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This week at the Vorshlag shop

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Fair

Go Big or Go Home
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Plano, TX
This is a new thread we created to cover about what is going on at the Vorshlag shop, day to day. We plan to post here often - mostly from copying what I post on my own or the Vorshlag social media, blog, YouTube, or Instagram. It won't always be Mustang centric, but enough of it will to hopefully keep TMO people entertained and informed.

Social Media is not everyone's cup of whiskey, and due to distorted algorithms and AI you might not see these daily posts. Putting this stuff on the forums makes it more of a permanent record, and easier to catch up with what's going on at the Vorshlag shop.

So let's start with yesterday...

October 27, 2020: We had a customer who had an issue with one of our Bilstein based "Track Pro" coilover kits, which we used to make from OEM style inverted Bilstein strut housings (it was a lot of work).

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He bought this kit from us nearly 5 years ago and broke one of the swaybar brackets off (I suspect by using the wrong length end link). He asked if we could repair them and check his other parts, like the camber plates.

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Over the last few days we unearthed the old production fixtures, CNC plasma cut a replacement bracket, and got to work. Brad disassembled and prepped the housings, then Myles TIG welded the new bracket on and welded up a crack in the other side. Brad repainted the housings (we no longer keep the custom matched Bilstein yellow on hand) and I assembled them today, for Tim to package up and ship out.

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Why support a product we quit selling 2+ years ago? Because that's what you do.

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Why did we make this kit to begin with? Because nobody filled the gap with a quality coilover under the MCS price point (no Ohlins R&T nor Bilstein PSS10) for the S197 Mustang (which was made in huge numbers). We only quit making these because Bilstein had a stretch of over 18 months *without making shocks*.

We keep seeing this lately: a shock supplier not making shocks, a wheel supplier not wanting to make wheels, and a brake supplier not wanting to make brakes. It is a bit maddening - and has nothing to do with the pandemic. If they keep this up, someone else is going to fill the gap in the market for them. That's how this works.

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PRO TIP: Never buy an automotive front spindle from a salvage yard. (*unless it is a well managed yard that never sells obviously crashed parts)

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I've learned and re-learned this lesson a few times. This is one area that can and does often get tweaked in a crash, which is how most cars end up in junkyards. The spindle can get bent, or a mounting hole oblonged, and then you have a paperweight.

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These S197 and S550 spindles weren't that expensive from the dealership new, in the end. Solved a lot of problems. #TheMoreYouKnow
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Some exciting new materials being tested for use in our camber plates. This grade of stainless steel has both the machinability and corrosion resistance we need for some tight tolerance bushings we use hundreds of every month.

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Moving to this material for this part will raise costs but cut out a delay in the manufacturing process - electroplating. We are making a batch this week which we will corrosion test side-by-side with our plated carbon steel versions. #NewMaterials #VorshlagBuilt
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A simple outdoor corrosion test I put together today.

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The same part (two of them are blems) made in bare carbon steel, yellow zinc plated carbon steel, and a grade of stainless steel (I am not sharing the exact alloy, for business reasons). We may move all of our bushings to this stainless, depending on how this looks after some rain and time. Come on mother nature, give us your worst! #BuildTestImprove
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This was one day of postings on social media. I will go back a few days in the next installment to show some actual car work we are doing in the shop, some new parts development, and more.

That's Whats Up!
 
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Fair

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October 22, 2020: This week we made a "fire proof" panel to cover an opening to the Pyrotect Fuel Cells in the back seat of an S197. This is an unusual fuel cell in that it re-uses the OEM steel fuel tank (2005-2010 models came with steel, 2011+ models came with plastic) and Pyrotect turns it into an FIA approve cell.

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The way they built the cell the vent ends up interfering with the floor, and the fuel lines are impossible to route under the car completely. So we took part of the "volume" above the back seat to mount the fuel pump and route the fuel and vent lines.

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Brad built a cardboard mockup after consulting with Myles about the unusual shape, and came up with a plan for piecing this together.

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Converted to aluminum, bent to shape, riveted the side portion on, then attached the assembly with rivnuts and stainless button head bolts.

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It should look great and keep out fuel smells from the cockpit for years of racing.

