CMI Headers
 

As we all know, there are 2 sides to every story. Here is my side. I ordered a set of CMI headers and tails from Trick Marine on Monday 5/9. Fred had the headers in stock and shipped the same day. I had them on 5/11. Unfortunetly, Fred can not stock the infinite amount of tails necessary to keep all of us happy. So, the tails must be ordered direct from CMI. My boat is nothing special, it requires no trick tails. The only thing that CMI said that makes my tails a bit different is the fact that I have Teague ST-450 switchable tips. That means the tails have to be a bit shorter. I was originally told I would have the tails that Friday 5/13. They never showed. I was patient at first, I didn't want to keep bothering Fred with " Where are the tails ?" When they didn't show up on Monday 5/16, I called Fred. When he called CMI, they told him they didn't have an order for my tails. So, we put the order in. I was promised the tails by the weekend. The weekend came and went with no tails. Then I was promised delivery for Tuesday 5/24. Again, another broken promise. Then they said they would be shipped next day air on Tuesday so I would have them today. Well, they finally shipped them, but only they screwed up and shipped GROUND. There is a chance I will get them Friday, but I bet I will be rowing for Memorial day weekend. Now if you know that you can't make the delivery dates, why do you say you can? If CMI just told me it would be a 3 week wait, then so be it.

I just want to make one thing perfectly clear here.. Trick Marine bent over backwards for me. It was not their fault at all. Fred did all he could for me.

Thank you Trick Marine.. You guys are the good guys here.

CMI you guys suck. Future buyers from OSO, beware. CMI does not hold to their word or promises.

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no comment...yet. :(

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I agree that Fred bends over back wards (he helped me out greatly on my senior design project - trim tabs) but I have never dealt with CMI. Sorry for the trouble. I know a few people that have CMI's and they seem happy with them. So hopefully the performance gain will help ease the pain.

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He's going to be even more unhappy when the cheap-azz chinese selenoids burn up on those pricey switchable tips like mine did....... :eek:

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Vinny if there is one thing I've learned its the big marine manufacturers don't car about anybody. They are a niche industry and can walk all over everybody. Stellings did this to me last year, much worse than you described. Now we can understand why many people over pay, buy Mercury power and don't modify it.

Still sucks!!!!

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Fred,

As I said, I don't blame you at all. You have only tried to help. I think CMI owes me a nice gift for getting screwed so many times.

Dave,
You are right. I should have left the damn thing stock. At least I would have been getting it wet all this time. It just isn't worth the aggravation and expense.

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good luck with the tips :D

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I've had similar problems with other big name marine supply places, Trick Marine is NOT one of them. Fred will try and do what he promises, most places just blow you off. I had ordered new switches from E.M. (I'll just give initials) last January. They never did ship them out, I called about every week or two to check on the progress and they kept telling me they would fill the order and get it shipped in the next couple of days. I finally quit calling after a couple of months and ordered a new bank card so they couldn't charge me if they ever finished them. The quote I got was for close to 700.00 when it was all said and done for some switch panels that they supposedly machined themselves. I guess my money wasn't good enough for them. They still haven't called to ask if I still want them or not or to tell me that my card isn't any good. That kind of customer service sucks, I bought new throttles, steering wheel, steering hub, mufflers and a couple of other small things from Fred. E.M. lost my business for ever. That's about 2800.00 worth this year alone. If they don't have the product or it's going to be a while making something then just tell me the truth and I'll either live with it or shop somewhere else but don't blow smoke up my a$$. Fred 3 day selected those mufflers to me so I could make the poker run in Havasu, then when they didn't fit he took them back. He's a man of his word and if I need anything he sells he'll have my business first. I'm not just sucking up, I don't know him personally, but there aren't many people in the marine industry that give a crap about service and integrity anymore. Take your boat into a local marina to get something fixed and see how long it takes. I have plenty of nightmare stories about service work. It's the worst part of boating and the reason I have a pretty good tool set myself.

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I have been waiting 2 months for some stuff....thats how it is..feel lucky!

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My thoughts exactly!!!! :D

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One reason I steered away from CMI, is that they are so busy w/ the merc business they have, when do they have time for the guy like me?

I feel for you CM454... :(

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love mine :)

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I want to express my confidence in Fred who assured me that I/we will get due quality from CMI or any product he stands behind.
This is a good thing for all the Marine industry...satisfied customers.
BTW... 4/18 was my CMI target completion date...Oh well.
Now everyone have a great and safe Holiday. :cool:

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I'm sorry tired of hearing the same stories about these jerk off;s in the marine business. No one can keep there word!, and on top of that you pay for top dollar for everything because it's for marine. What a bunch of crap. Most of the stuff built today is over seas anyways. Sorry had to vent :mad: I'm in the mist of putting my boat back together so I know what your talking about!

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Fred you are kidding right? Great product - yes, committed to excellence - NO

It doesn't matter if CMI has the best product on the planet, if they don't take care of their clients, someone else will. They have proven on numerous occasions they can't be trusted to follow though. For that reason alone I will not do business with them.

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baja27,

You owe Fred from Trick Marine an apology. As most of us here on OSO will tell you, he is one of the good guys in this business. As I said, this whole mess has nothing to do with Fred. Other than flying to Wisconsin and standing over them while they fabricate and ship my tails, he helped as much as he could.

