What is happening to all the performance and race shops?
Thread Starter
Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 5,250
Likes: 0
From: Tuscaloosa, Al, usa
What is happening to all the performance and race shops?
I have noticed lately that alot of shops are closing the doors. Alot of shops that did alot of good work too. Is the market oversaturated? Owners overspending? What? 
Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 2,315
Likes: 0
From: Ohio, usa
Re: What is happening to all the performance and race shops? (SpeedDreamz.com)
no money... you have to pump out some serious work nowadays to make it...and i notice you have to know people that know people that are tied in with all sorts of ****.... just like politics
Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 1,397
Likes: 0
From: East Bumfuckville, Wisconsin
Re: What is happening to all the performance and race shops? (Dturbocivic)
everyone knows how to work on their own cars....
i know alot of guys who made more money working out of their garage then they would when they owned a shop....
i know alot of guys who made more money working out of their garage then they would when they owned a shop....
Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 7,764
Likes: 2
From: city of angels
Re: What is happening to all the performance and race shops? (SpeedDreamz.com)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SpeedDreamz.com »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I have noticed lately that alot of shops are closing the doors. Alot of shops that did alot of good work too. Is the market oversaturated? Owners overspending? What? </TD></TR></TABLE>
its called young entrepreneurs that ***** out there products till theres no money to be made except 10 bux in profit .the manufactures or people that sell there own product line only make the $$$ and dont tell me other wise i was one of them its is abolutley no money here in cali rent is like 2000 for a 1100sq ft shop m1-2 dept. so i moved to better things and keep this a hobby it works out pretty well just wish it would calm down a little bit but at the same time flourish but the bubble burst already like in 03' then everything just wasnt worth the strugle... got to love this sport but it wont give back for some reason for the small performance shops. till then work hard and play hard
</TD></TR></TABLE>its called young entrepreneurs that ***** out there products till theres no money to be made except 10 bux in profit .the manufactures or people that sell there own product line only make the $$$ and dont tell me other wise i was one of them its is abolutley no money here in cali rent is like 2000 for a 1100sq ft shop m1-2 dept. so i moved to better things and keep this a hobby it works out pretty well just wish it would calm down a little bit but at the same time flourish but the bubble burst already like in 03' then everything just wasnt worth the strugle... got to love this sport but it wont give back for some reason for the small performance shops. till then work hard and play hard
Honda-Tech Member
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 15,814
Likes: 8
From: Dallas, TX, USA
Re: What is happening to all the performance and race shops? (GHOSTWORKS)
I agree, the people that work at mommas house and drop ship everything to make 2% definitely aren't helping the race shops!
Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 3,042
Likes: 0
From: Indianapolis, IN
Re: What is happening to all the performance and race shops? (tony1)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tony1 »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I agree, the people that work at mommas house and drop ship everything to make 2% definitely aren't helping the race shops! </TD></TR></TABLE>
you are slowly seeing them go away - the rules of business will always win no matter how much you try to cheat them
you are slowly seeing them go away - the rules of business will always win no matter how much you try to cheat them
Trending Topics
Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 6,939
Likes: 2
From: Maryland, USA
Re: What is happening to all the performance and race shops? (GHOSTWORKS)
it takes money to make money plain and simple.
ive said it before and i will say it again........Ebay, SSautochrome, OBX, etc is running this industry into the ground. all of the cheap ***'s that buy this **** say "its good for the industry because it makes other companies have competitive pricing". thats bullshit. those companies just have/had enough money to start out with that they could send their stuff over seas and have some 7 year old girl with no fingers on her left hand weld up their turbo manifolds so that they could buy 20,000 of them for 5 dollars a peice and make a 700% proffit on each manifold they sell. i bet they make more of a profit on that junk **** than full race makes on their hand made manifolds.
