stated emailing with no replies... I can speak from experience, look we can all talk in circles. thanks for the update I myself and many others appreciate it...

PS, please respond to my emails.

Taormina Racing

Not yet. But this is a great time to publicly acknowledge what a MASSIVE contribution Jeff Gamroth has made to our cases. On his own time, he went through my case, checked everything, and provided over 20 points of feedback for us to change. He is one of the busiest guys I know, and he took the time to do things like send us cut sections of other cases for us to copy, and gave us a wish list of things he wanted to see that would save him time. Jeff is one of the most generous guys on the planet and I will publicly state that we owe him a debt. Even though he'd probably say "it was nothing".

The case in the pictures is going to him, he will be using a Mark 6 for his customer's build.

Taormina Racing

Scott,

Not directed towards you, there are other pains in the asses who are now gone. You're great by comparison!

You should know that I am not consistently receiving my emails. I found this out from Charles Navarro who said he sent me a bunch of emails that I never got, and also, mine did not reach him. I will email you with a different email to send correspondence to. Thank you for your patience!!! It is deeply appreciated.

Shaun @ Tru6

I am greatly looking forward to a case but only after Gamroth has built one, or two, and sent all final feedback to you Adam. And that feedback has been implemented. Those are the cases I want. January would be a good time to get it, frames will be done soon BTW.

Taormina Racing

Respectfully, Shaun, it doesn't work that way. Jeff does not decide when the cases are done, I do. And there are 4 other builders out there making motors as well. Jeff's wish list are things specific to Jeff's builds that do not affect the functionality of the case. They are proprietary tricks he uses and I won't share them, but every case now has them.

Shaun @ Tru6

Adam, I don't care about Jeff's special tricks. I care about getting a case that is truly final.

Taormina Racing

I don't really anticipate a case that's truly final - that would go against the principle of continuous improvement. God knows Porsche worked that same case over for 50 years.....but I feel like an explanation is in order so you understand where I am coming from.

The Mark 1 prototype was a fully functional case as each successive iteration was. You could put it in a car and run it (and we did). The improvements and changes from Mark 1 to Mark 6 are comprised of cosmetics, refined machine processes, changing the casting for easier production, and adding water cooled features.

I want to touch upon the casting changes for a moment. Between Mark 5 and Mark 6 we added material to the casting in 24 places to make our lives easier in machining. This does NOT include the water cooled features. The reason adding material is easier for machining is that it requires less alignment of the casting to the fixture and increases the speed at which we can make the cases.

I fully expect to make a Mark 7 and a Mark 8 and so on and so forth. If we are not constantly improving the product, we are doing something wrong. And 99 percent of these changes you won't even notice, care about, and won't affect the functionality of the part in any way shape or form.

Shaun @ Tru6

Then I will want my case sooner than later.

Taormina Racing

You will be so happy, my friend!!!! And thanks for your support!