Sigh, ebay

I knew it. Sometimes you just get this sinking gut feeling before a transaction's even completed that something's gonna go bad.

The last week of February I sold a Fidanza flywheel to a guy in Australia. It was horrendously expensive to ship, but I gave him a host of options - the cheapest being $60 by ground which could take up to 7 weeks. It actually ended up being $80 with tracking number, which I covered.

Damn thing still hasn't arrived. The postal service won't do a formal inquiry until the end of the week, but my guy feeling is that if it hasn't arrived by now, it probably won't and I'll have to refund his money.

On a brighter note... I picked up my car yesterday! It's pretty zippy. I unintentionally peeled away from the lights and had to sink down in my seat, eyes straight ahead, cheeks burning at the next set while everybody looked over to see who the fool was...

Lesley wrote: On a brighter note... I picked up my car yesterday! It's pretty zippy. I unintentionally peeled away from the lights and had to sink down in my seat, eyes straight ahead, cheeks burning at the next set while everybody looked over to see who the fool was...

What car?

I sent a GPS to california with US postal. It took 4 weeks to arrive. the guy opened a claim against me. It eventually did show up and he closed the claim.

My MX3, it's been gone since October, getting a new KLZE swap. I've babied it so far, but it easily spins the tires in 2nd. I'm going to have fun with this on the track this summer.

Did you end up using the MX3 flywheel? As far as i can tell, it should weigh around 15lbs, so it's pretty light.

I ended up scoring a Fidanza 9lb for mine.

What ECU/VAF combo did you use? Have you verified that VRIS is functional? What intake manifold did you end up using?

Lesley wrote: The last week of February I sold a Fidanza flywheel to a guy in Australia. It was horrendously expensive to ship, but I gave him a host of options - the cheapest being $60 by ground which could take up to 7 weeks.

OK, i kinda suck at geography (and geometry, and geology, and even gynecology), but i'm having a hard time imagining the path taken to "ground ship" something from canada to australia.

Yeah, me too. Maybe it went underground?

Yes, I used the MX3 flywheel, had it machined. I bought a chipped KLZE ECU off a forum, at first it showed EGR codes, but those are cleared. I've got a curved neck manifold, it fit perfectly. Not sure about VRIS, what does that mean?

AngryCorvair wrote:

Lesley wrote: The last week of February I sold a Fidanza flywheel to a guy in Australia. It was horrendously expensive to ship, but I gave him a host of options - the cheapest being $60 by ground which could take up to 7 weeks.

OK, i kinda suck at geography (and geometry, and geology, and even gynecology), but i'm having a hard time imagining the path taken to "ground ship" something from canada to australia.

Thanks for getting there first.

Beats me... didn't want to ask.

Lesley wrote: Yeah, me too. Maybe it went underground? Yes, I used the MX3 flywheel, had it machined. I bought a chipped KLZE ECU off a forum, at first it showed EGR codes, but those are cleared. I've got a curved neck manifold, it fit perfectly. Not sure about VRIS, what does that mean?

If you can get a straight neck to fit (might require relocation the brake booster reservoir, very easy to do) you'll pick up a nice gain in top end.

VRIS is your "vtec" for lack of a better word. The most common problems with these swaps is that the VRIS engagement points are messed up (But your KLZE ECU should fix that) or they aren't working at all.

A unique innovation of the K-series is the introduction of Variable Resonance Induction System (VRIS). Based on the Helmholtz resonance principle, the intake manifold is equipped with 3 chambers tuned to a specific resonant frequency. The computer dynamically switches between each resonant chamber to achieve the appropriate resonant frequency for the engine's RPM. This effect optimizes volumetric efficiency over a given RPM range to provide maximum torque over the entire RPM range.

OK, yeah, I think the chipped ECU was supposed to look after that – would I get a code if not, or would it just run sluggishly? It seems pretty happy.

a) how does this have anything to do with ebay?

b) $80 is not horrendously expensive to ship.

c) it will take at least 6-8 weeks to ship ground to Australia. I ship a lot of stuff there.

