Federal Samco Hoses

[HJ2]

This is the latest engineering copy, almost perfect now:

[Jeemy]

Great News. I hope there is more soon.

[HJ2]

Well... The news is: there is not any.


I was sent yet another prototype quite a while ago, which is quite suitable for production IMHO and solves the problems I discovered. It is still on my car.
I also sent back 6 other complete induction kits that all showed the de-lamination problem.

Since then all attempts to contact SAMCO / Sillflex about this matter failed.
I've spent literally weeks on this groupbuy now without buying myself !

Status now:
1. There is an alternative prototype @ Sillflex that would be a proper solution for everybody who obtained the turbo induction hose.
2. At least 6 people are now without their induction kit, and without any refund
3. I did not get the promised refund to cover the international shipping costs either
4. There is one owner (luckily only one as i reacted fast enough i hope!!!) with turbo, intercooler and more damage, caused by the delamination of the hose.
5. None (none!) of the attempts to get the general manager of Silflex on the phone succeeded.
6. The limit of my patience and politeness and spare free time is now reached. If i do not hear from Sillflex by the end of next week, i will investigate in serious alternative steps that I can take.


I understand this is not the news we were waiting for. Let's wait until the end of next week to see what we can do.
Who knows, perhaps a miracle happens and Sillflex will come up with a solution that we all are waiting for!

[steve matthews]

Sillflex will come up with a solution that we all are waiting for!

Solid pipe powder coated to color selected?

Steve

[HJ2]

Sillflex will come up with a solution that we all are waiting for!

Solid pipe powder coated to color selected?

Steve

Hahaha! No, i mean we all are waiting for a solution!
Although your option sounds attractive

[lotos]

Sorry for your trouble. No good deed goes unpunished it seems. Thanks for advocating on others' behalf, it's appreciated. And damnit Samco get your s**t together! This is ridiculous!

[Jeemy]

What a shame. So is this in the hands of Samco/Silflex, rather than Amber who imported and sold the units?

[HJ2]

At the moment: Yes, The Amber route has not been walked yet, but they deny any claims of damage caused by the hose failure.
This route is still open for (legal) investigation though.

Samco promised to contact me this Monday. We are now Wednesday...

[Jeemy]

The reason I ask is because I have been working on a Mitsubishi GTO while my suspension bits have been away getting measured for the Group Buys. Amber are very active on the jap-crap forums. So I can ask publicly why things are being delayed in a forum where they can't reasonably ignore it due to the high level of activity they have there - and it might damage them to do so.

I am sure you know but I sent a set of hoses displaying this problem (and orange centres when another colour was ordered, but we know the "reason" for that one) away 30th April this year for evaluation to:

SamcoSport
Coed Cae Lane,
Pontyclun,
South Wales
CF72 9HJ

for the attention of Peter Ingleby, the QC manager(!). Clearly this was not Amber, I presume Silflex make em, Samco shove a label on em and Amber retail them.

It was 30 April 2014 I sent these. I am more than happy to start exerting pressure if they are hoping this will slip under a carpet - or do anything else you advise, I won't do anything without checking with you.

J

[HJ2]

Finally something happens!
From the managing Director of Silflex:


*** snip ***

Hello Henk-Jan

My apologies for the delay in writing to you.

I am very pleased that the filter-turbo hose sample has fitted and performed well.

I presume you are still happy with its performance in service? If so, we will take this as approval and we would be happy to replace this hose for all of your group-buy associates. Are you able to collect the information for colours and postal addresses for us to send replacement parts out to?

Regarding the second hose, we have tried some further testing of various prototypes here in the UK and sadly we are unable to produce an improved design, which satisfies all the criteria. As you suggested in one of your earlier emails, this hose has too many challenges, and as it is hidden, and the OEM hose is sound, it should be left alone. We are happy to refund the cost of this top hose to your group-buy - these refunds would need to be paid by Amber Performance, and Samco will then credit Amber.

*** snip ***

I responded:

*** snip ***

Thank you for your message.
The hose still works fine and even survived a severe run on a dyno.

