Date:         Thu, 6 Mar 2003 12:22:38 -0800
Reply-To:     Alistair Bell <albell@UVIC.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Alistair Bell <albell@UVIC.CA>
Subject:      I4 conversion thoughts
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After going through the replies sent to me in response to my survey request
I can't help but come to a couple of conclusions regarding commercial kits.

(I also would like to take this opportunity for being cranky or bitchy in
some of my postings esp. to David M., its a character flaw I am working on
*S*)

I can appreciate that its a lot of work to put together a kit that will work
"out of the box" 95% of the time. Fast Forward and Tiico are not huge
corporations with an R&D group that has money and time to experiment. But
both companies, I believe, want to make the customer happy and provide a
good product.

Where it gets sticky is when things go awry, either due to the customer's
actions or the product itself. At that point the response of the vendor can
make all the difference in the world. They keep the customer happy or...

Despite any claims made by the vendors, a conversion project of this kind is
to some degree, an experiment. Experiments often have different than
expected results (insert pithy Enrico Fermi quote here *S*). When that
happens I believe it is an opportunity for improvement, and I think the
vendors understand this.

But what queers the deal is the pressures the vendors are under, pressures
of time and of money. The vendors can see their profit slip away and as they
are not big corporations with lots of resources, it makes it difficult for
them to always follow up.

So what I am trying to say, in my usual obtuse way, is that both the
customer and the vendor should realise this from the start.

Yeah, you say, why not tell us something we don't know!


Alistair

--
'82 Westy -> diesel converted to gas in '94
albell@uvic.ca
http://members.shaw.ca/albell