Caution on Westerbeke/Universal parts

[KWKloeber]

If anyone is installing Westerbeke cast/threaded parts (like an exhaust flange) be cautious and carefully check the casting (hopefully before you pay for it.)  See below:

kk

Xxxxx,

I attached 10 photos of the problems with Westerbeke castings.  This is the THIRD casing I bought that has come thru and is crap.

The FLANGE is unusable - the hole and threads are not concentric, so only 1/2 of it has thread.
    flange with thread.jpg - the enlarged areas shows a deep cut thread.
    flange no thread.jpg - the enlarged areas show the opposite side with virtually no thread.
    flange top.jpg - the shop couldn't describe exactly why to me, so they shaved a few thousandths off the hub to expose the cause.  See the different thicknesses -- the thread was not cut concentric to the hole.

RISER #1 - had the 1-1/4" inlet thread cut uneven and it was cut twice with 2 sets of threads that overlapped at one point on the circumference.  The two threads were offset by about half a thread pitch, or approx 0.04".)
    riser 1 inlet a.jpg - see two different sets of threads (left and right), and area (between blue arrows) where the threading overlapped  Red arrows show that thread on the right, was cut deeper than thread on the left.
    riser 1 inlet b.jpg - I ran in a tap (by hand) to see what happened.  The enlarged areas show where it cut new thread (shiny) into the left thread, but didn't cut into the right side thread (still painted.)  What it was doing was cutting away the thread that was offset by 1/23 inch (1/2 the thread pitch.)

RISER #2 top plug - the threading was similar to the flange, thread and hole were not concentric.
    riser 2 top plug.jpg - 3/4 of the hole had thread, 1/4 had no thread.
   
RISER side threads - are really bad on ALL RISERS that I have seen.  The thread IS NOT 3/4" NPT. 
It is straight, not tapered NPT thread.  I don't know if it's NPS, or British  or JIS straight, but it's not NPT.
    riser 2 barb a.jpg - 3/4" barb marked at hand tightened.
    riser 2 barb b.jpg - one thread engages (with NPT, 4-1/2 threads should engage at hand tight.)
    riser 2 plug a.jpg - 3/4" plug marked at hand tightened.
    riser 2 plug b.jpg - one thread engages (again, 4-1/2 NPT threads should engage at hand tight.)

Please advise what's going on with Westerbeke and its castings?

[KWKloeber]

Hmmmmmmm.........

The auto image loader/resizer doesn't seem to be working and isn't automatically reducing the file size.

Back at you later with remaining photos.

kk

[KWKloeber]

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[KWKloeber]

Quick update on this....

So it turns out that Westerbeke has bins of machined parts that are packaged (bagged, boxed, etc) with a date code ONLY when they fill a distributor order.  The pickers don't check to make sure the parts are machined correctly.

So, it ends up that I bought from three different Westerbeke dealers (Michigan, Virginia, Florida) and all had defective threaded parts. 

Therefore just to avoid any disappointment, if you buy any threaded parts, make sure you ask the dealer to open the package and CAREFULLY ** check over the part before shipping, or if it has to be ordered from the factory, as the dealer or distributor to make sure to ask Westerbeke to look over the part before it's shipped to them.

** "Carefully" because two distributors swore their parts were ok and "I was using the wrong kind of pipe" (whaaaaaat!!?)     until I made them open their packages and CAREFULLY look at the threads.  Then they saw the problem.