Aug/Sept 2020 PerformancePost #7

Welcome to the Seventh ÄLG PerformancePost - a monthly* feature for 2020. Expect to hear about new products, offers, updates and announcements right here.

In June, we moved into a new workshop in Warrington and this has taken up a huge amount of time to set up. We're glad to say that as of the start of September, we have completed setup. The workshop is equipped with a 3000kg Scissor Lift with low-entry ramps for slammed cars, MIG and TIG welding equipment, a welding table, metal cutting bandsaw, CNC router, 3D Printer and Quadro 3D CAD workstation (Solidworks3D Entrepreneur and Autodesk F360 Startup licenses).

We have also brought a new recruit onboard to help out, please welcome Maciej to the team. Maciej has a wealth of experience working in performance oriented garages and is a skilled welder. His first jobs are to weld up the scissor lift platform/ramps (now complete), and to start making jigs for 3" stainless exhausts. We expect to begin selling 3" Stainless Cat-backs for the C30 T5 by the end of October - this will be the only 3" catback on the UK market, apart from the imported Elevate kits. Images below of the prototype.

PRODUCT NEWS

Volvo C30 Facelift & Pre-Facelift Grilles

Last PerformancePost we were able to pin down the dispatch date of the grilles to late August. This turned out to be only half-true, as the Pre-Facelift grilles arrived slightly different to previous batches. Around the New Year, we had the pre-facelift grilles re-moulded to improve fitment, and due to COVID, we only just received them. The good news is that the quality is MUCH better. The bad news is that the clips on the rear were missing from all grilles, so we have had to take a few weeks to design a new way to fix the grilles to the car. The design we settled on is a 3D Printed tab with a brass threaded insert. This allows the grille to be positively affixed to the bumper, yet still removable, with use of a small M5 screw & washer. I'm sure you can understand that production of these tabs, attaching the tabs to the grilles and then testing fitment on a C30 bumper takes a LONG time and we have been working non-stop to get these out to customers. Our current dispatch rate is approx 5-6 per week, and currently, we have around 12 orders outstanding (approx 2 more weeks of work). Customers have been asking us every day about these - we are working as fast as we can! The wait for the new and improved V2 grilles will be worth it :)

All the facelift grilles shipped on time, and we only have a couple left on the shelf available for immediate dispatch. 

An order has been placed for many more of the grilles, and we will re-open pre-orders as soon as we finish dispatching this batch.

5x108 Wheel Spacers
A new product for 2020, we are now offering 20mm ALG branded 5x108 wheel spacers! These spacers are made from forged 6061 aluminium and are designed for Volvo C30/S40/V50/C70 and Ford Focus' with 63.3mm Centrebores. We're super proud of these and are excited to receive the batch later this month. Check out some photos of the sample's our resident photographer/social media pro Harris took;

Available October...

P1 Carbon Bonnets

Fulfilment of Carbon Bonnet orders has been a challenge due to some quality issues which resulted in a number of bonnets being classed as B-Stock. However, we have developed a refurbishment process to improve the quality and repair the defects. Our process involves applying polyurethane sealant to the backing of the carbon, fitting rubber edging to the cover panel edges to protect them, re-polishing to remove surface scratches and scuffs, and applying foam tape around the underside edges to protect and seal them. 

This process has taken a back seat whilst we work on the pre-facelift grilles. The bonnets are all stored safely in their crates - don't worry :)

C30 Halo Kits
Despite ordering our largest ever batch of Halo kits in May and then an even larger batch in July, we still sold out.

The supplier will begin a monthly shipment of these beginning November 2020.

Ford Fiesta/Focus Halo Kits
We have recently added 70mm Halo kits suitable for the fog lights of the Fiesta Mk7, Fiesta ST/Zetec Mk7.5, Focus RS Mk2, Focus Mk3 and any other car that requires a 70mm Halo. We're currently looking for someone to bring the car in to us so we can make a fitting guide for this product.

HSD Coilovers

Volvo C30 which we will be installing to C30 UGH, and making a quick installation guide video while we're at it. These coilover kits are Driftworks' own brand and are awesome value for money. They allow for fine tuning of suspension like adjsutable rebound & camber without breaking the bank. The Dualtech version of the C30 kit are only £655, so they are cheaper than BC Racing. Our first impressions are great, and we are looking forward to installing them!

Volvo C30 STCC-Style Arches
We are working on the final iteration of the STCC arches. After we decided to send a front wing for laser 3D scanning at T7Design in Exeter, the STCC arch model was reworked against the scanned mesh & corrected in several places.

Now, we will prepare the final prototype model for 3D Printing, before we ship to the fibreglasser for moulding.

You can see the high-resolution 3D Scan below.

AWD Fuel Pirate
Sorry, this project wasn't worked on this month very much. The boards are here with us ready for programming, and the code is almost done, but we haven't tested it yet. Its been on the to-do list!

 C30 T5 Catback & Sports Cat

Our first customer on the ramps has allowed us the time to develop a jig for exhausts off his car, which means one of the first welded products we are looking to manufacture in house is a 3" Stainless Steel catback for the Volvo C30 T5. We have designed it in such a way that it is partly modular, so we can make small changes to the jig to allow fitment to other engines, such as the C30 D3/4/5 and smaller engined petrols. We have also made a jig for a 3" Sports Cat, using an off the shelf decat pipe as a donor. In these products, we will only use top quality 304 Stainless steel and everything will be TIG welded. Photos below. 

We have brought onboard a number of new suppliers recently, in addition to increasing the product ranges offered by our current suppliers. From August onwards, expect to see products from BSR Tuning (Filters and Remap modules), Turbosmart (BOV's), Deatshwerks (Fuel Pumps), Powerflex & SuperPro bushes, HSD Coilovers, T7Design and more added to the website. Each product needs to be cross checked for fitment and confirmed before we can add it to our website - stay tuned!

We will not be re-stocking the FulfilmentCrowd site with Halo Kits or Driveshaft Spacers. This will slow down dispatch a little bit, but allows us to keep tighter control of our stock. Stock of the ALG Lowering Springs is still just under 1 pallet left so we expect them still to be available for a few months yet.

 EVENTS

Calendar for ÄLG Performance attended events this year so far looks like this:

• All event promotion is suspended indefinitely.
• Events are being cancelled or dates moved all the time.
• We will re-release an autumn/winter calendar when appropriate.

YouTube Channel
This year ÄLG Performance will begin producing video content for YouTube, including product installation guides, product test comparisons and performance tips. Harris has taken on the YouTube channel as one of his long-term goals, and we hope to upload our first videos later this year.

*when we remember