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 UA-cam 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 UA-cam 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 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.
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 $$$, UA-cam 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
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.
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...
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
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
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.
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.
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...
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 UA-cam channels. Sorry this has become a huge PITA but I'm here for it and can't wait to see you ripping it around!
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.
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.
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
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
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 UA-camrs 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!
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.
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😅
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!
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. 👍
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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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
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.
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
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👍
@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.
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.
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
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”….
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.
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.
These days trust is priceless. Worth more than gold. Very rare to find anyone you can trust in America anymore. They're all about charging a lot of money but never giving the quality
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
I haven’t watched the whole video yet but I think it’s very important that UA-camrs put these shops on blast. I’ve seen UA-camrs in the past say “I don’t want to name the shop/ person who did the work.” UA-camrs need to realize that they are the only knowledge and info some fans get so they need to know what shops to avoid
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.
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!!
Lost my s2000 cause one of these shops vandalized it. Sold my wheels and everything. I was young and dumb but definitely learned a lesson I won't forget.
Had a shop repair a hydraulic line that busted on my s55 AMG, when I got the car back and it was leaking fluid out of the reservoir from a man handled cap that was cross threaded and completely tore the seal. Just like everyone else I never let anyone touch my cars again. I learned and I still done know everything but I gain much more knowledge every day I’m 21 now, I want to perfect my craft and own my own shop that everyone can trust in my local area.
I have a good story about this. I was building a notch with a ls and a d1x. Shop in Brooklyn NY was doing this build. The owner is a good friend of my father. Mustang Mike Modeste was working on the car. He suddenly passed away. Car took almost five years to complete. We miss you Mike.
Shop still has my dads car in their garage for more than 11 months now. I gave them a donor car to take anything off so waiting for parts isnt an issue. This shop has been delaying deadlines for 7 months now. This is a extra car so no worries but imagine if someone only had 1 car and had to wait more than a year to get their car back.
Imported an Evo while I was in the Australian Navy. Decided to trust my performance mechanic with looking after it while I was away. There was no storage fees, it would be for him to work on it slow time while I was away. I wanted it built to a point, but nothing extreme, wanted to maintain a stockish powerband for fun. Was meant to be a max of 20k AUD budget (full bolt ons and a tune for around 450whp, including parts brand new and labour). He was my friend and I thought I was fine trusting him with it all. I sent him $5000 to start buying parts and that I would pay the remaining 15k, when I got back from deployment. Over the phone, while deployed, he had told me I could expect the bill to be close to 30k with doing the custom ECU/wiring harness, and I had approved new injectors/some electrical work. He also said he had someone interested in my engine and transmission, so I could sell those, get stronger ones and reduce my bill with my old parts. I told him my budget was not to exceed 30k but if its possible to do what I wanted, I was okay with that. But my expectation was only for it to be that and in writing via email, thats what I had said. I got emails with pictures of the build and parts sitting up that I ahd been ordered. None of were of my engine bay though. When I got back from my deployment, I had something vastly different. Came home to a race engine, new transmission, lots of custom fab, wiring and work. Car made 400whp on pump 98 (@18psi), on a huge powerband (due to the turbo and camshafts). Most of the lines had been replaced with Speedflow and braided hosing, I had a wire throttle body and a tonne of custom fabrication (external gates, dump, extended oil pan/baffled sump, catch can and the largest intercooler/pipes that could be fit). While I was excited with how much work had been done and it was the fastest car I had driven, I was a bit shocked when I was given an invoice. I was given a bill for 45k AUD, not including the 5k I had given him up front. but had sold my stock engine and transmission off to someone else. This money was not on my invoice as reduction to the bill, so he had pocketed this. This left me without any engine or transmission, resulting in a race engine sitting around being used, along