DNA are always super cool and up front. They have a great work ethic and will treat you like family.
Garage Life are being really big piles of crap right now. I'm hearing all kinds of crazy stuff they're pulling.
Lucky7, I haven't dealt with them, but have heard both good and bad stories.

 

Any updates?

 

none yet, out of state still.

 

My car is at GarageLife right now, There's alot of social media bullshit thats going on right now but Daniel he's still provide good work on my car. I'm happy as along as the social media BS stays out of his work on my car. That being said I still trust Daniel with my car over Angel Motorsports(LA)

 

August 15th, 2035

World War III has ended, and Erosangel finally got his car back... but he can't drive it cuz the 13b is not legal for domestic use.

 

lmao

 

Wow really Garage life was legit about 2 years ago didn't know they have changed

 

whats wrong with garagelife?

 

nothing is wrong with Garage Life, still one of the few shops in socal that has track times and dyno numbers to back their work up. Buddy up there believes everything he sees on social media. When in reality some bimbo managed to brainwash her army of simps to slander daniels name all because she was mad daniel wouldnt bend over backwards to feed her "fans" content so she could get internet clout.

 

That's nice. Blame it on a "bimbo". 2 sides to every story with a shop, reality is often in between once you cut through the emotions.

 

I had work done on my FD by itsgaragelife. they did great work and communicated with me through it all. I did hear about the situation at hand with them and the girl they worked with. There's no hard evidence on either side, just theories and claims.
But all I can say is GarageLife does good work on FD's and is a reputable shop, I'm not trying to get mixed in the drama, but its of course better to hear 2 sides before we make assumptions.

 

This kinda stuff just hurts my soul to read. I guess I better get to learning how to rebuild my motor... That or make more money! I totally understand why no-one really drives these cars now. If I came upon this before I bought my car I never would've... Hope you get that car up and running soon! I can only imagine the pain you experienced with this ****.

 

yea i agree with that statement actually. However i know both parties closely and am/was friends with both but after seeing some one mobilize their fan base to literally slander and harass some one to the point of getting death threats and racial abuse i don’t see how anyone could think that’s ok. Daniel is a stand up guy and anyone who has actually had real life work done on their car or a tune by him would say only nice things.

 

I've known DK for a minute, before his Garage Life shop even opened. As a rotary owner, it's feeling like more and more, you just can't hand over your Rotary projects to just anyone/any shop. You have to almost do part of the work yourself as much as possible as to eliminate getting ripped off or some dumb drama popping off. Are these shops fully capable of building engines and doing work? Yes. But kinda feels like favorites get picked or time schedules always conflict, or some crap jumps off and you don't quite get the work you need done when depending on others. It sucks.

Been into Rotary for a minute and since quarantine, been putting a lot of thought into doing some of the major work myself ie breaking down an engine, cleaning it up for prep and bringing said parts to a shop for porting or something with a bit more skillful precision involved. idk.

 

Delet

 

This is definitely not the thread I wanted to be in, but, if you are not a mechanic (I am not) and you have to go to a rotary shop for work on your car you better be ready for some pain. I have a 93 FD and I paid many thousands of dollars to Chip Ursu (Chip Motorsport) to have my car built for the track. Today I am suing him for many thousands of dollars. Enough said about that, we will see what comes of that. My advice to all of the novices out there is "look before you leap"! What does that really mean? It means be sure you know who you are dealing with. Ok, the purpose of this post is to ask anyone if they know of a shop well versed in rotary engine in the Detroit market other than the aforementioned Chip "the rip" Ursu? Guys a hack-do not go there. I need to find someone local that is dependable and has integrity for what they do. wheb I read strings below it does not sound like many of these people exist. Here's hoping, let me know.

 

@Erosangel Please let me know if I may move this to the feedback section of the classifieds. I can leave a redirect here in the West Forum.

@Gen2n3 Have a look my friend.

 

@Erosangel, If you are looking for a down-to-earth business owner and rotary shop near the LA area then check out Palm Tree Rotary. Moe is the owner and his shop is in Porterville, which is near Bakersfield. Moe treated me like I was his only customer and delivered excellent service!

If things are not going as planned with your current repair then you could seek legal counsel and potentially file a claim with the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Afraid that I cannot comment further without digging further into this thread.

This thread is about general advice so it could remain in the West Forum. If you wish to make a separate feedback post about your experience then please do such in the classified feedback section. I would recommend doing that once your car is returned.

In the meantime members, please be civil. There is no need for intimidation, bullying, or harassing either party. We are only privy to one side of the story and circumstances.

