Posted by Troy Rudolph on July 29, 1999 at 13:33:05:
As some may recall, Korman lists a combination Rear Stress Bar and Battery Relocation Kit for E12 cars. The price is $238 for the whole thing including the mounting hardware, new battery cables, etc.
I ordered one around 6/1/99. Guess what? I still don't have it. In fact, I just cancelled the order. Here's the story.
When I ordered the kit, I was told by Shane at Korman Autoworks that there would be a 2 week lead-time followed by a week of shipping time. I thought this was good because it's an uncommon item and mostly like was manufactured when ordered.
Four weeks went by and I called Shane at Korman Autoworks again and left a message. He never called me back. After leaving a two more messages, I happened to call while he was at his desk, and he promised to call the supplier and get back to me that afternoon. He never called.
Eventually, he referred me to Bob in Korman's shipping department who also promised to call the supplier and call me that same afternoon. He never called either. I called Bob today and he happened to be at his desk. I reminded him that he had promised to call me on 7/21. He apologized and admitted that he had never called because the supplier did not return his calls. I cancelled the order.
Somewhere between Shane and Bob, I became curious about who the supplier is, so I did a few searches on AltaVista and turned up Top-End Performance. Bob confirmed this when I spoke to him.
I called Top-End Performance after calling Korman and they answered the phone immediately. I asked about the E12 Rear Stress Bar/Battery Relocation kit and was told that they have made about six and are putting together some jigs to speed things up, but that they don't know quite when that'll be done.
Unfortunately, I don't think they know much about E12s. When I originally spoke to Shane at Korman, he told me that no holes needed to be drilled in the shock towers because the bar fastened to the three bolts that hold upper shock mount/spring pad. The guy I spoke to at Top-End today said that holes needed to be drilled in the sides of the shock towers because there was no other way to mount it. He claimed that the shock towers on E12s had no bolts on which to mount the bar. Further, he said that the rear shock towers on an E12 "are not load points." I guess those coil-over springs push on thin air while they hold up the car!
In short, neither Korman nor Top-End, in this particular case, know anything about anything.
Just thought I'd mention it.
Today, I cancelled the order. It's safe to