- Joined
- May 24, 2001
- Messages
- 75
Well, I'm sure some of you are wondering what sparked my comment about Don's Stage motor in the Turbo Lounge, so here's some of history on that.
Last June, when my redone motor was just finished, I decided to get my trans rebuilt.
Everyone was raving about DRW and even though it was a 4 hour round trip ride, I figured he was worth the time and the money to take it too, since everyone was happy with his work.
I brought it to him out of the car, and had him do it as a bench job. He did his basic peformance rebuild, and added some goodies. I also paid extra for them to "dyno it" which consisted of installing it in Neal Stewards Stage II car and drive it around.
I picked it up and threw in my car, and it worked great, untill about 3 months ago.
I raced it the previous evening and everything as well. The next morning I backout of my driveway and suddenly lost 2nd gear. I called don up and they said to bring it by. This time I figured it would be better to bring the whole car down, so I had to borrow a friend's truck and rent a car trailer to tow it down there.
Since I didn't bring the whole car down there, I was charged an extra $250 for R&R. Which I thought wasn't very fair, even if I paid the extra money for a "dyno" test, which seemed like basically the same thing. I figured I was between a rock and a hard place so I paid the money. While it was out, I purchased a new Art Carr 9 inch N/L converter. About a week passed by, which turned into two weeks, and they called me back saying that I needed new U Joints. I figured while it was out, just let them do what they needed to do, and be done with it. So I approved that. About a week later, they called me again, saying they couldn't get it to give them the Line pressures they wanted. They said a TV boost valve and shift kit would needed to be installed. I said "Why didn't you install one at the time of rebuild?" They're reply was "Well, we figured the one you had in there would work" ( and it did, for several months ). I thought I didn't have much option, so that was another $150 spent.
I got the car back, and everything seemed ok. So I took it to another BGNRA event and was greeted with a transmission that wouldn't shift into 3rd @ WOT. Luckily for me, Don was at the same event racing his own car. I asked him what gives, and he had one of his techs look at it. They tried to "flush the TV valve" by powerbraking it, and asked me to try again. And again it wouldn't shift. So they asked me to bring it by.
I drove it down this time, and let them work on it. They had it for about a week, and I picked it up. According to them it shifted @ 5200 RPM exactly. I drove it around, and noticed that the 1-2 shift happened way too quickly, but it shifted nonetheless.
About two weeks ago, Neal was testing out my car and the car wouldn't shift into 2nd once again, and didn't do it again, he also noticed some grinding coming from the trans when in Manual 1st or 2nd.
I took it home, and it started not to go into 2nd @ WOT much more often. This coupled with the other problems, I was at a loss. I just wanted to sell my car and be done with it.
So I called up DRW, and spoke to Tony, and he said he'd have Don call me back, which was fine. But he never did call me back, but had Tony give me a msg of "bring it on down". While I was on the phone, I asked him if I was going to be charged again, and he said that more than likely I would, and I was outraged. The "warranty" I had was about 3 weeks expired, if that. I couldn't imagine they would charge me again. I figured I'd move on.
And that brings me to the comment I made in the TLounge, and that was just based on all of the hassle I've had. Now I'm searching for a new trans guy, if thats even possible. I rather not drive the 8 hours up to Bruces shop and pay all over again. I might sit this one out for awhile.
Last June, when my redone motor was just finished, I decided to get my trans rebuilt.
Everyone was raving about DRW and even though it was a 4 hour round trip ride, I figured he was worth the time and the money to take it too, since everyone was happy with his work.
I brought it to him out of the car, and had him do it as a bench job. He did his basic peformance rebuild, and added some goodies. I also paid extra for them to "dyno it" which consisted of installing it in Neal Stewards Stage II car and drive it around.
I picked it up and threw in my car, and it worked great, untill about 3 months ago.
I raced it the previous evening and everything as well. The next morning I backout of my driveway and suddenly lost 2nd gear. I called don up and they said to bring it by. This time I figured it would be better to bring the whole car down, so I had to borrow a friend's truck and rent a car trailer to tow it down there.
Since I didn't bring the whole car down there, I was charged an extra $250 for R&R. Which I thought wasn't very fair, even if I paid the extra money for a "dyno" test, which seemed like basically the same thing. I figured I was between a rock and a hard place so I paid the money. While it was out, I purchased a new Art Carr 9 inch N/L converter. About a week passed by, which turned into two weeks, and they called me back saying that I needed new U Joints. I figured while it was out, just let them do what they needed to do, and be done with it. So I approved that. About a week later, they called me again, saying they couldn't get it to give them the Line pressures they wanted. They said a TV boost valve and shift kit would needed to be installed. I said "Why didn't you install one at the time of rebuild?" They're reply was "Well, we figured the one you had in there would work" ( and it did, for several months ). I thought I didn't have much option, so that was another $150 spent.
