2bular, is it a crappy exhaust?

[Gekko the great]

Hi All,

 

I just want to share with you what happened to me and maybe get your feedback and suggestions .

June  2017 I ordered a 70 mm valved system for my cup.

Just because the car was new , Jim said he had to think how to create it as that was his first exhaust for a 380 cup .

The exhaust was delivered after 2 months( incredible )

In November I had the burnt -out exhaust valve and Jim sent a replacement exhaust valve and a 2bular "Track" exhaust for me to try. (No Charge for this).

Well, after three track days at Monza you can see how the exhaust was and due di this my car caught fire , look how the exhaust opened up.

The day after I sent To Jim, well not really to him as he doesn't have any WhatsApp , to come down here to have a look at the exhaust in order to safeguard other customers who had installed such an exhaust .

I had a decat exhaust ,perhaps the hot temperature inside it is too much for the consistency of the material .

Obviously Jim didn't come and dropped to me this email ( this guy thinks he is God's gift to women )

When the car was  repaired , the dealer installed the new no valved exhaust Jim had sent when the valve burnt out.

I did two other track days last month but, as you can imagine, every time I track the car I think if this exhaust will last long or not, that'S why I purchased a new exhaust and it will be delivered in two weeks ( the right time to create it from zero )

Judging from the waiting time ( in Italy many customer cancelled the order placed as after 4 or 5 months they didn't get their exhaust delivered ) I think these exhaust are made in China , otherwise it is incomprehensible that it takes all this time to get the product

Maybe Jim is obsessed by the weight and he uses very very light material but it is true that , since some years ago, quality is getting worse, IMHO, this exhaust aren't for heavy track use , it doesn't matter if they're valved or not.

 

[duncx]

Obviously I don't know the full circumstances and have no idea about why the exhaust failed or the cause of the fire  

But I really can't see any excuse or reason for an email like that to a customer - ever 

Edited February 15, 2019 by duncx

[KennyN]

That is a very disappointing response from Jim.  2bular were top of my list for an exhaust when the time comes, but I might have to reconsider!

To be fair, the only complaints I'd heard have been around delivery times, but that's not necessarily a bad thing if it is due to being a victim of his own success and maintaining quality levels.

[C8RKH]

Before we judge anyone you have no idea what went in before or have the full context. What we have is edits from an obviously ongoing saga.

Pre-judgement without full facts is the basis of forums and the internet these days and I've fallen foul of it too.

 

 

[Mark030358]

380 diffusers have been known to melt with the standard exhaust. Lotus retrofitted metal plates to the diffuser, pictures are on here but I can’t find them. In fact it happened to Jokke Flos car.

thanks

[NANO]

17 hours ago, Gekko the great said:

 that'S why I purchased a new exhaust and it will be delivered in two weeks ( the right time to create it from zero )

 

 

 

 

At this point for which brand and type did you decide and have you commanded ?

[mark248am]

Oh damn, glad your car is alive again but if you feel the fire was originally caused by a 2bular exhaust I wouldn't install another one.

I had a 2bular exhaust in my Exige S and after the first track day the valve failed. Jim offered to send me another valve free of cost but he also offered to send me a track system at no cost as well. I ended up trading in my Exige S for my Cup so never took him up on the offer.

Out of curiosity how difficult was the rebuild? I'd be interested if you could share the process, like how badly the damage was and maybe build pictures?

[k20Rob]

Hello, were we talking recently on youtube about this same car? It has the sequential? If so, I thought you mentioned it was a tracker/alarm fault that caused it? I always thought a blowing exhaust may have caused the fire.

[Lo2zz]

Difficult to judge based on the conversation so far, but in my experience with Jim he is a totally trustworthy and stand up guy and we should be happy that there is someone of his talent that is creating exhausts for the car

When It comes to exhausts I would take Jim's word over anyone else's unless it can be proved otherwise.

