A year ago I contracted Adam Saad, a dropout of Lincoln Tech of Maryland, to build and repair my 89 Honda Civic Si. I ended up paying $10,000+ for a complete rebuild of my B16A. Unfortunately, I do not have the receipts anymore- otherwise I'd scan them for proof as well as use them to take this issue to court. $10,000 included replacing all new rotating and non-rotating parts inside of the engine. This also included a rear disc conversion and installation of my traction bars as well as other misc fixes.

I found out he ripped me off because he reused my water pump, when I paid him for an OEM part. The pulley on the water pump fell off while I was traveling at 25 mph @ 2000RPMs causing the timing belt to loose tension and every valve to collide with a piston (not a single straight valve). Once I started to disassemble the motor, I found out that he used ebay rods instead of TunerToys, which I paid him for. He also used OEM CTR valve springs instead of the Crower set I paid for. When I got the car back, the Hytech Tri-Y header I had purchased and installed for the car had two bent secondaries! He told me that the car was bound to hit the ground at one point in time anyway! I found this ridiculous but I didn't think of how the bent secondary runners could cause detonation with my new motor. When he installed the traction bar, he never bothered to tell me that half of it didn't line up (because of a minor fender bender the previous owner had)- which means he only screwed in two bolts! The least he could have done would be to say something, or leave my bent yet functional stock cross member in place. The tie rods continued to snap until I had the engine pulled out and the chassis sold... Adam also told me he would dyno tune my car for free....I am still awaiting a credit or some sort of action to back his word. In addition to this the overall quality of his work is less than what I would want for just regular maintenance.

In other words, I was a dumba**. I was new to Hondas, with the desire to have a small displacement streetrod. I ended up getting an individual who ripped me dry and pocketed thousands of dollars. If you hear the name Adam Saad, please tell your friends how this individual works.

EDIT: He quoted me on a new, custom 2.5" exhaust. When I received the car, It had a used skunk2 cat back that kept popping off of the test pipe. The street tune I had was terrible. The car would pull but it didn't take long for it to start acting up... It would die sometimes, the idle wasn't smooth at all. It would hiccup after you let go of the gas. This all stopped once I changed the main relay and had the motor tuned on the dyno. Now that its disassembled, we can clearly see a couple score marks on the crank from some of the bearings.

CTR Springs < Crower


Ebay Rods < TunerToys


Tie rod broken for the 3rd time


Bent Secondaries


God knows what else he skimped on...


Modified by drSquish at 2:39 PM 2/28/2008


Modified by drSquish at 1:52 PM 3/1/2008


Modified by drSquish at 1:53 PM 3/1/2008

 

Wow, this is really sad to hear man.

 

what else did you get done for 10k ? you could of had a full race motor or turbo motor with all the turbo parts pushing 600 plus hp.

 

^^^^^ thats what i was thinking


i guess the more this econmy is the way it is, the only people making $ are ripping off others....BOOO

 

He deserves a kick in the *****

 

It started off at $3,500. He kept making receipts and excuses for more work. Anything from a gasket to a new manifold. Quite possibly the worst mistake of my life. All I can do now is learn from it....

 

wow..take him to small claims court. I know you don't have reciepts but i am sure someone can help you with this situation. This is just I feel bad for you.

 

Very sorry to hear this!! But I think it is up to the OP to ask questions, and make sure the guy is on the straight and narrow! If I was giving someone 10k to build my car, chances are I would be standing right next to him the whole time making sure what he did was right!! GL

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jonshonda &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> If I was giving someone 10k to build my car, chances are I would be standing right next to him the whole time making sure what he did was right!! GL</TD></TR></TABLE>

That is how it started out. I would go down to his little (two garage) shop in Towson to check on things. After my manifold, fpr, and compustar alarm were stolen out of my trunk, he decided to move the car to his house in Odenton; a one-way trip to his house was roughly 70 miles-which made things rough. Come to find out his partner, who owned the other bay in his shop, was the one who stole all of my stuff (adam reimbursed me with another manifold and an ebay fpr- no alarm). When I called the Baltimore police, they arrived just to give me a report and tell me it was out of their control. After 6-7 months of work, I had my 89' Civic Si back

 

bump

 

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

That is how it started out. I would go down to his little (two garage) shop in Towson to check on things. After my manifold, fpr, and compustar alarm were stolen out of my trunk, he decided to move the car to his house in Odenton; a one-way trip to his house was roughly 70 miles-which made things rough. Come to find out his partner, who owned the other bay in his shop, was the one who stole all of my stuff (adam reimbursed me with another manifold and an ebay fpr- no alarm). When I called the Baltimore police, they arrived just to give me a report and tell me it was out of their control. After 6-7 months of work, I had my 89' Civic Si back </TD></TR></TABLE>

6-7 months...dang he must suck at what he's doing....

 

Take a bat to his head it might make you feel a little better.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BEAVERTOOTH &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Take a bat to his head it might make you feel a little better. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I would love to but I wouldn't get any of my money back. I'd just get hit with assault charges.

 

You are a young kid keep this in the file cabinet in your head,sometimes you gotta pay to learn and unfortunately you really got screwed,sorry to here and i hope everything works out for you as for the guy that screwed you over he will get his eventually he will run into the right ****.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by typerman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You are a young kid keep this in the file cabinet in your head,sometimes you gotta pay to learn and unfortunately you really got screwed,sorry to here and i hope everything works out for you as for the guy that screwed you over he will get his eventually he will run into the right ****. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I believe in karma. I do not believe in judging someone until you physically meet him or her and get a grasp of what they really are. I might only be 19, but a "young kid" might be pushing it. At least I am old enough to realize the magnitude of what I did. All the money that paid for this project came from my pocket. I thank God for giving me the blessing of having a brain so I could become a computer technician in the first place. Now common sense...I don't know. Please keep your judgments to yourself. The only reason I made this thread was to publicize his actions.


Modified by drSquish at 11:21 AM 2/29/2008


Modified by drSquish at 11:22 AM 2/29/2008

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mouab18c1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

6-7 months...dang he must suck at what he's doing....</TD></TR></TABLE>

He's a Lincoln Tech dropout, I think that's pretty obvious. Why you'd go to someone like that in the first place is beyond me, but I guess you've learned a lesson. For future reference, there are a number of good, reputable engine builders in the Baltimore area. Including people who have years of legitimate experience and certifications and so on

 

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

He's a Lincoln Tech dropout, I think that's pretty obvious. Why you'd go to someone like that in the first place is beyond me, but I guess you've learned a lesson. For future reference, there are a number of good, reputable engine builders in the Baltimore area. Including people who have years of legitimate experience and certifications and so on </TD></TR></TABLE>

Well when we agreed to do all this he was still in school. If I remember correctly, he was on academic probation and skipped school too many times.

Now I'm having TSR do my work. They do things right and are great people. Tim says he has 20+ years of experience in head work. So far so good

 

It will be done right this time Joe

 

GOOD LUCK