Power FC Beware of the dog....Badog that is
11-14-03, 04:43 PM
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Beware of the dog....Badog that is
I would like to share a bad experience I have had with a tuner that frequents the boards here named Tony Kutlu, (Badog). A few moths ago I set up an appointment to have a single turbo TO4S kit installed at the RX-7 Store and have my car tuned by Tony, who lives in Columbus. I have taken every precaution to make sure my 9 month old Pineapple engine could handle it. The install went great and called Tony up to do the tuning. He came over and we dyno tuned for an hour or two and put down about 430rwhp. He informed me that he had to run home for an hour or so, but would like to fine tune it a little more on the road. He told he I could drive the car around till he was free. I drove the car around for an hour or so and it felt great. The car had tons of power and nothing at all seemed wrong, but I figured that if he felt more tuning was necessary, then we should do it. After he was free, we started off on a Columbus highway to do fine tuning. We made our first stop, he made some changes and we were on our way. Immediately after the changes we did a half throttle run and noticed a stumble around 4-5K. “See if you can re-create that” he says. I pushed the throttle down half way and felt the car stumble again, and then heard a loud ping, and also felt it in the gear shift. We pulled over at a gas station and the car wouldn’t Idle. I knew in my gut that the engine had gone. I called Zavier and told him and he said to meet him at the shop and we would look at it, but Tony said he had to go home and asked to be dropped off at his car. I asked him if he intended on keeping the tuning fee of $400 if he blew the engine, and he said that we should find out if it is blown, then we would talk. We confirmed that the rear rotor had gone. There was talk of the timing being advanced too far, but we sent the engine back to Pineapple to find out for sure. In the meantime I again asked for a refund, and he kept telling me that it wasn’t his fault, although the car has been running great for the last 9 months, and is basically new under the hood and Zavier could find nothing on the car that failed. He again said that we would talk after we hear back from Pineapple about why the engine went. Pineapple finally got the engine and tore it apart and said that it indeed did blow from tuning, and that there was nothing wrong with the internals. Since then I have sent 2 e-mails and left messages for him and he refuses to return my calls or answer e-mails. I am just waring anyone who plans on using him as a tuner that he seems to be a shady character. Hopefully he will see this and respond as of why he feels he is not responsible, even though everyone else involved says he is.
11-14-03, 04:59 PM
#2
Ouch. I have ben down this road myself but not with Tony. I feel your pain Bro. I have put 5 engines in my car due to a combo of botched tuning, botched installs. 2 of them were ported and had to pay for the rebuilds 2x. The thing about tuning rx7's is sometimes they blow up. I consider what I went through and when its determined it broke due to tuning I dont pay for the tune. Some of my issues were due to Poor Install and a fuel inj wasnt hooked up and caused that rotor to run lean. I paid the tuner that day because it wasnt his Fault. The tuner at that time was Steve Kan. I knew it wasnt his fault as I was there and it didnt ping at all. Not even once. I dont know the details or Tonys side of the story but if it pinged like that and he asked you too do it again and it blew the motor. I would consider it was in the tuners hands. I have talked to Tony and he seemed like a good guy. I imagine the motor is very expensive. if in fact it broke because of the tuner I would think negotiating more than just a refund of the price of the tune. I have spent alot of money. And no dissrespect to Tony but with any tuner, if a guy wants to make money tuning he has to give some kind of refund or repair of the damage he causes. Its so easy to just walk away with the money and say "Sorry Not my problem". If a tuner wants to continue to stay in business he has got to take the good with the bad. Its a sticky business tuning RX-7's. I like Tony. I hope you guys work things out.
11-14-03, 05:30 PM
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I plan on going for more than just the tuning fee at this point. I would have settled for less, but the fact that he is hiding just pisses me off. I am out a total of about $2600.
11-15-03, 08:08 PM
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What constitutes an engine failure due to tuning? Just curious. I'll repeat my last post on the FD forum. Tony should come out from behind the bushes and deal with Ryan like a true professional would. Tony's rep is on the line...and this could make or break "Tuning by Tony"
11-17-03, 12:36 PM
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Originally posted by radkins
I plan on going for more than just the tuning fee at this point. I would have settled for less, but the fact that he is hiding just pisses me off. I am out a total of about $2600.
I plan on going for more than just the tuning fee at this point. I would have settled for less, but the fact that he is hiding just pisses me off. I am out a total of about $2600.
I would not mind settling this in the court system, if you would like.
Follow-ups to the other forum (not rx7club). I do no frequent this forum.
