Hey Guys,

Just a few questions for anyone who may have had work done at mazdees.
Not too many people have seen my car, but it is in stock form at the moment.

Recently my exhaust manifold / heat shields / etc. coming from the front of my car started to rattle really badly.

I figure that if I am going to get it fixed, I may as well do the whole system, if I am going to spend some money anyways.

I was talking to Dave there with Mazdees and he offered me his set-up of doing the cat-back exhaust, downpipe and intake for the car. These were all things that yes I probably have considered doing anyways, and I do like the car in stock (or close to it) form.

Problem is that I know he has a very good reputation, but he didn't have too much patience to actually talk to me about what he was going to do, and what he was charging me for. Kind of turned me off to be honest.

Anyone had this done by Dave and can give me any feedback of what they like/dislike about the system.


Chris

 

I have had work done there and like you, had the same feedback of Daves attitude. People say they are top notch but I had to tell the mechanic to stop putting the trouble lite on top of my $300 strut bar, which in turn scratched the polish/aluminum.

They know their stuff, but as far as im concerened if you have crappy customer relations i dont have time to waist to drive all the way out there and put up with it.

 

Mazdees... special exhaust. Ask IAN about it.

He uses vibrant mufflers and when u say You want stainless downpipe it's actually a mild steel bend welded to a straight section. Not one continuous smooth stainless bend.

If you do get an exhaust from him ask for it to be flanged at the downpipe, presilencer, cat, and muffler so it makes it easier removing the exhasut at a later date

 

Ya i spoke to dave recently about putting on my RB header..and also inquired about a "hi-flow cat". He seemed pretty busy, made a snippy comment about hi-flow cats, kept putting me on hold every 5 seconds, and hung up before i could say thanks. Now i do still plan on going there but does anybody actually have any "bad" things to say about their work? Or is it more just a customer relations issue?

 

If i had money right now there is no doubt in my mind that dave would be rebuilding my motor, my brother and people i know have bullet proof motors built by him, as far as bad relations, he's old and miserable bear with it and get the best work around, unless you'd rather a-spec..........

 

Haha old and miserable i can deal with. As long as the work is rock solid i'm willing to put up with as much **** as humanly possible

 

When I was first getting into RX's....I talked to Dave about ways to get more power out of the 12A. His response was that he doesn't waste his time with FB's . It made me sad.
So that experience just made me do all my own work...I will never take my car to a shop ever.

 

Hmmm, yeah that' exactly what I noticed. He just ran me off a price and said it was like 1348. 00 or something like that for the 3 pieces.

Then I asked about a double outlet exhaust and what exactly he was doing with the intake set-up. Neither question I got an answer too, just a response of " So, do you want it or not !! "

Anyone got just these three pieces on their car currently!

 

Holy crap he said that? That sucks man...

 

Dave's work is really good. I get along with him great now. He is a little snippity with new people until he warms up to you. That usually means that he realizes that you aren't some punk kid who wants everthing for almost nothing. Right now he's a bit stressed cause he's getting ready for the upcoming GrandAm race at mosport this weekend.

Raven

 

He is a miserable bear until he gets to know you, he had a lousy attitude with me when I had my FB many years ago. Once he starts to work on your car and gets to know you he's allright. As far as his work, all I can say is that I ran his 13B street port to the limits on my 79 FB for years and never had one issue with it. If I had to get work done from him again I wouldn't hesitate, he knows his stuff.

 

Yuo should ask your brother about his fancy dandy exhaust. I can't remember how many times I told him to buy the racing beat dual system. Sell the downpipe from the system, and get Master Performance hot rod exhaust to make him a custom downpipe that will work with the RB system. Nice and quiet, polished, good quality.

Nope, he went with his mazdees system. Unflanged, downpipe rusting, loud as hell...

 

If business replied "So, do you want it or not !!!" I would just hang up the phone.

 

i noticed a lot of attitude amongst 'specialty mechanics' as well, they think they are the **** and there opinions are right. But when you have no one else to turn to, i guessyou have to cope with it or do it yourself.

