Colorado Buyers BEWARE
12-29-2004, 09:50 AM
#1
I've quit using this account
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: southern colorado
Posts: 2,277
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Colorado Buyers BEWARE
i thought i would post it in here since it was a turbo build.
its poorly wriiten (thanks to the AZ school system) but you get the point.
here is what the link was to:
In Sep 03, I was looking to build a motor for my Honda civic.
I did a lot of looking around was came in contact with Mo who worked at Speedimage.
He was willing to sell me a swap. So I go up and get the swap.
I decided instead of dropping the motor in right away, I figured I would build it first.
Mo from Speedimage was willing to help again.
I bought the SRP pistons and Eagle rods online, and had them order everything else.
I brought mo my entire motor (block, head and 2 boxes of parts) in early Oct 03. He said that it would take 2 weeks for the machine work and 1 week for assembly. He said that when I got my motor back it would be “ready to drop in”.
Fast forward to late Nov 03, I still haven’t heard anything. So I call him up, he tells me the block is still at the machine shop at it should be back by the end of the week.
I wait a few more weeks, still nothing.
Finally ~ 15 Dec 03, I tell him I need everything back so I can get my car running. He finally gets my motor back, it’s a long block, tranny/wiring harness/accessories were still in the box.
He told me he didn’t have time to get it all completed (after he has had my motor for 1.5 months longer the expected). The final price was ~$225 more then the quote that I had originally got. He under quoted me for some stuff and tried to tack it on after the fact. According to Rocky Mountain Machine shop, they charge $125 for what I had done. Speedimage charged me$330 for machine costs. Kind of weird huh?
So I get home, put all the accessories on and myself, servion (Jeremy), 98-EXT (Danny), Gimpin (Dan), a few other guys swap the motor in.
Everything seems to go smooth. Until we started up the motor.
When we started the motor up, it was unusually loud. The sound was coming from the head. After some looking around we discovered he had put in the lost motion assembly in upside down. Ok so we fix that.
Everything seems to be running fine.
We went out and broke the motor in. when we got back to change the oil, we saw a lot of metal shavings in the oil. No big deal, it’s the filings from the rings seating.
Added more oil, changed the filter and drove it around a little more. While driving it around I got a check engine light. I pulled the code. Vtec pressure low. So I pulled the Vtec solenoid, it was so filled with metal filing that it was not letting enough oil through to engage Vtec.
So I cleaned it out, and went on.
About 3 days later it happened again. This time I figured I had better change the oil again, incase I didn’t get all the shavings out from the rings seating. So I change the oil and filter again.
Next i'm notice a small bit of coolant coming from in between the head and the block on the alternator side.
So I pulled the head and replaced the head gasket. In doing this I discovered that there seemed to be a lot of wear on the cylinder walls. I took some pictures and, most people (including a machinist that came to my house to check it out) seemed to thing that the piston to wall clearance was to tight. So I called him up. He told me this was normal. I knew it wasn’t. After fighting with him about it they finally agreed to refund me $150.
So I finished breaking in the motor and put my turbo kit on it, I drove it to Denver and back.
About 2 blocks from my house I notice a huge drop in power. I shut it off and cost about 1 block form my house. Me and a friend push it the rest of the way home.
I checked all the fluids and everything was normal. I started it up and heard a slight knock.
I decided to drop the oil pan and see what’s was going on.
I dropped the oil pan and to my dismay I find a thrust washer sitting in the oil pan all mangled up.
So we pulled the motor and tore it down.
Come to find out that both thrust washers had fallen out. All 4 pistons were trash. One rod was burnt. Crank trashed and the block wasn’t even salvageable.
I called Speedimage up to see if we can figure out what happened.
They tell me the trust washer falling out, was caused from heat. I found that kind of odd. There was no scorching on the thrust washer at all.
So I decided to do a little research on Honda-tech.com .
I talked to Earl Laskey (main engine builder for Laskey racing, Honda guru from over 20+ years. Here is what he had to say about it.
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I have a possible series of events. <FONT COLOR="red">First, it is impossible for the thrust washers to fall out of the block to the pan unless this chain events were to happen. </FONT>
1) The REAR thrust washer (closest to flywheel) was installed backwards with the grooves facing the timing belt.
2) The front thrust washer was installed EITHER properly or backwards, does not matter. It is just a spacer and is rarely loaded.
3) The crank end play was checked and it was perfect. The clearance would be the same no matter which direction the thrust washers were installed.
4) As the engine is started, oil leaving the mains would slightly oil both the front and rear thrusts.
5) As the car is driven, a big load is put on the rear thrusts because of clutch usage. Inadequate oil supply to the rear thrust causes heat build up and deteriation of the rear thrust over a period of time.
6) Finally, the thrust gets hotter, blacker and softer until it is expelled past the main cap.
7)Once this happens, the next time the clutch is used, it moves the crank to the rear of the engine causing oil holes not to line up between the crank and bearings.
8) This causes mains to heat up because of oil starvation and spin.
