I've had a shop do my EVO 7 timing once and the day i had to leave to travel by boat to my home on another island, the car wouldn't pass 4000RPM without vibrating like hell and sounding like it'll blow. Took it back quickly and he says that's just the gearbox shield rattling and nothing's wrong with the car. Got back home and the car was undriveable. Contacted the dude and through a very long discussion (and an ACTUAL RU-vid VIDEO) he actually timed the car wrong and had the balance shaft 180 degrees out. So after spending another trip and time to do something that could've probably costed me a motor possibly... and motors this side of the Caribbean aern't cheap. I could talk about paintshop horrors but that's for another time
I had a mechanic rebuilt a transmission for me. It took 3 months and it still wasn't fixed... I had to pay someone else to put it in then tow it to another shop to have work done to the car afterwards... welcome to the underbelly of car life...
I'd hafta dm you about my bug it's a horror story, stealing parts,damaging wiring,engine,not completely rebuilding trans, damage during tow. It's not worth going to prison over I tell myself, I'm basically homeless and live in a van. They were only supposed to rebuild the transmission 😢
Got a engine rebuild in my truck, the rebuild itself was fine but the shop did zero wire management, multiple wires melted from the literal positive battery wire to the knock sensor wire, even some ground wires far back behind the engine. Luckily no fires started but became stranded on the way home
Took my perfect VMP supercharged 17 GT making 740 to the ground, let shop talk me into building motor and going Twin turbo, now 3 years later, 2 failed motors the machine shop they used built poorly, both failed on break in... coolant in the cylinder.. lost at least 35K plus time and still dont have my car...
We as a car community needs to call out these shops by name so other are aware of them and if you don't call them out then you are to blame for letting this go on
David, i been working on my own cars since age 20 I'm now 31 but when I was 18 a shop rang me out of 1k and never fixed the car, My homie jose fixed it for free, it was just the fuel pump, Then jose taught me everything i know about cars
I basically only work on my cars with my close friends or places I have 100% fantastic luck with anymore - but it's hard to find good people for sure in the industry. I'm all for people not being experienced and learning along the way - but to lie through your teeth and say you're an expert is what I have a problem with.
had a shop work on my car mostly cause I didn’t have a lift to do it myself and they straight up told us they had no idea what they were doing and were using RU-vid to learn how to be mechanics. Ended up working out cause they didn’t fix it properly but were honest the whole time and gave me a discounted price for the work I wasn’t willing to do myself.
Hell yeah. 20'ish year old me got screwed over twice by shops trying to fix something on a Z32 - 2500'ish dollars spent and nothing got fixed. Just excuses and lies from the shops. Ever since then I've just fixed everything myself with the help from my old man and friends.
@@ThatDudeinBlue@mike_myke dealing with that same thing atm. Dude said he could do this that and the third. Mike has spent $$$$ at other shops undoing the botched work.
This is dumb. He's a creator that has to put out content 4x a week. It would take forever to do this swap on his own, alone. These projects take self builders years to get done.
It blows my mind how people can do this with no shame. I misdiagnosed a no start issue yesterday and it basically ruined my day. Take pride in your work, ESPECIALLY when you're building a car that THE WHOLE WORLD IS GONNA SEE. It's insane man.
people who own performance shops just don’t have the right level of detail because they don’t think someone will say something, or have it looked over again
I relate to this, cuz since moving to ATL, I've had several shops screw me over as well over the past 5 years. Sometimes weeks go by with NOTHING getting done. You'd wonder why they even bothered scheduling me or having me drop my car off if it was just going to sit. Thankfully, I found a few shops I began to trust and still trust to this day, but as others and yourself have learned. Wrenching on our own cars is the best way to avoid this problem. I cherish the knowledge I've challenged myself to learn by keeping my car in my own hands! Nothing wrong with trusting a shop with hard work, but man I wish I could say all shops were good shops...sometimes we are better off on our own!