with a custom built 5 speed. The engine was from a time attack circuit car. When he rang me, he had interpreted me agreeing (and it was in writing in email), that IF it was within my budget for the build, that it was acceptable to do so. His interpretation, was that as long the engine and transmission doesn't exceed total cost of my budget, that I was okay with that being done. Extremely fucking dirty about that, but at this stage, my vehicle was boxed in at the back of his shop with 12 other cars between it and the door. I had no way of getting my vehicle out. This meant my car was the opposite of what I wanted and I was stuck with an overbuilt car, that wasn't even running on ethanol initially. They had my car for 9 months and it wasn't finished when I got home. The engine that was put in was close to 25k alone (literally everything done to it). I told him I wasn't happy about my budget being blown out and now with my limited leave, I wouldn't have a car. He said that the price meant that there would be no further cost for tuning, maintenance or any other work they do on the vehicle, as this was one of their best street builds. I found out later on they had lifted the head on the Dyno during the initial tuning session, resulting in a leaking head gasket (could smell coolant/oil burning on my dump and see it pooling under the car). The collector above the turbo had been fabbed in house and failed 5 months later, due to aggressive negative tuning he had put in on my 'high boost' map. I was then told that the cylinder head was damaged due to my driving and that I needed to get it fixed. I had done less than 7000kms on my build at this stage and it had been dailied (on a fucking highway) for 5000kms. I was quoted $7000 for that and the performance shop they took it to told me over the phone it was old damage and further to that, to chat to one of my 'friends' staff about it. One of the fabricators told me they had the cylinder head off and sent me the photos the shop had taken (during the tuning). This showed combustion and evidence of a failed headgasket, including the timestamp in the photo file. This occured during my initial run in tune AND during my e85 Tuning, as the files weren't on my ECU, but were on an laptop they gave me to do remote troublshooting with. I was able to go to the restore point and get the old files they had ripped off my ECU, showing the pinging. They had replaced the cylinder head (back onto the block, no skim, no new headstuds or new gasket) turned my map down, and then gave me a 550whp car, with a lifted head. I wasn't told this had happened or informed of any difficulty they had with it. Both my water pump and alternator failed not even a week after that. They had multiple auto sparkies look at it (apparently) and this stretched my car being at their shop for 2 months in total. They were claiming that something was causing the spark drop and that they needed to pull all the wiring out to check for it. They admitted I had a cheaper ECU than I was originally invoiced (they kept the stock one in the vehicle to control the alternator, so the wiring I was lead to believe that been done was only 1/3rd done.) I was extremely pissed off that a vehicle I had paid just under 14k at auction, had cost me over 60k in total work done (without touching the expensive rear diff/transfer case work that Evos are known for). The mechanic/tuner refused to get back to my messages and never answered his phone, so I turned up with a tow truck, paid for the new parts they had bought and flatbedded it elsewhere. The mechanic/tuner also, put a password on the ECU, preventing me viewing any of the logs or reviewing the timing mapping. He did this to prevent modifying the base map and causing damage, in addition to him referring to it as protecting his IP. Other customers had mentioned to me at meets, that they found it suspicious and frustrating as some of them had issues with their cars they couldnt troubleshoot themselves. Unfortunately for him, I was a Sys Admin (in a System Engineering role for F18 Super Hornets) and spent way too much time staring at windows logs troubleshooting. I lied and said an error popped up and asked if they could remote connect via Teamviewer to my ecu and help me clear the error. I made a VM on one of my laptops, made a Powershell keylogger, along with installing dud software and teamviewer on the VM to make it seem more like my laptop. Their technician (as the owner wouldnt answer his phone, especially after I took the vehicle back), remoted in and I keylogged my ECU password back. I then changed it and provided that to all of his other customers, in case they also had their ECUs locked by this guy. I loved the car and in the end, paid it off. I never paid for anymore maintenance with the guy and chose not to modify it further with him. I sold it a few years back and wish I had kept it, just due to the work that went into it and the memories of driving it interstate. I'm now in the market for another and since all of this smozzle (some of it being almost 10 years now), I've been very proactive of warning other guys in the scene about how easy it is to get carried away building an identity/social circle, around spending money and how people can and will rip you off.
This type of crap is so prevalent these days. Ever since I started driving 28 years ago, I’ve always done my own work because of such shady shops. Most recently, my son decided to have his Mk6 Golf R “built” by a local performance shop here in Pittsburgh. Octane Fab in case anyone wants to know. I have no problem calling them out on their BS. Anyway, they had his car for TWO YEARS before he got it back. The only reason why he eventually got it back was because we had to get on the shop owner’s case about taking his sweet time. My son got his car back and discovered several things he payed for weren’t even installed. The FMIC he paid for wasn’t there…the stock one was still in place. The stage 2+ tune with launch control and crackles (I know, stupid…but he was 19) wasn’t flashed. And a few other miscellaneous things were messed up. He had to go back 2 or 3 times for the shop to fix it correctly. It’s still not 100% but I told him to just cut his losses and quit dealing with the shop.