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11-18-03, 02:17 PM
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Re: Beware of the dog....Badog that is
Originally posted by radkins
I would like to share a bad experience I have had with a tuner that frequents the boards here named Tony Kutlu, (Badog). A few moths ago I set up an appointment to have a single turbo TO4S kit installed at the RX-7 Store and have my car tuned by Tony, who lives in Columbus. I have taken every precaution to make sure my 9 month old Pineapple engine could handle it. The install went great and called Tony up to do the tuning. He came over and we dyno tuned for an hour or two and put down about 430rwhp. He informed me that he had to run home for an hour or so, but would like to fine tune it a little more on the road. He told he I could drive the car around till he was free. I drove the car around for an hour or so and it felt great. The car had tons of power and nothing at all seemed wrong, but I figured that if he felt more tuning was necessary, then we should do it. After he was free, we started off on a Columbus highway to do fine tuning. We made our first stop, he made some changes and we were on our way. Immediately after the changes we did a half throttle run and noticed a stumble around 4-5K. “See if you can re-create that” he says. I pushed the throttle down half way and felt the car stumble again, and then heard a loud ping, and also felt it in the gear shift. We pulled over at a gas station and the car wouldn’t Idle. I knew in my gut that the engine had gone. I called Zavier and told him and he said to meet him at the shop and we would look at it, but Tony said he had to go home and asked to be dropped off at his car. I asked him if he intended on keeping the tuning fee of $400 if he blew the engine, and he said that we should find out if it is blown, then we would talk. We confirmed that the rear rotor had gone. There was talk of the timing being advanced too far, but we sent the engine back to Pineapple to find out for sure. In the meantime I again asked for a refund, and he kept telling me that it wasn’t his fault, although the car has been running great for the last 9 months, and is basically new under the hood and Zavier could find nothing on the car that failed. He again said that we would talk after we hear back from Pineapple about why the engine went. Pineapple finally got the engine and tore it apart and said that it indeed did blow from tuning, and that there was nothing wrong with the internals. Since then I have sent 2 e-mails and left messages for him and he refuses to return my calls or answer e-mails. I am just waring anyone who plans on using him as a tuner that he seems to be a shady character. Hopefully he will see this and respond as of why he feels he is not responsible, even though everyone else involved says he is.
I would like to share a bad experience I have had with a tuner that frequents the boards here named Tony Kutlu, (Badog). A few moths ago I set up an appointment to have a single turbo TO4S kit installed at the RX-7 Store and have my car tuned by Tony, who lives in Columbus. I have taken every precaution to make sure my 9 month old Pineapple engine could handle it. The install went great and called Tony up to do the tuning. He came over and we dyno tuned for an hour or two and put down about 430rwhp. He informed me that he had to run home for an hour or so, but would like to fine tune it a little more on the road. He told he I could drive the car around till he was free. I drove the car around for an hour or so and it felt great. The car had tons of power and nothing at all seemed wrong, but I figured that if he felt more tuning was necessary, then we should do it. After he was free, we started off on a Columbus highway to do fine tuning. We made our first stop, he made some changes and we were on our way. Immediately after the changes we did a half throttle run and noticed a stumble around 4-5K. “See if you can re-create that” he says. I pushed the throttle down half way and felt the car stumble again, and then heard a loud ping, and also felt it in the gear shift. We pulled over at a gas station and the car wouldn’t Idle. I knew in my gut that the engine had gone. I called Zavier and told him and he said to meet him at the shop and we would look at it, but Tony said he had to go home and asked to be dropped off at his car. I asked him if he intended on keeping the tuning fee of $400 if he blew the engine, and he said that we should find out if it is blown, then we would talk. We confirmed that the rear rotor had gone. There was talk of the timing being advanced too far, but we sent the engine back to Pineapple to find out for sure. In the meantime I again asked for a refund, and he kept telling me that it wasn’t his fault, although the car has been running great for the last 9 months, and is basically new under the hood and Zavier could find nothing on the car that failed. He again said that we would talk after we hear back from Pineapple about why the engine went. Pineapple finally got the engine and tore it apart and said that it indeed did blow from tuning, and that there was nothing wrong with the internals. Since then I have sent 2 e-mails and left messages for him and he refuses to return my calls or answer e-mails. I am just waring anyone who plans on using him as a tuner that he seems to be a shady character. Hopefully he will see this and respond as of why he feels he is not responsible, even though everyone else involved says he is.
12-07-03, 03:49 PM
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Originally posted by SleepR1
What's the current story on this?
What's the current story on this?
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