Manufacturing Update July 8, 2020

Good afternoon everyone. Welcome to July, and thank you for checking in.

First a huge thank you to everyone for your business, and support. Thank you also for allowing our staff to take a much needed break over the July 4th weekend. We cannot say it enough how much we appreciate you guys, and gals, for all your support, and trust. It’s extremely humbling.

July 4th Sale = Winning!

The response to our July 4th promo just shattered our expectations! For a spell yesterday we were sending so many email responses back to you, from this past weekends incoming messages, that our email server actually made us “take a break” thinking we were sending spam out! Crazy!

It’s all because of you, our amazing customers. Just blown away by it all. Truly, thank you never seems enough at times.

We will get to the bad news first. If you follow along with us on the social webs you may have seen our post on Wednesday, July 1st that we had lost power here at the shop. A perfectly nice day, and the City of Lake Worth went bang bang again with the power fluctuations.

Well those multiple flickers of off and on juice did our middle VTC200B no favors. It knocked out the Quick Turn Lathe, and we have spindle drive failures on each machine. Our friends at V-Tech came in, and rooted out the problem. Parts are on order, and we sent the spindle motors for expedited repair, so we can put those two machines back online, making chips asap.

Quick Turn Lathe is Down

With the quick turn lathe down we unfortunately are stuck with Devo style strut covers sitting in an incomplete state. We had hoped to have those back on the shelf, and replenished inventory wise this week.

Now that has obviously been pushed back, and with it a host of other products are getting pushed out on manufacturing (more on that in the stock status update further below in this update). The lathe needs a spindle motor repair and that will be back and fixed in here by Friday.

VTC200B Milling Center Details

On the VTC200B Milling Center the valve covers were being finished on the front side. The machine stopped, and we are stuck with a tool finishing a hole cut on the front. The spindle drive is toast, and we will have a new one in, fingers crossed, before the end of the week.

We have been able to complete several sets of satin valve covers, and get them out to our customers prior to the machine cutting out. Unfortunately this will put our eta to get the remaining sets out to colors about two weeks out (give or take).

Stay tuned to the MFG Updates as we get the machine back up online, and making chips again. We have a job on the end machine we have to wrap. So we may end up putting the balance of the valve covers on that machine to finish the front side operations, and fly cut them, so we can get them out.

Everything will be fluid and we will make any adjustments as needed.

Liquid Copper Option is Out (for now)

Finally bad news comes in threes and we were hoping not to have to do this one, but the liquid copper has been removed from the site for a spell. There are some polishing issues ongoing currently that require the pieces to be polished prior to anodize, and Rick our fantastic plater does not have a polisher in house at his facility at the moment, therefore we are stuck.

Like anyone that is exceptional at his craft, the person wants to control the entire process in house for quality control reasons alone. We get it.

This is why we partner with other companies to perform services such as plating, and powder coating, because we do not do that. We, design, engineer, machine, and engrave parts. That’s our specialized field of expertise, and we are not going to “learn as we go” on your parts when it comes to finishes.

Satin machine finish, we are the best in the biz, and we supply our vendor partners with beautifully crafted parts to add those nice anodize colors, and powder coating, that only helps enhance them even further.

Open Orders for Liquid Copper

Anyone with open orders on liquid copper we will be reaching out to you on an individual basis to offer you machine finish copper or matte copper.

We are working with our powder coater right now to find an alternative that will work, and give everyone a glossy bronze/copper finish.

If you want to hold, and wait to see those samples we welcome that. We will of course keep you guys, and gals, posted with photos, and information, right in these updates. We should have test samples of the powder coated option to view in about 10 days, so stay tuned.

Matching Liquid Copper Parts

Some of you have orders open that will go along side your other liquid copper items you already received. Stay with us for a bit until we see how things pan out on some other options for the “liquid” bronze/copper look.

If it’s up to par, we will work with those customers who already have liquid copper, and offer an exchange program for the replacement finish.

Please be mindful this will be for folks who have current orders in that go along side parts they have already purchased from and those parts already delivered to them in liquid copper.

We will keep everyone posted over the course of the next couple weeks.

Adapt and Overcome

Now that the bad news is out of the way, we will adapt, and make the necessary changes to keep pace with the bit of a set back on the down machines. This includes getting some weekends in, and extra hours to make up lost machine time. Your Team BT will put in the extra time to keep your build on track.

Stock Statues Update

The stock statues for each part have been brought up to date on the website. You can find that information in the “availability” area next to the pricing on each product.

As mentioned in the opening of the update, the July 4th holiday sale was massive, and we did run out of some things. Below is a list of items that we ran out of, or were out of prior, and the ETA to have inventory on hand again.

Please remember we will ship you a partial shipment, at no additional cost, as your items become available.

ABS Covers

Satin machine finish have just completed a restock run, and are on the shelf ready to be engraved and add your choice of color. All back orders in color, we should have everyone starting to clean up by the end of the month, and into early August.

Devo Strut Covers

Unfortunately until the quick turn lathe is back up and running the Devo Covers will sit until that machine is making chips again. As mentioned, we have expedited the repairs, and parts with the hope we are back up, and running on that machine by the middle part of next week.

Manifold Baffle Covers

We don’t have many open orders on those, and we have tentatively scheduled them to go on a machine for a restock the week of July 20th.

PCV Covers

PCV Covers are out of stock. They are on the machine now, and we will be replenished inventory wise early next week.

We have plenty of caps for those that purchase both cover and cap.

Satin machine finished orders will start to ship next week, colors will start to go out for finish late next week.

Throttle Body and Bypass Covers

2013 and up throttle body covers, and Hellcat Bypass Valve Covers are coming off the machine now.