I don't trust shops in or around Atlanta after all the BS I myself and many others that I've spoken to have been through. It's absolutely maddening, and even more disappointing.
Bro, save yourself the time and $$$, RU-vid is a better mentor than most shops around ATL. You can also ask friends at meets you really really trust and they might be able to help you with your car OR recommend a good shop. Most things i can't do alone, me and the boys just figure it out over the weekend.@@mhtate3626
I once bought a 1 owner car that was serviced only at the dealer. I went through the car personally and found a bunch of hacked up repairs. It’s just not the independent shops, it can also be the dealership. Good luck on your rebuild.
I was a dealer at Volkswagen many years ago and someone brought the car in to get an oil change, they came back to get the car and take off. They come back with the car smoking. Dumbass mechanic didn't put any oil back in the car lmao. It can happen anywhere unfortunately.
David, this level of "craftsmanship" is absolutely criminal. these people should not be allowed to touch anyone vehicles. I feel so bad for you but am also very happy to see you getting it sorted. I sure hope you went after these guys with some sort of lawsuit, they shouldn't get away with this.
This is a perfect example of why doing it yourself is the best solution. Anyone can learn new things and build a care if they put their time into it. It's very hard to find a trustworthy shop let alone performance shop.
Yeah it is hard to find a place to trust, the shop close to my place are not bad but you have to be there when they do the work or they overcharge. Once i went there for brake change he wanted to charge me 3 hours, but he spend 1 hours in the office on the phone, at 90$/h i not paying for answering the phone. Me and my dad almost always get there to fix our car. Recently my dad went there cause hid diff on his ranger was broken, he say to him i can't fix it for another months, my dad said i can't wait a months he find another place, 2 weeks later he call back i can do it now my dad says its too late i changed it.
I can’t even imagine dealing with the crap you have been threw with projects what a bummer. I’m loving the series been waiting a long time for it. I can say I enjoy all videos of yours I’ve seen.
It sounds like performance shops are like home contractors / remodelers. Smart people negotiate an initial deposit with set payments at particular milestones (after it’s inspected.) This way the contractor only gets paid if the work gets done and done right, and you maintain control throughout the entire process. If they’re doing bad work, you can stop the process and find another contractor without losing your shirt.
Not that easy. Even if you do your due diligence, they have your car hostage, in parted state and there is very little you can do as they have the leverage of when they decide to finish and even ask for more money later on.
Not to mention it's impossible to do a REAL checkup yourself if the car is at a specialty shop halfway across the country (or even in another country).
@@donaldsonjeoboham8759 I strongly disagree. I do my own work, but not everyone can be a good wrench. I have a trusted shop three states away that I tow to for tuning and QC on major work. I trust myself, but everyone can make mistakes, and it's not worth losing ten thousand dollars for every mistake. You are essentially saying people who aren't mechanically inclined should break shit over and over instead of finding a good shop, of which there are many. If you're mechanically inclined, do your own work. If you're a bad wrench, then don't.
My buddy took his Sti to a shop and they told him they were almost done with it, we later that week went to a car show and saw the shop there with his car and it had curb rash and the tires were almost bald, unreal
Feel ya dude, I ended up having to send my grandpa's 77 Power Wagon to a shop to rebuild the front axle and change the brakes back in 2020 when I got diagnosed. 3 months and a lot of money later I go get it and drive it home. Found parts I paid to be replaced, not be done and new replacement brake lines leaking, not clipped in and rattling against multiple things. It's a miracle that I drove it home without being in an accident.
While I do feel the same, I feel like that's also a lawsuit waiting to happen. And if those shops/businesses have lots of money to get good lawyers, you can bet who would win.
Seriously, that’s just incompetency and adds an additional burden onto the consumer. If the price quote includes incompetency, then state it in writing on the quote.
There is no real point cause the shop that most likely (and I don't know this for sure but using critical thinking) did this to David is out of business if you look at the time line and think back to David's videos you know who it was. Hint: they screwed over T-Pain too...