ok lets say little johnny decided he wanted to buy a 300 dollar turbo kit off of ebay, and now he wants to have his local shop install it. this should benefit the shop right? hell no. instead of the shop having the car dropped off and picked up the next day.....they find out that johnny ordered his turbo kit for an h22 instead of the b series thats in his car because it was 8 dollars cheaper. now this car takes up space in the shop for a week while he gets his parts in order. the new parts show up....and even though its a b series kit...the downpipe smashes into the radiator and has to be refabricated. all of the silicon couplers are 1/4 inch too big so they have to order more in some goofy *** size that no normal shop would ever use so they dont stock it. a 1 day project is finally finished 3 weeks later...but johhny ran out of money so he has no fuel managment but swears he will "take it easy". 2 days later he melts his pistons and swears he wasnt going into boost. the cars running on 2 cylinders so he decides to bring it back to the shop. on the way to the shop his turbo falls off of his manifold. who does he blame? THE SHOP.
so while his 1 day project took 3 weeks, there were 4 other people who wanted to have their cars worked on but there wasnt any room in the shop because it cost 3,000 dollars a month to have a 3000ft. shop and you can only fit so many cars in there. everybody has to have their stuff installed right this second...so they go to another shop...and in the process of going to this other shop they say blah blah XYZ123 Performance is slow and then more people dont want to go there.
and lets not get into the whole buy in thing? since timmy and all of his freinds like cars....they think that they can "start a buisness" and run it out of their bedrooms. they will pay....85 bucks for the newest badest part. they sell it for 95 bucks shipped!!! what a deal! they made TWO BUCKS on the sale, but since they have no overhead thats awesome! now they can buy a 40oz. what a day! so now in order for companies to attempt to weed out this kind of stuff, you have to place an opening order of $10,000 dollars to be able to sell their product. who has that kind of money to dump into inventory.....to sell ONE companies product. sure you can go to a distrubutor (who will usually also have a minimum order to get started)....but hell.......i ordered a set of rods the other day. no need to mention the supplier or the brand of rods. (not a honda) i was told retail was 1200 bucks. i was told the rods were in stock and my cost was 1050. i was charged for the rods. i open up my box that came and it had the 100 dollars worth of other parts i had.....sure enough, no rods. awesome. what was even better is i paid 1050 for these rods and i found them listed on THEIR websight for 1065 bucks. WWWWTTTTFFFFFFF??????
ive always wondered....when you go to the mall and a entire store is having a 50% off sale........you know they are still making a proffit. in this industry it is getting damn near impossible to make 15% proffit on things.
i think this is why shops are closing their doors
ive said it before and i will say it again........Ebay, SSautochrome, OBX, etc is running this industry into the ground. all of the cheap ***'s that buy this **** say "its good for the industry because it makes other companies have competitive pricing". thats bullshit. those companies just have/had enough money to start out with that they could send their stuff over seas and have some 7 year old girl with no fingers on her left hand weld up their turbo manifolds so that they could buy 20,000 of them for 5 dollars a peice and make a 700% proffit on each manifold they sell. i bet they make more of a profit on that junk **** than full race makes on their hand made manifolds.
ok lets say little johnny decided he wanted to buy a 300 dollar turbo kit off of ebay, and now he wants to have his local shop install it. this should benefit the shop right? hell no. instead of the shop having the car dropped off and picked up the next day.....they find out that johnny ordered his turbo kit for an h22 instead of the b series thats in his car because it was 8 dollars cheaper. now this car takes up space in the shop for a week while he gets his parts in order. the new parts show up....and even though its a b series kit...the downpipe smashes into the radiator and has to be refabricated. all of the silicon couplers are 1/4 inch too big so they have to order more in some goofy *** size that no normal shop would ever use so they dont stock it. a 1 day project is finally finished 3 weeks later...but johhny ran out of money so he has no fuel managment but swears he will "take it easy". 2 days later he melts his pistons and swears he wasnt going into boost. the cars running on 2 cylinders so he decides to bring it back to the shop. on the way to the shop his turbo falls off of his manifold. who does he blame? THE SHOP.
so while his 1 day project took 3 weeks, there were 4 other people who wanted to have their cars worked on but there wasnt any room in the shop because it cost 3,000 dollars a month to have a 3000ft. shop and you can only fit so many cars in there. everybody has to have their stuff installed right this second...so they go to another shop...and in the process of going to this other shop they say blah blah XYZ123 Performance is slow and then more people dont want to go there.
