There is one way you can possibly get it to align. I would much rather you get a good working manifold than take this any further down a negative road with me. Either the manifold was cut correctly and you just need a little help installing it ( they can be tricky ) or the machinist needs to fix his work.
I have one more trick that has worked for me in the past getting them to mount up. Let me know your thoughts.[/i]
I believe it is an error on the customer, machine shop, or both.
You did not out right ask if the customer had both exhaust and intake machined together as one unit at the same time. You mentioned the importance, but that is not insisting on getting an answer from the customer.
When dealing with a customer you have to carefully ask questions to get at the truth for two reasons.
One, is to paint the customer into a corner so that it makes it harder for them to lie. Two, is to get the best chance at getting the truth so dealing with the customer can be done in an honest manner no matter who is at fault.
Customer: manifold warped and leaks.
Business: what did you do with the manifold when you got it?
C: I got it machined
B: what did you do to it before machining
C: nothing
B: did you separate them first
C: oh yes now that you asked
B: so after you had them apart what was your next step
C: had them machined
B: after you had them machined what did you do next with both manifolds
C: I put them on the engine
B: So you mean after they were machined you put them back together then installed them on the engine
C: yes I put them together and then installed them.
As you see taking the proper time to question you found out that the customer did know what he was doing and his machinist knows less then him.
However mentioning that you have an installation tip is not the same as offering the tip to the customer. To appear customer friendly and helpful then you should not have to be asked does he want to know how to possibly fix the problem but actually tell him how to fix it.
Say you sold that manifold for $150. I lost $150 is what most people think.
But say you got that manifold for free, or $25, or the $100 you paid for that auto to part out you already made $500 on.
You only lost $25 at the most. Thinking this way lessons the pain.
