Pro Alloy V8 Intercooler kits group buy...

[Mightymetro]

I’ve got mine back last week. Took a couple of emails and a phone call 

[Escape]

That would be great Chris! I owe you a Belgian beer. 😉

We should try and check if there are others in the same situation as me. I'm sure they would all be very happy for your help. @cweeden do you have any idea who else is still waiting for the return of their compressor ducts?

I'll send @ProAlloy-Alex one last reminder.

Filip

[cweeden]

Hi All, 

I am sorry for the lack of updates here, would you believe I am still trying to push the project through. I had a very positive face to face with Alex early in the summer and all systems were go again but I've been snowed under with other stuff and not kept the communication and impetus going as I'd imagined and I've not seen the updates from Alex that I thought we'd agreed to. 

I don't know who is on the hook for inlet ducts as Mike handled that aspect directly. 

Ultimately I still really want this charge cooler kit and will check in with Pro Alloy again (after some international travel) to figure out if it can be completed or not.

cheers

-Chris 

[LotuStuart]

17 hours ago, cweeden said:

Hi All, 

I am sorry for the lack of updates here, would you believe I am still trying to push the project through. I had a very positive face to face with Alex early in the summer and all systems were go again but I've been snowed under with other stuff and not kept the communication and impetus going as I'd imagined and I've not seen the updates from Alex that I thought we'd agreed to. 

I don't know who is on the hook for inlet ducts as Mike handled that aspect directly. 

Ultimately I still really want this charge cooler kit and will check in with Pro Alloy again (after some international travel) to figure out if it can be completed or not.

cheers

-Chris 

Good luck!

I think you'll be hard pressed to find anyone willing to supply anything to PA for patterns etc, or any money up front.

[Escape]

Chris, respect! that you're still trying to bring this project to a good end. Like you, I do want a chargecooler kit, preferably without losing too much boot space.

But you yourself are admitting that PA is again failing to provide the promised updates. So I fear you are fighting a losing battle and we would be better off finding another fabricator. Even if by some miracle PA do manage to keep their part of the deal, as Stuart says, who will be willing to pay in advance after reading this thread!?

@LotusFella I have informed Alex that I am no longer willing to wait for him to possibly return my ducts, so will be asking someone local to pick them up. Very grateful you are trying to help us out!

Filip

[LotusFella]

30 minutes ago, Escape said:

Chris, respect! that you're still trying to bring this project to a good end. Like you, I do want a chargecooler kit, preferably without losing too much boot space.

But you yourself are admitting that PA is again failing to provide the promised updates. So I fear you are fighting a losing battle and we would be better off finding another fabricator. Even if by some miracle PA do manage to keep their part of the deal, as Stuart says, who will be willing to pay in advance after reading this thread!?

@LotusFella I have informed Alex that I am no longer willing to wait for him to possibly return my ducts, so will be asking someone local to pick them up. Very grateful you are trying to help us out!

Filip

@Escape If you could DM me your full details and exactly what you are waiting for I'll get them collected.

[MD355]

I was looking around at alternatives and I came across this page (I am not affiliated in any way or know anything about this company) ...

They seem to offer something called Barrel Chargecoolers (looks like a barrel).

https://www.chargecooler.co.uk/

Do you thing two of these would fit in the OEM Esprit V8 engine space (without modification to the trunk) and would they be effective ?

[mike_sekinger]

I used a pair of decent sizes barrel chargecoolers on one of my previous V8 projects (the ex-5th Gear V8-GT).  The engine made of 510bhp with just over 1.1 bar boost.

It is not possible to use these coolers and retain the full boot area - there is just not sufficient space.   It might be possible to use smaller barrels and place them stacked horizontally in the very front of the boot area.

In my opinion, these barrel type coolers are not the most efficient due to their construction, but they certainly did work.

[cweeden]

They look great and as you say work well but I'm not ready to give up the boot space or stray too far from original (looking) just yet. 🙂 

[Escape]

I got my compressor ducts back earlier this week. No charge as promised. Bit of a relief!

To be fair, a large part of the delay was caused by FedEx. If I read the tracking correctly, they sent the parcel to Tennessee instead of Belgium and it took a while to get back...🙄

I want to say all's well that ends well, but I still would have preferred the chargecooler kit (even at an increased price)!

Filip

[Thartje]

After Pro Alloy shit the bed on this group buy I found a local guy to work with. Might be a good option to just have someone local weld up an intercooler setup. This came out to be around the same price point as the group buy for me. Happier with the look and lost zero trunk space. Took him maybe two weeks.

 

[Escape]

Looks very tidy! Why don't you share some more details, I'm sure your local guy wouldn't mind building and selling a few more sets?

[Thartje]

5 hours ago, Escape said:

Looks very tidy! Why don't you share some more details, I'm sure your local guy wouldn't mind building and selling a few more sets?

Thanks, I was pretty happy with how it turned out. Took some hands on guidance of "why don't you try it this way" but the guy does an awesome job welding. 

My cars had some modifications to the turbos and exhaust routing so couldn't really template piping off of that. Was more of a suggestion of work with someone local instead of a large shop, this guy literally did it out of his garage at home. Was able to have it built exactly how I wanted for roughly the same cost. I likes how the pro alloy kit hit the fitment marks but but some major flaws and the ugly BOV setup. Someone local without shop overhead expenses could be a good alternative route.

