Good shop in Portland, Oregon (or Beaverton)
10-13-05, 11:17 AM
#1
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Good shop in Portland, Oregon (or Beaverton)
Hi guys,
I have an FD that I purchased new back in 1995. I am looking for a decent shop to do work on it. The dealership I originally took it to has treated me very poorly, and I've had a very poor experience with Cork Sport here in town. I'm looking for a decent wrench turner around Beaverton. Does anyone have a recommendation?
Sincerely,
Rob
I have an FD that I purchased new back in 1995. I am looking for a decent shop to do work on it. The dealership I originally took it to has treated me very poorly, and I've had a very poor experience with Cork Sport here in town. I'm looking for a decent wrench turner around Beaverton. Does anyone have a recommendation?
Sincerely,
Rob
10-13-05, 11:21 AM
#2
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well Pine Apple Racing ( www.pineappleracing.com ) is in Oregon. Never take the FD to a Dealer for work. it will come out worst than when it came in.
10-13-05, 11:39 AM
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Originally Posted by hondasr4kids
well Pine Apple Racing ( www.pineappleracing.com ) is in Oregon. Never take the FD to a Dealer for work. it will come out worst than when it came in.
Any other suggestions?
Sincerely,
Rob
10-13-05, 11:51 AM
#4
ZZzzzzz...PHshshshssshh
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Go to the NW section: https://www.rx7club.com/forumdisplay...ysprune=1&f=33
Theres also Ralph at Ground Zero Motorsports. Cool dude!! He tuned my PFC, has a dyno, and has a good staff. Someof there employees and many customers post in the NW section
Theres also Ralph at Ground Zero Motorsports. Cool dude!! He tuned my PFC, has a dyno, and has a good staff. Someof there employees and many customers post in the NW section
10-13-05, 12:32 PM
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Thanks for the replies, guys.
OK, here's the scoop.
Executive summary:
There is smoke coming from the turbo, and I think it might be dead. I am looking for an honest, competent mechanic to take on the diagnosis and repair. I am dissatisfied with the dealership that worked on it before.
Sincerely,
Rob
P.S.
The detailed story:
Awhile back, I noticed the engine was running at a high idle all the time, and suspected that I probably had an intake leak. I took it into Herzog Meier Mazda, and they looked at it for a couple of days while I was on a trip.
When I returned, they reported that I did in fact have an intake leak, and they wrote on my job sheet that they were unable to find the source of the leak, and that they recommended that I continue driving the FD. The service advisor said "It's not a big deal - your idle will just be a little high. Keep driving it."
Several months later, I failed while trying to pass DEQ. I brought the vehicle back, and asked them to debug. They called me and told me that they had to tear things all the way down to the turbo, and could I come in and talk to them, and was I getting really poor fuel economy.
When I talked to them in person, the tech showed me that the turbo was very close to failure (lots of heat-cracks on the unit), and that he believes that the intake leak caused the processor to think that the engine was running lean, and that it had put a lot of extra fuel into the engine. This extra fuel was not burned (of course) and simply went into the turbo, where it caused excessively high temperatures, and also destroyed the catalytic converters.
I was shocked, and told them if they had simply fixed the intake leak before, none of this would have happened. The Service Advisor suggested I speak to the owner. I made an appointment, and spoke to Mike Herzog himself (one of the co-owners).
Mr. Herzog's view was that it may or may not have been caused by the intake leak, and that he would not make a personal decision on what to do in this situation. He said that if I didn't like the way he did business, "there is nothing standing between you and the door, sir" Anyway, they refused to budge on the cost of repairs.
Well, I paid to have it all put back together with the existing Turbo. They replaced virtually all of the intake piping, put the old turbo in, and replaced the cat under warrantee.
The idle problem went away, and I passed DEQ.
It's been a couple of years, and there is a lot of smoke coming from the turbo area. It appears to have some kind of oil leak. My personal suspicions are that the cracks have now gone critical, and I need to install a replacement turbo.
OK, here's the scoop.
Executive summary:
There is smoke coming from the turbo, and I think it might be dead. I am looking for an honest, competent mechanic to take on the diagnosis and repair. I am dissatisfied with the dealership that worked on it before.
Sincerely,
Rob
P.S.
The detailed story:
Awhile back, I noticed the engine was running at a high idle all the time, and suspected that I probably had an intake leak. I took it into Herzog Meier Mazda, and they looked at it for a couple of days while I was on a trip.
When I returned, they reported that I did in fact have an intake leak, and they wrote on my job sheet that they were unable to find the source of the leak, and that they recommended that I continue driving the FD. The service advisor said "It's not a big deal - your idle will just be a little high. Keep driving it."
Several months later, I failed while trying to pass DEQ. I brought the vehicle back, and asked them to debug. They called me and told me that they had to tear things all the way down to the turbo, and could I come in and talk to them, and was I getting really poor fuel economy.
When I talked to them in person, the tech showed me that the turbo was very close to failure (lots of heat-cracks on the unit), and that he believes that the intake leak caused the processor to think that the engine was running lean, and that it had put a lot of extra fuel into the engine. This extra fuel was not burned (of course) and simply went into the turbo, where it caused excessively high temperatures, and also destroyed the catalytic converters.
I was shocked, and told them if they had simply fixed the intake leak before, none of this would have happened. The Service Advisor suggested I speak to the owner. I made an appointment, and spoke to Mike Herzog himself (one of the co-owners).
Mr. Herzog's view was that it may or may not have been caused by the intake leak, and that he would not make a personal decision on what to do in this situation. He said that if I didn't like the way he did business, "there is nothing standing between you and the door, sir" Anyway, they refused to budge on the cost of repairs.