 

got tagged in both Lews post and Johns post. I wish not to add to the flame of those posts at all. Two different people linked this thread in those comment sections then they can come read it here. I most definitely refuse to put this kind of stuff on social media such as facebook, instagram, etc.

 

thanks Gen, i will most definitely look into that shop as they are not that far away from me at all. I live a bit north of LA closer to SF valley side. Porterville is only a 2 hr drive from here give or take. I don’t want to get into involving legal action of any kind or leaving any feedback really. John says he plans to no longer work on customer cars soon anyways, i just want my car back and i also don’t want to cause any tension between us like that especially. Best thing i can do is wait til he gets back from Virginia, wait a week tops soon as his shop opens again for my car to be finished. If not i will simply remove it and i mean it. I know i said multiple times i was going to before and didn’t but honestly now it’s no biggy..i’m willing to cut my losses if i have to, whatever. **** happens, learn from our own mistakes, and move on. Thankfully i’m in a good situation with work and have saved quite a bit so if i have to pay someone else to finish it for me i can. I’d much rather finish it myself though, given the access to many lifts and equipment the dealer i work at provides me with as well as some kick *** co worker techs. That being said, would anyone be interested in a build thread? I’m sure i can track down photos of everything i have done/bought for my car and put on it. Especially recently i have gotten lots of new stuff for my interior, exterior (i got OEM 99 spec baaaaaby!!!) and suspension stuff like new arms, swift springs, etc, to install on the car myself. Lol

 

Man, I have just read this saga from beginning to end, you need to get the Sherriff involved and take them with you to reclaim your car. Once the dust settles you should take this clown to small claims court and sue him for what ever Small Claims allows (used to be $7500 in CA, I do not know what it is now).
This is something you need to do now!
Dave

 

$5k

 

California Small Claims limit for individuals is now $10,000. I acquired my first FD from a victim of a shop like this. He was from Colorado and took his car into a shop in Oceanside CA, he had a fuel smell and his clutch slave was failing. A few days later he received a call from the shop stating that they had fixed the clutch but the car had caught fire in their shop and was undriveable. They refused to work on it, demanded he tow it out but still charged $980 to replace the slave. He towed the car to a nearby Mazda dealer where he was quoted $20,000 to replace everything inc engine and turbos (which were brand new in the car). To make a long story short I purchased the car from him for $4000 and started to rebuild it. I was racing a RX7 in SCCA at the time and Mazda speed allowed me to but from them everything I needed at a much reduced cost, basically the front harness, solenoids, etc. While I was working on the front of the engine I noticed oil inside the front crank pulley and found the bolt to be loose. I tightened it up noted it did not feel quite right, but pressed on anyway. A few weeks later I had it all together and started it up, it vibrated and shook so badly I thought it was going to jump off the Mounts! I realized what had happened, the bolt had come out so far that the oil pump drive gear and the eccentric balance weight had come forward, off the key, and when I tightened the bolt I had jammed it against the key. I fixed it and the thing ran perfectly! This got me to thinking about what had actually happened to this car. I called the seller and told him what I had found and suggested that He sue the shop for what was at that time $7500 limit. He did so and came down from Colorado for the Court appearance. The shop owner was there and on the stand testified that his guys had replaced the clutch slave cylinder and had the car running in the shop supposedly to look for fuel leak problem. All of a sudden it burst into flame and burned up right there!
The judge looked at my guy and asked him what he had to say, I spoke up and asked the Judge if I could speak to that as I now owned the car and had a theory about what had happened, he said OK. I explained about the loose bolt and how it had backed off and when that happened who ever was driving car would have thought they just blew up the motor! I theorized that someone in the shop had taken the car on a joy ride, the bolt picked that time to back out enough for the Eccentric weight to come loose, they brought the car back to the shop and set it on fire. As I was relating this tale you could see on the face of the shop owner that he was busted. The Judge found for my guy and the shop owner paid the $7500. It is good that occasionally justice is served!

 

Are you in Cali still? Oside isn't too far from me if you're anywhere near there. Would love to come pick your brain on my rebuild, get some "don't dos" from you.

 

I thought the dude on Facebook calling out AM-West (John Vargas) was you, but turns out it was someone else. Watching the Vargas brothers act like it's a one off when there are clearly other victims just exposes the BS game they're playing. I'ts a shame Michael got dragged in to defend John's lazy and poor business acumen since Michael seems to have better work ethic than John. Not sure why Michael hasn't considered dropping the dead weight since his brother's actions are only hurting his reputation since more people are willing to speak up