and lets not get into the whole buy in thing? since timmy and all of his freinds like cars....they think that they can "start a buisness" and run it out of their bedrooms. they will pay....85 bucks for the newest badest part. they sell it for 95 bucks shipped!!! what a deal! they made TWO BUCKS on the sale, but since they have no overhead thats awesome! now they can buy a 40oz. what a day! so now in order for companies to attempt to weed out this kind of stuff, you have to place an opening order of $10,000 dollars to be able to sell their product. who has that kind of money to dump into inventory.....to sell ONE companies product. sure you can go to a distrubutor (who will usually also have a minimum order to get started)....but hell.......i ordered a set of rods the other day. no need to mention the supplier or the brand of rods. (not a honda) i was told retail was 1200 bucks. i was told the rods were in stock and my cost was 1050. i was charged for the rods. i open up my box that came and it had the 100 dollars worth of other parts i had.....sure enough, no rods. awesome. what was even better is i paid 1050 for these rods and i found them listed on THEIR websight for 1065 bucks. WWWWTTTTFFFFFFF??????
ive always wondered....when you go to the mall and a entire store is having a 50% off sale........you know they are still making a proffit. in this industry it is getting damn near impossible to make 15% proffit on things.
i think this is why shops are closing their doors
Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 3,042
Likes: 0
From: Indianapolis, IN
Re: What is happening to all the performance and race shops? (Turbo-charged)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Turbo-charged »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">haha where the hell did you come up with that?!</TD></TR></TABLE>
yahoo images - find anything you want - i even modified this one a bit already, i rock at photoshop
yahoo images - find anything you want - i even modified this one a bit already, i rock at photoshop
Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 821
Likes: 0
From: speedfactoryracing.net
Re: What is happening to all the performance and race shops? (ihaterice)
The internet is definitley killing a lot of money that would normally be spent in local performance shops. We just have to keep offering customers quality service and most people will respect that and buy from you even if they can get it cheaper online. We are still surviving on tuning and labor. The price wars nowadays are rediculous, I just choose not to try and fight them. If my customers want to buy something online I dont argue, as long as we get the business to install it that is fine.
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 261
Likes: 0
From: Ohio/ Western Pennsylvania, us
Re: What is happening to all the performance and race shops? (Turbo-charged)
Originally Posted by Turbo-charged
it takes money to make money plain and simple.
ive said it before and i will say it again........Ebay, SSautochrome, OBX, etc is running this industry into the ground. all of the cheap ***'s that buy this **** say "its good for the industry because it makes other companies have competitive pricing". thats bullshit. those companies just have/had enough money to start out with that they could send their stuff over seas and have some 7 year old girl with no fingers on her left hand weld up their turbo manifolds so that they could buy 20,000 of them for 5 dollars a peice and make a 700% proffit on each manifold they sell. i bet they make more of a profit on that junk **** than full race makes on their hand made manifolds.
ok lets say little johnny decided he wanted to buy a 300 dollar turbo kit off of ebay, and now he wants to have his local shop install it. this should benefit the shop right? hell no. instead of the shop having the car dropped off and picked up the next day.....they find out that johnny ordered his turbo kit for an h22 instead of the b series thats in his car because it was 8 dollars cheaper. now this car takes up space in the shop for a week while he gets his parts in order. the new parts show up....and even though its a b series kit...the downpipe smashes into the radiator and has to be refabricated. all of the silicon couplers are 1/4 inch too big so they have to order more in some goofy *** size that no normal shop would ever use so they dont stock it. a 1 day project is finally finished 3 weeks later...but johhny ran out of money so he has no fuel managment but swears he will "take it easy". 2 days later he melts his pistons and swears he wasnt going into boost. the cars running on 2 cylinders so he decides to bring it back to the shop. on the way to the shop his turbo falls off of his manifold. who does he blame? THE SHOP.
so while his 1 day project took 3 weeks, there were 4 other people who wanted to have their cars worked on but there wasnt any room in the shop because it cost 3,000 dollars a month to have a 3000ft. shop and you can only fit so many cars in there. everybody has to have their stuff installed right this second...so they go to another shop...and in the process of going to this other shop they say blah blah XYZ123 Performance is slow and then more people dont want to go there.