I have always worked on my own vehicles unless if just something I don’t have the equipment for, I have always told my sister don’t ever let a shop sell you on anything without talking to me first and looking at her car. Our dad taught me a lot, it sucks at times working on something and I get stuck he would always be go to for how to get around it but he passed in 2022 so the knowledge I have he gave me is what I have and UA-cam has became my best friend
Bought a 300zx as my first car when I was 16, had shops take advantage of me but mainly do poor work at shops known for good work. They left fuel line hose clamps loose and fuel sprayed all over the intake maninfold and could have gotten on the exhaust manifold. After that I realized it was time for me to learn how to work on cars.
Unfortunately that's why I pay the stealership tax for things I can't do. If they fuck up, they have liability insurance. Small shop? They'll disappear.
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. ❤
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!
I used to be an auto tech and I still work on my cars. There’s a lot of guys out there who just don’t care about quality work and simply don’t know how to do things, they treat it as just another job they got. They think people won’t check their cars out later or will notice something’s wrong. Sometimes they’re looking to get a car out as quick as possible and are careless and really think the car’s good. Always check out the shop and ask around to find a good place to work on your car. Saving money is good but experience and quality cost more and you’ll be better off.
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
Also had another instance where I tried having a "performance" shop rebuild my 350z motor with forged internals and they gave it back to me completely disassembled in a pile of parts after "building" it for over a year. Only thing they accomplished in over a year was having it machined and taken apart.
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.
Had a big turbo srt4 that ran amazing for years, started breaking up in boost & couldn’t figure out why. Brought it to a recommend shop, a whole year and few months later & $3500 dollars to get the car back I will never ever bring my car to another “small name” shop. Lied about rebuilding the turbo etc. convinced me as I was naive at 18 that it needed a whole new fuel setup and external surge tank in the front for it to run right. Car spun a bearing months later after their retune when it ran amazing for years at that hp level. Work on my cars myself now and want to learn to tune as well, can’t trust anyone with your car nowadays 🤷🏽♂️
First car was a Jeep Liberty and it got rod knock. Took it to a "trusted" mechanic of my dads to get it fixed. He had it for 5 months out in the sun and rain and he hadn't even checked or opened the engine once. Once my dad got a hold of him, HE had to fix it with him or else it would've never been done. Took them less that two weeks to fix it after that. But we STILL had to pay him!
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...
I’m in the same boat, I’ve been done since June 5 2023 and fighting a shop over a trashed motor with 8 passes and maybe 1300 miles with 4 oil changes with metal in every oil change. I was told kick rocks. I’m in a lawsuit over it because it was not even close to what I wanted nor told it was to be at all.
Had a mid pipe put on my wife's mustang, brought it home and it didn't feel right/was also throwing a check engine code related to an O2 sensor. While looking into that I noticed the shops magnet lights to see were still attached to the car and only a single bolt (of 8) was still holding the k-member in. Brought it back and shop accused me of taking them out my self. Imagine the amazement from the person who did the work when I brought back his lights, with his initials on them and then they claimed not to have the bolts but then magically find "some similar ones" that were all a perfect match to mine after a few merry minutes. 😂
Replacement engine on a 2005 Legacy GT after another shop seized up the original engine after replacing the turbo and running it with no oil, first replacement engine starts knocking. Shop convinced me to try a 2.2L JDM swap, I was all for it. First engine low compression second one we take it to the only AWD dyno at the time for 200 miles in Hickory NC. Tuner blows that turbo after the shop owner and myself told him just stock power levels are fine and he decides to try to push 30+ psi. This stupid wagon went through I think 4 engines and 5 turbos only for it to sold for parts. Shop owner and I agreed, car is cursed.
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.
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😑
A mechanic tried to scam me 20 years ago. After that I convinced myself I would do all mechanic work myself. I have 4 cars now and have learned a lot and saved a lot of money. I can weld, install turbo kits, rebuild engines.. its a lot of fun sometimes.
Happened with me in Thailand. Two times my car almost exploded. Fuel hose clip wasn't tight enough so the fuel was leaking, while, under that the electric wire what was connected to the fuel pump had short circuit and got red by the heat. It happened after the fuel tank and pump swap. I went back to the shop to be fixed, then the new fuel hose bursted while I was driving, all of the gasoline flow to the trunk. Since then I do everything by myself, of course, I had to buy a bunch of equipment and machines.
I paid this shop invoice in full just for the shop just decided to give up on the car 1.5 yrs later. It came to the point where they said I would have to start paying shop labor rate to continue. That is when I decided to just take the car back, was tired of all the excuses and broken promises. So many ppl highly recommended this shop and yeah it was a big mistake. In the end I wish I would have done the work myself k24 swap mr2. Now I have to finish the car on my own or sell it for a massive loss. Oh, they also neglected the car. Car now has new dents and scratches on the car and hardtop is scratched. Worst car experience in my entire life. I only had one other shop do work on a older car of mine and it was a pleasant experience, but now I dont trust shops after this. Your story is an absolute nighmare!