Sadly this is how the vast of "Performance shop" operate I work in a backyard and some of the garbage my customers have brought me from these high end places has left me speechless especially how much they were charged
I can't understand how grateful I am that you've documented the reality of dealing with "performance" shops. There are so many that are sketchy at best, and scammers at worst, that you never hear about from bigger RU-vid channels. Sorry this has become a huge PITA but I'm here for it and can't wait to see you ripping it around!
Bad shops were very prevalent when the import scene started gaining popularity. Many shops jumped onto the bandwagon thinking of I can install an intake, I can surely do anything in the time and budget required to sustain a business. A lot of those shops were culled but it seems like the increased popularity of motorsports and cars in general has again spawned many new shops looking to capitalise on the influx of money into cars.
It's not just shops...Engine builder's too. Had a 2jz built for me and said it's ready to run upon pickup. Went to check belt timing and it was off...and the cam gears were loosely bolted on. Ended up checking everything in the top end. Fingers crossed on the bottom end...
Even the shops that aren't straight up scammers are problematic - because they are usually run by gearheads, not businessmen. If you're looking to find "good" performance shops, don't look at the work they do. Of course they are going to show off their 1000hp engine builds or their custom paint jobs. But look at their business - their marketing, their customer service, how they treat their employees, whether they have a clean shop or not, whether they answer their phones/email consistently or not, what their waiting room looks like, what kind of customer experience they provide. That will tell you everything you need to know about what kind of work they can actually do.
Wow. A bunch of people coming out lately about bs shops. Glad i wasn't the only one who was experiencing this, and I'm glad more bigger RU-vidrs are speaking out. I made a couple similar videos myself a few months ago, but they only went so far. Moral of the story, LEARN to do everything yourself, and put in the work!
David, been following you for like a decade and I love your videos, the progress you’ve made, everything. I RARELY comment but I feel this merits it. You really really need to be calling out the shops that do shoddy work. Other people are gonna go to them and get screwed and possibly be put in danger. If this is what a shop does for YOU, someone they know for a fact is gonna make content that gets tons of views, what do you think they’re gonna do for some random kid? Zip tie the block to cardboard mounts? Unreal. There’s a guy named Gavin doing a K24 swap in a civic and he is in a WAR with the shady axle shop and he basically put the guy out of business… as he should, considering how he’s been treated. Nothing but support from me as always but I wish you’d put names out there!! Keep up the great work. Happy new year!
I remember you mentioning the drift coupe when you reviewed my ND Miata years ago, I’m happy to see videos coming out about it! Wishing you the best man!
Nearly a year ago I went to a shop to get new wheels put on my car, with just that they put on the wrong size hub centric rings, didn’t torque all the bolts down and left one of the valve stems loose which caused one of the tires to keep losing air. They also weren’t a cheap shop and had 5 stars on Yelp and are pretty popular within the local vw/audi community.
bro, every other VAG/BMW shop are shady and do bad work, they get those good reviews by installing exhaust and CAI's and doing APR tunes😅 most of them couldn't properly strip and rebuild a NA motor like an e36 or a VR6 😅 but they can try to tell u that it's necessary for you to pay them thousands for a timing belt and water pump😅
This is why “built not bought” is greatest marker of respect in car community. Absolutely don’t feel bad for you when you got what you paid for. Work on your own projects wherever possible so you know who to hold responsible.
Loving this series so far dude. Despite the constant setbacks this car has caused you over the past like 7 years or so it’s really cool to see how this project has developed and how you’ve grown with it. I’m so excited to see the final product of all those years of work. Hopefully it results in a happy ending and we can see this as a semi regular character on the channel soon
When I was a teen, a shop was supposed to fix my wheel bearing. They fixed the wrong wheel bearing. Then on the way home my brake pedal went to the floor. Another time, someone backed into my car, and a shop replaced my crank window door with a power window door, so now my window didn't work. My uncle had a mechanic do his brakes and they completely left out a brake pad. Bottom line, I started doing all my own work as a teen and haven't looked back. I can't afford the exorbitant prices, I see friends get ripped off all the time, and I didn't want any more mistakes unless they were my own.
