2000AccordFlex

Took my 2000 Accord EX 4CL Auto there for a stock motor swap and manual transmission swap because my car had 235k miles and was due for an overhaul.

What all I paid to have done:

-stock f23a4 motor swap
-stock auto to manual swap
-switch over alt, timing belt, acc belts and h20 pump because they were all replaced 20k miles ago on my old engine
-weld and fix my exhaust
-adjust coilover height

For starters, the reason i went to this shop was because they were a new upcoming shop in the area representing Baltimore who from the looks of it knew what they were doing. I figured a shop who can build 9 second civics surely could manage a stock motor swap and trans swap...COULDNT BE MORE WRONG.

For starters I did supply all of the parts to do this swap, most of which were in good condition minus the exhaust, which is why I paid them to fix it... Had awful communication throughout the whole process. I was quoted $1500 for all of the labor plus whatever other odds and end parts they needed like bolts, wires etc for a grand total of $1899 after all was said and done. I asked them if they wanted the full write up DIY on 6thgenaccord.com to assist them and they declined the help and said they would use their own resources to complete the swap.

Lets get started...

I was quoted 2-3 days for the swap which is another reason I chose them, this car is my daily driver I use for commuting to school and work so the least amount of down time possible was key for me.

Told me I gave them some non working parts which I dont believe honestly because the slave cyl was from a f23 and they said it wouldnt bolt up because it was off a H motor which doesnt make sense because i got it off an accord f23... along with the clutch lines they said were bad but i know they were working when I took it there. Kinda funny how all of the parts they said were not working, i never got back in my box of parts after the swap...

Overall the shop had the car about 2 weeks before it was finally finished, when I got it back, I was simply astonished at how awful the work was.

Condition of the car when I got it back:

-missing lower splash shield (found it laying in my trunk)
-ecu hanging out on my floor
-temp sensor not reading (said it was the speedo, but it was a working speedo)
-knock sensor bad (said that the AT didnt have a knock sensor the the MT did so they would need to wire one in. BOTH ENGINES ARE THE SAME!!!! TOOK ME 2 MINUTES TO PROVE THEM WRONG BY A SIMPLE GOOGLE SEARCH)
-no shift ****, just the metal shaft (even though I included a shift ****, it was laying in my box of leftover parts)
-never adjusted my suspension
-cracked radiator (leaking and spewing coolant everywhere, granted they did fix this after threatening the owners, took them 2 separate times of having the car towed there to finally figure this out)
-ABS lines in wheel well were not on brackets, just dangling in wheelwells
-missing sway bar bolt
-missing vacuum line for my intake
-oil cap loose
-battery terminals barely tightened
-missing power steering cap
-center console barely bolted in
- left engine/trans mount only had 1 bolt on it, the other one which was holding it on was the incorrect bolt which was too small and almost falling through the hole
-Various sensors left dangling behind the block
-power steering line not tucked by the frame rail, just left hanging next to the crack pulley
-Did not replace my timing belt
-Did not replace my water pump (when taking apart my old engine, i found them both still bolted in place, never even touched
-broke my TPMS sensor on my old throttle body so that is un sellable
-reverse lights not wired up
-neutral safety switch not wired
-cruise control not wired
-did not weld minor exhaust leaks i pointed out to them
-when they did weld the exhaust back together, they were suppose to take 3 inches off due to it being a sedan exhaust which is 3 inches longer and I have a coupe they welded the last piece of piping before the muffler back on but didnt take off that 3 inches and welded the piece of pipe backwards so that the hanger was on the right side and the chasis hanger was on the left side leaving about a 18 inch gap for a 4 inch rubber exhaust mount to reach, just left it causing my exhaust to fall off 8 times while I was driving

I literally could go on and on but I simply cant remember the other crap they failed to do. Basically if you arent a customer who isnt spending $20gs+ on a racecar, Jeff Blumenfeld and Mike Sweeney, the owners wont give a damn about your car. Jon Gil And Mike Sweeney are the two that did a majority of the work as said by Mike Sweeney himself. They put it off to the side and let their inexperienced shop workers who many times are just friends who come in who work on their own cars and paid under the table work on customer cars. You pieces of **** knew I had connections with Honda and many others in the Honda scene around the Bmore area and you really think I wouldnt check your work, let alone let you get away with it?!??! LOL

Basically, Charm Shitty Tuning, you can suck on my *****. I Dont care if i **** anyone off by writing this because anyone local who is thinking about taking their car to your shop needs to know how shady your business really is.