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..
I used a "performance" shop to overhaul my suspension over the summer. And what I thought would be a straightforward job ended up with many revisits to the shop. The tech didn't know what he was doing, and the boss wasn't communicating with them and making false promises. They were making mistakes like not tightening bolts down all the way, bump stops installed improperly, spring seats halfway off the perch. It was ridiculous.
Back in 2016, before they moved to another part of Kalamazoo, a Shop called Strictly Performance Motorsports, took care of a head swap on my 93 Civic. It took them over a month and a half, and when I got it back, my Left Wheel rolled off because they didn’t torque a single Lug down other than one that simply sheared off. The other was held on by two. And the icing on the Cake, they handle my Crank Bolt the same way. No torque, just hand tight. Lined up for a small pull with a buddy out on Woodward Avenue and was pleased on the 3rd pull to an awful grinding sound. I assumed it was my Transmission, it had just blown a gear. Nope. My Crank Shaft Bolt on my Harmonic Balance had come loose, and shattered the end of my Crank Shaft. Last time I had that Car sadly.
I was sixteen and spent my fast food job money that I have been saving for a car since grade 7. Bought a 1980 z28. Garbage car but the motor didn’t sound great. Went to this place they said I need a motor. They replaced it and when they started it there was a knock. They said they might have put a nut down the carburetor. So they took out a spark plug to shot out the nut. 5000 dollars later I had a car that was slower and still had a knock. They told me it was normal. The apprentice at the shop told me to go somewhere else because these guys were playing me. I’m now 51 and after many other builds can now do most work myself. JDM cars are way easier to work on, even my 91 z32 twin turbo with 600 wheel horsepower. Thanks to all the good shops that have helped. If you find a good mechanic make friends and you will golden.
For the sound Deadening I used dry ice and 91 IPA alcohol. Make a thick slurry that can be put on the walls, arches & floor. It took me about 2hrs with that method and they came off in big chunks.
Tell me your worst shop horror story
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 UA-cam 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
Yup, not calling them out is just setting up others to get screwed
@@onefastboi14 it was probably GMG the same shop that screwed tpain
I totally agree
@@kern417it most literally probably was, the tpain GMG S14 is in the thumbnail picture
Agreed, call them out
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.
I like Jose
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 UA-cam 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 why I learned to work on my own cars, I don’t trust people and would rather do it myself and learn from my own mistakes
This is probably the best advice. Find (or pay for) a mentor and do it yourself to ensure it’s done right and to your desired standards.
100% This is the hard truth.
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.
Building the car himself will actually gave him more content to create, way more and be cheaper in the long run.
What he said ^
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 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.
100%
For sure. Hacks are everywhere.
Also, people can't be trusted so just cause someone said all repairs and maintenance were done by dealership doesn't mean they were.
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.
@@Willisfitner Agreed. Having documentation usually helps support that claim.
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.
"BUT BLAAAADED"
exactly bruh took a shop near me 4 and a half weeks!! to get a cam installed.
Bro, save yourself the time and $$$, UA-cam 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
Fast Lane Performance in ATL. Stay away from them.
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.
they can cause a mortal accident to the driver... this is criminal
It looks like it was done by a farmer in a rush to get back on the fields.
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.
Doing it yourself isn’t always the best option at time I’ve been burned just buying parts….
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 wish UA-camrs would say what shops and businesses do this type of work to warn others instead of always being the nice guy and not wanna name names
He could literally save somebody's life by calling them out.
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...
GMG is the name of the shop
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
Dude no way! Howd that end?
How did it end?? I would be livid bro that’s crazy
What was the shop?
What happened
How did that end???
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
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.
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).
@@Datboi_Mobest to just learn to do things yourself
@@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.
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...
I think this car might be the same one that had two 2JZ engines in it that popped. That is insane.
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 UA-cam channels. Sorry this has become a huge PITA but I'm here for it and can't wait to see you ripping it around!
I'm addicted to this series, so hyped to see how it finishes up!
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.
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.
Finding a good mechanic is like finding a good drug dealer, impossible to find and you'll do anything to protect 😂😂
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
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
David, we are loving this series. Sorry you had so much garbage to overcome but its so great to see it coming together.