[Escape]

Unlike in the UK and US, in Belgium it is very hard to find someone to do custom fabrication. If you mention it's for automotive, most places will refuse outright, even if you give them a design. So I'm forced to use existing parts or have things made abroad. I'd at least need to source the chargecoolers, for the pipework I can ask a mate to weld it up.  

[MD355]

It would be cool if someone could provide suitable chargecoolers for sale for the Esprit V8... I am sure we could all build the piping and radiator to suit our cars..

[MD355]

It seems like the dream of getting a Chargecooler system for my Esprit V8 is fading.. 

So maybe if someone can provide me with some dimensions/ post a drawings here for the successful chargecooler kit that was installed without sacrificing luggage space I could shop around some intercooler shops/fabricators  in my area if they can make it...

Any assistance in terms of drawings would be helpful...

Thanks !!

[cweeden]

Hi Makis, 

I am losing faith too but I haven't completely given up. ProAlloy haven't delivered on their promises one of which was to provide the CAD drawings in lieu of product. I will continue to push them on that since it seems the easiest to succeed with.

However, if ProAlloy don't even share that I will be in the same boat as you and keen to learn from others. 

cheers

-Chris

[Escape]

Thanks for keeping the pressure on Chris! But I fear if we want a solution, we'll have to start from scratch again... Main thing being finding suitable chargecoolers, the pipework seems less of a problem to me.

[andyblackman777]

Hey Chris,

Do you know why the pro alloy guy doesn't want to give up the cad drawings? Do you think they were ever done? 

Cheers 

Andy 

[LotuStuart]

On 04/01/2024 at 11:08, andyblackman777 said:

Hey Chris,

Do you know why the pro alloy guy doesn't want to give up the cad drawings? Do you think they were ever done? 

Cheers 

Andy 

I suspect it took some chargeable time to draw those up, so giving them away isn't an attractive idea.

I expect they could be bought, but I'd suggest that was done in person-I can't see either party willing to part with the money/files without certainty in getting the files/money.

[Escape]

I suspect it was all a bunch of empty promises and they never finished the drawings. So making them available or trying to sell them would mean they'd have to admit that.

 

[LotuStuart]

On 30/11/2021 at 18:41, ProAlloy-Alex said:

Hello everyone!

Firstly let me apologise and explain as to why I have been absent recently and some background on us as a company... Recently over the past three weeks i have been working closely with a few teams within BTCC to support there new and upcoming needs on the hybrid side of there new 2022 powertrains. Due to this I really haven't been in our offices very much at all with this being the first week back and currently playing catch-up with everything, hence me posting at this time today.. we are only 2 person strong with regards to the Sales team here believe it or not! a much smaller/personal company than many believe so i do again apologise for my delay but i hope this clears it up as to why a bit better.

Anyway, lets get back to the good bits!.. progress

Please see the images attached of the final design CAD drawn pair of Lotus Esprit Chargecooler units!  We have now completed all 22x Charge cooler cores here and already underway with the fabrication side of things now! By this i means hand forming all the end tanks and side plates for these units as well. With Regards to the Pre-rad units, we can add a Bleed screw to the design of these as well to aid the Bleed process of this for you all, not a problem at all!

At this point we would ideally now begin to collect deposits from each member. In the past this is usually around the 30-40% mark for the final bill created per kit. I am aware we are heading to Christmas now and some may have different in mind, again i am open to the groups suggestions and want to make sure everyone is happy first! Once sorted, i will then be able to send over the proforma invoices for amount payable. 

The next good news is that we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel so to speak and i believe i am able to put a finalisation date on this project for you all! We are aiming for completion of all kits and ready for shipment by end of January here. I hope this is good news for everyone  

To also finalise, we will happily add top point bleeds on all the Pre Rads we produce for ease on bleeding the systems as well.

And to finalise, the last piece of this puzzle is to begin gathering the OE boost pipes for the modifications required to them to work with the kit. If everyone is mindful of this and able to schedule these and either let me know if you plan to provide your own or sourcing new units to send to us, that'd be great. I do know there is 5 off sets within the group buy. We would ideally like these with us early Jan but mid January at the latest. I hope that's okay!!

Thank you..

 

 

 

 

 

Are these not the renderings from the files? 
Genuine question-I have no idea...

[Escape]

Those are renders, but maybe not detailed enough to actually use for production? If they are, it seems even more strange that they cancelled the project instead of at least selling the designs.

[cweeden]

Sorry all, its been a busy time recently and I haven't been on the site for weeks (which is most unusual for me).

I have no idea if the drawings are real or not but it was ProAlloy who volunteered to share them with us making me believe there might be some truth behind it.

I haven't put any effort recently into chasing this down but I will ramp up shortly and see what pressure can be applied. 

cheers

-Chris

[andyblackman777]

Chris ,

I’m back into the idea of intercooling now so happy to help out getting this going if possible.

I was thinking that maybe if they did have the drawings some cash might help them come our way.🤔. Mind you how trusting are we that they would provide the correct information. 
cheers 

Andy. 
cheers Andy.