I've been "watching" and liking videos all morning just to help out a little.. will try to watch every video you have posted last year the coming days.
Dude, I feel your pain! My Evo was stuck at a shop for over 4 years! Lost over 27k, had to get the entire car redone. All the wiring, engine and everything else had to get replaced with new parts!
I’m not really in the car scene anymore but when I was a few years back, one thing I found the most annoying was that there is simply not a lot of trust worthy places to take your car, in my local area there’s only one place I’d take my car to. There’s even some shops that for some reason are very popular amongst the state but is notorious for stealing parts off of cars to put onto other cars and simply taking years to do work on someone’s car
I’ve been screwed over by so many shops that I’ve lost all trust in them. My last time going to a mechanic they charged me over 2k for a clutch and didn’t even install it correctly and I had to redo it within a few weeks. They even charged me 984 dollars for the clutch itself which is ridiculous. I actually found a clutch listed for that exact price but when we took the clutch out it wasn’t even the one we seen online it was a cheap one. Shops are scams don’t trust those dirtbags no matter how nice they may seem. I’ve also had shops claim to fix something on my car when in fact they didn’t do anything
This video resonates with me so much. Had two separate shops working in my WRX (stock engine, upgraded turbo, fbo, etc.) Timing cover was leaking and the first shop “fixed”. Car kept leaking and they refused to redo the timing cover and kept saying it was something else. Took it to another shop for a second opinion and found out they used the cam carrier for leverage to pry the timing cover off. They cracked the cam carrier and refused to take liability for their damages. This shop repaired everything and did some other work. In total almost $5K in work. Car is now leaking oil worse than before and they will not guarantee me a time or date to work on the car and keep giving me the runaround.
Yup. If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that I will do everything within my power to fix my cars myself. At least if I screw something up I can’t lie to myself. 😂
Yep that's my view on it too. Sure I've messed up sometimes but at least I have no one else to blame. And that sense of shame is a powerful motivator to make sure it's done right the next time. 👍
When I was a kid I learned quickly, that no Shop is to be trusted with old cars. I had an engine and transmission rebuilt by what I thought was an incredibly reputable shop when I was 18 or 19 years old as I didn’t think I had the ability to do it myself. When I got the car back, it ran like crap for nearly a year, until I finally gave up and ripped the engine and transmission out only to discover that the shop had destroyed the flywheel, and it was actually off-center. A few years later I had a an exhaust shop install a new custom exhaust. On my drive home. The car started smoking so I pulled over only to discover they had routed the exhaust pipe on top of the rear rubber brake line…touching it. Since then I have never let anybody touch my old cars but I had to take my wife’s car in for an oil change and actually have a shop that does extremely good minor maintenance stuff like that. Unfortunately, they were closed that week, so I brought it to another place I found. Nearly a year later it needed another oil change and my usual shop calls me and says “somebody epoxied your oil drain plug to the pan”….
I am so happy and proud of this guy you have on video, no filter just roasting the guys who put this shit together, and he is pretty informative lol, i wish the guy had a twitch we could just watch this man on
I know the views you've getting on the series doesn't look so good but i would like to let you know am personally enjoying this series. Been waiting since the time you told me the engine swap in Québec Canada.
A few years back I became disabled and had to rely on a mechanic shop to work on my car. They actually rented their shop space from my family on our property. Yet, they hung me up to dry! Really took advantage of my inability to inspect their work and overcharged me in the process. They’ve since moved onto a different location and continue to thrive. I’m left with no money and a big mess.