The worst criticism you can level at Jim is he is sometimes a little delayed on shipping

Does strike me as strange that if you were that unhappy with the exhaust why you would put another one on?

What are you hoping to achieve with this post? The vast majority of us here rate Jim - I think it's unlikely you are going to get any groundswell of support with what you have posted.

[Edinburgh 111s]

Hi Jim 😎🤪

In all seriousness, overall led to believe the exhausts are good quality overall. But the customer service and eratic behaviour from Jim sours the experience for many. He can’t take criticism

[Lo2zz]

Och Aye tis me  

I suppose you take people as you find them. Jim has been very good to me and it struck me that people were potentially questioning whether they were going to buy an Exhaust form Jim based on this post. Wanted to give some balance  

 

[vd9]

2 hours ago, Lo2zz said:

What are you hoping to achieve with this post? The vast majority of us here rate Jim - I think it's unlikely you are going to get any groundswell of support with what you have posted.

Perhaps he may want to share his experience? To offset part of those rating?

I am personally indifferent, have no idea about the guy and his work. But do think it is valuable to know of different experiences of different people with different products.

[Bravo73]

2 hours ago, Lo2zz said:

The vast majority of us here rate Jim 

I wouldn’t be so sure about that. 

[Mark030358]

Well I do for sure...been fine with me.

Problem is, opinions are like noses, everyone has one.

Treat as you find is my motto. Only ever dealt with one Khunt, and that was the guy I bought my first Europa off, what a tw@t he was... 

cheers

 

 

[C8RKH]

Jim's always been fine with me and my Evora headers were awesome.

I don't think it is tgat he can't take criticism, it's bullshitters that really wind him up if you bother to read his rantings.

He can be optimistic on delivery times, but from what I have heard his stuff is good and as I said my headers were banging.

[Gekko the great]

On 16/02/2019 at 13:15, C8RKH said:

Before we judge anyone you have no idea what went in before or have the full context. What we have is edits from an obviously ongoing saga.

Pre-judgement without full facts is the basis of forums and the internet these days and I've fallen foul of it too.

Hi Andy 

A saga is a Tale, fictional story of a people, a group or a character or a family along the succession of generations.

   This is neither a fiction nor a pre-judgement    ,what I share on this forum is real life, facts that happened to me , just want to put an accent on something you should look out or be aware of, moreover it was just to know if something like this happened to anyone of you 

The tile of my topic ended with a question mark and I applied more to the truck gays, at Monza you're most of the time flat out and I think the flame inside the exhaust for a long period can damage it if they're built with thin material 

On 16/02/2019 at 13:15, C8RKH said:

 

 

 

On 16/02/2019 at 17:19, NANO said:

At this point for which brand and type did you decide and have you commanded ?

I decided to install  an HRT exhaust 

[Gekko the great]

On 16/02/2019 at 19:35, mark248am said:

Oh damn, glad your car is alive again but if you feel the fire was originally caused by a 2bular exhaust I wouldn't install another one.

I had a 2bular exhaust in my Exige S and after the first track day the valve failed. Jim offered to send me another valve free of cost but he also offered to send me a track system at no cost as well. I ended up trading in my Exige S for my Cup so never took him up on the offer.

Out of curiosity how difficult was the rebuild? I'd be interested if you could share the process, like how badly the damage was and maybe build pictures?

Hi Mark,

He did exactly the same the same offer to me .

I installed the second exhaust he sent me ( free of charge) as after almost a year necessary to rebuilt the car I wanted to drive it , but after ever track day the car goes under investigation. I did just two more track days and that's all , waiting for the new to come .

I'm sorry but I don't have any pic during the rebuilt , I can tell you it was a 52k euro invoice 

21 hours ago, k20Rob said:

Hello, were we talking recently on youtube about this same car? It has the sequential? If so, I thought you mentioned it was a tracker/alarm fault that caused it? I always thought a blowing exhaust may have caused the fire.

