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WOW Shop work gone bad!

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Old Jun 6, 2005 | 12:54 AM
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WOW Shop work gone bad!

So after 3 years in the making I have enought loot to get the Intercooler pipes done. I was going to take it to the one shop that had said they would do it for the last year but always been "Tooo busy". Turns out he raised his rates quite a bit. So my friend tells me about another shop that is an ESTABLISHED domestic shop, but looking to get in to the import scene. They said they would do it cheapers AND use aluminum piping instead of mild steel which is what the other shop uses.
I take it in and tell them to do the pipes and mount my boost sensor (Its a threaded sensor) so i tell them its a 1/4 NPT tap and I'm on my way. Well I got the car back. And I'm soo happy to be done with it that I didn't have the sense to be skeptical of their work. DOH! I asked " Hey why didn't you mount my boost sensor?" He tells me "Oh it was a funny tap size." I laughed and said gee i didn't think I'd see the day a 1/4 NPT tap was a Weird size. But whatever." Then he tells me, "Yeah its like this intercooler was made for this car, the bracket welded on there almost bolted right up. " I laughed and said " No this is off a my friends talon." He asked me if iI was sure. I laughed and told him yeah i took it off myself. Then I looked and saw that there were 6 or 7 Black rubber (house plumbing looking) hose couplers. I thought to myself "Boy thats funny he told me the was going to cut all the turns in 2 inch sections and weld them all on the inside. So i drive it home and one pipe keeps blowing off. Any ways here's how it turned out.

Here's my site its like the last 3 or 4 pictures:
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/443306/3

Well heres whats wrong. As you can see one pipe is too short, and cocked at a funny angle thats why it blows off. Another reason is, he didn't use T-band clamps. Then I looked where he mounted IC and as you can see the bottom of it is mounted with an INCH of it exposed. I mean COME ON! Then I realize he just bought a bunch of pre-made pipes and cut to size. Parts cost 385 dollars. (ASSFUCKED).

I end up calling them the day after i have it back telling them I'm dis-satisfied. I tell him that i want T-band clamps and that a pipe is too short. He tells me he'll fix the short pipe, but that regular hose clamps hold till 18PSI.
I then told him that i wanted the Intercooler lowered to an acceptable level. He told me that was fine too, and that we could TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH THAT WOULD COST WHEN I BROUGHT THE CAR IN!!!! At this point i was kinda fed up so I laughed at him and told him I expected all of this to be free. Because i just dropped 800 bucks I feel kinda of short changed. What do you
guys think?
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Old Jun 6, 2005 | 01:01 AM
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Holy **** those are home depot ABS plastic plumbing flex connections!!! Those are in NO WAY every made to be used on a car. (Even though I have....).
Those cost mabey $20 for everything. WTF. $800??? Damn you got screwed, im sorry.
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Old Jun 6, 2005 | 01:03 AM
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You got scammed. I'm sorry man. Bring a law suit against them, the money could be better spent somewhere else.
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Old Jun 6, 2005 | 01:03 AM
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do you have pics of where the pipes pass through the sheet metal and attach to the IC?
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Old Jun 6, 2005 | 01:06 AM
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ya you got *** fucked......it should be free and he should be slaped in the face
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Old Jun 6, 2005 | 02:38 AM
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yep, I just bought the exact same couplers from home depot.. (to fix my house plumbing) hehe
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Old Jun 6, 2005 | 02:45 AM
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ouch man, yeah you go screwed there and to top it off he want u to pay for his **** ups lol thats just plain retarded yeah i agree if he dont fix it the way you wanted for free after paying that much. i deffinatly say to bring it to court
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Old Jun 6, 2005 | 03:50 AM
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hey guy most shops charge like $300 to do the piping... I dunno why you paid 800
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Old Jun 6, 2005 | 06:02 AM
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damn and I payed 1100 for my greddy kit. This has been fought over time and time again on this forum. You can opt not to buy the kit with everything you need or you can do some f-up hack job like this and do it 2 and 3 times to get it right. Best you could do is see if you can get a refund or spend the extra money to have a shop that deals with import turbo charged cars mandrel bend or custom weld your setup. Either way its going to be more expensive than the 1100 the greddy costs.
Attached Thumbnails WOW Shop work gone bad!-vert2.jpg  
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Old Jun 6, 2005 | 07:12 AM
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actually there is a store that sells the greddy kit for like 895 bucks so it would have been really close to what you paid for the hack job. oh yeah tell him you want silicone couplers as well. He is probably use to ricers not pushing alot of boost so he is getting away with their lack of knowledge and boost. Show him us rx7 owners know differant.