 

I went to Dave about a decade ago for some routine work on a GXL. I was selling the car at the time and asked if he was interested. He was since it was a very low mileage car. He offered me $2500 and said that I wouldn't be able to get more. I sold it the very next week for just under $7000.

The work is definately good but there is really no need for the attitude. The attitude I had to deal with from Rotary techs was the reason for my move to piston power for a few years. Unfortunately the attitude still exists, so I try to turn my own wrenches when ever I can.

 

Well, I guess it's everyone then !! Don't want this to be too much of a bashing thread. LOL !

But anyone have any opinions on his intake set-up that they do there.
I couldn't really get an answer of what he actually does to the stock system and replaces it with ??

He said it was 500.00 so I would like to know if any of you guys did it and liked it.

 

^^ 500 for an intake??

 

Werd

 

I have had quite a bit of experience with Dave, and yes he's hard to deal with, but pro's arent suppsoed to be your friend, and when going to a place like mazdee's in most cases you should know what you want, and how much you want to spend. If it works out to what you want / budget, then you go for it, if not, go elsewhere.

There are very few skilled rotary tech shops in ontario, and he's probably the best i've seen. I've sat through some of his rebuilds, and portings and he is amazing at what he does and produces some of the best cars out there, i still have a 10 year old open exhaust he custom fabbed on a '85 gsl-se. Best exhaust i've seen, the old canjam, stewart specifically (his old 'partner') sent me to him long ago.

If you're looking for someone to talk to about your car and spend as little as you can, dont go to mazdee's. If you want to talk to stoners and deal with dirty shops full of used cheaper parts go to aspec or such. If you want quality and have the money to spend on speed to have someone else do it, go to mazdee's.

Rotary techs are all hot headed and high on themselves, usually for a good reason. Sit around dave's shop for a while, and you'll see how busy he can be sometimes.

I hate him, and love his work. His helper staff are very nice but he is the boss!
Dont buy cars from him though, he knows how to make himself money, and isnt trying to give you a deal if you're not a regular. But he does often have some nicely built cars if you dont want to do anything at all yourself.

As when dealing with any pro shop, know what you want (exactly!) and know what you want to spend (have a realistic budget, things arent as cheap as you can find online when you go to a real performance shop, so dont expect to walk into a place for the first time and get the prices people get when they deal with someone for years, its not going to happen).

Pro mechanics and specialists dont have time to sit down with you to sort out what you might or might not want to do, especially if you're worried about a few bucks when asking for a fast car.

Man once said,
Good, Cheap, Fast -- pick two.
This means that you can have something built well and quickly, but it won't be cheap. Or you can have it cheap and fast, but it won't be good. Or you can have it good and cheap, but it won't be fast.

YMMV!!!

Just my 0.02
Paul
'84 GSL-SE Stock minus 2 pre cats.
'85 GSL-SE Mild Street port, open exhaust.
'87 TII Mild Port, full RB exhaust, s5 turbo @ 14psi.

 

Amen

 

Pudge,

Thanks for the response, wasn't expecting anyone to write so much !!

Anyhow, money isn't a huge issue, as long as I am not gettin ripped, but the main thing is that I do expect to be happy with what I am purchasing in the end.

I get the part that mazdees are one of the best but I wanted a few answers, or at least 15 min. to figure out if it is exactly what I want.

Going back, maybe more specific, has anyone had dave install a cat-back exhuast with the 3" piping, but with an exhaust that is a dual-outlet, I don't like the single 4" tip look that he does.

Also, what is the intake he typically does consist of, what stock parts are gone. My whole reasoning is that if I were to get pulled over, I don't want to be hassled. ( I live in Peel, and anyone who live's in peel knows what I mean here with spontaneous car inspections. )

Anyone have their car handy that has this done.

Chris

 

i live in peel....never got stop for car inspections.....
Do ppl in peel get pulled over for car inspections???

 

chris7777777, no offense but do a search next time. Believe me, this has been covered several times. It's the same thing everytime. I know this was not Intended but when a thread like this comes up there Is always a small crack In the thread - followed by echoes. It's funny to see a certain poster change his views on Mazdees so abruptly.