Hey guys,
Just got back from KDR, and I must say, I am happier then ****. I Had just gotten a motor done by them back in July and it was running great. I broke it in, and proceeded to put 2500 miles on the car. Christmas day, The weather in Syracuse was great. So, I decided to take my car out for a nice Christmas present to myself. It ran like a top, of course until the motor blew. I was sooo pissed, and got KDR on the phone the following monday. I brought the car down to them and dropped it off. I only had the motor for around 5 months, and only put 2500 miles on it, so I figured it would be covered under warrenty. When i dropped it off, I was talking to Skip and He wasnt giving me any answer of whether they were gonna cover it or not. His reply was, we have to see what caused the motor to blow. I will admit I was absolutely afraid they werent gonna cover it at this point, because I got no sure answer. He said we have to get it fixed and then diagnose the problem. At this point I am scared shitless, because I am absolutely broke after the rebuild 5 months prior, and have no room on my credet card for this motor. So I get the call at around 4 oclock on monday. "your car is done, come get it". I drove down this morning with my father and my cousin, honestly not knowing what was gonna happen. When i get down there, he hands me a bill for $94 dollars, and says "we are only making you pay for some odds and ends that we replaced that should have been replaced. What a relief, I was feeling. It completely restored my faith in my mechanic, and i plan to give them tons of business in the future. I thanked Dave and told him how much i appreciated the work and not giving me a hard time. He said no problem, but he cant do it again if it happens again. Apparently he drained a quart and a half of water out of the gas tank and he still covered the motor (bad gas obviously). I am greatly appreciative of what he has done for me in a time of being flat broke. Thank you dave.

On another note, there has been a huge KDR bash, on the forum about there workmanship and whatnot. I am here to tell you, I think things have changed over the past couple months. Apparently the 2 mechanics he had, dont work there no more, and they got this new guy named Rod. He is a really cool guy and knows a ton about rx7s. He rearranged a lot of things under my hood, and cleaned it up pretty nicely. All of his installs were very clean, organized and professional. Apparently he is doing very good work for them, and is very thourough on everything he does.

ROCK ON KDR!!!!!!

Adam

 

That's great and all, but I have two questions....

Where did the water come from, and is it going to come back if you don't fix a problem with your gas tank?

 

dont have a clue where the water came from. Possibly bad gas or something?
I plan to check my fuel from time to time, and see if I get water in there again (crack plug, drain a little into a glass, and see if it seperates). If i get build up again, then i will have to diagnose the problem.

 

How did you know you blew the motor?

 

lock your gas cap..

 

I had a great KDR experience a couple months ago. Had vac hoses and some solenoids replaced. Also installed a boost guage. The price was fair and the service was great.

 

The car loss practically all its power. I could not accelerate but a little bit. The idle was absolutely rediculous and didnt want to stay running. The list goes on. This is my second blown motor, I knew what it was, lol.

 

If you mean, make sure i turn the gas cap till it clicks, I already do that everytime.

If you mean, lock it so others cant get dump water down there, I keep my FD in a locked garage. Im sure it was possible for someone to do this to me in the past, but for now on i am going to take extra percausion when im out.

 

EDIT: Boost controller - not gauge.

 

Wow. Much respect to them.

 

I thought that KDR had done a great job on my engine too until I found out that my $500 anti-det was RTV silicone coverings in the trailing plug holes. But if you're happy, more power to you.

 

Do you still use it? How has it been holding up? any detonation since getting it?

Now they use a machined plug that fits nicely!

 

When did you have it put in and have you had any detination yet if not it must be working and $500.00 is a small price to pay to not blow your engine. Call them on there upgrade like fastcarfreak saids thay have a machined plug that fits nicely.

 

What's this about a plug in the trailing holes?

 

I would run some dry gas and fuel injector cleaner through your system, and *only* use Sunoco 94. I blew a motor after filling up on 93 at a damn exxon back in 2001 and Dave told me the same thing--bad gas. I believed him, car run like a champ before the fillup, popped right after. Of course, my bill was more than $94, lol. This was back before I did my own motors. At any rate, I hope for your sake that there is a sunoco somewhere closeby.......

 

^^^ how often should the dry gas be used?

 

I have dealt with Mazda dealers, Peter farell, and other so called rotary shops. They either don't know what they are talking about or they are crooks. KDR is the only shop that did Exactly what they said they were going to do. My 95 is running like it came off the assembly line!

 

DAve at KDR always stands by his work. My motor popped 10 mins form his shop and he HOOKED me up. thats all I can say. Dave is a stand up guy. My motor has been running great since my last rebuild. Dave give me a call sometime, it's been a long time since we talked.

RON IN CT

 

Funny thing is, the only fuel I ever used was Sunoco 94 octane. Until stupid *** Sunoco stopped selling it here in NY. Now, I only ever use their 93 octane, and once in a great while i use Exxons 93. I never blew a motor until they stopped selling the 94 octane, now i have blown 2 in the matter of a year. Well hopefully that is all done, cuz now i got my water injection in, and im going to start running a 25-30% mixture of toluene. This should increase my 93 octane rating to somewhere between 98.25 and 99.3. Hopefully with all this detonation deterant ****, i will have a nice long lasting motor.

Adam

 

Dave at KDR installed a rear diff for me in a matter of hours about a month ago to keep me out of some financial trouble. I have heard a lot of bashing on them too and i have had them work on two cars of mine, they did excellent work on both and will take my FD back to them for any work i cant do myself.
Austin

 

I also give a thumbs up to Dave & Skip at KDR. I just picked my FD up from them last month. It had oil leaking problems & the turbos needed replacing. They had it done within 3 weeks & I came home from school on Spring Break to pick it up on a Sunday. The car runs great & I would take it back to them any day of the week.

 

Seems like they are getting a lot better feedback now then they have in the last year or so. We all know times have been hard with their move to shoemakerville and the introduction of the anti det device, but now, they are definately back in business.