and lets not get into the whole buy in thing? since timmy and all of his freinds like cars....they think that they can "start a buisness" and run it out of their bedrooms. they will pay....85 bucks for the newest badest part. they sell it for 95 bucks shipped!!! what a deal! they made TWO BUCKS on the sale, but since they have no overhead thats awesome! now they can buy a 40oz. what a day! so now in order for companies to attempt to weed out this kind of stuff, you have to place an opening order of $10,000 dollars to be able to sell their product. who has that kind of money to dump into inventory.....to sell ONE companies product. sure you can go to a distrubutor (who will usually also have a minimum order to get started)....but hell.......i ordered a set of rods the other day. no need to mention the supplier or the brand of rods. (not a honda) i was told retail was 1200 bucks. i was told the rods were in stock and my cost was 1050. i was charged for the rods. i open up my box that came and it had the 100 dollars worth of other parts i had.....sure enough, no rods. awesome. what was even better is i paid 1050 for these rods and i found them listed on THEIR websight for 1065 bucks. WWWWTTTTFFFFFFF??????
ive always wondered....when you go to the mall and a entire store is having a 50% off sale........you know they are still making a proffit. in this industry it is getting damn near impossible to make 15% proffit on things.
i think this is why shops are closing their doors
ive said it before and i will say it again........Ebay, SSautochrome, OBX, etc is running this industry into the ground. all of the cheap ***'s that buy this **** say "its good for the industry because it makes other companies have competitive pricing". thats bullshit. those companies just have/had enough money to start out with that they could send their stuff over seas and have some 7 year old girl with no fingers on her left hand weld up their turbo manifolds so that they could buy 20,000 of them for 5 dollars a peice and make a 700% proffit on each manifold they sell. i bet they make more of a profit on that junk **** than full race makes on their hand made manifolds.
ok lets say little johnny decided he wanted to buy a 300 dollar turbo kit off of ebay, and now he wants to have his local shop install it. this should benefit the shop right? hell no. instead of the shop having the car dropped off and picked up the next day.....they find out that johnny ordered his turbo kit for an h22 instead of the b series thats in his car because it was 8 dollars cheaper. now this car takes up space in the shop for a week while he gets his parts in order. the new parts show up....and even though its a b series kit...the downpipe smashes into the radiator and has to be refabricated. all of the silicon couplers are 1/4 inch too big so they have to order more in some goofy *** size that no normal shop would ever use so they dont stock it. a 1 day project is finally finished 3 weeks later...but johhny ran out of money so he has no fuel managment but swears he will "take it easy". 2 days later he melts his pistons and swears he wasnt going into boost. the cars running on 2 cylinders so he decides to bring it back to the shop. on the way to the shop his turbo falls off of his manifold. who does he blame? THE SHOP.
so while his 1 day project took 3 weeks, there were 4 other people who wanted to have their cars worked on but there wasnt any room in the shop because it cost 3,000 dollars a month to have a 3000ft. shop and you can only fit so many cars in there. everybody has to have their stuff installed right this second...so they go to another shop...and in the process of going to this other shop they say blah blah XYZ123 Performance is slow and then more people dont want to go there.
and lets not get into the whole buy in thing? since timmy and all of his freinds like cars....they think that they can "start a buisness" and run it out of their bedrooms. they will pay....85 bucks for the newest badest part. they sell it for 95 bucks shipped!!! what a deal! they made TWO BUCKS on the sale, but since they have no overhead thats awesome! now they can buy a 40oz. what a day! so now in order for companies to attempt to weed out this kind of stuff, you have to place an opening order of $10,000 dollars to be able to sell their product. who has that kind of money to dump into inventory.....to sell ONE companies product. sure you can go to a distrubutor (who will usually also have a minimum order to get started)....but hell.......i ordered a set of rods the other day. no need to mention the supplier or the brand of rods. (not a honda) i was told retail was 1200 bucks. i was told the rods were in stock and my cost was 1050. i was charged for the rods. i open up my box that came and it had the 100 dollars worth of other parts i had.....sure enough, no rods. awesome. what was even better is i paid 1050 for these rods and i found them listed on THEIR websight for 1065 bucks. WWWWTTTTFFFFFFF??????
ive always wondered....when you go to the mall and a entire store is having a 50% off sale........you know they are still making a proffit. in this industry it is getting damn near impossible to make 15% proffit on things.
i think this is why shops are closing their doors
Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 9,179
Likes: 0
Re: What is happening to all the performance and race shops? (ihaterice)
I can tell you this much abotu the market is that the Japanese products are slowly but surely losing out to the Taiwanese and China market.
