Mr.Hankey

Well, after what happened today, i just dont trust the builder anymore and i dont think im ever going to have a reliable vechile from his shop. I called the dude 5 time yesterday and he didnt pick up one of my phone calls, not one. So i call him 2 times to day, again he didnt pick up my phone calls. So i drive the 20mins it takes me to his shop and Lo and behold hes there working on my car. So first thing he says to me is "your car sounds fine and drives fine" im like okay, thats excellent news. But i knew something was wrong, and sure enough something else was wrong. The dude tells me that my gauge cluster doesnt work (rpms/mph dont read) and that a check engine light is on but he doesnt know why. Then right after he said that he says "you can take the car if you want, it drives fine". As soon as those words came out of his mouth i knew that i was never going to trust him again. So i got on the phone with friends, thinking i might be overreacting, and everyone told me that im going to have to sue him because my car is never going to be reliable. So, i told the builder 'hey, im not trying to threaten you, but if my car is not reliable after i get it back from you im going to have to sue you for the money i paid you for a service that was never rendered. A working vechile." Of course he didnt like what i said, so he told me "if your car spins another bearing, im not going to fix it" I told him that, that shouldnt happen anyways and if it does that would be the reason that im suing him. Also, he told me before he put the engine back together that he was going to put in Genuine Honda Bearings, well, he didnt. He put in ACL bearings again (which pretty much voids the contract that we already had). So now im here, still without my car, and now i dont even know if i want it back. I just dont trust a guys work that would give me back a car knowing that it doesnt have a working speedometer or working rpm gauge after being freshly built.

And if anyone is wondering who it is, his name is Lo Vang from 1320CustomFab located on 2757 crosby way, sacramento, CA 95815. Lo told me that "their is only two reputable businesses in town, mines and midnightperformance, but midnight is too expensive." Well, next time im going to spend the extra money to have a working car.


Modified by Mr.Hankey at 12:01 AM 1/25/2007

boostincoupe

wow, that sucks ***.

batboyvaj

That sucks. Good luck to you

delslo93

yeah that sucks. But spun bearings can happen to anyone if the oil pressure is not up to par. I would have told him that if anything happens within like the next 3 months you would do something about it. Write up a contract and see if he signs it. If he does then you will always have something to back it up. When it comes to building motors a guy can't guarantee it for life. Things happen, stuff breaks especially with a turboed application.

93supercoupe

i dont see whats wrong here, it sounds like ur just being too catious.

He said u could take car then but it sounds like if u said u would leave it, he wold have figured out the problemes.

Sounds like u were trying to take ur car back before it was ready, so u cant be mad at him for not finishing.

Revi

Another reason why i love being able to do anything on my own car and not have to trust anyone with it. Sorry to hear about your misfortune, its reasons like this that drove me to learn about mechanics and doing your own work. Maybe you should start heading in that direction, its the only way to prevent things like this from happening.

Code

Wow man, just wow. If I were you I wouldn't take the car back until everything works like it's supposed to.

Mr.Hankey

naw, i didnt want to take the car. Ill tell you what i told him, he never test drove it the first time he gave me the car, and now hes trying to give it back as fast as possbile. Im not going to drive a broken car around so he can blame it on me when something happens. I dont want to give him any reason to blame me for it breaking down again, and i honestly think that is his plan. And i just dont think a professional would even offer to give a car back with a check engine light on and a non functional gauge on a new built motor--If that isnt a setup for disaster im not sure what is. i think if i wouldve taken it, and something wouldve happened, he wouldve just said 'oh, you over revved the engine, you drove it too hard, you peed in the gas tank ect ect."

Code

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mr.Hankey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">naw, i didnt want to take the car. Ill tell you what i told him, he never test drove it the first time he gave me the car, and now hes trying to give it back as fast as possbile. Im not going to drive a broken car around so he can blame it on me when something happens. I dont want to give him any reason to blame me for it breaking down again, and i honestly think that is his plan. And i just dont think a professional would even offer to give a car back with a check engine light on and a non functional gauge on a new built motor--If that isnt a setup for disaster im not sure what is. i think if i wouldve taken it, and something wouldve happened, he wouldve just said 'oh, you over revved the engine, you drove it too hard, you peed in the gas tank ect ect."</TD></TR></TABLE>

Good call not taking it. Sounds almost as if he doesnt know how to fix the broken stuff, and not using the OEM bearnings like you asked is just plain dumb. Maybe threaten to get the BBB and the State Attorney generals office involved, see if that snaps him back into reality. Anyway, keep us posted and good luck.