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That's What's Up!
 

Fair

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Plano, TX
October 23, 2020: Our endurance road race car build is progressing. This is a project that some Vorshlag employees are tackling after hours, which we will all drive in 8/12/24 hour races with WRL and similar groups.

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We've had the dash pad sitting in the cabin of our E46 #TeamVorshlag endurance build for too long.

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Brad took the time to trim it to fit today, between many other tasks. Looks good - less hoopty, more race car!

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This 2002 Corvette was one that used to be owned by Mark Council, after he sold his S197 Mustang. We worked on this car for a number of years, and last touched in in 2016. In 2019 my business partner at HorsePower Research bought this car, but it sat for 14 months in storage until recently.

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We pulled it out of storage and began doing some maintenance and repairs. I have motivation - I'm driving this in the Optima Ultimate Autocross Shootout thing at COTA on November 1st.

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Last week I bought a new set of Yokohama Advan A052 "200 treadwear" tires in 315/30/18 (the widest they make). These tires "run big" and were only 0.2" narrower tread than the 335/30/18 Rival-S tires that were on it (and are 2+ years old).

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This car has flares setup for 18x13" rear and 18x12" front wheels, which we supplied to Mark years ago. I had the "315" Yokohamas mounted up to these wheels and took it to a local autocross to test them out, and Erik also drove the car at an event for the first time.

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As we were loading the C5 into the trailer last week, crawling out the window because there wasn't a good place to hook the winch to, a thought occurred to me - this car needs a front tow hook! And specifically, one that requires no drilling to install. Surprisingly, this does not exist.

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Myles, Brad and I looked the front end with a wheel off and found the obvious place to bolt one to, without drilling any holes. Myles whipped up this design on the CNC plasma table, made a bending fixture for a production piece, Brad cleaned it up and painted it, and then installed on Erik's C5 today.

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Fits great - we will make a production run of these and add them to the Vorshlag parts catalog shortly. This is only one of a few new products we are making for this chassis. #NewPartsEveryWeek #VorshlagBuilt

That's What's Up!
 
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Fair

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October 19, 2020: We sold one of these PSS10 kits and sent them to Vorshlag first, for assembly with our camber plates as well as some studio pics

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PSS10 coilover kit for VW Mark 7, with our optional Vorshlag camber plates. Look for these to be listed on our website by tomorrow (now located here)

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We always ship shock kits to our shop (on our dime) first, if the customer buys any optional parts. This way we can assemble them properly and the customer can just install them right out of the box.

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Bilstein makes some great shock kits - when they feel like actually making shocks for cars - but their "stock" photos are junk.

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Tim here at Vorshlag has an NC Miata with Ohlins R&T coilovers, header, roll bar, and multiple sets of wheels. He sold these gold 17x8" RPF1 wheels then went to a TR Motorsports wheel.

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Today his new set of Enkei 17x9" RPF-1 arrived. Great price on a very light track wheel!

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My issues with the RPF1 are, 1) the spokes have poor caliper clearance and 2) they don't have sizes/offsets/bolt patterns/widths for the bigger cars.sad.gif

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Due to obligations on customer cars and lack of manpower over a 2 month period we haven't been able to touch the #LS550 project much. At least now towing this into and out of the shop is easier.

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Myles plasma cut out a tow hook (and future #ExposedSplitterStrut mounting platform) for the S550 tubular bumper beam he already built.

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Of course I had to "test it" - didn't break with me standing on it. You should have seen the dismount! Now I can use the tractor to drag this car around.

That's What's Up!
 

Fair

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October 28, 2020: After fighting with some AN lines last week I got fed up not being able to find my assembly tools that I broke down and bought them again from Summit Racing Equipment.

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+ Koul Tools AN Hose Assembly kit # 416
+ Summit Racing AN Hose End Wrench Kits # SUM-900101

These will get the ends onto braided hoses really well, and the wrenches will tighten the anodized ends without scratching (we still wrap the wrenches jaws in blue tape).
Of course I've owned sets of AN wrenches and these hose assembly tools before, but like most of the tools I buy, they have found their way into the Phantom Zone - along with a half of my socks.

