Are all speed shops like this?

[4a7191a]

My speed shop is damn good on time with me and I've seen first hand owner being upfront with another customer as is with me as well. Houstonperformance and he coowns hpp in Dallas. I've seen customers say bad things about them and when I got the other side of the story the puzzle fit quite well. Find someone you trust. Chris and Steve have never shot me in the wrong direction on either of my vehicles

 

[brandon_s0854]

So you going to tell us which shop did this? Hopefully not Livernois or Lidio? Those are 2 solid reps for sure.

Don't want to give out names. Like I said, they do good work; just don't like the runaround I get sometimes. After hearing from you guys, it seems this is somewhat to be expected. I understand the reasons for it, but doesn't mean I have to like it!

 

[DSG2003Mach1]

How about 2+ years and the money up front? Have a friend in this exact scenario.

Ill never understand people that pay for a whole job upfront, all that means is you are now dead last on the list. Depending on the type of job I can see paying some, if not all of the parts/materials but Im not paying shit for labor up front

 

[lowflyn]

Ill never understand people that pay for a whole job upfront, all that means is you are now dead last on the list. Depending on the type of job I can see paying some, if not all of the parts/materials but Im not paying shit for labor up front

It was supposed to be a simple job. He's ended up with upgraded turbos and new pistons out of it so far.

 

[brandon_s0854]

It was supposed to be a simple job. He's ended up with upgraded turbos and new pistons out of it so far.

Wow, not so simple after all.

 

[paluka21]

A lot of shops are like that. I waited over a year for my car to be completed at a local shop, and in all honesty, not that much was done! They found tons of "problems" with my car and replaced hundreds of dollars worth of parts trying to figure out an ignition issue. In the end, none of the parts fixed the issue, and it ended up being their lack of knowledge in tuning an EEC-IV car.
Long story short- if you're not satisfied with the shop, their communication, workmanship, or how long they keep your vehicle, find another one.

 

[Camaro_94]

Nope. The one I go to is awesome. I call them up ahead of time, get my shit ordered so its all there waiting, then they bust it out for me. My C5 Z took a little under a week for a h/c/I/full bolt-on, clutch, rpm transmission, and rear diff install. My ZR1 took longer just because I did it over the winter and wasnt in a hurry and told them to get to it when they felt like it.

 

[HFBPA889]

Nope. The one I go to is awesome. I call them up ahead of time, get my shit ordered so its all there waiting, then they bust it out for me. My C5 Z took a little under a week for a h/c/I/full bolt-on, clutch, rpm transmission, and rear diff install. My ZR1 took longer just because I did it over the winter and wasnt in a hurry and told them to get to it when they felt like it.

What is the name of the shop you deal with?

 

[rktsci25]

The one I have in Florida is fantastic, they do great work, and in a timely manner. I mean if you bring a car in that is getting a full coyote swap with tt's that need the custom intake and plumbing made then sure, don't expect it back next week (Escobar's car) and then Wayne Norris's car (both won their class at NMRA Spring Break Shootout). I have spent a fair amount of time there when doing my swap, and a lot of the basic mods they get out in under a day (subframes, built rears, gears), blowers I have seen in 2/3 days including tune. My t56 manual conversion took a day once they had all the parts. Price is more than reasonable and competitive, and the work is done right. For a loyal customer they even sent an employee up to NC to pick up a gt500, bring it down, mod and tune it and then ship it to the customer... Speaks for itself.

Long story short, if you don't like the shop find a different one. If you aren't sure, stop by the shop and look at some of the work they are doing, check out the operation, get a quote and rough time frame before hand. But don't be upset if it takes a few days longer, and you can't blame them if you didn't have the right parts for the build/have to order more parts in/order an on3 kit.

I speak of Lamotta Performance in Longwood, FL, and I drive my car from Jacksonville down there when I need work done, and it'll be there soon for my 2.9L whipple install.

 

[spike_africa]

Took my 1954 MF TF to a shop in Orlando,FL for body work. Shop is small and only does old Euro cars which is great. Was told about 6 months to pull the body apart, replace wood etc... and paint it and put it back together. It took 2 years before I saw the car again. In this time the new exspensive Optima Battery was trashed and replaced with a $30 no name from a parts store. Carbs had gummed up, car ran poorly. Doors didn't close well. Overall I spent $15,000 on a paint job and body work that took way to long and was ok at best. They didn't seal my gas tank and it sweat gas fumes and the tank peeled within 2 years of the paint job. Ended up pulling it and repainting it myself. Fixed many loose bolts, etc... So in my opinion some small shops just suck.

We did find a guy to rebuild the motor when it dropped a valve and he did it within a month and was almost right on the money quote wise and was great. So it goes both ways. Do some research online for reviews etc....

 

[paluka21]

Nope. The one I go to is awesome. I call them up ahead of time, get my shit ordered so its all there waiting, then they bust it out for me. My C5 Z took a little under a week for a h/c/I/full bolt-on, clutch, rpm transmission, and rear diff install. My ZR1 took longer just because I did it over the winter and wasnt in a hurry and told them to get to it when they felt like it.

I think some of the problem around my area, is the lack of competition for the few shops available. There are no quality shops closer than and hour and a half to two hours away. And even those places I've heard mixed reviews about.

 

[truebluedevil02]

The big issue is people not knowing what they want or how to make it work. If you talk with them ahead of time and get everything ordered and in stock before the appointment then most jobs dont take long. But if you drop your car off for a built motor and they have to piece everything together and get all the parts ordered and the motor built and swapped, its going to take weeks or even a couple months to get it done. If YOU order the parts and get everything sorted out so all the new parts are there and waiting it will only take a few days. its all in the planning. Plan properly and the job wont take long, plan poorly and the job can take forever with more chance for problems during the build and down the road.