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 UA-camrs 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!
No. This is illegal what they do bud.
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.
Hi David: The issues make the show. Your enthusiasm is infectious.
The problem is, nobody calls out the shop BY NAME. everyone wants to be all nice. When they do garbage work like shown, they shouldn’t be in business
You need to name the scumbags that screwed you over. Don't let them do this again to anyone else!
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😅
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!
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. 👍
A lawsuit should be filed against whoever these mf’s are who worked on the car. Thats just umbelievable. This should have some resolution in law.
dude seriously, I was waiting for him to at least out them by shop name so we can bombard their Google n FB reviews!!!
It's GMG Automotive Performance in Georgia. It's closed down, it no longer exists. Probably for obvious reasons.
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!
Jesus bro
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.
Man i would just go to the shop and ....talk to them, if they dont refund at least partially then talk a little bit differently 😂
Hard to do if the shop doesn’t exist anymore lol
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.
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!
Thats a bandaid not a solution. Its like moving away because of liberal views. It takes care of your problem but doesn’t fix the actual one
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.
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
This is precisely why I do EVERYTHING on my build myself. No one else will have the same passion for your build than you and you alone.
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.
if this happened to me i woulda caught at least 3 felonies lmfao
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
Love this video series. So glad you stuck with finishing the car.
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👍
You filled my windshield washer reservoir all the way up and you didn't even charge me tree fiddy to do it! Thanks dude! You're the best! 😊
Off the Line in Iowa is one of these shops you need to avoid. David, I believe you actually are familiar with them 😢
Really? OTL has impressive facilities in every video I've seen. I would have thought they had it together by the look of their shop.
@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.
This is why I'm glad my dad taught me how to do my own work work on cars, and how to weld.
It's what a lot of em do.
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.
Mad props on the series, stoked to see more
Thats why Im so hesitant of taking my cars to shops...
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
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”….
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.
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.
These days trust is priceless. Worth more than gold. Very rare to find anyone you can trust in America anymore. They're all about charging a lot of money but never giving the quality
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
"and then we put you a flat screen TV, in the differential" made me spit my drank out
I haven’t watched the whole video yet but I think it’s very important that UA-camrs put these shops on blast. I’ve seen UA-camrs in the past say “I don’t want to name the shop/ person who did the work.” UA-camrs need to realize that they are the only knowledge and info some fans get so they need to know what shops to avoid
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.
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!!
Lost my s2000 cause one of these shops vandalized it. Sold my wheels and everything. I was young and dumb but definitely learned a lesson I won't forget.
Had a shop repair a hydraulic line that busted on my s55 AMG, when I got the car back and it was leaking fluid out of the reservoir from a man handled cap that was cross threaded and completely tore the seal. Just like everyone else I never let anyone touch my cars again. I learned and I still done know everything but I gain much more knowledge every day I’m 21 now, I want to perfect my craft and own my own shop that everyone can trust in my local area.
I have a good story about this. I was building a notch with a ls and a d1x. Shop in Brooklyn NY was doing this build. The owner is a good friend of my father. Mustang Mike Modeste was working on the car. He suddenly passed away. Car took almost five years to complete. We miss you Mike.
Shop still has my dads car in their garage for more than 11 months now. I gave them a donor car to take anything off so waiting for parts isnt an issue. This shop has been delaying deadlines for 7 months now. This is a extra car so no worries but imagine if someone only had 1 car and had to wait more than a year to get their car back.
Imported an Evo while I was in the Australian Navy. Decided to trust my performance mechanic with looking after it while I was away. There was no storage fees, it would be for him to work on it slow time while I was away. I wanted it built to a point, but nothing extreme, wanted to maintain a stockish powerband for fun. Was meant to be a max of 20k AUD budget (full bolt ons and a tune for around 450whp, including parts brand new and labour). He was my friend and I thought I was fine trusting him with it all. I sent him $5000 to start buying parts and that I would pay the remaining 15k, when I got back from deployment.
Over the phone, while deployed, he had told me I could expect the bill to be close to 30k with doing the custom ECU/wiring harness, and I had approved new injectors/some electrical work. He also said he had someone interested in my engine and transmission, so I could sell those, get stronger ones and reduce my bill with my old parts. I told him my budget was not to exceed 30k but if its possible to do what I wanted, I was okay with that. But my expectation was only for it to be that and in writing via email, thats what I had said. I got emails with pictures of the build and parts sitting up that I ahd been ordered. None of were of my engine bay though.