We will be fully restocked this week with colors starting to go for finishes next week. Satin machine finish will start to ship next week.

2005-2012 Throttle Body Covers

2005-2012 throttle body covers we are sold out. We will make another run to replenish stock the week of July 20th.

This may very well be the last run of on that style before it’s retired to the vault. We don’t move too many of those anymore, and we will probably make a last call for them prior to retiring them.

T-Handle Shifters

T-Handle shifters we have one order. We will be making a small run later this month then retiring that product.

Radiator Cap Covers

Radiator Cap Covers (classic style) we sold out over the sale weekend. Good news is material is here!

We had already ordered material last week as we were low, and those will be back on the shelf in machine satin next week. Colors will start to go out for finishes next week.

Water Necks

Water necks we had a huge run on those during the July 4th sale. We are sold out now of 5.7, 6.1, and 392 classic water necks.

Unfortunately these must go on a lathe, and with one lathe tied up with contract work (non automotive), one on strictly catch cans, we have to get the quick turn lathe back up and running before we can schedule them in.

They will go on after we complete our Devo style strut cover run that was on the machine when it went down. We hope to get those turned, and done by the end of the month. So keep checking back in here on the updates or call (561.582.6171) or email us for the latest and greatest if you are anxious for information.

Hellcat & Demon Water Necks

Hellcat and Demon Water Necks the same as with the classic style. They require both turning, and milling, so they will run concurrently with the classic water necks, once the machine is back online.

Power Steering Caps

These sold out during the sale. We will ship in order of receipt, and we will manufacture the next restocking run the week of July 20th, or early the week of July 27th.

Hood Shock Covers

Hood shock covers were the biggest seller during the July 4th sale.

We sold out of the Charger, Challenger, and 300 versions (cars), but have stock on the Durango, Jeep and Ram Truck shock covers. This is strictly a turning job.

We will run them later this month with shipments to resume in August. We had inventory, and will ship those items in order of receipt.

Coolant Tank Covers

We sold out of the big coolant tank cover during the sale. We have 8 back orders currently, and will ship in order of receipt.

We will replenish inventory on those in early August.

If you had an order open prior to the sale you are covered. We have several in the engrave queue now, and received back the blue, and racing red covers for those folks with orders in.

Catch Cans

Satin catch cans never stop production here we receive material on Tuesdays and Thursdays to feed the beast.

Satin cans are shipping within 3-7 days or sooner.

We got more black fittings in today, and will have another big batch of nickel fittings coming in tomorrow or Friday. So we will stay right on point shipping.

Colors, and polish, we will do everything we can to keep the products on the 20 business day lead-time.

We took a lot of catch can orders over the holiday weekend, and continue to do so.

If you need your satin machine finished can shipped ASAP let us know in the order comments when checking out, and we will get that handled, or let us know over the phone if you are calling in to place an order.

Covid-19

Folks we continue to monitor the Covid-19 situation here in South Florida. We are in a hot spot down here, and may return to staggered shifts.

Our crew is healthy, we are taking all precautions, and deep cleaning daily at the end of each day.

We are still allowing visitors, but we kindly ask you call and arrange to see us prior to your visit. We are limiting each visiting party to two people only at this time.

Visiting hours are now between 10:00 A.M. until 2:30 P.M. Monday through Friday. We can make an exception to those hours put please call as we are open from 6:00 A.M. until 4:30 P.M. daily.

Color Batches In & Out

Finally we know some of you have been waiting on the matte black for a bit (it went to finish on June 4th). Rick was working on the big batch of standard and matte black yesterday when we picked up our blue and matte blue batches.

Yes, the batches of blue and matte blue are back. Both batches, one from the 17th of June, and the other is from the 26th. The team is already working hard to get those through final processes, and headed your way.

We sent out batches of yellow and plum purple to powder coating, as well as added to the orange and sent a new titanium batche (both standard and matte finishes) already out for plating.

We will be back again on Friday with a fresh update and more items heading out for finishes.

Contact Team BT

If you have any questions, any concerns, or want to chat with a friendly voice please give us a call (561.582.6171) or email us.

Remember friends if you get the voicemail leave that call back number. There are only 10 of us here, and we all wear many hats. Sometimes we are on the other line, in the shop, or out making pickup/drop off of parts or materials. We will call you back.

If you prefer email hit the handy Contact Page link, and you can drop us a note (the phone information is also on that page). Allow us the allotted time in the auto-responder to get back to you, and if we don’t ,pick up that phone and call. Our firewall may be blocking your IP for some reason, or yes, we are human and miss stuff.

Be Safe

Friends, family please be safe. As we said right form the start, when the world turned upside down in March we are going to be here with you every step of the way. Like you, we have families, and are feeling the stresses too.

We know our parts are a not a need in life right now, and we want you to know how extremely grateful we are again that you are keeping our group busy. It means more than you know, and anywhere, and any place we can pay it forward we will, and do so just as we have done for the past 15 years on the platform. It may take time to get your stuff, However, we work in, and play in, the automotive industry. Anywhere we can, we will always put back in either as BT or as “Friends Of.”

 

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Batches Back From Color/Finish

Orders Back from Blue (Standard & Matte) July 7^th, 2020

 

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Batches Out for Color/Finish

Orders Added to the
Current Batch for Titanium (Standard & Matte) July 7^th, 2020

 

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Orders Added to the
Current Batch for Orange (Standard & Matte) July 7^th, 2020

 

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Orders Out for Yellow July 8^th, 2020

 

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Orders Out for Plum Purple July 8^th, 2020

 

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