Last edited by hondahater; Jun 6, 2005 at 07:14 AM.
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Old Jun 6, 2005 | 07:58 AM
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It's not just the pressure that blows those plumbing couplers it's the HEAT.
The vinyl gets soft - and POOOFFF.

I patched a friends 3rd gen with one, just until his new parts came in.
I had to reinforce it with a cut up coffee can so it would hold more then a few minutes.
(Coffee cans are crude but effective.)
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Old Jun 6, 2005 | 11:15 AM
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If i could have used the any sort of kit, I would have. If you guys notice tho thats the COSMO engines. I have done absolutely everything else on this car and the one thing that I don't do my self I get completely fucked for it.

Yes i do have the Pics of where it goes through the sheet metal I'll post them up later I'm at work right now.
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Old Jun 6, 2005 | 11:29 AM
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Wow, that sucks. First of all, you're getting close to zero airflow over the intercooler because its mounted so high (from what it looks like in the pics). What is the size of the core that you used? And the "Home Depot Racing" couplers are definitely going to crack and leak due to heat over time. I would definitely go in and talk with them. If they do not agree to fix it free of charge, try to contact the Better Business Bureau or something. Since it seems that you didn't give them any specific idea of what you wanted for an intercooler design, mounting, materials, etc., you may be screwed. Good luck.
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Old Jun 6, 2005 | 11:33 AM
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It takes a few cuts in the kit but the greddy still fits the cosmo engine. Plus you could have sold the unused throttlebody adapter so some dip **** who was going to make his own kit. Ah well should be kick *** when you finally get it worked out
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Old Jun 6, 2005 | 11:34 AM
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Originally Posted by Bukwild
damn and I payed 1100 for my greddy kit. This has been fought over time and time again on this forum. You can opt not to buy the kit with everything you need or you can do some f-up hack job like this and do it 2 and 3 times to get it right. Best you could do is see if you can get a refund or spend the extra money to have a shop that deals with import turbo charged cars mandrel bend or custom weld your setup. Either way its going to be more expensive than the 1100 the greddy costs.
I dunno what you're talking about. If a shop charges you more than 500 to do piping then you are getting ripped off. The prices differ, if you want it made out of alu, or steel. But I wouldnt pay more than 500. **** they charged me 500 for a whole 3 1/2" exhaust with a magnaflow muffler and magnaflow can.
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Old Jun 6, 2005 | 11:39 AM
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Originally Posted by ultradef
Since it seems that you didn't give them any specific idea of what you wanted for an intercooler design, mounting, materials, etc., you may be screwed. Good luck.
Thats kind of what i'm worried about. I guess my defense to that is to explain to them that I am going to go to the local crusing strip and explain to everyone that this is the kind of work they do. And ask them if that is how they want them to represent their shop. I know pretty much all the big performance buffs in the WI area, So i'm confident that if it comes to this, Their name will be ruined for the "Import Scene".

I just hope that I can stay civil while dealing with them.
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Old Jun 6, 2005 | 12:54 PM
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Ok I put up the other two pictures I have if you want to look on that same page.
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Old Jun 6, 2005 | 05:27 PM
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Wow... i did my intercooler piping with mandrel bent 2.5id pipe from summit and home depot couplers.. cost me less than 120 after shipping on the pipe. I just replaced the plumbing connectors with silcon ones and tbolt connectors.. another 160..