China is a powerhouse coming up in the game whether it be in this market or anything else. I visited several manufacturing plants out there and believe it or not, they are stepping up the game where as some Japanese are just plain "greedy" and keep bumping up pricing and cutting discounts. I think they are trying to fix a market that they tried to ruin or have ruined already. Taiwan is also slowly making there downfall because there trying to bump up pricing where as China has low labor costs. Imagine, the normal worker at a plant makes 80 USD a month and that almost top dollar for that type of business.
E-commerce businesses are here to stay whether you like it or not. Its what consumers want and demand. But its really a matter of how you approach the market to be able to grow and be bigger than anyone else and to take chances. Big chances at that. Everything is really really cut throat these days and only the strong will survive.
Labor is a big money maker but I know alot of shops take on big projects to do that is sooo time consuming that the dollar per labor hr ratio sometime just doesnt fit the margin of what should be made. Its hard and I know how it is for alot of people, but just gotta keep thinking up of new ideas of how to be on top of the game
China is a powerhouse coming up in the game whether it be in this market or anything else. I visited several manufacturing plants out there and believe it or not, they are stepping up the game where as some Japanese are just plain "greedy" and keep bumping up pricing and cutting discounts. I think they are trying to fix a market that they tried to ruin or have ruined already. Taiwan is also slowly making there downfall because there trying to bump up pricing where as China has low labor costs. Imagine, the normal worker at a plant makes 80 USD a month and that almost top dollar for that type of business.
E-commerce businesses are here to stay whether you like it or not. Its what consumers want and demand. But its really a matter of how you approach the market to be able to grow and be bigger than anyone else and to take chances. Big chances at that. Everything is really really cut throat these days and only the strong will survive.
Labor is a big money maker but I know alot of shops take on big projects to do that is sooo time consuming that the dollar per labor hr ratio sometime just doesnt fit the margin of what should be made. Its hard and I know how it is for alot of people, but just gotta keep thinking up of new ideas of how to be on top of the game
Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 3,292
Likes: 0
From: Louisiana
Re: What is happening to all the performance and race shops? (Missing Gears)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Supernatural »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">everyone knows how to work on their own cars....
i know alot of guys who made more money working out of their garage then they would when they owned a shop....
</TD></TR></TABLE>
you know alot too!!!
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ihaterice »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">...this even ties into a Utah theme...
</TD></TR></TABLE>
lol that **** is awsome
i know alot of guys who made more money working out of their garage then they would when they owned a shop....
</TD></TR></TABLE>
you know alot too!!!
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ihaterice »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">...this even ties into a Utah theme...
</TD></TR></TABLE>lol that **** is awsome
Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 1,171
Likes: 0
From: Easton, PA
Re: What is happening to all the performance and race shops? (Turbo-charged)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Turbo-charged »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ok lets say little johnny decided he wanted to buy a 300 dollar turbo kit off of ebay, and now he wants to have his local shop install it. this should benefit the shop right? hell no. instead of the shop having the car dropped off and picked up the next day.....they find out that johnny ordered his turbo kit for an h22 instead of the b series thats in his car because it was 8 dollars cheaper. now this car takes up space in the shop for a week while he gets his parts in order. the new parts show up....and even though its a b series kit...the downpipe smashes into the radiator and has to be refabricated. all of the silicon couplers are 1/4 inch too big so they have to order more in some goofy *** size that no normal shop would ever use so they dont stock it. a 1 day project is finally finished 3 weeks later...but johhny ran out of money so he has no fuel managment but swears he will "take it easy". 2 days later he melts his pistons and swears he wasnt going into boost. the cars running on 2 cylinders so he decides to bring it back to the shop. on the way to the shop his turbo falls off of his manifold. who does he blame? THE SHOP.