When I got back from my deployment, I had something vastly different. Came home to a race engine, new transmission, lots of custom fab, wiring and work. Car made 400whp on pump 98 (@18psi), on a huge powerband (due to the turbo and camshafts). Most of the lines had been replaced with Speedflow and braided hosing, I had a wire throttle body and a tonne of custom fabrication (external gates, dump, extended oil pan/baffled sump, catch can and the largest intercooler/pipes that could be fit). While I was excited with how much work had been done and it was the fastest car I had driven, I was a bit shocked when I was given an invoice.
I was given a bill for 45k AUD, not including the 5k I had given him up front. but had sold my stock engine and transmission off to someone else. This money was not on my invoice as reduction to the bill, so he had pocketed this. This left me without any engine or transmission, resulting in a race engine sitting around being used, along with a custom built 5 speed. The engine was from a time attack circuit car. When he rang me, he had interpreted me agreeing (and it was in writing in email), that IF it was within my budget for the build, that it was acceptable to do so. His interpretation, was that as long the engine and transmission doesn't exceed total cost of my budget, that I was okay with that being done. Extremely fucking dirty about that, but at this stage, my vehicle was boxed in at the back of his shop with 12 other cars between it and the door. I had no way of getting my vehicle out.
This meant my car was the opposite of what I wanted and I was stuck with an overbuilt car, that wasn't even running on ethanol initially. They had my car for 9 months and it wasn't finished when I got home. The engine that was put in was close to 25k alone (literally everything done to it). I told him I wasn't happy about my budget being blown out and now with my limited leave, I wouldn't have a car. He said that the price meant that there would be no further cost for tuning, maintenance or any other work they do on the vehicle, as this was one of their best street builds.
I found out later on they had lifted the head on the Dyno during the initial tuning session, resulting in a leaking head gasket (could smell coolant/oil burning on my dump and see it pooling under the car). The collector above the turbo had been fabbed in house and failed 5 months later, due to aggressive negative tuning he had put in on my 'high boost' map.
I was then told that the cylinder head was damaged due to my driving and that I needed to get it fixed. I had done less than 7000kms on my build at this stage and it had been dailied (on a fucking highway) for 5000kms. I was quoted $7000 for that and the performance shop they took it to told me over the phone it was old damage and further to that, to chat to one of my 'friends' staff about it. One of the fabricators told me they had the cylinder head off and sent me the photos the shop had taken (during the tuning). This showed combustion and evidence of a failed headgasket, including the timestamp in the photo file. This occured during my initial run in tune AND during my e85 Tuning, as the files weren't on my ECU, but were on an laptop they gave me to do remote troublshooting with. I was able to go to the restore point and get the old files they had ripped off my ECU, showing the pinging. They had replaced the cylinder head (back onto the block, no skim, no new headstuds or new gasket) turned my map down, and then gave me a 550whp car, with a lifted head. I wasn't told this had happened or informed of any difficulty they had with it.
Both my water pump and alternator failed not even a week after that. They had multiple auto sparkies look at it (apparently) and this stretched my car being at their shop for 2 months in total. They were claiming that something was causing the spark drop and that they needed to pull all the wiring out to check for it. They admitted I had a cheaper ECU than I was originally invoiced (they kept the stock one in the vehicle to control the alternator, so the wiring I was lead to believe that been done was only 1/3rd done.)
I was extremely pissed off that a vehicle I had paid just under 14k at auction, had cost me over 60k in total work done (without touching the expensive rear diff/transfer case work that Evos are known for). The mechanic/tuner refused to get back to my messages and never answered his phone, so I turned up with a tow truck, paid for the new parts they had bought and flatbedded it elsewhere.
The mechanic/tuner also, put a password on the ECU, preventing me viewing any of the logs or reviewing the timing mapping. He did this to prevent modifying the base map and causing damage, in addition to him referring to it as protecting his IP. Other customers had mentioned to me at meets, that they found it suspicious and frustrating as some of them had issues with their cars they couldnt troubleshoot themselves.
Unfortunately for him, I was a Sys Admin (in a System Engineering role for F18 Super Hornets) and spent way too much time staring at windows logs troubleshooting. I lied and said an error popped up and asked if they could remote connect via Teamviewer to my ecu and help me clear the error. I made a VM on one of my laptops, made a Powershell keylogger, along with installing dud software and teamviewer on the VM to make it seem more like my laptop. Their technician (as the owner wouldnt answer his phone, especially after I took the vehicle back), remoted in and I keylogged my ECU password back. I then changed it and provided that to all of his other customers, in case they also had their ECUs locked by this guy.
