Vilhuer

PPM agreed to make another set free of charge using GTS rod I send to them as template. This second set has finally arrived and I have trial fitted one into engine block. Much better result than first time. As far as I can tell all measurements are correct including critical lower end offset. Picture isn't from exact set we got but they are very similar. It was long ordeal but we finally got satisfactory conclusion to it. They will use similar design in their normal 150mm 928 rods in future. So they should be usable with stock pistons and crank.

mickster

Glad it FINALLY worked out and damn if that ain't some great engine ****! I need a cigarette and I don't even smoke!

MGW-Fla

Wow, just re-read this thread & it wore me out; you are a Saint for dealing with your ordeal as well as you did. At least the vendor appears to have made the effort to make it right with you. That in itself is somewhat rare in today's world, especially with you half a world away from him.

Bill Ball

I give them credit for taking a nice picture!

Dave928S

Glad you eventually got a resolution Errka.

It's a pity it took all this time but at least they finally got it right, and you've now got the right parts.

Flint Ironstag

Glad it worked out. Unfortunate it took so much back and forth. Not trivializing OP's concerns, but also feel bad for the vendor - this is not a flattering thread title to pop up in a search engine. Any way to modify the title to append "resolved" or something similar?

I have no affiliation with either party - just seems like there could be a better solution for all involved, particularly if the situation has been resolved to OP's (relative) satisfaction.

Hilton

Whew.. I saw another post and was worried you'd had no resolution. Glad to hear that you've got a set of rods and the measurements are good

Kudos to them for doing the replacement set for free - sounds like PPM are trying at least to provide quality products, even if there were communication issues.

Hopefully they'll keep at it and work on improving the issues - good machine shops who can produce custom orders like this are few and far between (which I guess is why you ended up using them in the first place despite the distance?).

Vilhuer

Price was big part of it and fact that they had stock style 928 rods for sale. This made initial order easier. There aren't any easy and cheap local options so it didn't matter how far they are.

ptuomov

AUD goes crazy in either direction every now and then. Buying engine parts from Australia after or during a recession makes sense, because at those times both the AUD is low and metals prices are low.

It's just that one has to find a reputable supplier that wasn't put out of business by the expensive metals and expensive AUD (can't export) or the crisis that lead to the subsequent cheap metals and AUD (no domestic demand).

GregBBRD

I keep Carrillos, in this length and dimensions, in stock....

I also have Carrillos with "smaller" big end dimensions with 5.4 liter uber cranks....in stock.

AndrewLang

I felt obligated to post here as I had previously had positive comments about PPM.

I actually fully assembled a BMW kit I had from them. No support or instructions but I figured I could rely on common knowledge from building many BMW motors. Some important information was not provided when I assembled the engine, like the fact that the nose of the crankshaft was too long and the normal bolt/nut would leave the crank pulley loose with room to wobble even when torqued down.

Also, the wrist pins I was given were complete garbage, with +/- 2 gram tolerance. I had to have a machinist re-bore them to make them all the same weight.

The rods had to be modified to give adequate clearance in the piston. The rods were cheap looking, similar to eagle rods but without the consistency.

The only good thing I got from then was the pistons which were probably Mahle blanks that were modified.

I won't be buying anything from them again.

BMWS85B58

This is a Joke!
Are you kidding me?? What instructions did you need? As an engine builder like yourself, it is your responsibility to make sure when building an engine to check and make sure all parts are assembled correctly and working! You cannot expect a manufacturer to tell you how to build an engine this is ridiculous! It is up to you to check the length of the bolt you are using to make sure is correct length with the balancer you are using.. I am sure you didn’t know this but Yes there is a difference between balancers/crank pulleys and you have to make sure you check this before tightening the bolt down, common sense as an engine builder.
We have built many engines including BMW Engines and every time we have purchased pistons rods from any other manufacturers like JE,SRP,ect.. There was always a tolerance of 2-5g! Even Carrillo rods have a tolerance of +/- 2g sometimes more. That’s not unusual it is common! I am sure you are good with Google you should do a search on this and you will find that what I am saying is true as other engine builder are talking about this all over forums.

Wristpins +/- 2g again I am not even going to comment on this.
The engines we have built for S14 BMW with the same kit had no problem with the rod and piston Clarence. There is 2.5mm between the top of the rod and piston that is acceptable with a huge (95mm) stroke! The crankshaft nose is 100% same as OEM we are in process of building another 2x engines now and we have compare PPM billet crank to a Factory OEM cranks and they are identical. We have used this kit since 2012 and build many engines and had no issues.

Regarding the rods please enlighten me how should rods look like? They are machined and shot peened all look same LOL.

Pistons yes I can confirm PPM is using Mahle blanks and most are machined in Melbourne.

You have purchased a kit from PPM and copy it and after you copied the whole kit you have posted nonsense on this forum (which is irrelevant to this thread) and try to spread bad reputation so you can push and sell your own copied product how convenient! Even the picture from the pistons is PPM and in the backround you can see PPM connecting rod box! Al you have done is remove with Photoshop ppm logs..
Here is the link:

http://store.langracing.com/2-7l-95m...mw-e30-m3-s14/

Yes PPM has made mistake but also fixed them and made things right!

Honestly guys PPM has done everything to make things right don’t you think it’s time to move on and give them a brake??

Hilton

So lets get this straight.. are you saying Andrew Lang is langracing.com, who have allegedly copied the PPM parts and now compete with PPM while rubbishing them on the internets?

Wow, this is almost as good as Robert Hack and his Motodyne image-stealing hype-market BS insanity.



Now I demand closure!!

Erkka, any feedback on the updated bits that PPM machined to replace the originally out-of-spec rods?

ptuomov

PPM, oh PPM --

I got two sets of piston pins from them as a part of my order. The first was just wrong, by a country mile. The second was too short by an excessive tolerance. This after everything had been late by months. Not using either set of pins, ever.

Someone want to buy some pieces for a forced induction engine? The pistons look and measure ok, but after the pin episode I am going to sell the whole set for about half the purchase price. Let's say low compression pistons, NPR rings for Nikasil, and rods with ARP bolts all in $1350. Fits standard rod bearings. Get your own wrist pins, please -- you'll get two sets with wrong size with the pistons and rods but you probably don't want to use them...

Not that I know there's anything wrong with them (other than pins), I wouldn't sell them if I knew anything wrong with them. It's just that my time is too valuable to deal with not knowing whether these parts are good or not. Send me wrong pins twice and I don't have time to install your parts inside an engine.

So, pm me and get some ppm stuff for about half the purchase price.

AndrewLang

I'm happy to comment here. My original intention was to resell PPM products for BMW engines. Upon receiving the first order I had and seeing the problems I encountered assembling it, and with the bad customer support I received, I decided to make my own kit.

I'm not sure why he assumes that a stroker kit with the same stroke as the one he makes has to be a copy of his. What we did was use the dimensions from a 2.5 liter Evo crankshaft and increase stroke 2mm. That's the only thing similar between my kit and his. I use different rods, rod bearing size, rod diameters, rod length, etc.

My point is, the price I paid did not reflect the quality I expected. I was able to produce my custom made kit locally for less than it cost me to buy it from PPM, and the quality is better.