 

[brandon_s0854]

The big issue is people not knowing what they want or how to make it work. If you talk with them ahead of time and get everything ordered and in stock before the appointment then most jobs dont take long. But if you drop your car off for a built motor and they have to piece everything together and get all the parts ordered and the motor built and swapped, its going to take weeks or even a couple months to get it done. If YOU order the parts and get everything sorted out so all the new parts are there and waiting it will only take a few days. its all in the planning. Plan properly and the job wont take long, plan poorly and the job can take forever with more chance for problems during the build and down the road.

That hasn't been my experience, but that is probably due to piecing together other people's cars who haven't planned like I have.

 

[paluka21]

The big issue is people not knowing what they want or how to make it work. If you talk with them ahead of time and get everything ordered and in stock before the appointment then most jobs dont take long. But if you drop your car off for a built motor and they have to piece everything together and get all the parts ordered and the motor built and swapped, its going to take weeks or even a couple months to get it done. If YOU order the parts and get everything sorted out so all the new parts are there and waiting it will only take a few days. its all in the planning. Plan properly and the job wont take long, plan poorly and the job can take forever with more chance for problems during the build and down the road.

I agree with this for the most part, but in the OP's case it didn't sound like he was doing a motor build or that big of a project.
However, this doesn't account for the shops that several of us have pointed out who do poor work, cannot communicate, and procrastinate on work. Not every shop will do good timely work, even when the owner of the car does their part.

 

[SecondhandSnake]

Everyone is afraid of giving you a realistic time table in fear that you'll take your business elsewhere. At least that seems to be the issue with everyone I've ever been around.

I would take a longer lead time from a place I know is honest over a place I know is being unrealistic any day. I deal with that at work a lot. One place may quote you half the time of another shop, but after dealing with them you know that it usually ends up more than twice as long as they say, so you're better off going with the other shop.

I'm currently in the same boat. I've got a couple shops doing some work, and they're both fairly big names, very reputable, and just nothing has come close to what they said. The one told me they'd have me drop off the car the weekend before they were ready to start on it, and it would take 2-4 weeks to complete. I've seen their other work, and they usually keep cars moving right along. Well, 4 weeks later and a whole lot of excuses, they haven't even touched it. Another shop quoted 6-8 weeks to completion, and they're generally known for sticking to their word. Well, 8 weeks is just about up and they haven't even taken a look at it.

It just goes to show you, even with the best laid plans and a reputable shop, things can go awry. Can't blame me much either. There was no parts they had to wait for, and they had a detailed work order. Nothing special either, just their run of the mill work.

 

[oldstv]

The one I have in Florida is fantastic, they do great work, and in a timely manner. I mean if you bring a car in that is getting a full coyote swap with tt's that need the custom intake and plumbing made then sure, don't expect it back next week (Escobar's car) and then Wayne Norris's car (both won their class at NMRA Spring Break Shootout). I have spent a fair amount of time there when doing my swap, and a lot of the basic mods they get out in under a day (subframes, built rears, gears), blowers I have seen in 2/3 days including tune. My t56 manual conversion took a day once they had all the parts. Price is more than reasonable and competitive, and the work is done right. For a loyal customer they even sent an employee up to NC to pick up a gt500, bring it down, mod and tune it and then ship it to the customer... Speaks for itself.

Long story short, if you don't like the shop find a different one. If you aren't sure, stop by the shop and look at some of the work they are doing, check out the operation, get a quote and rough time frame before hand. But don't be upset if it takes a few days longer, and you can't blame them if you didn't have the right parts for the build/have to order more parts in/order an on3 kit.

I speak of Lamotta Performance in Longwood, FL, and I drive my car from Jacksonville down there when I need work done, and it'll be there soon for my 2.9L whipple install.

I would like to hear more about this shop. What would say their area of expertise is?

 

[brandon_s0854]

Just a little update. Every deadline they tell me they're going to make that they set is not being met. Every week I call. They tell me they still have five cars ahead of me and it should be done by end of the week. Rinse. Repeat. Week after week. Apparently I'm not a very important customer if there's been "five cars ahead of me" for the past six weeks. There's one, maybe two days of work to be done on the car, but they continue to let it sit. </rant>

 

[Zemedici]

So take the car elsewhere. However just for future reference, setting an appointment really doesn't do much in this situation. Appointments guarantee you a spot in line, but not the front of the line.

 

[brandon_s0854]

Just seems highly unlikely that the line hasn't moved in six weeks. lol

 

[rotor_powerd]

This stuff never goes as planned. Parts are late, wrong parts show up, problems occur during disassembly, more parts have to be ordered, more problems show up during cleaning, problems show up during reassembly, and a car will NEVER go on the dyno for tuning without having at least one issue. That's just how it is.

As far as being told one timeline and getting another, that's probably a mix the shop not wanting to scare you off by telling you it will be a while, and all of the above stuff happening to cars that are in line ahead of you. As mentioned before, installing parts or building cars doesn't pay the bills for a shop unless they are high end and they are able to charge a LOT for those services. The bread and butter jobs, which are maintenance jobs for most places like that, will always be at the top of their list. Bills have to be paid before they can pour 30 hours into a single car.

The only way you're going to find a solution to that is to either 1) Pay a premium to make your car first priority or 2) Start doing all of your own work.