I got the car back, and everything seemed ok. So I took it to another BGNRA event and was greeted with a transmission that wouldn't shift into 3rd @ WOT. Luckily for me, Don was at the same event racing his own car. I asked him what gives, and he had one of his techs look at it. They tried to "flush the TV valve" by powerbraking it, and asked me to try again. And again it wouldn't shift. So they asked me to bring it by.
I drove it down this time, and let them work on it. They had it for about a week, and I picked it up. According to them it shifted @ 5200 RPM exactly. I drove it around, and noticed that the 1-2 shift happened way too quickly, but it shifted nonetheless.
About two weeks ago, Neal was testing out my car and the car wouldn't shift into 2nd once again, and didn't do it again, he also noticed some grinding coming from the trans when in Manual 1st or 2nd.
I took it home, and it started not to go into 2nd @ WOT much more often. This coupled with the other problems, I was at a loss. I just wanted to sell my car and be done with it.
So I called up DRW, and spoke to Tony, and he said he'd have Don call me back, which was fine. But he never did call me back, but had Tony give me a msg of "bring it on down". While I was on the phone, I asked him if I was going to be charged again, and he said that more than likely I would, and I was outraged. The "warranty" I had was about 3 weeks expired, if that. I couldn't imagine they would charge me again. I figured I'd move on.
And that brings me to the comment I made in the TLounge, and that was just based on all of the hassle I've had. Now I'm searching for a new trans guy, if thats even possible. I rather not drive the 8 hours up to Bruces shop and pay all over again. I might sit this one out for awhile.
I'm confused. Tony told me you had problems, so I told him to call you and tell you to just bring the car by so I could see if there was something I could do. I didn't know that it was imparative that I be the one to call. You did talk to me personally a few weeks back and I told you then, to bring the car by. Now this post. I think I get it. Your trying to get on my good side so that I'll be more sympathetic to your dilema and cut you a break, aren't you? Well, I have to say it's not working very well. Tony did mention to me that you did make an appointment to bring the car by and obviously you decided not too, because you didn't show. Can't help you if you don't bring the car by. Note to the forum: As a vendor I would like to say that making a post in this fashion is not the way to get a vendor to give you a break. Other vendors that see this kind of post are also not going to trip over themselves to help a person that can easily turn their back on you and bad mouth you. Believe me, the word does spread, even between vendors. Now as a racer I would like to let you all know that I recently blew two rods out of my motor. Not a good thing. But, I do understand that if your going to play with your machine hard, there is a good chance something is going to bust. I'm not going to blame anyone but myself for that. I could blame my engine management system, I could blame the people that prepared my rods, I'm sure I could find someone to blame pretty easily. But when it comes down to it, metal parts don't last forever. I don't care who touches them. When I rebuild a trans for someone I depend on them to come back in a TIMELY fashion if there is a problem. I bend over backwards to help people every day. If the customer would rather not bring the problem up to me and just belly ache about a problem to themselves or to others behind my back, then I wish the best to them and move on. I know in business there are going to be those that you just can't please, especially those that won't give you a fair chance too. I give a fair warranty for my work and take on quite a risk knowing very well that some people are going to try their best to break something. That's racing. Don't think I don't understand that. Every time I go down the quarter it's balls to the wall, finish line or bust. I must make something perfectly clear. I am not in the business of sponsoring anyones RACING program. Mine's expensive enough as it is. If a person doesn't bring their car right back when there's a problem, I can only assume everything is fine. If they do bring it back and I make an adjustment, and I don't hear anything from that person for months, again, I have to assume everything worked fine. I don't have ESP. If anyone knows a trans tech that does, let me know. I want him on my team. I won't do many, if any WOT tests with a customer's car. Number one, I don't know the condition of the car and don't want to break something. Number two, I don't want to get pulled over for it. I depend on the customer to do the testing and report back to me and do it in a timely fashion if a problem exists. If something breaks outside the warranty period then buck up and get it fixed. It's as simple as that. If you can't afford to break things, then the best advise I can give that kind of person is don't abuse your vehicle. Racing's an ultimate high for me, and I'm sure for most others, but it's just going to piss you off everytime you have to fix something. Back to this persons problem. Before I was told of this post, I was thinking just this afternoon of having Tony call Monday to see why he didn't show up. I guess I don't need to do that now. I WAS in the mind to help him out even though he was out of warranty. Oh, well.