Well, I paid to have it all put back together with the existing Turbo. They replaced virtually all of the intake piping, put the old turbo in, and replaced the cat under warrantee.
The idle problem went away, and I passed DEQ.
It's been a couple of years, and there is a lot of smoke coming from the turbo area. It appears to have some kind of oil leak. My personal suspicions are that the cracks have now gone critical, and I need to install a replacement turbo.
10-13-05, 01:03 PM
#7
Ouch ya sounds like the typical response from the dealer.
All you can do now is come to the conclusion that they are probly not the guys to get help from.
It’s a tough world for fd guys if they cant do there own work, luckily there are few guys out there that do have passion for these cars, and a few great mechanics can be had.
Why don’t you look around and see what other people have to say about local “rotary specific”mechanics and call around, get a feel for who sounds like the most competent.
Its going to be expensive, but at least you will be able to talk to the person in a civilized manner, and they will probly have had experience with your exact problem and feel secure in telling you about the problem and solution.
Most dealerships rarely see a 7 let alone have competent mechanics that have worked on them as of late. Even the 8s are somewhat of a replace the entire engine when something bad happens from reports, because the mechanics are either afraid of them or just don’t have the skills or training to deal with them.
All you can do now is come to the conclusion that they are probly not the guys to get help from.
It’s a tough world for fd guys if they cant do there own work, luckily there are few guys out there that do have passion for these cars, and a few great mechanics can be had.
Why don’t you look around and see what other people have to say about local “rotary specific”mechanics and call around, get a feel for who sounds like the most competent.
Its going to be expensive, but at least you will be able to talk to the person in a civilized manner, and they will probly have had experience with your exact problem and feel secure in telling you about the problem and solution.
Most dealerships rarely see a 7 let alone have competent mechanics that have worked on them as of late. Even the 8s are somewhat of a replace the entire engine when something bad happens from reports, because the mechanics are either afraid of them or just don’t have the skills or training to deal with them.
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10-13-05, 01:19 PM
#8
Banned. I got OWNED!!!
yeah unfortunately thats how a lot of big business's are conducting themselves, customer service is rare these days. You should check the NW section and ask around about who guys have had do their work. Also check the for sale section for replacement turbos. Otherwise the rx7store.com has rebuids and replacement turbos for a good price. It sounds like you are concerned with keeping the car stock and keep driving it? Not really upgrade, right?
10-13-05, 01:30 PM
#9
Cracks in the exhaust side of the turbo are pretty much independent of function.
These turbos have 100k+ on them and are cracked all to pieces but they still produce good boost. The only problem is the "leakage" around the wastegate which is all internal allowed the boost to slip about 1psi lower than it would normally be.
These turbos have 100k+ on them and are cracked all to pieces but they still produce good boost. The only problem is the "leakage" around the wastegate which is all internal allowed the boost to slip about 1psi lower than it would normally be.
10-13-05, 01:51 PM
#10
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Thank you guys,
Great feedback. I have been off this forum for several years (as you can see from my handle), but am really enjoying driving my FD again. Thank you for all the great suggestions and helpful feedback. I think I have a couple of viable avenues to go down. I am OK with some mild modifications - I really enjoy the linear boost pattern that the stock setup affords - the boost is smooth and has very few 'break points'. I will likely look at putting in an HKS downpipe for starters.
I'm looking for maximum reliability first, and fun factor second. The fun factor on the car is already so high, as I have had it since new and have taken very good care of it. It's never been wrecked, and still runs quite well (well, except for the smoking).
I will gladly accept advice on good reliability and mild performance mods.
Sincerely,
Rob
Great feedback. I have been off this forum for several years (as you can see from my handle), but am really enjoying driving my FD again. Thank you for all the great suggestions and helpful feedback. I think I have a couple of viable avenues to go down. I am OK with some mild modifications - I really enjoy the linear boost pattern that the stock setup affords - the boost is smooth and has very few 'break points'. I will likely look at putting in an HKS downpipe for starters.
I'm looking for maximum reliability first, and fun factor second. The fun factor on the car is already so high, as I have had it since new and have taken very good care of it. It's never been wrecked, and still runs quite well (well, except for the smoking).
I will gladly accept advice on good reliability and mild performance mods.
Sincerely,
Rob
10-13-05, 04:24 PM
#14
Originally Posted by PDX RX-7
You can have it ceramic coated at a place in milwaukie for about $50.....been I while since I did it, but booooy was it worth it!
If you're talking about FinishLine coatings they aren't around anymore.
They kinda... burnt down... a while ago...
10-13-05, 05:26 PM
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http://www.finishlinecoatings.com/
It made a huge difference in the under hood heat. That $50 I mentioned earlier was 4 yrs ago, so the cost may have went up but I am not sure.
It made a huge difference in the under hood heat. That $50 I mentioned earlier was 4 yrs ago, so the cost may have went up but I am not sure.
10-13-05, 05:28 PM
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Originally Posted by evileagle
If you're talking about FinishLine coatings they aren't around anymore.
They kinda... burnt down... a while ago...
They kinda... burnt down... a while ago...
Whoa really? Dang, thats not far from my house. I will stop by and see if there is anything left or not.
10-13-05, 05:32 PM
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Yup I just pulled up some other info that shows it did burn down. They have an answering machine set-up so you could probably leave a message and see if they have another shop *shrugs* sorry 
10-13-05, 09:01 PM
#19
Originally Posted by PDX RX-7
Yup I just pulled up some other info that shows it did burn down. They have an answering machine set-up so you could probably leave a message and see if they have another shop *shrugs* sorry
We sent stuff there to be coated alllll the time. Apparently the guys who owned the place didn't have insurance either... So I dunno if there's gonna be another shop.
Sooo... it's time to find another place for ceramic coating I guess?