so while his 1 day project took 3 weeks, there were 4 other people who wanted to have their cars worked on but there wasnt any room in the shop because it cost 3,000 dollars a month to have a 3000ft. shop and you can only fit so many cars in there. everybody has to have their stuff installed right this second...so they go to another shop...and in the process of going to this other shop they say blah blah XYZ123 Performance is slow and then more people dont want to go there.</TD></TR></TABLE>
The best part about this that you forgot to mention is that they were so impatient and went to the other shop who ended up jb welding their turbo to the manifold (true story) and then they come to you and want you to fix everything for half the price because the other shop already charged them an arm and a leg for quality work....
so while his 1 day project took 3 weeks, there were 4 other people who wanted to have their cars worked on but there wasnt any room in the shop because it cost 3,000 dollars a month to have a 3000ft. shop and you can only fit so many cars in there. everybody has to have their stuff installed right this second...so they go to another shop...and in the process of going to this other shop they say blah blah XYZ123 Performance is slow and then more people dont want to go there.</TD></TR></TABLE>
The best part about this that you forgot to mention is that they were so impatient and went to the other shop who ended up jb welding their turbo to the manifold (true story) and then they come to you and want you to fix everything for half the price because the other shop already charged them an arm and a leg for quality work....
Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 6,939
Likes: 2
From: Maryland, USA
Re: What is happening to all the performance and race shops? (Andrea)
damn how did i forget that part! thats a very good one there. thank god i havnt had one come to me with jb weld on the manifold!
i have however had pvc piping used for intercooler piping
oh yea!!! even better than that a kid i know around here tried to put a conquest intercooler on his probe.....and for his intercooler piping he tried to use that clear hose that most people use for beer bongs that he got at a fish store! that same kid wanted to hear his turbo so he ran a vaccume line inside the car as if he was going to hook up a boost gauge...but didnt hook it to anything and left it behind the dash. i'll give him credit, it did make the turbo loud!
i have however had pvc piping used for intercooler piping
oh yea!!! even better than that a kid i know around here tried to put a conquest intercooler on his probe.....and for his intercooler piping he tried to use that clear hose that most people use for beer bongs that he got at a fish store! that same kid wanted to hear his turbo so he ran a vaccume line inside the car as if he was going to hook up a boost gauge...but didnt hook it to anything and left it behind the dash. i'll give him credit, it did make the turbo loud!
Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 1,171
Likes: 0
From: Easton, PA
Re: What is happening to all the performance and race shops? (Turbo-charged)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Turbo-charged »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">damn how did i forget that part! thats a very good one there. thank god i havnt had one come to me with jb weld on the manifold!
i have however had pvc piping used for intercooler piping </TD></TR></TABLE>
And I thought we were the only ones...
The sad part about that story is that the turbo inlet flange wasn't made properly in Taiwan, so only one bolt would line up from the turbo to the manifold, hence the reason for the jb weld over the entire flange. Needless to say, the turbo fell off on the dyno, and the customer refused to pay for a tow, so we joking suggested tig welding the turbo to the manifold. The customer thought this was the best idea, as he'd never have to worry about the turbo falling off again. Sadly, 5 pulls later the rebuilt Ebay turbo seized up.....
i have however had pvc piping used for intercooler piping
</TD></TR></TABLE>And I thought we were the only ones...
The sad part about that story is that the turbo inlet flange wasn't made properly in Taiwan, so only one bolt would line up from the turbo to the manifold, hence the reason for the jb weld over the entire flange. Needless to say, the turbo fell off on the dyno, and the customer refused to pay for a tow, so we joking suggested tig welding the turbo to the manifold. The customer thought this was the best idea, as he'd never have to worry about the turbo falling off again. Sadly, 5 pulls later the rebuilt Ebay turbo seized up.....
Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 301
Likes: 0
From: Ca., USA
Re: What is happening to all the performance and race shops? (Andrea)
many good points in this thread... I have one word to add to the list of reasons...
eBay
most people in our industry are budget racers or kids with little money... they would rather buy something cheep and/or used on ebay than pay for quality new products...
eBay
most people in our industry are budget racers or kids with little money... they would rather buy something cheep and/or used on ebay than pay for quality new products...
Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 6,939
Likes: 2
From: Maryland, USA
Re: What is happening to all the performance and race shops? (Andrea)
hahahaha.....now THATS impressive!
when we dyno domestic cars i usually get told our dyno is broken. i always ask them on basic horsepower/torque runs what they expect they will make before the run. best one to date was the guy said cocky as hell "it will have no problems making every bit of 650" sure enough.....the graph popped up with a wopping 175 horsepower. surprizingly it wasnt popping and sputtering or anything...it was just a turd with some serious issues. the guy got pissed at ME. i was trying to be nice and see if he wanted to check anything out or see if there was something obvious wrong that he might be able to check? i dont know the first thing about those kind of cars.....and since he was a complete *** about it towards me and saying its just the dyno.....i told him the civic in the corner has no problem putting up a number in the 600's. i dont think that was the profesional thing to say haha. oops.
the worst one was we had a guy probably in his late 40's with a really really nice and clean like....40's style car. spent an arm and a leg on the motor, and was guarenteed 500 horsepower. the car made low 200's and was just pouring fuel out of the tailpipe. the guy saw the chart and started crying saying how his wife is going to leave him if he spent any more money on the car. i felt sooooo bad for the dude...i had no idea what to say. i didnt charge him
when we dyno domestic cars i usually get told our dyno is broken. i always ask them on basic horsepower/torque runs what they expect they will make before the run. best one to date was the guy said cocky as hell "it will have no problems making every bit of 650" sure enough.....the graph popped up with a wopping 175 horsepower. surprizingly it wasnt popping and sputtering or anything...it was just a turd with some serious issues. the guy got pissed at ME. i was trying to be nice and see if he wanted to check anything out or see if there was something obvious wrong that he might be able to check? i dont know the first thing about those kind of cars.....and since he was a complete *** about it towards me and saying its just the dyno.....i told him the civic in the corner has no problem putting up a number in the 600's. i dont think that was the profesional thing to say haha. oops.
the worst one was we had a guy probably in his late 40's with a really really nice and clean like....40's style car. spent an arm and a leg on the motor, and was guarenteed 500 horsepower. the car made low 200's and was just pouring fuel out of the tailpipe. the guy saw the chart and started crying saying how his wife is going to leave him if he spent any more money on the car. i felt sooooo bad for the dude...i had no idea what to say. i didnt charge him
i HAS questions ?
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 7,850
Likes: 0
From: OH
Re: What is happening to all the performance and race shops? (Turbo-charged)
I think all the top shop owners/tuners from here should go into business together making parts and working on cars for people that are willing to shell out cash for quality parts and labor *cough* Porsche/Mercedes/BMW owners *cough*. I remember Geoff Ring (does a lot of work on road-race prepped Porsches and such, also an EFI University instructor) mentioning in our class that he stays away from the "Fast and Furious" crowd, or Hondas/DSMs/etc in general because the owners tend to be kids who aren't willing to pay for good parts and service.
This is also a reason that I'm shying away from the auto industry as a future career. I'm currently in school and will hopefully graduate in two years with a BS/MS in Mechanical Engineering. I originally wanted to work for some major manufacturer, but then decided against that after two internships and talking to many people who had been there for years. Then I considered starting my own business at some point with my background making parts for cars, but I'm hesitant now, especially after threads like this. I will definitely continue as a hobby regardless of where I end up, but I don't see this as the way I want to make a living.
Props to all the companies/shops/tuners out there staying alive.
This is also a reason that I'm shying away from the auto industry as a future career. I'm currently in school and will hopefully graduate in two years with a BS/MS in Mechanical Engineering. I originally wanted to work for some major manufacturer, but then decided against that after two internships and talking to many people who had been there for years. Then I considered starting my own business at some point with my background making parts for cars, but I'm hesitant now, especially after threads like this. I will definitely continue as a hobby regardless of where I end up, but I don't see this as the way I want to make a living.
Props to all the companies/shops/tuners out there staying alive.