So less than $300, and the piping took me maby 4 hours.. id go back and say you want some $ back

-Jacob
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Old Jun 7, 2005 | 03:20 PM
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Welp takin it in today, wish me luck that these guys aren't *****.
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Old Jun 8, 2005 | 07:24 AM
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Alright well on top of my battery aparently not charging and me not being able to get my car to the shop, they were indeed gay about fixing their crappy setup.

The conversation went something like this,

"Hey, my car just broke down so i won't be able to make it in today."

"Umm Okay well just bring it in anytime 9-6 and we'll fix that pipe for you."

"Can we talk about the intercooler now or do I have to wait to bring my car into you?"

"We can talk about it."

"Well, I need you to fix my intercooler by lowering it to an acceptable level because where its placed right now is just rediculous."

"I'm not gonna to be able to fix it for free. If you think about the time spent cutting and welding the bracket and the holes for the intercooler, I just can't do that for free."

"By no means should you do that for free you're right. Thats why I paid you 800 dollars."

"I showed you everything and you seemed to think it was ok, and you drove it home, So there's not much i can do about that."

"Say, where did you get those hose couplers from?"

"Our supplier."

"Would your supplier be.......HOME DEPOT by any chance? Because I found the same 2 inch coulpers with the same brand name there."

"I can't tell you that"

"Umm, why the hell not?"

"Its bad business, if I tell you that you can go around us and get it yourself."

"I ALREADY CAN ITS HOME DEPOT! Do you know that when that house plumbing hose **** heats up that it turns soft (thanks to you guys) and won't hold on to the pipe. Thats probably another reason the pipe you made was too short and keeps blowing off. "

"Well, we'll have to talk about this when you bring the car in."

"Ok fine, bye."


I want to strangulate them all........
I know its partially my fault for not wanting to be a dickface at first and telling their **** sucked but he told me that he used some "heavy duty hose couplers, not that silicone ****". So at first I believed taht he wasn't lying.

We'll see how it goes when I bring it in face to face with them.
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Old Jun 8, 2005 | 07:28 AM
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Originally Posted by ultradef
Since it seems that you didn't give them any specific idea of what you wanted for an intercooler design, mounting, materials, etc., you may be screwed. Good luck.

I lied...... I forgot about the E-mail I sent them with links to pictures of how I wanted it mounted

Here was the email i sent

Forest,
This site shows how some guy installed a front mount with no bumper.
The engine isn't the same as what i have, but i figured the shots of
the front would help you route it easier. Picture P1010023 shows the
finished mount. It looks like he pulled out the brake ducting. I would
prefer to have it in, but if need be, you can pull that out. The site
is:
http://www.cabrio7.org/mods/ic/index.html
Thanks again
Cooper
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Old Jun 8, 2005 | 10:16 AM
  #22  
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Since you sent them that email with links to pics of how you mounted it, I would say you have a pretty good argument. I would try to reason with them at first by explaining to them that you CLEARLY illustrated the work that you wanted done (including mounting position) by providing them with pictures. If they won't budge and still want you to pay for correcting their own mistakes, I would scream and yell about how you're going to tell everyone in the area about your experiences. If that doesn't work, maybe you should look into your legal options (if any).

"heavy duty hose couplers, not that silicone ****" What a bunch of dumbasses...there is a reason people use that "silicone ****" and not rubber plumbing couplers in engine bay applications...HEAT. This is especially important for a rotary since they produce insane underhood temps.
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Old Jun 8, 2005 | 05:33 PM
  #23  
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Man I Say **** The Shops And Do It Your Self, Im So ******* Tired Of Theses Moron Mechanics, It Just Makes Me Spit Tacks, I Put Up With The Same **** With My Car, Tell I Got Smart And Put A Mechanic On My Own Payroll, And He Works On My Car At My Place Of Business. I Know Alot Of People Cant Do That, But If One Can Thats The Way To Go, Ive Had It Up To Here With Theses **** Tards That Say They Can Do A Job And Dont Know **** About Rotorys. Sorry Ya Got Screwed Man, Hope It Works Out
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Old Jun 8, 2005 | 10:17 PM
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kill them all
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Old Jun 8, 2005 | 11:52 PM
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If you paid with a credit car cancel the payment.
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