Yep. After the "Christmas Spirit" goes away, I'll get serious about getting my OEM parts back and having all traces of my project removed from his site.

If I have my way, I won't have a single piece he created on my car, and even if I do use the engine cradle I already have, he won't receive a shred of recognition for it if the car attracts any magazine publicity when finished.

 

Sure he should get recognition. It should be widely recognized how you got shafted. "I *was* going to use his parts, until I discovered that there were severe fit issues and there was a terminal delay in availability."

Bad publicity is like **** in a **** carpet. You can never get it all clean again.

 

Jim,
Have you gotten any response from Grant?

 

Nope. No response whatsoever.

 

jim why is granny's installation so much cheaper than hinson super cars installations. Granny's is like 2500 while hinson is 9 grand. WTF. Why would anyone spend that much money on a installation?.

 

I think you misread the pricing on Granny's site...

And that's for an LT1, not an LS1.

 

no i didn't, granny does around 8 g for everything if you know where to buy a motor and trans cheap enough. Hinson does 8999 for installation without engine and trans. THat's a difference of about 4g's. A used rx7 can be had at 14 g's . And if hinsons conversion costs almost as much as the car i don't see what the point of that is.

 

OK, then let's put it this way...

Grant has never done an LT1 3rd gen. conversion, and in fact, the only access that he's ever had to a 3rd gen. to my knowledge was test fitting parts on my car. He doesn't have a 3rd gen. kit that works for the LS1. How then, could he possibly have any idea what's involved or how much it would cost? The prices listed on his site are estimates at best.

Brian, on the other hand, has completed an LS1 conversion in an FD. He knows exactly what is involved and what it cost to accomplish, and he has proof of his ability to get the job done. He's not relying on someone else to provide him with weight figures, wiring information, or performance numbers.

Now which would you rather take your car to? After reading the e-mail thread from my failed THREE YEAR quest to simply get the conversion parts I was promised, which would you rather take your car to???

 

i'm sorry but thats the funniest thing ive ever read

mkie

 

Oh ok thanx for clearing that up for me jim. And J9fd3s what the **** is so funny about that????

 

"And if hinsons conversion costs almost as much as the car i don't see what the point of that is." well its funny because most people on this forum would say that putting a v8 in an rx7 is evil to start with, let alone the cost.

mike

 

where you got the 4g difference, thats whats so funny.

luigi

 

oh yea, granny is 8, hinsons's is 9 plus around 3 for engine and tranny on ebay. That's 12-8=4. sorry about that.

 

I would put that vacation BS on my site if I had parts for that long and the owner riddled me with emails galore of how upset he is..........

Maybe it's just a ploy...... u should go there to meet him in person.

I heard from the grapevine that M2 had a customer that gave him a CYM FD for a 20B conversion and paid $75,000 up front and the car has never been completed. And that has been a longer time then what Jim is going through......

 

grant should burn in hell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!

 

Figured I'd bump this to the top...

I still haven't heard from Grant and still haven't gotten my OEM parts back, but it looks like he read my e-mail, since he did remove the immediately recognizable pictures of my car and engine from his web site...

http://members.tripod.com/~grannys/3...x7chevyv8.html

Too bad no one else has ever had an FD with a DuPont Absolute Purpleen engine bay and a V8 engine cradle in it at the same time...

I'm going to give him a call this week and see if I can find someone home. I'm sick of this ****.

 

Unbelievable story Jim. Sorry to hear it has come to this.
I hope you ruin his name forever and he gets whats coming to him. Heartbreaking to see it come to this. Best of luck to you Jim.

Oliver

 

Time to bump this to the top again...

STILL no attempt to contact me or resolve the situation by Grant. I don't even know where (precisely) his shop is located, where he lives, and I only have a cell phone number for him. I figured I'd let him find a way to settle up, because I don't have the time to go tracking him down. Still no response.

I ended up having to buy a (used) engine cradle to continue my project. Grant still has (or had, at any rate... which might be why I haven't heard anything from him...) my original low-mile parts, including my engine cradle, powerplant frame, driveline, transmission speed sender, steering rack, and aluminum transmission tunnel braces. The last, at least, I would like not to have to replace, but I doubt I'll see any of the parts again.

 

jim, dont settle for that ****. . . thats ridiculous. dont let him win. you absolutely have to go after his ***. he has cost you more than money. . . THREE YEARS OF NO RX7. its understandable that there would be massive amounts of stress involved with that kind of a struggle. you have to seek legal action. dont wait on him!!!!! start contacting his "satisfied" customers. get as much info as possible. see what he is telling/feeding them. thats way too much to sacrifice. pleeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaase dont let that happen. ill be highly disappointed in you. haha, i grew ***** and gained a sense of motherhood there. hahahaha.

paul

 

I've already effecitvely killed his 3rd gen. business. He'll never sell another LT1 or "LS1" FD kit again, more than likely. Brian Hinson has the LS1 covered, and I'll be starting fabrication of a new LT1 cradle that works right this week, as well as custom LT1 headers for the FD.

 

Jim, killing his business is one thing, and it does feel good but you definatly need to use our wonderful legal system.

 

i'd go there with the sheriffs office and get the stuff back, then i'd sue him for all he is worth, that way he won't mess with other people.

 

Why the hell is this thread also showing up in my name???

WTF is up with this, all Jim's V8 threads are showing up in my name....Can any of the moderators fix this please???

STEPHEN

 

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Time to bump this to the top again...

Ryan at Hod Rod Fabrications in Auburn chopped up Grant's cradle to move things around and get a good idea of where things should have been located before starting on building a new cradle, and I brought it home to test fit it and give him feedback.

The first issue we fixed was the motor mounts... the engine now bolts in with the Energy Suspension mounts installed correctly.

The second issue was the engine height. We dropped the engine approximately 3/8" in the chassis which gives more hood clearance (the front of the throttle body only cleared the hood by about an 1/8" with Grant's cradle) and more clearance around the bellhousing in the transmission tunnel. Bill Hagen was forced to place 0.25" spacers between his Granny's cradle and the frame to accomplish the same clearance.

The third issue is the steering rack, which didn't clear an SBC oil pan and definitely didn't clear the Canton aftermarket road race pan, so we've dropped the steering rack approximately 5/8", and may go just a little lower. I'll be using Brian Hinson's aftermarket tie-rod ends with spacers to correct the bump steer issue resulting from moving the rack.

The fourth issue is strengthening the cradle. The design of Granny's cradle (literally a "K") left the rear lower control arm mounting points too loose and tightening down the rear 17mm bolts twisted the cradle making it impossible to install the lower control arms without loosening the bolts, installing the arm, and then retightening the bolts. I wanted more rigidity in this area to eliminate the chance that any pressure is being placed on the lower control arm, so we're addressing this as well.

I'll post comparison pictures of the new LT1 engine cradle when it's finished.