This is the kind of stuff that destroys the car community. Shops are literally vile in the current state of things. They'll build their own shop car up and chop your car up. WRTeknica in California did that to me; I had a track weekend planned and wanted them to button my C5 Z06 up (inspection, oil cooler install, ati super damper install), the car was a low mileage example (6,000 miles or so at the time) and they literally outsourced it to another shop without my knowledge. Keep in mind their rate was $175/hr because they were a "specialty" shop that worked on high end vehicles. When they called me to pick the car up, it was literally botched, oil sensor was throwing a warning, they ripped out one of the front grill pieces to install my tow hook instead of doing it the proper way misaligning my head lights, and nicked my front seal when installing my new ATI super damper. These are all critical components when tracking your car and when I brought it up to them, they just said "oh it's fine, go to the track and bring it back" I've never seen such carelessness. Not only that but the shop owner had the audacity to tell me I was wasting his time with my complaints after spending almost 7k on that service. Absolute snakes.
One more reason why I do all my own stunts.. Actually. This is the PRIMARY reason. Seen it happen too many times. Sucks to see it happen to such a genuine dude. Hope it all works out for the best for you in the end David!
This is why I enjoy being the project planner for people, giving them a realistic idea of what is involved and making sure they don’t get done over. There is a reason why shops like mine seem expensive, but you only pay once👍
So much yes. I've had loose lug nuts, missing bolts here and there, snapped hardware, frayed wires... it's terrible. I try and do everything myself if I can now!!
I feel this! I had my sti built by a performance shop in MN and they just threw it together, I took the car with a base tune that was junk, and when it came time dyno tune they kept pushing the date, till I decided to go to another shop in IL, they found so many things wrong which they end up fixing, told them I wanted fuel lines done and they also screwed me over and only did feed even though I paid for both feed and return. Car made 510whp and only ended up lasting 2k miles. Decided to stop dealing with shops and learn to do things myself. Took the car apart and found that the first shop didn’t set the valve lash or clearance my heads for the bigger cams , found damaged lobes, and a ton of other stuff that was done incorrectly. I’ve now changed my set up and built a 1000whp capable engine, learning as I went watching a ton of RU-vid, took me awhile but now I’m driving a very healthy Car that made 630whp on a garret 3576. Didn’t deal with any issues on first start up like I did when I had a shop do it, and had zero issues on the Dyno. Even if your learning you can do a better job than most “performance shops” not because you know more than they do, but because you actually care to do things right.
@0JThomps0 i waited over a year to have my engine replaced. that was all i needed, an engine awap. they kept on telling me we need another month or two over and over. 6 months turned into 8, turned into 10 turned, turned in to over a year. Then the day after I got my car back, I came out to coolant all over the ground. come to find out they put RTV ON THE HEADGASKET. Several people in my local subi group have been screwed by them, and if you ask the state wide subi groups, you will quickly learn that they're shady af. parts missing is a common occurrence, including with my car, which i got back with my undertay missing. They couldn't tell me what happened to it... like how do you misplace an undertray? unless you have instagram clout, they could care less about your car.
If you're going to modify and drive cars to this extent you need to know how to build them, too. Not just drive them. Then you have nobody but yourself to blame for things. That's just the reality of it. Handing your car over to everyone else to work on ain't it
My shop got my car on April 7th 2023. Full rebuild due to a #4 hole fuel wash. I didn't get my car back until Aug 17th 2023. First night Im driving it, I throw a coolant light, needle shoots up, pull over and see my top rad return wasn't on. The clamp was never put back on the hose so it shot off under pressure. I solve that and text them about it. I had to bring it back a week later as it broke down. Needed a cam bridge and an intake cam. Then I got it back, AGAIN. Heard a knocking sound front left. I check and my BRAND NEW sway bar is not bolted to my brand new endlinks. I feel you, bro. I have been there.