I will provide a list with the details from my group buy, including pay pal addresses for refund of the second hose. What about the other (US-based) group buy and individual purchases?
I presume that you will contact Amber about this so this goes without any incident, and you will get me in contact with the right guy @ amber. Shall we say before next week Friday?


Regards
Henk-Jan

*** snip

So it looks like the affected hose will be replaced by the new design which is finally approved (see my pictures a few posts above) The other hose (from air intake to filter housing) will be refunded
Silflex intentions seem OK and Genuine, but as always.... Not untill the fat lady sings!

Now: Who is collecting the data as per above for the UK and the USA?
I will collect all data from 'my' group buy...

I'll keep you posted as always.
Henk-Jan

[Jeemy]

As I am an interested party, and was in direct contact with them on behalf of John (B-C-N) - shall I collect names for the UK/US side of things?

[Rusty Wishbone]

Did anyone hear more from Amber of Samco?

[HJ2]

Nothing anymore from the Netherlands anyway.

I sent all the faulty hoses back to Silflex (but one) and they were promised to replace. Also i was promised to be pay-palled my money back for the transport to the UK, but nothing (yet)
I sent them an email again yesterday asking what the current situation is.

I don't understand it. I spent quite some time in troubleshooting this and later on in debugging the design and now there is a good technical solution available. My regular fee for this is usually 75 Euro an hour but hey, Elan's are my hobby . Also they are able to produce the new hose, I returned all the Belgian and Dutch copies of the faulty induction hose and i paid for some of these transports. All this from a group buy where i myself bought nothing and that was not even my group buy to start with!

So all lights appear to be green, but Silflex stays silent for some reason that i don't know. If only i knew the reason, then perhaps i would be able to help out to get this process starting again so finally all buyers would either have a decent hose or their money back. Not much to ask after all this time and trouble. However, the managing director does not respond to my mails now and all attempts to get him on the phone stranded at his (apparently good) secretary.

The next possible step would be informing my (large) professional network about this and ask for advice how to continue with this process. However this would mean world wide negative exposure for Silflex, so i am not eager to do this. If i get no response of any use, the next step would be calling my legal expenses insurance and see what they can do.

For now i hope Silflex will come with a response that will satisfy all. After all, as a consumer one would and legally could expect a little after sales service here in a timely manner that is.

[brijo]

I had been considering buying a Samco turbo hose kit from Amber until I came across this thread today. Does anybody know if the current filter-turbo and turbo-cooler hoses are now safe to use?

[HJ2]

The filter to turbo is not, the rest is...

[brijo]

Thanks HJ, I'll stick with OEM for the time being. Do you know if Samco is still developing the filter-turbo hose?

[Rusty Wishbone]

Looking through the photos of the Bloodhound SSC on Autocar today, I noticed what looks worryingly like the dodgy Samco hose from this group buy!

http://images.cdn.autocar.co.uk/sites/a ... k=p1VyI63T

Do you think they would get a refund if it buggered their engine?

[HJ2]

Don't worry.

The bloodhound is not a high performance vehicle compared to our little Elan
I am sure that the speeds in the pipe of the bloodhound are well below that of those in our induction hose
Also I believe that by now they have solved the bonding problem in the SAMCO production line

[HJ2]

You will not believe it, but there is another update on this matter!

Out of the 5 induction sets that were part of my group buy, SAMCO now replaced 3 sets with a NEW induction hose between filter and turbo, which is based on the engineering copy I posted about a couple of pages back, be it without the metal reinforcement rings.
Since everybody involved was given the option: reimbursement or replacement, the 2 remaining sets should be reimbursed by now, but yet again all is quiet on the SAMCO front But I have a lot of promises that reimbursement will take place soon...

To be continued again!

[HJ2]

Yesterday I received the refund for the defective hoses!
So if you would like to do business with SAMCO, be prepared that even a simple refund under warrantee can take over 2 years and a LOT (really a lot!) of effort before completion

For now I will grab a and celebrate, and will think twice again before I organise another group buy!