I loved the car and in the end, paid it off. I never paid for anymore maintenance with the guy and chose not to modify it further with him. I sold it a few years back and wish I had kept it, just due to the work that went into it and the memories of driving it interstate. I'm now in the market for another and since all of this smozzle (some of it being almost 10 years now), I've been very proactive of warning other guys in the scene about how easy it is to get carried away building an identity/social circle, around spending money and how people can and will rip you off.
This type of crap is so prevalent these days. Ever since I started driving 28 years ago, I’ve always done my own work because of such shady shops. Most recently, my son decided to have his Mk6 Golf R “built” by a local performance shop here in Pittsburgh. Octane Fab in case anyone wants to know. I have no problem calling them out on their BS. Anyway, they had his car for TWO YEARS before he got it back. The only reason why he eventually got it back was because we had to get on the shop owner’s case about taking his sweet time. My son got his car back and discovered several things he payed for weren’t even installed. The FMIC he paid for wasn’t there…the stock one was still in place. The stage 2+ tune with launch control and crackles (I know, stupid…but he was 19) wasn’t flashed. And a few other miscellaneous things were messed up. He had to go back 2 or 3 times for the shop to fix it correctly. It’s still not 100% but I told him to just cut his losses and quit dealing with the shop.
I have always worked on my own vehicles unless if just something I don’t have the equipment for, I have always told my sister don’t ever let a shop sell you on anything without talking to me first and looking at her car. Our dad taught me a lot, it sucks at times working on something and I get stuck he would always be go to for how to get around it but he passed in 2022 so the knowledge I have he gave me is what I have and UA-cam has became my best friend
Bought a 300zx as my first car when I was 16, had shops take advantage of me but mainly do poor work at shops known for good work. They left fuel line hose clamps loose and fuel sprayed all over the intake maninfold and could have gotten on the exhaust manifold. After that I realized it was time for me to learn how to work on cars.
You have a massive platform. I think people need to air out shops that honestly do/did a horrible job or that are scams
Unfortunately that's why I pay the stealership tax for things I can't do. If they fuck up, they have liability insurance. Small shop? They'll disappear.
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. ❤
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!
I used to be an auto tech and I still work on my cars. There’s a lot of guys out there who just don’t care about quality work and simply don’t know how to do things, they treat it as just another job they got. They think people won’t check their cars out later or will notice something’s wrong. Sometimes they’re looking to get a car out as quick as possible and are careless and really think the car’s good. Always check out the shop and ask around to find a good place to work on your car. Saving money is good but experience and quality cost more and you’ll be better off.
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
Also had another instance where I tried having a "performance" shop rebuild my 350z motor with forged internals and they gave it back to me completely disassembled in a pile of parts after "building" it for over a year. Only thing they accomplished in over a year was having it machined and taken apart.
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.
Had a big turbo srt4 that ran amazing for years, started breaking up in boost & couldn’t figure out why. Brought it to a recommend shop, a whole year and few months later & $3500 dollars to get the car back I will never ever bring my car to another “small name” shop. Lied about rebuilding the turbo etc. convinced me as I was naive at 18 that it needed a whole new fuel setup and external surge tank in the front for it to run right. Car spun a bearing months later after their retune when it ran amazing for years at that hp level. Work on my cars myself now and want to learn to tune as well, can’t trust anyone with your car nowadays 🤷🏽♂️
First car was a Jeep Liberty and it got rod knock. Took it to a "trusted" mechanic of my dads to get it fixed. He had it for 5 months out in the sun and rain and he hadn't even checked or opened the engine once. Once my dad got a hold of him, HE had to fix it with him or else it would've never been done. Took them less that two weeks to fix it after that. But we STILL had to pay him!
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...
I’m in the same boat, I’ve been done since June 5 2023 and fighting a shop over a trashed motor with 8 passes and maybe 1300 miles with 4 oil changes with metal in every oil change. I was told kick rocks. I’m in a lawsuit over it because it was not even close to what I wanted nor told it was to be at all.
Had a mid pipe put on my wife's mustang, brought it home and it didn't feel right/was also throwing a check engine code related to an O2 sensor. While looking into that I noticed the shops magnet lights to see were still attached to the car and only a single bolt (of 8) was still holding the k-member in.
Brought it back and shop accused me of taking them out my self.
Imagine the amazement from the person who did the work when I brought back his lights, with his initials on them and then they claimed not to have the bolts but then magically find "some similar ones" that were all a perfect match to mine after a few merry minutes.