Dude you gotta have one guy you bring it to, and you have to know him. It has to be on a personal level and you have to trust them too. Like this guy in the video
I remember meeting David the last day of import alliance 2022 and him telling the story and plans of the car and how the video series of it all should be released in a couple months….. and here it is rolling into 2024. Life’s crazy
A heat gun on that sound detening material would have gone a looooong way, lol. What you've outlined in your intro is the very reason I do my own work. I outsource components only. Something like tig welding a chargepipe. Never do I just hand over my entire car to a shop. My brother sent his 67 Mustang to get resprayed by a professional shop. $9k later, he found himself redoing most of the work because of how terrible the quality was. Sadly, this is pretty typical. It happened to me when I was 18. These days, If I needed custom subframe work done, I would either do it myslef, or contract a vetted welder/fabricator to do the work at my shop/residence. I would verify fitment and quality of work personally. Same with the trans tunnel. That engine mount should have been mocked up before the first tack-weld was ever made. The rest of the work I would do myself. Those hose clamps would work on the fuel lines if the line was flanged. But no one did that. The shop just chopped the line and attached a hose. Epic fail. I have a staggered tire arrangement for my wheels. When I took my wheels to get tires installed, I labeled the rims and stacked each tire I wanted for each rim on top of each rim. This way I knew the tread pattern and the location of each tire was exactly where I wanted it. The technician actually thanked me when he grabbed the first wheel and tire. The more we can think for other people, the less they have to do on their own. No screwups, everyone was happy, time well spent. I don't trust most people to tie their shoes right. This is another reason I change my own oil and do my own engine rebuilds. Too many shops don't even know how to set rings and bearings properly. Some of these kids use an impact on oilpan drainplugs, and they don't start the threads by hand. AND, they use tools to install oil filters! Hell no I'm not leaving my car with these people. Shops need to be vetted very carefully before trusting them. Otherwise, you end up with the disaster you found yourself with. I can't even trust these fools to do an alignment right. Glad you're finally doing everything right this time with people you can trust who do quality work. The swap looks nice. Same with the trans tunnel. Bet that car really moves. I'm hoping you'll have it on the road again in a few months. Let's say June. Best of luck. Cheers.
Man, that’s really lame to see people taking advantage of the build situation like this. I like and appreciate the vulnerability of you sharing these kinds of details w/your shop experiences. Good reminder to always inspect what you expect.
I used to work on my cars up until 2016 with warranty. Though, had helped relatives since then, with replacing cracked Fuel pumps, and radiators with 2 thermostat's. A return Vacuum intake Vacuum Line. When going from a Straight 6 cylinder or even V6 to V8. It is highly recommended to use the Cross-member, which Corresponds to the engine, because it was designed not just to hug and hold the engine. The Cross-member was Designed to Structurally, the weight of the V8 and horsepower, so the Torque won't Crush it. Currently, I am driving a 2022 Roush Mustang with the Rev-Match ( No Lift on Accelerator Pedal ) Tremec 3rd Fun Pedal ( I wrote 3rd Pedal because while shopping for it the Automatic Select, or paddle shifter was as Identified in the Filters for Manual Transmission) 6 speed Manual Transmission. Magneride Suspension, and the Same Intercooled, Limited Slip, Torsen Rear Differential as the GT500. I will never sell her even if Offered $1 Million
I'm late in catching up on this series, but I'm loving it. I hate that you had to go through all of this, but it definitely makes for an epic story for the car!
It feels nice to know it happens to bigger content creators, I’ve had bad experience with “performance” shops and actually have had the best experience with a regular shop with employees that enjoy tackling anything you throw at them.
And this is why my project took me 3 years to build on my own. Nothing fancy just a b20vtec swap in an EK but my standards are so high there was no way I couldve trusted a shop to do it well enough. The entire car got the love it deserves and every time I get to drive it I know I did the right thing.
I work at a small custom shop where we do mostly older 40s-70s hot rods and we see this bs ALL the time. Everything from rats nest wiring, mismatched tie rod sizes, and loose brake calipers all on “DRIVABLE” cars. Really frustrating to redo so much work bc someone rushed/didn’t know what they were doing😑
This hurts me to watch how much you were screwed over. I'm from South Africa... We have so many people who claim to mechanics and well take proper advantage... 5 cars down cause of it... I feel your pain...