9) Since there is no load on the front thrust, the crank kicks it out almost untouched as the #4 main starts to spin with it.
I just don't see any other logical way a thrust can come out of the engine unless the #4 main caps was loose enough to give room for the thrust to fall out. But then you would not have the one thrust black and bent up.
</TD></TR></TABLE>
Here is the thread it came out of: https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=819879&page=1
So after fighting with Mo and Haung (the owner) at Speedimage, I threatened to take them to small claims court.
This is where their mood changed; they offered to give me new pistons and new bearings ($500 for both). I was left on my own to buy EVERYTHING else.
I agreed, figuring if I didn’t take this then I would probably never see anything.
After all this it took them 2 months to get me new pistons and 3 months for the bearings.
Even after all this they still refuse to admit that they messed up.
I am very disappointed with Speedimage and Mo. They do not stand behind their work, they do not take care to their customers, and they do not get stuff done on time. I will not ever conduct business nor will I refer business to Speedimage ever again.
There you have it, this is my story. I’m sure it will ruffle some feathers.
I did not bash anyone, I simply stated what happen. Take it as you will.
I will post a gallery of pics from the aftermath of the motor when I get home.
Thanks Speedimage for taking my money and ruining my motor.
Modified by llewsirc at 8:32 PM 12/29/2004
its poorly wriiten (thanks to the AZ school system) but you get the point.
here is what the link was to:
In Sep 03, I was looking to build a motor for my Honda civic.
I did a lot of looking around was came in contact with Mo who worked at Speedimage.
He was willing to sell me a swap. So I go up and get the swap.
I decided instead of dropping the motor in right away, I figured I would build it first.
Mo from Speedimage was willing to help again.
I bought the SRP pistons and Eagle rods online, and had them order everything else.
I brought mo my entire motor (block, head and 2 boxes of parts) in early Oct 03. He said that it would take 2 weeks for the machine work and 1 week for assembly. He said that when I got my motor back it would be “ready to drop in”.
Fast forward to late Nov 03, I still haven’t heard anything. So I call him up, he tells me the block is still at the machine shop at it should be back by the end of the week.
I wait a few more weeks, still nothing.
Finally ~ 15 Dec 03, I tell him I need everything back so I can get my car running. He finally gets my motor back, it’s a long block, tranny/wiring harness/accessories were still in the box.
He told me he didn’t have time to get it all completed (after he has had my motor for 1.5 months longer the expected). The final price was ~$225 more then the quote that I had originally got. He under quoted me for some stuff and tried to tack it on after the fact. According to Rocky Mountain Machine shop, they charge $125 for what I had done. Speedimage charged me$330 for machine costs. Kind of weird huh?
So I get home, put all the accessories on and myself, servion (Jeremy), 98-EXT (Danny), Gimpin (Dan), a few other guys swap the motor in.
Everything seems to go smooth. Until we started up the motor.
When we started the motor up, it was unusually loud. The sound was coming from the head. After some looking around we discovered he had put in the lost motion assembly in upside down. Ok so we fix that.
Everything seems to be running fine.
We went out and broke the motor in. when we got back to change the oil, we saw a lot of metal shavings in the oil. No big deal, it’s the filings from the rings seating.
Added more oil, changed the filter and drove it around a little more. While driving it around I got a check engine light. I pulled the code. Vtec pressure low. So I pulled the Vtec solenoid, it was so filled with metal filing that it was not letting enough oil through to engage Vtec.
So I cleaned it out, and went on.
About 3 days later it happened again. This time I figured I had better change the oil again, incase I didn’t get all the shavings out from the rings seating. So I change the oil and filter again.
Next i'm notice a small bit of coolant coming from in between the head and the block on the alternator side.
So I pulled the head and replaced the head gasket. In doing this I discovered that there seemed to be a lot of wear on the cylinder walls. I took some pictures and, most people (including a machinist that came to my house to check it out) seemed to thing that the piston to wall clearance was to tight. So I called him up. He told me this was normal. I knew it wasn’t. After fighting with him about it they finally agreed to refund me $150.
So I finished breaking in the motor and put my turbo kit on it, I drove it to Denver and back.
About 2 blocks from my house I notice a huge drop in power. I shut it off and cost about 1 block form my house. Me and a friend push it the rest of the way home.
I checked all the fluids and everything was normal. I started it up and heard a slight knock.
I decided to drop the oil pan and see what’s was going on.
I dropped the oil pan and to my dismay I find a thrust washer sitting in the oil pan all mangled up.
So we pulled the motor and tore it down.
Come to find out that both thrust washers had fallen out. All 4 pistons were trash. One rod was burnt. Crank trashed and the block wasn’t even salvageable.
I called Speedimage up to see if we can figure out what happened.
They tell me the trust washer falling out, was caused from heat. I found that kind of odd. There was no scorching on the thrust washer at all.
So I decided to do a little research on Honda-tech.com .
I talked to Earl Laskey (main engine builder for Laskey racing, Honda guru from over 20+ years. Here is what he had to say about it.