That's What's Up!
 

Dave_W

Cones - not just for ice cream
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20+ Years
Connecticut
A simple outdoor corrosion test I put together today.

For an accelerated test, use a salt spray. Typically a solution of 5% by weight of sodium chloride (table salt) to water is used, but calcium choloride (some ice melts) is more aggressive. Test labs use a heated fog chamber, but you don't need to be so fancy for a simple comparison test. Heat some water, dissolve salt, let cool, put in spray bottle, and spray the test items on a regular basis.

Discussion of efficacy of salt spray tests for corrosion resistance of stainless steels:
You may be familiar with one of the publisher's members - ThyssenKrupp.

PS - What wheel & tire sizes did you finally end up with on the red Mustang after everything was done to it?
 
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Fair

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October 29, 2020: Here’s some scheduling info for this weekends Optima World Championship Autocross event. We will be there Saturday to unload and tech, no idea where we will be parking our rig. The autocross is in Sunday and the weather looks great!

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Spectators must by tickets online before they get there. I don’t know when they are allowed in - we got spectator tix for a few folks for Sunday. We will post more I fo as it becomes available. #25Kpayout


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I tested out a new welding helmet today - an auto darkening design with a LARGE viewing area, nearly 3x the lens opening of my old Miller helmet. It worked great for me over 3 hours of MIG welding this morning - the larger lens area really helped me see more of the working area as well as the arc.

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Myles tried it this afternoon on some TIG work, and the lens it would flicker at low amp / flash levels, so he went back to the Miller helmet.


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I will test Paul's new ($270) Lincoln "large viewing area" version side-by-side with this one soon. This $70 "YESWELDER" helmet one looks an awful lot like the Lincoln, but the lower rampage sensitivity might not make it worthwhile for TIG use. #ToolTesting

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Working on the #TeamCar after hours tonight! Magan and Tim lifted the E46 chassis and installed the new swap driveshaft.

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Myles and I worked on the rolled radiator mounts. The seat came out to swap for a different Sparco Circuit II and our altered offset, production E46 seat bracket. #LittleThings #TeamVorshlag

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That's What's Up!
 

Fair

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Supporting Vendor
277
492
Plano, TX
For an accelerated test, use a salt spray. Typically a solution of 5% by weight of sodium chloride (table salt) to water is used, but calcium choloride (some ice melts) is more aggressive. Test labs use a heated fog chamber, but you don't need to be so fancy for a simple comparison test. Heat some water, dissolve salt, let cool, put in spray bottle, and spray the test items on a regular basis.
Painfully aware after posting this on my FB page - every corrosion engineer on the network chimed in. And I understand how this works, as I worked in offshore oilfield equipment engineering for many years.

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PS - What wheel & tire sizes did you finally end up with on the red Mustang after everything was done to it?

Well... which red Mustang? ;)

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On my 2011 Mustang GT (S197) we started with 18x9 and 265mm tires, then moved to 18x10 with 275mm tires. By 2012 we had moved to 18x11" fronts and 18x12" rears with 315mm tires under stock fenders. We transitioned to 18x12" square with 335 front and 345 rears. It got faster every single step up in tire width. Of course we flared the car to get the tires wider than 315mm to fit...

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On my red 2018 GT (S550) we went right to 19x11" square with 305/30R19 (below left), but also ran 18x11" with 315/30/18 Hoosiers (below right). I ran a 315/30/19 Hoosier briefly on the 19s.

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Cheers!
 
2,198
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Bay Area
FYI- your employee made me dislike your company. Like I said you have a good product. but due to an employee I won’t support your business. I’m not hating on you or Vorshlag. If a fellow Mustang enthusias asks me about your product I will tell them it’s a good product but customer service is horrible and they talk crap. Think about that over the weekend, coming from another business owner that relies on word of mouth and customer support. 🤔🤔🤔🤔. maybe you should get to the root cause. I’m sure you don’t like failure in your company. You can PM if you’re even interested as to why..
-
 
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Jesus, I was calling out Casey in that FB thread for accusing you of overtorquing the MM parts. You thought I was insulting you? Not quite. I have a lot of sympathy for breaking that stud.