Sounds like the sort of thing shop owners you personally endorse and elevate with your platform do to your guys’ subscribers. *cough* The Vargas Brothers from Angel Motorsports *cough* but we still love and support you bro. ❤
thats why alot of us are forced to work on our cars ourselves. Its not because we're broke, its because we don't trust other people to do it and even an ameture can be better than some of these shops.
My worst shop experience was spending $4800 to have my transmission rebuilt. I made it about 3 miles down the road before the transmission grenaded itself. When it was towed back to the shop, the owner realized that he forgot to reattach some of the transmission lines. He added more fluid and changed out the torque converter due to it being warped. After that, I limped it across town to a different shop. The second guy treated me well and completely overhauled the transmission out of his own pocket. It was my only vehicle at the time, and I had already emptied my accounts just trying to keep my sole means of transportation going. I still have that old truck, and I love it just as much now as the day I bought it when I was 15. As far as I know, the guy I took my truck to after the screw up is still going, and he has built some very fast Camaros and Monte Carlos. As for the first shop I went to, I drove by there when I was back home visiting during the holidays, and it was in the process of being demolished. A junkyard across the road bought it after the man retired.
Ive found a performance shop in my area, theyre well known and have a good reputation. Theyre always up front and do quality work. Their communication is top notch. They also charge me very fairly. I am glad to have known them. I run a shop and even brought customer cars there for tuning and never disappoint.
Bruh, ending on a cliffhanger. I can't believe it's been 4 years since that first ice drift episode--although I think I remember you airing it a while after it happening..? Unless I'm totally losing it..which is totally possible lol.
I got screwed by a local Va Beach shop on a head gasket job on my E46 M3. Since then jve been disgusted by performance shops and how they take advantage of the trust. Thanks for sharing the story to wake people up to this dirty side.
I feel for ya David. I had a shop not hook up brake lines properly and it could have been dangerous. I'm glad you or someone else did not have an accident because of all this
Oh dude Allen is one cool dude for sure. You know he wanted to buy my vette a couple years ago. I would have loved to see the monster he would have made out of it. His builds are exceptional!
When i was 19, i got my dream car a 1993 MR2 turbo in clean condition. I didn't know much about cars at that time nor had the space to work and learn on anything. The "performance" shop i took it to hosed me for $4000 after i took it there cuz it overheated. Promised me the world. Told me it was a bhg. Car came out of the shop, bolts missing everyhwere, nothing secured properly, they didn't fill the gearbox which eventually ate itself, and it still overheated. I sold the car at a huge loss and i'm still bitter to this day. This was 20 years ago. I vowed to never be ripped off again and i started learning everything about my own cars by myself. I have come a long way. I consider myself a pretty advanced shadetree mechanic now. I do all my own work aside from stuff i don't have equipment for like tires and alignments. But never again will i be ripped off. Lesson learned.
I wish we had sort of a car shop credit report tied to each individual working - so - you know who to avoid and who to ask for - as It seems to me the people that don't know what they're doing - they just move from one shop to another
Idk why it bugs me when someone says “while building my car” when they take it to shops to get built. I feel like saying “getting my car built” is more accurate and doesn’t take away from the guys in there garage for hours after working at least 8 hours a day in a probably labor intensive day job. Just my two cents that no one asked for
I've always had issues with anybody working on my vehicles other than myself. I don't let anybody work on my stuff anymore. I even take my wheels off and carry them to get tires mounted and balanced. I also do my own alignment before going to a shop for alignment. And I'm going to verify again after I get it back after replacing my leaking rack with a manual one (ordered and on its way). What sucks is, I and terrible at doing body work and rust repair (I try and fail). And I've never worked on an engine before other than just bolt on stuff getting replaced that fails like my TPS. Very simple stuff. But I've rebuilt my rear end and replaced all of the bearings, races, bushings, and seals. Same with all of the bushings on all of the control arms front and rear on my Jeep (complete build from the ground up).
