The Purchase
Hi all! Like many of us, when a company develops new products for our cars, I want to give them a chance...to support that company. I've been watching with interest the products produced by Rotary Works and when it was time to add an elbow to my IC setup, I decided to purchase their piece located here: http://www.rotary-works.com/mm5/merc...gory_Code=THBD

Please note that currently the website states this is compatible with the Stock FD throttle body. I've taken a screen shot of this and am attaching it should it change quickly.

The Arrival
My throttle body arrived and the piece was nice, had a few small surface scratches, and the tapped portion for the IAT relocation was bad...I had to retap it as the threads were jacked up. Annoying...but nothing major.

The Installation Situation
Yesterday I went to install the elbow on my stock TB and it did not fit...it didn't even come close to fitting. If you look at the attached pictures, you will see the Rotary Works TB does not clear the dashpot or the cast piece on the stock TB that the Fast Idle Cam bolts into. I've also included a comparison picture with a Greddy Elbow.

As you can imagine, I was a bit unhappy by this development.

The Service Call
Today I called Rotary Works and spoke with Rene. I tend to be very polite when I'm annoyed...I've found it provides the best results. I explained the situation to Rene and he confirmed to me that when Rotary Works developed the elbow it was only test fit on Rotary Works throttle bodies.

Rene told me the elbow will not fit on the stock TB without cutting the corner off where the Fast Idle Cam bolts onto...despite advertising on the Rotary Works website to the contrary that this piece fit a stock FD TB. Rene also mentioned that he was aware of what was on the website and it had been there for awhile and needed to be changed.

To his credit, Rene gave me the name and number to a "Kevin"...yet to be called if I wanted to return my product.

Final Thoughts
I appreciate Rotary Works attempting to develop new rotary products at very reasonable prices. I had planned on eventually purchasing one of their throttle bodies...apparently sooner than I expected at this point in time.

Regarding my experience, especially after being told they knew they elbow wouldn't fit on the stock TB but not mentioning this on the website...I can't in good conscious support Rotary Works. Perhaps if they work on their product descriptions, honesty, and better R&D on the fitment of products I will in the future. Until then all I can say is caveat emptor.

 

Thanks for the heads up!

 

looks like an easy fix, i'm not sure why they don't offer one for the stock throttle body as well since it literally takes about the same amount of time to make both designs. i won't say they aren't to be blamed though, that is a serious lack of communication and false advertising. it's seriously annoying when this **** seems to be common ethics for 95% of businesses out there if not more, wasting everyone's time including their own.

 

Ha! Thats as bout as bad as my pineapple idler pulley for single turbo fit!

 

@Karack - You hit the nail on the head. Is it hard to remove the dashpot? Nope. Is grinding a corner down difficult? Skill wise? No...but many people don't have their own grinder and then have to take it to a shop or just hacksaw it off.

I think the product itself is very nice but I was very disappointed that it was advertised/marketed as a direct fit and it was not. I was even more disappointed to hear that they had been aware of this problem for quite some time and it has not been rectified in their marketing. Rene's exact words, "I've had a number of calls about this and we just tell them to saw it off."

That is unacceptable to me and I wanted others to be aware of what would have to be done to a stock TB since no one else seems to have mentioned it.

 

that's lame that they think that "sawing it off" would be an acceptable fix. it could take hours to saw it off properly or minutes with proper tools which they should have. it also takes a bit more time to re-polish the cut section to match the rest of the assembly(yes some people do care about that stuff). i can understand that they try to produce products cheap and reliably but if a part doesn't bolt on then to me it sounds like a lack of care about perception of themselves.

granted i would give both options if i was in that position myself but the fact that they knew about it and haven't done anything about it would annoy me also as a customer. perhaps they just don't sell them much, in their defense and keep forgetting about it. i know it's easy to do as a business to forget about simple things that can be very irritating from a customer's point of view.

 

if you have all of that apart you might as well get blockoff plates and do it right

 

I also bought one and need to do something with it - there is NO WAY it will fit on an FD with a strut tower brace. I have the Mazdaspeed brace, which isn't crazy by any means, and it runs straight into it.

Really, the TB seems best for hardcore big turbo setups. Would be nice if they made it as a larger/better flowing replacement for the Greddy elbow.

Dale

 

From what I know there is only 2 people running Rotary Works, father and son so they are short handed which isn't a good sign for a start up company. Hopefully they will work out these kinks or they will have further negative reviews

 

I woudnt do business with Rene again if he was the last engine builder in the world

 

I have to say, between this thread and the V-mount threads, I won't be supporting their business at this time. Was considering ordering the TB and elbow, too.

 

Good heads up and thanks for informing the club.

 

Thats a shame.. I was thinking about a TB as well..

 

The TB isn't bad, but the bolts that came with with were like 3/8" too long, so I had to fix that, and it makes your throttle kind of on/off. Meaning it's hard to ease into the throttle.

However, they still to this day have not responded about or fixed my FC radiator that was total garbage. So I agree with anderdick88. Never will I ever buy anything or recommend anyone to buy anything from CX Racing/Rotary Works/Rene.

 

^^ By TB I mean the actual throttle body they make, not the elbow. Just clarifying.

 

I wish i found this thread before searching why the RW elbow doesn’t fit .I order mine through cxracing and the only warning on the advertisement for this elbow is that it will not work with a cosmo

 

this is an offshoot of CX racing and good luck with customer service and returns. they will stop answering your emails and calls. I had to deal with there very mis-advertised front mount kit that "fit all stock components"......spoiler alert, it dosn't.