On edit, I went back and looked at the thread. Someone has deleted a number of accusatory posts where I defended you, including the one about the stud being painted after being modified poorly, which was just a reflection of the red paint in the car. This is why I hate short form social media.
 
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xr7

TMO Addict?
706
821
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
10-20 Years
Minnesota
For an accelerated test, use a salt spray. Typically a solution of 5% by weight of sodium chloride (table salt) to water is used, but calcium choloride (some ice melts) is more aggressive. Test labs use a heated fog chamber, but you don't need to be so fancy for a simple comparison test. Heat some water, dissolve salt, let cool, put in spray bottle, and spray the test items on a regular basis.

Discussion of efficacy of salt spray tests for corrosion resistance of stainless steels:
You may be familiar with one of the publisher's members - ThyssenKrupp.

PS - What wheel & tire sizes did you finally end up with on the red Mustang after everything was done to it?
Ultimate salt test, hang the part on a Minnesota Dept of Trans plow truck, constant salt bath, followed by maybe a wash and stored at about sixty degrees in about 98% humidity. Steel cabs stand up much better than aluminum cabs.🙄
 

Fair

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October 30, 2020: Day 4... and I haven't gotten to the acid spray, cat piss, or Napam yet!!! #EveryonesAnEngineer :p

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Myles worked on a new part design this week - racing seat side brackets. Why make something that so many seat makers already offer? Well several reasons. Many of the aluminum side bracket designs have compound bends that can CRACK at the edges, and most are wider than they need to be.

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Every bracket we have ever bought is also TOO TALL. The best alternative for the last few years have been OMP "short" steel brackets (below left). But as you can see in the pictures below, they are still very tall, and we always cut them shorter when we are shooting for a "low" seat stack up height (which is always). Leaving them tall often covers up and/or interferes with a fixed back seat's lap belt holes.

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So why spend $75+ on brackets, then spend an hour or more hacking them up? Scott Rhea gave me the hint - we have the tools to make a custom side mount seat bracket in-house, quickly and efficiently! From now on we will just draw these up and CNC cut them, then bend them to shape, rather than buying off the shelf units and spending time hacking them up. #NewPartsEveryWeek

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Myles was dialing in a new Iscar tool holder with 6 cutters that have 8-sided inserts on aluminum camber plate material. The first parts he machined with this were for F80 BMWs... wow! Mirror like finish and it is FAST. This tool setup can mow down .400" per cut, too! Once you start to see some wear, rotate the inserts, and its cutting fresh again.

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The Micro Dynamics 50V CNC mill, setup with some new feeds and speeds, with new tooling & new style inserts, is upping our efficiency AND finish quality. That's a win-win in my book! 😎 #VorshlagBuilt

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Mounting fixed back race seats into most cars is hard - and the C5 Corvette, which doesn't have a metal floor, is especially challenging. Myles has been working on this design off and on this week and used our tried and true flat steel plate design with ribbing TIG welded underneath.

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We took a square of carpet out directly under the seat, with the goal of making the lowest and stiffest seat bracket base on the market. This car needed a slider, so we used a short Sparco dual locking unit, and the new slider/bracket setup is actually lower than the previous fixed mount - with the same seat. This allows over 12" of fore-aft movement, so this seat can work with multiple driver sizes (for W2W use, of course any seat on a slider requires a seat back brace.)

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The confines of this cabin were tight, so Myles had to design and build some auxiliary lap belt tabs, custom seat side brackets (shown earlier today), and maximize every millimeter in this bracket assembly. I'm very happy with the final result, which has a top that is .600" off the floor (just enough room for the ribs and eyelet hardware underneath). The sliders glide easily and lock in place at each stop. This setup fit me at 6'3", Tim at 6'4", and Myles as well.

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The whole seat and bracket assembly was easy to install - you assemble the sliders, side brackets, and seat to the base bracket outside of the car - and the whole thing bolts in at the four factory floor studs. With just the ribbed bracket bolted in, it stiffened the floor significantly.