😂
Replacement engine on a 2005 Legacy GT after another shop seized up the original engine after replacing the turbo and running it with no oil, first replacement engine starts knocking. Shop convinced me to try a 2.2L JDM swap, I was all for it. First engine low compression second one we take it to the only AWD dyno at the time for 200 miles in Hickory NC. Tuner blows that turbo after the shop owner and myself told him just stock power levels are fine and he decides to try to push 30+ psi. This stupid wagon went through I think 4 engines and 5 turbos only for it to sold for parts.
Shop owner and I agreed, car is cursed.
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.
That's really unfortunate. What's the timeline for David's video here then, is it a much older video?
@samiurrahmanshah1981 it's a new video but was filmed I think a year or two back
Well yeah, he had to push his customer off to the side to save the UA-cam channel! Duh
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😑
Having been a mechanic for a living for 10 years now, the "spectrum" of skills in this field is astounding.
A mechanic tried to scam me 20 years ago. After that I convinced myself I would do all mechanic work myself. I have 4 cars now and have learned a lot and saved a lot of money. I can weld, install turbo kits, rebuild engines.. its a lot of fun sometimes.
finding a reliable mechanic who can build cars is rare and when you find it you gotta gate keept and only provide it to trusted friends
David you are a TROOPER, if i went through half of that i would've put a torch to the car and said goodbye lol
Happened with me in Thailand. Two times my car almost exploded. Fuel hose clip wasn't tight enough so the fuel was leaking, while, under that the electric wire what was connected to the fuel pump had short circuit and got red by the heat. It happened after the fuel tank and pump swap. I went back to the shop to be fixed, then the new fuel hose bursted while I was driving, all of the gasoline flow to the trunk. Since then I do everything by myself, of course, I had to buy a bunch of equipment and machines.
Give shop names bro we gotta hold these people accountable.
I paid this shop invoice in full just for the shop just decided to give up on the car 1.5 yrs later. It came to the point where they said I would have to start paying shop labor rate to continue. That is when I decided to just take the car back, was tired of all the excuses and broken promises. So many ppl highly recommended this shop and yeah it was a big mistake. In the end I wish I would have done the work myself k24 swap mr2. Now I have to finish the car on my own or sell it for a massive loss. Oh, they also neglected the car. Car now has new dents and scratches on the car and hardtop is scratched. Worst car experience in my entire life. I only had one other shop do work on a older car of mine and it was a pleasant experience, but now I dont trust shops after this.
Your story is an absolute nighmare!
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..
I used a "performance" shop to overhaul my suspension over the summer. And what I thought would be a straightforward job ended up with many revisits to the shop. The tech didn't know what he was doing, and the boss wasn't communicating with them and making false promises. They were making mistakes like not tightening bolts down all the way, bump stops installed improperly, spring seats halfway off the perch. It was ridiculous.
Back in 2016, before they moved to another part of Kalamazoo, a Shop called Strictly Performance Motorsports, took care of a head swap on my 93 Civic. It took them over a month and a half, and when I got it back, my Left Wheel rolled off because they didn’t torque a single Lug down other than one that simply sheared off. The other was held on by two.
And the icing on the Cake, they handle my Crank Bolt the same way. No torque, just hand tight. Lined up for a small pull with a buddy out on Woodward Avenue and was pleased on the 3rd pull to an awful grinding sound. I assumed it was my Transmission, it had just blown a gear. Nope. My Crank Shaft Bolt on my Harmonic Balance had come loose, and shattered the end of my Crank Shaft. Last time I had that Car sadly.
This is why I do all my own work. I'm more comfortable knowing my cars inside and out.
I was sixteen and spent my fast food job money that I have been saving for a car since grade 7. Bought a 1980 z28. Garbage car but the motor didn’t sound great. Went to this place they said I need a motor. They replaced it and when they started it there was a knock. They said they might have put a nut down the carburetor. So they took out a spark plug to shot out the nut. 5000 dollars later I had a car that was slower and still had a knock. They told me it was normal. The apprentice at the shop told me to go somewhere else because these guys were playing me. I’m now 51 and after many other builds can now do most work myself. JDM cars are way easier to work on, even my 91 z32 twin turbo with 600 wheel horsepower. Thanks to all the good shops that have helped. If you find a good mechanic make friends and you will golden.
For the sound Deadening I used dry ice and 91 IPA alcohol. Make a thick slurry that can be put on the walls, arches & floor. It took me about 2hrs with that method and they came off in big chunks.