Be patient, it will get there.

Lesley wrote: OK, yeah, I think the chipped ECU was supposed to look after that – would I get a code if not, or would it just run sluggishly? It seems pretty happy.

That's the problem... Even with it not working right, it's going to be way faster than the K8 it replaced.

Was it an actual KLZE ecu that was chipped? What chip is it? Or is it a KLDE ecu chipped for KLZE motor/VRIS?

Did you use the MX3 VAF?

I'm not 100% sure how to test VRIS. Probetalk or MX6.com would know how, if you can stomach Probetalk. (You'll get a faster answer there, but very high noise:signal ratio)

But seriously... if you have a KL31 KLZE, you want the straight neck intake manifold. Makes a big difference.

Zomby woof wrote: a) how does this have anything to do with ebay? b) $80 is not horrendously expensive to ship. c) it will take at least 6-8 weeks to ship ground to Australia. I ship a lot of stuff there. Be patient, it will get there.

a) Did someone crap in your cornflakes? b)The other choices were horribly expensive - $250 and up. c) I realize that... the buyer has emailed me every week since the transaction closed.

Only time i have been ripped off was shipping an Ebay sale internationally. It was sent with insurance but the seller claimed it never arrived, opened a claim with Paypal. Long story short, it took so long to investigate delivery that the money was refunded only for the Post Office to enventually get back with me saying the buyer told them it had been delivered. No item, No insurance refund, no undoing the Paypal claim as the time limit had expired.

I hope this isn't the case. Buyer is polite, sounds okay, just really wants his item.

If you sent it with a tracking number, and the tracking number is active, aaaand the buyer has the number to see where their flywheel is, why is he bugging YOU about it?

akamcfly wrote: If you sent it with a tracking number, and the tracking number is active, aaaand the buyer has the number to see where their flywheel is, why is he bugging YOU about it?

Because when he complains to the postal service he doesn't get a reply.

Because a USPS "tracking number" is nothing more than a delivery confirmation number. They don't scan anything to tell anyone where it is until after it has been delivered.

I never had a problem shipping internationally till the last time. A member of our SVX community in France that I've dealt with before asked me to get some items from a Subaru dealer that are MUCH cheaper than the dealers in Europe.

It came out to be around $100 for the items and shipping. He PP'd the amount and I shippped the stuff. About 6 weeks later, he still doesn't have the parts and all the USPS will tell me is that they made it as far as French customs but they had no idea beyond that. He eventually did get it, but if it was lost a claim would have really sucked since they were parts that I paid for and got reimbursed.

Maroon92 wrote: Because a USPS "tracking number" is nothing more than a delivery confirmation number. They don't scan anything to tell anyone where it is until after it has been delivered.

But if it shows that it's an active number then USPS has it. How the hell would Lesley know where it is?

The only bad experience was shipping some toy cars to the Netherlands. I shipped them and a month or so later they came back. About the same time the buyer emailed me. I told him what happened, and sent them out again. Didn't hear back from the buyer so I assumed all was well. Three or four months later I get them back. By then I had cleared all my old messages and couldn't find the buyers info. Never did hear from him.

akamcfly wrote:

Maroon92 wrote: Because a USPS "tracking number" is nothing more than a delivery confirmation number. They don't scan anything to tell anyone where it is until after it has been delivered.

But if it shows that it's an active number then USPS has it. How the hell would Lesley know where it is?

Exactly. I just keep going to the same website that he has access to and telling him "Gee, I dunno, it left Vancouver on the 24th... hope it gets there soon?" Calls to the postal service are no more enlightening.

Moral of the story is to ship FedEx. Full tracking all the way. More expensive than some options, but we have NEVER had a problem or a delay in arrival. We only use USPS to US Virgin Islands, as they are a part of the US.

Unless Lesley slipped across the border, she ain't using USPS.

I order stuff periodically from England and use Royal Post. It gets here pretty quickly and wasn't too costly until a year or two ago.