Has anyone run into the same problem with Cosworth Evo 9 cam shafts?

I ordered these cams from www.vividracing.com... below is a copy of an e-mail I sent them addressing the problem.

Vivid,

The Cosworth Evo 9 exhaust cam I ordered was incorrectly manufactured. On Friday 5 January, I had Speed Element in Fremont, CA try to install both the exhaust and intake cam. The intake cam fits perfectly. However, the “key” end (slots on the end of the cam shaft) did not align correctly. My installer called Ken at Cosworth. Ken suggested filling down the exhaust cam to make it fix. The installer and I both agreed this was not a good method to “make” the exhaust cam fit. Not only was the exhaust cam I ordered from you incorrectly manufactured, but the exhaust cams of the 10 sets of Cosworth Evo 9 cams shafts that Speed Element ordered were also misaligned. Therefore I must believe that the last batch that Cosworth manufactured is all bad.

Right now, I have the Cosworth intake cam and the stock exhaust cam installed in my Evo. I’m already out $300 for a job only being half completed.

1) Have you received similar notices from other customers who purchased these same set of cams? If not, I highly suggest you contact them and let them know of the problem. I cannot believe that no one besides me has encountered the same problem. I am very disappointed that no one from Vivid contacted me prior to me trying to have these cams installed and let me know of this issue. I’m hope you can understand my frustration of wasting a full day and several hundred dollars only to have the intake cam installed....

Thanks all...

 

Sorry to hear about this....... I would be upset too, especially after buying cams in anticipation of more power... Good Luck!

 

Dont know why we need three threads on this. I think you are making a bigger deal out of this than it is. I see this as an example of an installer who dont have the smarts to make a small modification that would have only cost him a few minutes time. Others got them installed without making a stink.

 

Are you actually serious? Your above statement is completely re-god-damn-diculus. There should be no modifications that need to be made to any products for them to properly be installed. You buy a part that was advertised to actually fit and you install said part. You don't buy something thinking that it will work fine and then be told you need to file this down and beat that in. It's people like you that allow crap like this to slide and cause people like churchja to be out hundreds of dollars in install fees as well as the hassel to actually get the parts that were advertised to fit. This has nothing to do with an installer...it has to do with the manufacturer.

If a product is advertised to fit it should fit. Period. Now if Cosworth said: "Oh, by the way the cam is a really tight fit and may require a little bit of filing and fitment work." That would be a different story because Churchja would have know that ahead of time and wouldn't have bought them. It is actually pretty simple.

 

faust, just a thought, no dog in this hunt, but do you think Mitsubishi may have some tolerance built in?
actually it sounds like a piece is made for some tolerance and conforms to the last used conditions.

 

I didn't say its okay for Cosworth to send cams that dont fit. That obviously needs to be brought to their attention, which it has. The point I am making is its absolutely ridiculous that this guy is gonna have to pay another 300 for a reistall when all that was needed was 2 minute grind job. Mechanic is the idiot here in my opinion. Cool your jets A-hole, you obviously have no idea what its like to be a mechanic that tries to save the customer money, time and headaches. This guy got all three.

 

Yeah, You're absolutely right. It's all the mechanic's fault. Therefore, it's all Churchja's fault for picking that mechanic. Churchja let this be a lesson to you. It's not the parts that may be faulty it's your Mechanic. I want you to go back there right now and demand a full refund because 94AWDcoupe said it was their fault they couldn't install your cosi cams...WTF? Dude, get a clue.

YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TO GRIND ANYTHING TO GET THESE TO FIT. WHAT PART OF THAT DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND. WHY SHOULD THE MECHANIC EVEN HAVE TO BOTHER WITH IT IN THE FIRST PLACE? THEY WERE NEVER ADVERTISED AS TO NEEDING MODIFICATION TO FIT PROPERLY. IF THEY WERE ADVERTISED AS SUCH THAT WOULD BE A DIFFERENT STORY.

I totally agree with you. The point I am making is that you can't possibly blame the mechanic and tell the OP that he is a cry baby because the cams were never advertised as maybe needing modification to fit. If Cosi had a disclaimer or even a note in the box that said "Due to Mitsubishi's original design..." But they didn't and here we are with a very upset member whose going to be out hundreds of dollars because of perhaps an oversight or an actual faulty part.

That's the main point here, as of right now No One knows if this set of cams is bad or if this is the norm for these cams. But to put the blame on the mechanic is freaking retarded.

 

Okay dude. Just got one question. Why did cosworth themselves ask the installer if he could just grind the groove to make it fit? Maybe cause that was all that was needed to save the customer 300$, HEADACHE out the ying yang? Thats the way I see it. I work on and modify cars everyday. Changing cams is a modification. Grinding the end of the camis a very minor modification. If you cant handle small modifications then you have no business modifying at all. I am done here, my point made.

 

it is cosworth's fault but it's also the owners/mechanics fault for not savin' himself some money. there's obviously no winner here.

 

Most products are advertised to fit correctly without modification. If modification is needed, it should be stated. If it is not stated, then it is the manufacturer's problem. They should not be telling people to grind anything down, especially a camshaft, unless the manufacturer themselves are willing to pay for any damages that may occur as a result of the grind. In a sense, they are trusting the mechanic to grind it correctly. If anything goes wrong, such as the camshaft flying about for some reason, the manufacturer would be responsible for it.

Obviously any manufacturer would/should not take this route. If they really wanted to make their products work, without a big fuss, they should have the customer send it back to the manufacturer, then grind it down themselves. This would be the easiest and most efficient method to resolve the issue for both parties.

I suppose if the grind is the thickness of this period . then it would be OK, but if it is a serious grind job, then it should simply be returned to the manufacturer. But considering many people have complained, it seems like a bigger issue. I'd understand if it's only 2 out of many people, but if it's several, then a manufacturing adjustment/recall needs to be done.

 

Thank you for eloquently putting what I was trying to say earlier. Well put. This is what I was trying to convey to you 94AWDcoupe. That's all.

 

That would be the last thing that I would want a manfacture to tell me is that i need to modify one of their products to get them to work the way they should have come from the manufacture....

But thanks for the advice anyway...haha!

 

lmao. coming from a guy that sell people *** up stuff.

 

OMG!! HEXORZ!! THE BASTAGES!!!

There was a limited run that got out with a groove at the end not being quite wide enough. Simply filing it out will fix it. Cosworth is taking care of any of them that need taking care of and paying for shipping.




I am sure that everyone here is buying their Cosworth parts from well respected reliable sources so this should not be a big problem. An inconvenience for sure for a few people yes.

Contact your friendly respected and reliable Cosworth dealer for more information. Contact the Peanut Gallery for missinformation and EVERYONE PANIC!!



Mike W

 

Thanks Mike. We have the same pic from Cosworth and the brief description of the problem as well. The cams have been sent to Cosworth , if anybody has any questions please contact me directly.