Pretty sure I have a feeling which shop this was considering the one car in the thumbnail that's not yours. I actually photographed that car while it was at that shop, and even just being there to shoot cars felt weird and unsettling. Cool to see David Campo in your video though! He's a good dude, and I had the pleasure of shooting his Rx7 for S3 Magazine a few years ago. Good luck getting everything done, can't wait to see it finished!
I hate seeing bad things happen to good people. I’ve never met David. But I’ve probably been subscribed for ten years and all I’ve ever heard about him is what a great person he is. To see people take advantage of him and rip him off is one thing, but to put his life in danger is a whole other level of wrong. I hope whoever did this to him never gets another paying customer again.
I remember a shop was working on my R33 GTR.. i put a hidden dash cam in it a long with a apple Air Tag.. they keep telling me “the car is almost ready” for 2 months little did they know i was watching them taking MY CAR to meets and events with it, street racing and beating on on my car.. definitely wont be taking my car to “Rare Breed Performance again” while im also in the process of legal action.. for now on i will just find time to work on my own car and watch youtube tutorials..
When I was 19 (just a few years ago) I bought my 03 rsx type s off of my brother. It was mechanically sound no issues whatsoever, but unfortunately my brother was hit (dragged us a better word) and it just tore up the radiator support. Luckily it was just that and nothing else. I took it to a local “well known” shop and they BUTCHERED the job. The core support itself was done good, but they cut through my wiring harness while cutting off the other core support, broke my knock sensor, and my brother had HIDs and instead of disconnecting the ballast they cut and taped the headlight harness. When I received the car it didn’t turn on nor did any of the front lights turn on. Keep in mind I drove the car there and it was in perfect running condition when it was left in their hands. Ever since then I’ve done my own work. It’s not great work but I’m learning 🙃
The reason I learned so much about working on my own cars was from being screwed over by 1 performance shop. They dented my car, took 3 weeks to change out suspension and brakes, had loose bolts on the rear coilovers, the car was permanently set in a limp mode because of installing a sensor on backwards. They were horrible. When I went to pick up my car I was all smiles and the owner all of a sudden started verbally attacking me for some reason. It was crazy. I ended up taking my car to a one person shop and he was able to fix everything in less than an hour. He even told me that I should invest in a lift and start doing my own work since I'd save money and get to understand the car a lot better. So that's what I've been doing ever since. I take my car exclusively to him or to a very reputable performance shop that focuses on my car specifically. I now know to perform some due diligence before giving my business to anyone and not trust 5 star reviews so much anymore for any sort of business.
I had a shop recently that failed to properly install a throwout bearing for a clutch *3* TIMES. Missing bolts, wrong fluids, all sorts of things not bolted down, and thousands spent diagnosing problems THEY caused through improper installation. I had fairly good luck previously with shops but it was an absolute nightmare the whole way through. Really ruined the year.
I will say that I worked with Allen on my car and found PLENTY stuff they did wrong. Oh by the way Allen and his shop are out of business now. Not a mystery why. At first excel was ok but later it was trash. As a matter if fact that was my kei van on the lift in the background. I have had to pay another shop three times to fix their crappy work.
Unfortunately a local shop by me was the same way. They were ok for us for awhile but became problematic...very probematic to the point where we went with the "more expensive" shop (the reputation was that they were but labor was actually reasonable compared to everyone else) and they have been treating my family/parents pretty well. The shops clean and well kept unlike the old one, they dont seem like they rip ppl off with bullshit excuses, and THEY KEEP GOOD RECORDS. The funny thing about the old shop is that after they fucked us over and we stopped going they had a 4th gen built supra sitting in thier showroom area. Like thats gonna draw in more customers. Really unfortunate how places rush work time and time again and just cram as much as possible because people get upset that cars take time. Ofc if the cars down for a month and nothing gets done thats a big no no but its just the cycle i see. Id rather have to wait an extra day and have quality work than get it back and visibly see or feel shit thats wrong.
