hey just wanted to know how many of you guys deal with import shops around your area and if you had a bad experience with dealing with them, me........im pissed because i just found out that after driving my car for 4 months, the reason why my rear struts (going back to stock) never lowered (my car was sitting bulldog style!!!) was because the shop i had my car lowered at gave me the wrong stock springs from the beginning and they have since closed up so i cant do anything about
it

 

Buy a Helm's manual and do all the work yourself. If you don't know how to, then meet up with some friends that do and learn from them. This is the only way to do it. I did the final drive in my car and was able to get D, Dave-ROR and B18Cxr down here to help me out. I learned alot and now I am confident in doing it on my own now. Friends are the best machanics you can get.



[Modified by AssPenny, 9:13 AM 2/4/2002]

 

I've tried so many times to give the local shops here the oportunity to earn my business, but everytime I go in there they **** me off. $500 for a p28 ecu?! $300 for skunk2 cam gears?! I guess I look stupid. Maybe because I have an ITR they think I just throw money around? If any of the norfolk/va beach shops are on this board, you suck. I love ordering from shops supporting H-T, but I'm just trying to support my local scene and they treat me like poo poo because I'm not looking for a bodykit.

 

I only buy small parts at local shops... I buy all the good stuff from people that I trust. Also, I do all of my installs on my car (so far). I don't trust small import shops to touch my car. I don't even trust my Acura dealers (unless I know the people who work there.. ie. TJ. )

 

There's a certain shop here in town that talks mad sh*t about Topspeed and claims they have the fastest cars in town, and Topspeed is slow, blah blah....

Funny thing is, one of their cars were running at the track, and their "cult leader", the shop owner wasn't around. I was talking to one of the kids with a 99SI with a DRAG kit on it, supposedly running 12psi boost.
Anyway, on SLICKS, he was running like 8.9 in the 1/8 mile.

Being the nice guy I am, I looked over his car.
Timing was set at 19 degrees..
base fuel pressure was at 28psi..
Turbo return line was a valdez oil spill.

Real good work.. LOL.

 

Good advice. I did the same with the blower kit, I had a fried who had installed one on his Si, and another friend who's a head mechanic at a Honda dealer help me out.

I could do it by myself now, no problem.

 

for a while, there was one on every corner in SoCal. People were getting shot at a few of them. Fun stuff

 

My local shop are a bunch of great guys, but when it comes to business they try to take you for all you have. For example a APEXI VAFC is $390.00 uninstalled, I don't know about you guys but that sounds a little steap to me.

 

Most of the time the local guys don't have a clue when I ask them about something...now I just go in to BS with them, at least the shops that have nice people working there, other places I go and the guy behind the counter asks me..."Wow, that's a cool wing, where did you get it?" and "Nice Type-R sticker on the side of your car, it looks good with the red emblems, but if you were going to put emblems on your car how come you didn't use the Honda emblems, or the cool Indiglow emblems?" and "I've got some seat belt pads to go with your Type-R stickers" and"Oh...so you're looking for some rims...you have an Integra, so that's a 4 lug setup..." Some places have no clue...bunch of idiots.

Austin

 

HAHA, Hey Mike K, all of us Naples boys should know what shop your talking about. Does the shop name start with an L??? hmmm....

 

Sounds like opak to me!

 

Local shops are the main reason I mail order all my parts from now on.

 

most of these shops were stereo shops 2 years ago ,thats why they don't know a thing about cars .

 

Another almighty 8.9 second turbo civic huh? Some guy was trying to convince dad that his turbo civic would take his small block chevy'd porche. Oh wait, his was one of the fast and furious civics & we all know that they were super fast.

Our stereo shop in town..I would trust to do most auto work, I wouldn't let ANY shop install a stereo though. You end up with half your speakers out of phase, the other half wired to the windshield wipers. I saw a self tapper get ran into a fuel line, installing a changer under the seat in a brand new civic. It didnt quite fit right so when he backs the screw out, fuel under pressure procedes to take a seat inside the car.

The import scene is the best thing that could happen to a car stereo shop, the worst I would have to say is gods gift to TINT WINDOWS. I had my alarm installed the same week I bought my R, got it home and the starter kill relay went dead. He drove 20 miles and fixed it in my muddy driveway.

I could go on and on about how much fun you can have installing stereo's. Could tell you how much fun it is to run a drill bit into a wiring harness, and not know it, but I won't. There's some really great people in the scene, but they catch a ton of flack for their mistakes.

Bottom line is that their job sucks. It doesn't require Bondo,Fiberglass,MDF, or sef tappers to install a set of shocks.

by the way I have 3 polished aluminum orion 425 hcca amps for sale~