If this thread turns into a Trick Marine bashing, I will delete it.

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I had CMI weld some bungs in my tips they did that real fast!! but they forgot the clamp and the plugs when they sent them back to me . I was still pretty happy that they got to it that quick.In a big biz like that sometimes the ball gets dropped . Maybe its oscillated ??

I think there marine division if a small part of there real biz?

Good luck .I hope they show up made correctly



Rob

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My CMI bolts need to be ck'd and tightened regularly.

Anyone use header bolts so they stay locked up? My neighbor suggested them but he is not a hi-perf boater, just bass boat dude.

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Fred you are kidding right? Great product - yes, committed to excellence - NO

No, I'm not kidding. Based on extensive conversations I believe they are commited to doing the right thing.

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I've purchased numerous products from CMI, and they always went above and beyond to help me out. I hope you get your tails in time for the weekend. If anyone needs some 30 Spectre tails with CMI mufflers shoot me a p.m. Guaranteed to meet J2005 standards!!!!!

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Got the last one of the headers back from CMI today. :cool:
My situation involved modified E-Tops due to a narrow centerline distance between my motors...2 of the 4 headers needed to be re-adjusted.
Fred, working with CMI has made sure these are done right and in a timely fashion.

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Dave,
How often does Merc recommend the bolts to be checked on the 525's? Do all the different aftermarket exhausts need to be checked regularly?
Dan

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Get them tailpipes made and lets go boating!!! :drink:
Dan

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I was told by a seasoned offshore racer that if you use studs on the bottom row of the exhaust ports, and then use bolts on the top row that a header or exhaust manifold still will not fall off even if the bolts come loose, and fall out. ARP makes nice stainless steel "header studs". Use a little Lock-Tite on the studs when installing them into the head and then use nylock nuts with a flat washer on the studs.

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I'm with you Dan.
When I got the pipes back from CMI/Randy they still didn't fit...
Fred got me in touch with Jeffrey at CMI and he and I have made some headway getting them measurements with them on the motors, so they went back to CMI using their Acct # to cover the shipping.
Jeffrey has been great to talk with on this situation and is doing what he can....I still have optimism

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I got the tails on. They still reverted some water. It is alot better than my Gil manifolds and risers. If I keep the idle up a bit, I can control it. The water does not make it to the heads. I talked with Jeff from CMI this week. He treated me well and made me feel like he wanted to make sure my exhaust worked right. The outcome is I am ordering dry tails this week.

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I have spoke and been working with Jeff at CMI on R@D for mufflers that will meet the J-2005 guidelines, which we are fighting now at loto. to date the only system thaat has worked with power over 850 and 6" dry exhaust has been the new series cmi is just now coming out with. They have technology that I feel confident will get us big hp guys legal. They are committed and are excellent to deal with. Everyone is busy right now in this business, once in a while mistakes happen. I agree with Fred let it die and move on, and enjoy boating. Fred is awesome and he would not rep. cmi if he did'nt believe in them. jim midwest performance marine- loto

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I agree with most of what you said here but I would word it a little different. It's not that they don't care but in their business plan they have tolerances built in for CSR load and customer loss ratios. They will try to help as much as possible but they definitely wont lose any sleep over it. I wen round and round with Merc on a bad 496 HO with 50 hrs on it and after they tried to pass off a long block as an off the pallet motor I got lawyers involved and was about to take a bite out of their ass and Marine Max, it was only then that they did the right thing and coughed up a palletized replacement. Big money in these premier companies guys, they aren't worried about losing 1 or 2 of us. Unless they are big mouths like us that will call em out when necessary. have your ducks in a row and tell the straight story ( the truth ) and usually the good guy will win.

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Not taking one side or another BUT......Consider the time year they were ordered....the very height of the building and MFG season...I am sure that weighs into the equation quit a bit.....also the shipping errors....they (CMI) are trying to keep up with demand at its peak at that time. Things go wrong and with CMI most of what I hear is very good.....unfortunately you are one of those in a small percentile that got screwed.


Best of luck and keep smiling....when your haulin' ass across the water GROUND vs AIR shipping will be a distant memory :D

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LIOPA,
You are right. It is already water under the bridge. I am moving on.

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Again Baja27 making friends :(

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Got them back...On they went...They fit like a glove!!!
Now comes the tails...Jeffrey is the "go to" man at CMI.
I will post after pics when I get the tails. :cool:

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Great news!! Any idea how long the tails will take? Let me know if you need a Chicago Poker Run application. :D See you on the water soon.
Dan

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Checkmate,
Sorry to hear of your problem. I needed to to have a Merc CMI header repaired on our old boat. I sent it to CMI and after they tested it and verified that it couldn't be repaired. CMI replaced the header, which was three years old!! I have had great luck with them. I think it was just a few blunders on CMI's part. CMI had to make custom headers for our current boat. Yes it took awhile but from what I was told a long part of my delay was in the heat treating process. Just my 2 cents.

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After all was said and done, they did send me a good product. Unfortunetly, they still reverted some water so I had to order a set of dry tails. I just got then today. Too late for the NYC Poker run, but I will have them on by Monday. I have to say that they took care of this time around. The pipes were shipped when promised and next day aired at no extra cost to me. I am sure that Fred from Trick Marine had alot to do with that. Thanks Fred.