A lil 2.3l action

wellllll duhhhhhhhhhhh

homeskillet

hope you didnt pay them.

phoshyzzle

def. not a good look for CCT..

Chef Andre

iTrader: (1)

Damn sounds like a horrible experience!!! Sorry man.

TheCrimsonGhost666

Damn, sorry for the bad experience. Ive been looking for a solid review on this place since they opened, and this is definately bringing there professionalism into question. I think they were formally TSR, which I thought was a reputable shop in the area, guess not, but im glad I read this.

lsvegmatt

Heard alot of bad things about tsr and cct, both the same.... im sure they have a side to this. I personally dont use them, do my own work and travel to carlisle for tuning (j-k-tuning). I'm sure cct will chime in and give a few words.....

Spoolin18

There is always two sides to a story...I'm sure they will chime in.

Spoolin18

"You might not understand how stressful this whole situation has been on me. This is my daily driver and with it having so much down time, ive missed both classes at college and had to call out of work due to it being in the repair shop so much and so long. Not to mention has financially drained me driving back and forth and having to buy things here and there just to fix what i already paid for once to CCT. Im not looking for a pity party by any means, just looking to seek justice against this company."


This is a direct quote from you on MDstreetscene.com correct? Just my opinion, if downtime and money are the culprit for you...why are you even thinking of doing modifications to your daily driver? Just curious...maybe you should reevaluate your priorities. If you knew you couldn't consider any type of downtime due to you needing to get to school, etc. you should have thought twice about doing all of this to your car IMO. Things don't always go 100% perfect. I understand things happened, and I am neutral to this situation as it doesn't directly involve me in anyway. Like I said, I am sure they will chime in because there is always two sides to a story.

A lil 2.3l action

x2 I take the trip to J-K, and no one else, every where else around here are going down hill, hack artists, of con artists... john and derek & friends are extremely curtious and great customer service wise...there great up there, also havent found anyone else with the skills of john for a better price...

Project-Ek9

Ok look, its obvious your trying to defend them because from the looks of your signature they work and tune your car.

Why do you get mad at OP for wanting a better DD, he did state the car needed a new motor, he didn't go in there asking for a 10 sec car, all he wanted was a better stronger motor along with it converted to 5 spd, he didnt get pistons, bore, none of that.

I would also seek justice and bring them down, i've been seeing too many companies going down and doing shady work, the question is why?

Im sure your car (spoolin) is top notch because you prob go their all the time, your prob friends with the guy as well seeing as how you stick up for them.

Karma is a bitch, and I bet if your car was half assed and they took your "good turbo" and replaced it with another one cuz they said it had shaft play and yet you never got it back, im sure you would be pretty upset, so stop defending people who are doing something wrong, to be honest i would never buy anything from you seeing as how you represent them, you might send me something that was taken from the rightful owner after he was lied and told their was a deficiency in it just to make an extra buck.

I hope CCT burns to the ground if they are going to keep being shady, OP id make sure to post this in all forums and also put a claims on BBB so they can get an F and possibly go bankrupt.

That's my 2 cents, if anyone disagrees with me, its because you haven't dealt with a shady business owner, if so im glad to hear that and hope you never do....

OP good luck with this man, and i hope to see your ride do better with another business who isnt shady.

Spoolin18

Again, apparently reading isn't your strong subject. Did you miss the part where I said I was neutral to the situation as it doesn't pertain to me??? I just posted my opinion on the situation, i'm not taking sides. It has absolutely nothing to do with me. Hopefully everything gets resolved.

2000AccordFlex

I swapped in a stock motor because it was burning coolant, and I swapped in a stock transmission swap because it was slipping gears and dying on me. I had no choice but to do this work otherwise I would have been completely out of a car... All of the modifications I do are 100% fine on a daily driver, hence why I didnt tear it apart myself and do it. The work that was done isnt complicated if you have a lift, some air tools, and common knowledge around an engine. I just wanted to avoid the exact same situation im in now.

And I highly doubt they will chime in. They know theyre wrong, which is why when someone posted the link from MDSS on their facebook page it was instantly deleted and they still didnt post over there.

Jeffs response was, "im not too worried about it".

