about a year ago i bought new zetec/cvh adapter plates from mike at ferriday who at the time was very helpful , was at knockhill last week with the car and 3/4 laps into the session heard the exhaust stating to blow the let go completly , came off expecting broken downpipe or something , opened the bonnet to see a section of the adapter plate was missing / melted to the head , day over !
phoned mike on the monday who said he had never seen this and would like to see pictures and could i send some , i said no probs and could he send me new part , he reply's ye , how do i want to pay ??? after a bit he confirmed he would not be replacing part ?
i thought i was buying the best at £95 but obviously not! fucken well pissed off
here's some pics

im not a fan of this name and shame stuff , but just to warn others

 

Ouch not good

 

Im using a cheep ebay one thats made of steel. No problems yet

 

jes not nice, does the head need skimming now?

 

not sure mate , hopefully not

 

I bought one of these for a zetec turbo engine i had built and i never ran it! glad now though cos that looks shite

 

Is the adaptor plate made of aluminum?

I would use a steel one if i was you. Like Clarke5700 said use a cheap ebay steel one

 

thought i was buying the best at the time ? how fookin wrong was i ?

 

Feck what was that made of ya'd think head would go first

 

is there a chance that one of the faces wasnt exactly smooth and when being tightened up it may have cracked,then once out there being used hard it has just fell apart?

 

Indeed, most likely cracked then torched through by the exhaust gases.

As to the cause, rather tricky to say, I'd rule out it solely being a metallurgical issue, due to the fact the rest of the plate is not compromised. I'd go for resonance generated metal fatigue, aluminium castings can be quite susceptible to that kind of thing, & it would appear that part of the casting does over hang from the studded/bolted area which would allow it to behave in a tuning fork type manner.

Although fordsportjay's theory is quite credible too.

Bad show all the same, one would've expected the supplier to at least offer you a discount on a replacement.

 

or dear thats shocking.

 

its been on the car all that time and given no probs , not even a hint of a blow from the exhaust , all bolts still tight , was put on with new ford gaskets at the time , i'd see the point if it was blowing and i left it and kept using it then i woukld expect some sort of failure
but virtualy no warning the bang , looking at the turbo now aswell as i think a part has went in there which makes matters even worse now
its hard to see properly in the pics but its been melting from the back end
and if that was something to do with engine it would have done all 4 and not just number 1
thanks for the reply's anyway

john

 

its not a casting though, its made of 6082 t6 aluminium plate. I woud say it just one of those things TBH, steel is what ive made them before with no probs right enough, just it takes longer to machine and so costs more.