Amped

Thats horrible. No person should have to go through that experience. People just suck these days. You must have spent a fortune too. How much total? What does he specialize in?

doood

iTrader: (1)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mr Wonderfull &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Im just glad you finally posted his ****** name...</TD></TR></TABLE>

werd. that shop is only 10 minutes from me. i've been to their shop and seen some of their race cars in the shop bay and running at the track. to tell you the truth i wasnt very impressed.

jfoster

iTrader: (1)

Don't spend more money on another shop. Learn to work on the car yourself. If you need tools buyem with the money you don't give to the shops for labor. If you don't have the time think of the time you've wasted on shops and BS. If you don't have the know how its here for the taking.

Have the work done by someone you trust .... yourself. Experienced help is a great thing when getting started wrenching, you live in import tuning heaven so if you don't already have a friend to help you out it shouldn't be hard to hook up with someone on here, many would be glad to lend a hand in return for your help with their ish from time to time.

Just my opinion.

Good luck either way.

Mr.Hankey

im not trying to be an *** to the people that are telling me to learn to do it myself. But thats totally unreallistic. Im not a mechanic, i dont want to be a mechanic, and their are qualified people out there that can do it for me. I just got screwed over, and if my car doesnt work right when i get it back ill have to sue to have someone else do it right. Im not going to spend months, possibly years trying to figure out every nut and bolt of my engine. I just dont have the patience to do it.

spectacle

how do you know he put ACL bearings in the car this time around?

doood

iTrader: (1)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mr.Hankey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">im not trying to be an *** to the people that are telling me to learn to do it myself. But thats totally unreallistic. Im not a mechanic, i dont want to be a mechanic, and their are qualified people out there that can do it for me. I just got screwed over, and if my car doesnt work right when i get it back ill have to sue to have someone else do it right. Im not going to spend months, possibly years trying to figure out every nut and bolt of my engine. I just dont have the patience to do it. </TD></TR></TABLE>

not to sound like an ***, but if you would have done the work yourself you wouldnt be having all these problems and spent all this money and you would have the engine up and running by now.

with that mentality you shouldnt even be thinking about modifying cars period. stuff breaks all the time and you're going to have to have the patience to fix it.

boostincoupe

One thing I did think about after posting is:

- you're publicly bashing/outing this guy
- you've threatened to sue him

AND.....


He still has your car. Pray that it doesn't "disappear" one night from the shop dude. You probably should have kept your mouth shut until you got the car back. I would NEVER talk **** to someone working on my car WHILE THEY HAVE IT.

Good luck to you. That's like cussing out the cook at a restaurant, BEFORE you order.

underpressure02

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mr.Hankey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">im not trying to be an *** to the people that are telling me to learn to do it myself. But thats totally unreallistic. Im not a mechanic, i dont want to be a mechanic, and their are qualified people out there that can do it for me. I just got screwed over, and if my car doesnt work right when i get it back ill have to sue to have someone else do it right. Im not going to spend months, possibly years trying to figure out every nut and bolt of my engine. I just dont have the patience to do it. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I have the perfect solution for you get a stock car and don't modify it. I have read all your drama on here and you really should not be driving a modded car. There are people on here that have gone through so much worse including myself without getting anything back in return from sellers screwing me over. But yet after all the money lost at the end of the day I take it as lessons learned. Good luck in court. Hope you have it all documented b/c almost everything I read from you is hearsay.

cheehee

with serious research (manuals and h-t) and the right tools it won't take you years to learn about your motor.....but you gotta be willing to put in some work. "Give a man a fish & feed him for a day.....teach that man to fish & feed him for a lifetime." you know how it goes..

Just an idea but the next time you go back to get your car, see if the builder can take you for a ride in it. let him put it under full boost and if he doesn't want to then something might be wrong. and if possible get everything in writing, parts, clearances, warranty(?), agreements etc.

best of luck to you!