2000AccordFlex

So glad people like you are understanding of my situation. Yea its not a ton of money to some people, but when your putting yourself through college and trying to fix a car to this degree at the same time, its tough. This was the last thing I needed right now.

And I have already contacted BBB and submitted my info, just waiting on them to get back to me. I also will be contacting the Maryland State Police on this as well and filing a case against them along with 2 other sanctions similar to the BBB.

Here are pics of my car so far.... will have more photos from Honda after they are done fixing everything that is wrong with the car.

Car at CCT with Jeff Blumenfeld (owner) standing right next to it facing us and Jon Gill, the one who primarily worked on it facing the car


1st time it had to be towed there...


2nd time it had to be towed there...

A lil 2.3l action

Like people said on mdstreetscene,ld take it to Absolute pro-formance next time, from the sounds of it, they seem pretty straight. I take my car to IMW in PA, a little more of a drive but every place Ive checked out around the baltimore area are all jokes.

sc34dc4

iTrader: (1)

I'm really glad I found this. I was interested in having my new setup tuned by cct or j-k since the drive is the same for me. After seeing cct at import vs. domestics it looked like they knew their ****. Also have heard nothing but good things about j-k. After reading this looks like I'm going to PA now.

Just to add... I called and spoke to John Kerr on the phone about what I was looking at doing. He was nothing but helpful and answered all my questions. It felt like talking to one of your friends on the phone.

lsvegmatt

J-K-Tuning is the answer. John is a very good and intelligent tuner. He is part designer for the software he runs including his new nissan (nismotronic) software. He is just not someone that picked up a laptop and figured out fuel and ignition and tryes to see what works. he knows. If your car is built properly and can handle the tune, you will not drive away with scary thoughts of your **** melting. He will tune it safely and show you excatly why and tell you what reasons he did certain things.

All motor tune. Stock block h22 with bolt ons and pro 1 cams.

100shot with same setup! Does a great job

sc34dc4

iTrader: (1)

Yeah I've never seen a bad post about him or his tuning. Like mentioned after talking with him on the phone I was convinced.

lsvegmatt

Where are you traveling from?

sc34dc4

iTrader: (1)

I live in Western Md. An hour west of Hagerstown in Cumberland,Md
We go to Carlisle every year for the import show and it takes us about 2.5hrs.
Baltimore is just a tad closer maybe 2hrs away. Another plus about J-K is he tunes everything basically and after talking with him he will save me about $200 going with neptune rtp over S300. CCT will only tune on hondata

Spoolin18

Mike at CCT will tune RTP, although he prefers not too..he can do it. There is a reason why he chooses Hondata s300 over Neptune RTP, but that is something you can discuss with him. I know John, and he is a good guy..I have nothing bad to say about him or his tuning abilities, he is good at what he does. However, Mike is an absolute animal when it comes to tuning abilities. Don't forget that they have the blue EK ( Billy's car) which holds the fastest time for True Street currently...with a lot of off the shelf parts that anyone can purchase. Along with mine/ my g/f's B series True street EG which will be knocking on the door of 900whp easily and should be up there as well next year. My point is, Mike knows his stuff. Anyone can bolt together off the shelf parts on and hope they work...but Mike MAKES them work, he has proved it time and time again. Just keep that in mind.

sc34dc4

iTrader: (1)

I called and spoke to them about dyno tuning and cost. Whoever I spoke with told me hondata only. Yes I saw the blue civic at MIR last month. From what I've read and been told RTP is better then S300 or the same. Either way thanks for the info.

Spoolin18

Not a problem, when it comes down to it s300 seems to be a bit stronger than RTP. Hondata has been around for a long time and is tryed and proven where-as RTP really isn't yet to say the least. Do people use it, yes...does it work..yes. If it gives you any peace of mind, our car is on s300 and it does everything we need it to do at 850-900whp. Good luck with whatever route you choose to go!

lsvegmatt

Completely agree... Hondata s300 has been around longer and is a very good choice. Neptune rtp is also like stated fairly new. Neptune is Johns baby, he is amazing with this software! It has all the capabilities of the s300. I will be keeping my rtp for next season in true street and im sure it will hold up fine. Either way you decide, its a win.

Also if you didnt know, neptune has a tuner view. not a afc style either, motec version for dash install and you can make it to view to your liking. Very cool piece and john is currently working on a carbon fiber ek cluster with the piece now. Ask about it.

lsvegmatt

tunerview rd-1