I was one of JT's customers and saw his shop before I paid him to do any work. The shop itself wasn't indicative of anything. He was a guy starting out. The shop was nothing fancy and looked like a junk yard at times. I never recieved any deals. I have receipts to show I paid for everything. The work that came out of his shop was sometimes sloppy. When he put my motor back together and inot my car he sandwhiched the oil dipstick between the block and the upper oil pan. Some of you may remember the thread when I asked about anyone having trouble removing the oil dipstick.

I couldn't get he dipstick out so I brought it up to him and he removed the lower oil pan and then loosened the upper oil pan and got the dipstick out. He put RTV on the lower oil pan and put it back together and sent me home. Under boost the uncured RTV blew out The pan leaked 5 quarts of oil out. I arrived home with 1 quart and the motor was toast. The rings and cylinder walls overheated from lack of lubrication.

He didn't do anything suspicious with me but his work cost me a built motor with 3000 mi on it. The tune on my car was also off. It was running lean which Quadcam fixed which may have led to my cylinder overheating issue. I have never asked anyone for parts or labor in exchange for plugging the shop.

 

so wait.. he fixed the dipstick issue and didn't tell you the resolution? or did he actually tell you he dropped the oil pan and put it back together?

to your last point.. as XKR and myself will tell you.. you don't have to recieve perks or discounts to plug a shop.. i've been called an MRC Nuthugger before.. i've never request parts or discounts.. though Julian may have cut me breaks of $200 / $300 here and there.. i never asked him for it or hinted to it.. i plugged/nuthugged his shop because i was very impressed/satisfied with his work... not to say thats what you meant.. i'm just showing another side to that story.. HOWEVER there are many people in FL JT promised discounts on parts or labor for whatever reason or another

 

with JT we are not jsut talking about the usual discount on cost of some parts....we are talking about total whoring...half costs... half labor...

i never once had any favors on labor, i always paid like any other regular customer...i think hitory on this board has shown that you need to deal with this things as a business reltionship and not let friednships get in the way....most of the "buddie" deals with JT went south. I dont hav e aproblem with people supporting a shop(nuthuggers) if they have true success to latch on to(specially with shops that have years of experience), they had good work done to their cars and rans "flawless", and they paid for as a regular customer.

Now there are guys, like curtis that are the obsene form of nuthuggers, the ones that jsut do it in the hopes of getting some free work done, or trade "taking pictures at event" and/or "post whoring/minion attacks/harrasment of other vendors" and/or "promote mediocre builds" and/or "helping with the website" for some labor...

I guess more obsene form of nuthugger than that and we are talking about navigolf syndrome

 

Just a quick OT,so you blew up the GTM motor that you and Quad were working on before you left the forum?? Or is the one you and Quad built the one you had machined locally?

 

Larry.. My post was not directed at you

I totally agree with both Jorge and Doug... Two different post... But both cover what I would have said.

To continue what Doug was saying.... I don't speak good of FP because I am hoping for big discounts or free parts . I speak ONLY of the work they have done on my car only. This is why I feel free to speak on behalf of any shop on here that I feel is worthy.

 

You REALLY should've mentioned this prior to now.........

 

wow JET, that is some serious business.

related: I know another 'engine builder' or 'tuner' that did the same RTV blow out on a customer's car two times in a row because he was trying to get it out the door. Customer didn't make it home. Then he ended up frying the clutch while 'test driving' it IIRC.

 

I was lost for words on that one....JT is a real "Dipstick"......He did some funky thing with JZ's dipstick also.....

 

no offense but common sense would have told u not to boost let alone drive the car right after u put sealant on the oil pan.....24hrs min imo...

 

the motor that Larry and I finished up was built by a south florida machine shop / pro engine builder. I think Larry's previous motor had the short block built by GTM and the long block assembled by Forged. I am not certain; maybe Larry will answer.

 

i would hvae said this too.. but thats why i asked Larry if JT told him what he did.. or just told him he fixed the problem and go home..

if JT did in fact tell him that.. then its on Larry's knowledge to know not to boost and when it would be cured.. still JT's fault for the assumption

if JT did in fact give him the details.. when it would be cured.. when to boost.. then the blown motor is on Larry

if JT told larry the car was fixed and didn't give him details.. then its again on JT that the motor is blown

we can't assume so we can't jump up and blame larry right away..

 

That would be South Florida Crank and Machine. The proprietor's name also is Larry. He is a very nice guy and extremely knowledgable. His primary business seems to be supporting race teams. The one caveat is that during racing season, his schedule is prone to slipping. Nonetheless, if you have him build your motor, you will know it is done right. That man is extremely meticulous, which imo is a very good thing.

 

+1 Larry's work is amazing, my engine revs so easily and smooth

 

Jon its Vas ( had to get a new name )... any updates from you? wheres the car now? any news?

 

The motor was running, but failed a leakdown test. I think one cylinder was leaking 23% and another was 15% if I recall correctly. I didn't bring this to the board becaue I had already left the board when the motor was taken apart and the finding was made.

 

No... the GTM motor was the one that Performance Factory installed. Quadcam is correct. The one we built was machined locally by South Florida Crank and is my third and current built motor.

Forged Performance installed my previous motor. I went to Performance Factory to have some shoddy work Forged Performance did on my car fixed. Among other things Forged Performance did not install the oil baffle plate in my motor. Jeremy had to pull the motor and oil pans off and install the baffle plate. When he put it back together he sandwhiched the dipstick between the upper oil pan and the block.

 

I was there when he did the work. I asked him if he needed the car for a day or two and he said just bring it up here I'm sure I can get it out no problem. Well it took more work than he thought it would.

The situation was JT didn't even aknowledge that I was there when I walked in the shop and stood there. I waited for about 1/2 an hour standing there while he worked on someone elses car before I said something and his reply was "I said hello do you want me to sing you a welcome song". He took the keys and went to work on the car. When he was done he drove the car outside and left it running with the keys in it and didn't say a single word to me and walked back inside like I had wasted his time. Meanwhile Quadcam and a few other people had also tried to get the dipstick out to no avail.

When I got home I parked the car in the garage and the last quart ended up on my garage floor within the hour.

So the situation was hostile. What was I supposed to do. If the silicone was going to fail he should have mentioned something to me and I would have gotten a hotel overnight.

 

Thinking back......it must have looked pretty funny. Larry and I were in his garage pulling and tugging, and swearing trying to pull that dipstick out. (The phrase "watching a monkey hump a football" comes to mind.) At the time, we didn't realize the dipstick was sandwiched between the block and the upper oil pan.

 

and this is why i thought it was wrong for anyone to jump down your throath.. thats fcked up what JT did.. in a critical situation like that.. its very important to tell the person potential situations that may become harmful

 

Larry..... Did you make Sharif aware of this before taking it to Jeremy?