Mr.Hankey

guys guys, why do you keep bring up 'boost' the car is no where near stable enough for me to put my turbo on it. I wouldnt even dream of doing that in the condition it has been in, it didnt even run a full week when i got it back the first time. ****, it didnt even get threw a tank of gas before it failed. And the person that said all this is heresay, yes you are right. But i still have proof on when i picked it up, proof of when it was towed (three days after i picked it up) thats not heresay.

I also know he put ACL bearings in my engine after he told me he was going to put honda bearings in it because i told him today that i want everything in writing that he installed in my engine. And he put ACL STD bearings in the parts list--i called him out on that and he said that hes using them again (without my consent, after we agreed for him to use honda bearings)

eg:R

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by boostincoupe &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">One thing I did think about after posting is:

- you're publicly bashing/outing this guy
- you've threatened to sue him

AND.....


He still has your car. Pray that it doesn't "disappear" one night from the shop dude. You probably should have kept your mouth shut until you got the car back. I would NEVER talk **** to someone working on my car WHILE THEY HAVE IT.

Good luck to you. That's like cussing out the cook at a restaurant, BEFORE you order. </TD></TR></TABLE>

true

jfoster

iTrader: (1)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by underpressure02 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I have the perfect solution for you get a stock car and don't modify it. I have read all your drama on here and you really should not be driving a modded car. There are people on here that have gone through so much worse including myself without getting anything back in return from sellers screwing me over. But yet after all the money lost at the end of the day I take it as lessons learned. Good luck in court. Hope you have it all documented b/c almost everything I read from you is hearsay. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Agreed.

bsixteen

i was once told by a friend that has his car worked on instead of doing it himself something to the effect of "my time is better spent working instead of working on the car" meaning the time you spend learning/working on his own car is better spent actually working and being able to afford a shop to do it.

i'm sure you get great pride and confidence working on your own car but to some a career w/ toys on the side is more important

Urugly

Hey guys if the guy doesn't have the time to work on his own car, then he doesn't have time.

I think the point here and where I would be equally upset is that he paid for a service that wasn't rendered.

Whether it be someone setting up your new computer or someone setting up a network or a basic service on your car if you pay for it, you expect it to be done right with everything in working order.

At least we know where he got the service done. Good luck to you though bro.....

Mr.Hankey

Yeah, im probably going to go there either tomorrow or friday to see whats going on with the car. And like i said, im not trying to be an *** to the people that work on cars, and can do all their own work--im just not of those people and i paid for someone to do that for me and it wasnt done. I just want my goddamn car back, but i realized that i might never get my car back in working order. And like i said in another post, i know **** happens, but im not going to sit around after i paid over $5k and let **** happen without doing anything about it. I know some people think that when this stuff happens that they cant do anything about it, well im not one of those people. I wish everyone would fight when a builder destroys their car, there would be a lot less builders breaking cars if people did. People think that they can just take your money and if anything goes wrong that its the customers fault and that they have no obligation to make a working product. Well i for one am not taking that ****, and like i told the builder, if my car is not reliable after i paid all that money for him to create a custom motor that is, im suing for every penny that i can. Im positive that after everything is said and done, my car is going to be salvaged and ill have to get a new vechile because of the work that was performed to my car.

Pnoyej6

Hey bro , take it easy, Im in the same situation as you. My car been shop for 2 months. I actually got the car back finally but the damn speedo wasnt working and the cel with the ls vtec turbo setup. I told him nicely to please fix the speedo, since it was very important to me and a hassle. SO he said he will look into it. Its been 1 week later and still nothing done. I was pissed. SO i kept it calm and email me everyday, to check on the ek. He would always say I will let you know. IT seems like the mechanic is always making excuses when I tell him how is the speedo. SO i kept calm and clearly told him I want everything in working order as i Brought my car, which means speedo working. So it is still at shop and I am just being patient. Give the mechanic some slack bro, he is only trying his best to get things done right, especially if he is busing working on other cars. Just be patient and he will take care of everything, if you are honest to the mechanic. My car actually ran good with boost, pulls hard , just the speedo wasnt working. Just give some time , try to control yourself. I know its hard, but I am. Make sure he keeps his word. Dont threaten to sue the mechanic, until you really know he did wrong bro. Its just not right especially if he still has your car in his possession