Hi Rob,

I beg you pardon  but when we talked I couldn 't tell you 

Edited February 17, 2019 by Gekko the great

[Gekko the great]

9 hours ago, Lo2zz said:

Difficult to judge based on the conversation so far, but in my experience with Jim he is a totally trustworthy and stand up guy and we should be happy that there is someone of his talent that is creating exhausts for the car

When It comes to exhausts I would take Jim's word over anyone else's unless it can be proved otherwise.

The worst criticism you can level at Jim is he is sometimes a little delayed on shipping

Does strike me as strange that if you were that unhappy with the exhaust why you would put another one on?

What are you hoping to achieve with this post? The vast majority of us here rate Jim - I think it's unlikely you are going to get any groundswell of support with what you have posted.

I'm happy for you if you consider him trustworthy and appreciate his talent .

I don't want to get any support , I just wanted to share my experience . If you want to go with 2bular just go , buy one , two , as many as you can but be careful if you track the car . The exhaust scream and shout and it's fine but if you want to track that car hard it can survive , the pis uplodded speak themselves,  the restwo is convesrsation . How many Lotus owners bought the car to track it or driving in the countryside  and how many just to show off?

Waiting time done here is more than 3 months . To manufacture an exhaust from the it takes no more that two to three weeks, the new exhaust I ordered will be delivered exactly three weeks after purchasing 

BTW I reinstalled the second exhaust he sent me just for two track days and after every time my service dealer control carefully  checks the welds ,just waiting for the new exhaust to come 

I think the I think that the purpose of a forum is to allow owners fron all over the world to share their experiences

Edited February 17, 2019 by Gekko the great

[geartox]

This experience should be considered as any other user experience.

Modifying a car with aftermarket product is always risky. And when you track a car, the constraints on the hardware are really important. Even with OEM and highly tested systems you can have the same problem. A friend house has partially burnt due to an electrical problem on his brand new VW.  This is a part of car industry.

This is why regulars (deep dive) checks on the car must be done, before, during and after a trackday.

Unfortunately, it happens...

Hope that you will get back on track with your car and enjoy it.

 

[Gekko the great]

1 hour ago, C8RKH said:

Jim's always been fine with me and my Evora headers were awesome.

I don't think it is tgat he can't take criticism, it's bullshitters that really wind him up if you bother to read his rantings.

He can be optimistic on delivery times, but from what I have heard his stuff is good and as I said my headers were banging.

Hi Andy ,

a swallow does not make spring, by the reading the email he sent me I can say he was rude. Did you read it , he makes fun of everyone , Komo-etc included .

I know for sure that up to a year ago they sold his products 

14 minutes ago, geartox said:

This experience should be considered as any other user experience.

Modifying a car with aftermarket product is always risky. And when you track a car, the constraints on the hardware are really important. Even with OEM and highly tested systems you can have the same problem. A friend house has partially burnt due to an electrical problem on his brand new VW.  This is a part of car industry.

This is why regulars (deep dive) checks on the car must be done, before, during and after a trackday.

Unfortunately, it happens...

Hope that you will get back on track with your car and enjoy it.

 

Tks Nicolas , i agree with you 

[chumaxa]

Well, if at least this was the first time his behaviour was criticised ... Knowing the full context or not, he is well known for some ofthe good stuff he does, but also for this kind of treatment, if you go on the playground you will find a couple of people who had problems with him ... Of course you never have a problem when all goes well, but that's when all goes wrong that you see the real face of people .. Anyway his stuff is usually mostly good, if you put aside the common stuff such has the recurrent valve problem, I hope you can get it all fixed smoothly  

[FF]

@Gekko the great from where did you sourced the new HRT exhaust?

Edited February 17, 2019 by FF

[Gekko the great]

I got it from a tuner who has connections with them  

[FF]

4 hours ago, Gekko the great said:

I got it from a tuner who has connections with them  

Let us know how it sound and look.

[Gekko the great]

Willingly, I'll upload some pics and sound