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I have a possible series of events. <FONT COLOR="red">First, it is impossible for the thrust washers to fall out of the block to the pan unless this chain events were to happen. </FONT>
1) The REAR thrust washer (closest to flywheel) was installed backwards with the grooves facing the timing belt.
2) The front thrust washer was installed EITHER properly or backwards, does not matter. It is just a spacer and is rarely loaded.
3) The crank end play was checked and it was perfect. The clearance would be the same no matter which direction the thrust washers were installed.
4) As the engine is started, oil leaving the mains would slightly oil both the front and rear thrusts.
5) As the car is driven, a big load is put on the rear thrusts because of clutch usage. Inadequate oil supply to the rear thrust causes heat build up and deteriation of the rear thrust over a period of time.
6) Finally, the thrust gets hotter, blacker and softer until it is expelled past the main cap.
7)Once this happens, the next time the clutch is used, it moves the crank to the rear of the engine causing oil holes not to line up between the crank and bearings.
8) This causes mains to heat up because of oil starvation and spin.
9) Since there is no load on the front thrust, the crank kicks it out almost untouched as the #4 main starts to spin with it.
I just don't see any other logical way a thrust can come out of the engine unless the #4 main caps was loose enough to give room for the thrust to fall out. But then you would not have the one thrust black and bent up.
</TD></TR></TABLE>
Here is the thread it came out of: https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=819879&page=1
So after fighting with Mo and Haung (the owner) at Speedimage, I threatened to take them to small claims court.
This is where their mood changed; they offered to give me new pistons and new bearings ($500 for both). I was left on my own to buy EVERYTHING else.
I agreed, figuring if I didn’t take this then I would probably never see anything.
After all this it took them 2 months to get me new pistons and 3 months for the bearings.
Even after all this they still refuse to admit that they messed up.
I am very disappointed with Speedimage and Mo. They do not stand behind their work, they do not take care to their customers, and they do not get stuff done on time. I will not ever conduct business nor will I refer business to Speedimage ever again.
There you have it, this is my story. I’m sure it will ruffle some feathers.
I did not bash anyone, I simply stated what happen. Take it as you will.
I will post a gallery of pics from the aftermath of the motor when I get home.
Thanks Speedimage for taking my money and ruining my motor.
Modified by llewsirc at 8:32 PM 12/29/2004
12-29-2004, 11:31 AM
#3
I've quit using this account
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: southern colorado
Posts: 2,277
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Re: Colorado Buyers BEWARE (wantboost)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by wantboost »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">link doesnt work. wtf are you talking about</TD></TR></TABLE>
link works for me.
maybe ill just post it here..
link works for me.
maybe ill just post it here..
12-29-2004, 03:26 PM
#6
Honda-Tech Member
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: denver, co
Posts: 715
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Re: (grndcont)
I have been living in denver for around 8 years and have had a honda for about 10 years, and I would never go to speedimage. I have hurd nothing good about them. I am in the middle of a Turbo Project and I am only going to deal with Tobi and Import Sports. Sorry to hear that man, you should take there aszs to small claims. Where are you from?
12-29-2004, 09:26 PM
#7
I've quit using this account
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: southern colorado
Posts: 2,277
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
im in the springs.
i got it all worked out now, my new motor is together and running strong,
only thing im waiting on it servion to tune it... uberdata baby
i got it all worked out now, my new motor is together and running strong,
only thing im waiting on it servion to tune it... uberdata baby
Trending Topics
01-04-2005, 11:01 AM
#11
Honda-Tech Member
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Kennett Square, PA
Posts: 319
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Re: (llewsirc)
I have had mixed experiences with PFI. They did mess up my order, but they also made it right. I bought a turbo for my last car from them and I ordered and paid for a new T04E (with a comment on my reciept detailing exactly what I ordered). I ended up getting what appeared to be a rebuilt T04B after a few months of waiting. They did get a new turbo to swap with me, but it seems like they should have checked the turbo when it came in to make sure that it was what I ordered. Not sure where the blame lies, it was probably just an honest mistake and they did make it right.
I have done a lot of business with Ray (Ray's Custom Exhaust- he does all of their exhaust and turbo work) and he is excellent. Collins Muffler in Loveland is also excellent. I have not done business with Tobi yet, but have heard great things about him and am planning on it.
Tim
I have done a lot of business with Ray (Ray's Custom Exhaust- he does all of their exhaust and turbo work) and he is excellent. Collins Muffler in Loveland is also excellent. I have not done business with Tobi yet, but have heard great things about him and am planning on it.
Tim
01-05-2005, 11:08 AM
#14
Honda-Tech Member
Re: (llewsirc)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by llewsirc »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">servion (here on HT) tunes my car.
hes good</TD></TR></TABLE>
Jeromy's the man...
Sorry to here about problems though. Scammers should die
hes good</TD></TR></TABLE>
Jeromy's the man...
Sorry to here about problems though. Scammers should die
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post