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I will test this new seat / slider / bracket setup at COTA this weekend, but if its like any of our other production brackets, this is a winner and will go into production soon. We will make a fixture off of this unit then CNC cut a batch, weld them up, and have them powder coated. #NewPartsEveryWeek #VorshlagBuilt #C5support

That's What's Up!
 
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Bay Area
Jesus, I was calling out Casey in that FB thread for accusing you of overtorquing the MM parts. You thought I was insulting you? Not quite. I have a lot of sympathy for breaking that stud.

On edit, I went back and looked at the thread. Someone has deleted a number of accusatory posts where I defended you, including the one about the stud being painted after being modified poorly, which was just a reflection of the red paint in the car. This is why I hate short form social media.
Fair enough man I was getting a lot of shiznit that day and in social media things can get thrown out of context. IMO, your comments to my problem came across as a dick insult and I could have misinterpreted it. And that dude is a PITA in any group he is part of. I was just stating what I thought and how I thought I was being treated by an industry rep. If it is was misinterpreted by me, then I will say that was my fault but that day I really felt like I was being ball busted by you, while I was just seeking an a solution to my issue at that time. Typically I would have posted it here on TMO but was seeking an answer fairly quickly on a Friday afternoon. Lets just clear the air and move forward. And Like I have stated you guys do have a good product and I would tell anyone else that. Because I have owned some of it.

OH and BTW - I turned off all my notifications to that thread and I'm sure he did delete everything cause that dud (yes I said DUD and not Dude) tried to befriend me on social media and even called to say he was out of line.
 
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531
364
sfo
FYI- your employee made me dislike your company. Like I said you have a good product. but due to an employee I won’t support your business. I’m not hating on you or Vorshlag. If a fellow Mustang enthusias asks me about your product I will tell them it’s a good product but customer service is horrible and they talk crap. Think about that over the weekend, coming from another business owner that relies on word of mouth and customer support. 🤔🤔🤔🤔. maybe you should get to the root cause. I’m sure you don’t like failure in your company. You can PM if you’re even interested as to why..

-

I have had great customer service from Vorschlag. My sale was a complicated coilover purchase for my 100% s550 racecar. I got all questions answered before sale and whatever support I needed after the sale. No vendor is perfect. we are all human. My Vorschlag MCS setup works great! Fair did everything he said he would and Vorschlag staff did the rest.
 

Fair

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October 31, 2020: Loading this C5 into an enclosed trailer is so much easier with the front tow hook installed!

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Love it when a new product we make works so well. About to head down to COTA for an autocross. Never thought I’d write THAT sentence! 😂

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Will be fun catching up with the Optima people and drivers. Good luck to everyone competing in the various competitions this weekend. #DriveOptima #BecauseStreetcar #Because25K 😆

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That's What's Up!
 

Fair

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Plano, TX
November 1, 2020: The Optima World Championship Autocross event sure was fun! 100 of some of the most talented drivers in some very well prepped cars came to duke it out over 5 runs for $25K! Lets do it again in 2021, Jimi Day!

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It was nice seeing a lot of racers I havent seen all year competing in a variety of cars that swapped the lead - several high tech AWD cars (NSX Hybrid, Tesla dual motor model S, two Evos) and the eventual winner in an #HPR468 powered C6. There were some unusual tires and warming blankets allowed, which definitely didnt hurt.

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I was up in 17th place early on, then fell to 21st, and I ended up down in 39th. There was more in the little C5 but I stalled out after run 3 and kept running the same times. Pretty rusty but I was cone free all day, at least. Need to get back into this sport again - its fun.

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Big thanks to Amy and Magan for helping prep the car between runs, thanks to Erik for the car loan, and thanks to everyone at Vorshlag for getting this car from hibernation, to a few new parts developed, to autocross ready in just a couple of weeks.

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Erik has lots of plans for this car and hopefully we can do some more autocrosses and track testing with this great platform. The car does everything well, just needs a bit more of ... everything. #driveoptima #becausestreetcar #vorshlag #HorsePowerResearch

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The vendor alley was pretty good at the Optima Expo. Beats driving to Vegas for SEMA! 😂

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Ford had some over the top Mustangs on display. The wide body 69 Mustang makes my pants get a little tight! 😯

That's What's Up!
 
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