^ I totally agree with you Keith. It really seems like the only way to do things right is to do it yourself. I wish I have the mechanical knowledge to do so. It's sad that we pay $100 an hour to these so-called performance shops and they don't take things seriously. It's like they were doing their job drunk or something.

 

Lol at all the FT ***** gobblers. All those free hot dogs don't make up for smashed downpipes and low numbers do they? I used to laugh at the FT sticker crew, half those fools wouldn't ever buy parts from him they just rode his jock.

Nothing personal against Dave, he meant well...just didn't execute. He helped me when I really needed it, that won't be forgotten.

Keith...ah fawk it, you already know.

 

There was once a time when FT was providing good work. But it seems like the later years Dave was on crack or something.

 

This is very true. I think up to 2008 he was doing ok work but things went downhill after that when the workload picked up and he wanted to get things completed. For example, the first time he installed the JWT 530 turbo kit on my car it lasted about 18 months before the turbos failed and for Anh's car, completely rebuilt turbos on a freshly built engine lasted about 6000 miles as well. This was apparently our fault though for "beating up on our cars" even though they sat in the garage for the most part. Our OG meets consisted of bringing out our daily drivers rather than driving cars we invested thousands of dollars in.

I should eventually give details and post pics that relate to my issues with the car but for now I'm still recovering from the shock from how things were done. Just like Ethan, I put about 6000 miles on my car in about 2 years after picking up my car becuase I too was scared to boost it, let alone even drive the car. However, if you consider that this relates to about 6 months of driving a normal car, his work didn't hold up for very long. There was so many problems with my car based on his installation work that Hills had to print out 2 pages on the invoice to list everything they were going to have to fix.

 

Well its done with now, take it as a lesson learned. Regardless of the shop, you do your best to inspect all the work, even if that means jacking up the car and laying on your back, you look over as much as possible. FOR EVERY JOB YOU PAY FOR.

I rip out interior to check gauge connections, EM mounting & placement, check welds for any pipes made (Ivve found 2 pinholes from 2 diff shops), you pull a few plugs and double check the gap, you datalog the tunes, etc.

Is it a lot of work? No not really.

You NEVER hand someone cash and go beat you car.

I too learned this lesson as you guys know, which is why I promptly left "that" shop.

At some point, every shop has a bigger fish, and most shops will focus their attention on that project and leave the queer a$$, young zit faced kids fresh out of Lincoln Tech to work on your car.

LOL

 

 

And you never get suckered into putting turbo parts on a S/C

 

this is referring to the wastegate on a 15 psi supercharger on another failed Z?

 

Wake up slim, what else would it be in reference too? lol

 

I'm still waiting for starbucks to kick in. But yeah, that kit ran well on my car with 9 psi but "the shop" definitely found a way to mess it up.

 

I miss when I was NA on decent coilovers and just ragged the car all day every day with no issues

 

same here, my next car will probably be N/A

 

If it makes you feel any better I don't trust any of the local dealerships outside of euro motorcars.

Want something done right you gotta.....

I did an oil change on my Z a few weeks back and while i was under it I noticed that the oil line for my oil cooler was rubbing weird on my I/C bracket, so I removed the bracket and cut a slit into some rubber vacuum hose, slipped the hose over the edges of the bracket and zip tied it on.

I did the oil cooler install and that's just how things settled, point is, while under the car, as always, I inspected everything from waste gate lines, oil lines, and so on and that is what caught my eye. Easy fix, BEFORE it became a problem.

Would a random shop have caught that before it became a massive oil leak?

I do have to say Hills did catch a weird problem with the wife's civic while doing a tire change. He's the one that noticed the engine mounts that were installed incorrectly from the Honda dealership as with the hacked bolts they made.

Hills is growing...... Hope it doesn't turn into what everyone else has.

 

I think everyone should burn their cars in a big communal fire since nobody drives them anyways. Butt-buddy shops know you won't find out until next time you pull the car out of the garage 4 years later.

Kieth did you get the anti-seize for your BOV I sent you?

 

The crappy part is that a lot of the installation errors won't really trigger anything severe immediately. Like a pinched oil line...

 

Sucks to hear but at least it's getting sorted. The common thread seems to be that nobody (well, except bert) pushed their cars at all even when they do drive them. So all these issues have been dormant for so many years. I wonder how much crap is out there that people don't know about or won't talk about.

 

there are all sorts of issues that nobody ever talked about from tons of different shops, sadly some of them came out later in the game, most didn't

that's why I will stick with N/A powa

 

Right. And on top of that shop nut huggers make it that a lot of people are afraid to raise their voice/concern on facts in fear of creating conflicts. I've preached on staying neutral with shops. If they do a good job, share it (not just because they offered a discount or sponsorship). If they do a shitty job, blast it (not just because they DON'T offer a discount or sponsorship). That's the reason why up until now I have not received any sponsorship from shops. Not selling my soul for a few hundred bucks of discount.

 

Kieth did you get the anti-seize for your BOV I sent you?

Yea i did and it still wont work...lol

 

I've had 3 sponsors and NEVER held anything back. Shared it all.

In the end it ends up being too much pressure for a shop. To build a car only to "know" I'll beat on it and destroy it. No shop is perfect. After Forged Im more weary on telling people to go to "my" shop.