I'm going to try not to vent too much on here, but long story short, my car's been at their shop for 9 months (fix turbos, port wastegate, install intake, hi flow cat, guages, powerfc, pulleys, fuel pump, s/s brake lines, mounts, new alternator and other small fixes, and finally a tune).

Lots of time spent waiting for parts, time spent poking them for responses, and finally two weeks ago I got an email saying that everything's finished and tuned (yay--sigh of relief!)... but... a coolant seal blew on the final test drive (ugh! what... I'm so sad)

First, does 9 months sound like an unreasonable amount of time for that kind of work (costing around 12-15k for parts and labor)? I'm not mechanically inclined, unlike many of you here on this forum... I also don't make a lot of money, but I genuinely feel things related to my 7 are worth extra $$ to do it right. That aside, have any of you had better turn-around times from Synaptic 3? Is this typical? Had I known it would take this long, I would probably have gone somewhere else.

Second, have any of you gotten time/cost estimates working with them? Every time I ask for a time frame they seem to brush off the subject. In my experience and line of work, accurate estimates help me plan better and ground my expectations. Frankly, I don't like the idea of leaving my car anywhere for an unknown amount of time.

Now that my engine is blown, should I still leave my car there for the rebuild? I went to them to try to prevent this from happening, but crap happens I guess. Do I have any other options around the MA area? NYC is a bit too far for me and I haven't heard much about the mechanic in Lowell who's only half an hour away.

Thanks all for your time~ Sorry for my long-winded post!! Could really use some rx7-club love here before my first rebuild @ 70k original miles. Sigh. Any advice would be appreciated too.

 

thats way too long. if you took your time all the work should take about a month or so. i just finished a vert for someone with way more than that done and that only took about 2 months doing it in my garage a couple of ours after work. longest process took finding a side housing that was usable. working on wiring a starlet now. i'm in springfield where you at?

 

Check out smg racing he's in Rhode Island has been working on my Fc for a while does good work.

 

Cool thanks, I'll look into SMG in RI ~

@weeters: I'm around the Medford/Boston area. quite a bit away from Springfield

 

that is too long...and too much money to not have a running car for 12k. friend of mine gave them a lot of money as well...luckily his car runs and he EVENTUALLY got it back at about3 times estimated price. research your shop people

 

they tuned my car and after a couple trips there it worked out, but i will not be back. with that issue and others i have heard.... i go to Granite State Dyno and tune now if i need a tune or someone i know needs a tune.

Drew

 

I am angry for you... how come they never call to say when they find more cost ?or they are waiting on parts? or the bill is going to be twice as much? wtf?!

 

who is tuning their cars these days? their website doesnt say.