West RX-7 Forum Serving California, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii

Northern California Rotary shop thread

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Old Oct 31, 2011 | 03:17 PM
  #251  
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Evil Genius Racing in W Sac

I had Ben (aka. Karrack) in Las Vegas do my rebuild in April and it went great and the cost was right. The engine has been purring ever since.

Last week I had Evil Genius Racing (http://evilgeniusracing.com/) in West Sacramento install a new Racing Beat exhaust system for me and they also did a great job. Nice guys over there and the owner John really knows his rotaries. He seemed very knowledgeable and showed me a number of rebuilds he was in the process of working on already.

For rebuilds, Ben in Vegas is a sure thing and a safe decision but you may want to talk to John at Evil Genius first as it may save you either shipping the engine off or driving 12 hours or more to the Nevada desert.
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Old Dec 21, 2011 | 04:15 PM
  #252  
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anyone has experience with Mr. Mazda in Campbell? I also heard Ivan in Sunnyvale is good...any opinions?
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Old Dec 21, 2011 | 07:59 PM
  #253  
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send it to ben or as the above post reads go to evil genius racing
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Old Dec 23, 2011 | 12:00 PM
  #254  
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Originally Posted by fdware
anyone has experience with Mr. Mazda in Campbell? I also heard Ivan in Sunnyvale is good...any opinions?
None better in the bay area than Paul at Rotorsports. imo.
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Old Feb 5, 2012 | 09:42 PM
  #255  
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Originally Posted by fdware
anyone has experience with Mr. Mazda in Campbell? I also heard Ivan in Sunnyvale is good...any opinions?
I hear good things, and will be going there to check it out myself.

Originally Posted by funkjaw
None better in the bay area than Paul at Rotorsports. imo.
I heard different. From several different people. Just sayin'.
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Old Feb 7, 2012 | 10:45 AM
  #256  
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Originally Posted by Barban
I heard different. From several different people. Just sayin'.
To each his own. I have my reasons; as I have been dealing with Paul for over 6 years now. My personal experience and the things I have seen that guy do, are just unbelievable. There is a reason he has a perfect 5 star rating on yelp with 46 reviews.
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Old Feb 12, 2012 | 03:52 AM
  #257  
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Your earnest testimony makes we want to take a chance.
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Old Feb 19, 2012 | 04:25 PM
  #258  
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i took my car to ivan for engine harness replacement - he definitely knows his stuff and is quite honest. only thing is his price is a bit high...if paul is available to take your car in, i'd go to paul @ rotorsports
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Old Feb 26, 2012 | 06:46 PM
  #259  
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So, i have now officially read all 11 pages of this and saw absolutely nothing about a shop in Nor Norcal, lol. I'm trying to find a shop somewhere between Humboldt county, redding, red bluff, shasta, somewhere in that area. I pop'd my waterseal right before i left to Italy and am in need of a rebuild. From what I read i should just try and talk my dad into pulling the engine and sending it to the famous Ben, lol, but I dont know how easy it will be to convince my old man to pull the motor for me, lol. Please let me know if anyone knows a shop in that area, Thanks!
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Old Feb 27, 2012 | 02:52 PM
  #260  
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i would go to paul at rotorsport in campbell, he seems to have the best reputation of any other shop still in the area but it will cost you. my rep is partially based on the price, since i only charge about half what most shops in the bay charged when i was out that way.

don't kill your dad just to save a few bucks unless he wants to attempt it.
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Old Feb 27, 2012 | 07:35 PM
  #261  
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Well I dont know if he is up for the challenge or not Ben, but thanks for the suggestion. I'm sure if he decides he is up for it you will be hearing from me via a phone call.
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Old Mar 9, 2012 | 03:11 AM
  #262  
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when are you coming up north again ben?
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Old Mar 19, 2012 | 11:51 PM
  #263  
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Originally Posted by Karack
i would go to paul at rotorsport in campbell, he seems to have the best reputation of any other shop still in the area but it will cost you. my rep is partially based on the price, since i only charge about half what most shops in the bay charged when i was out that way.

don't kill your dad just to save a few bucks unless he wants to attempt it.
Paul's moving so he's not taking on any big projects at the moment.

Originally Posted by fdware
when are you coming up north again ben?


My car hasn't been to vegas..... yet
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Old Apr 3, 2012 | 03:21 PM
  #264  
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Anyone know of any shops close to Berkeley?
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Old Apr 6, 2012 | 06:31 PM
  #265  
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Pro Tip:

Step 1: Save money
Step 2: Go to LA
Step 3: Blow all of your money at those shops
Step 4: ???
Step 5: Profit! (In your heart, not so much your wallet.)
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Old Apr 7, 2012 | 07:54 PM
  #266  
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^ Step 6. Get Karack's *** back up to NCal.

Andrew -

In Berzerkeley, you are SOL. "closest" shops to you are:

PR Motorsports in Hayward
Bridgeway Auto Repair in Sausalito
Pro Inspections in SSF

All mentioned earlier in this thread.
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Old Apr 21, 2012 | 05:26 PM
  #267  
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will be too expensive to move the shop again and parts becoming scarce for the engines or people trying to get premiums because some people are hoarding parts, putting a strain on doing budget builds. there isn't enough big jobs floating around either. all in all not looking good for the smaller shops going forward.

maybe it's just this area, finding turbo parts in this town is pretty much not happening. refurbishing parts has helped alleviate a bit of the problem but won't cure it forever.

someone point me to a boatload of blown jspec cores for reasonable prices.
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Old Apr 22, 2012 | 12:05 PM
  #268  
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Originally Posted by Karack
will be too expensive to move the shop again and parts becoming scarce for the engines or people trying to get premiums because some people are hoarding parts, putting a strain on doing budget builds. there isn't enough big jobs floating around either. all in all not looking good for the smaller shops going forward.

maybe it's just this area, finding turbo parts in this town is pretty much not happening. refurbishing parts has helped alleviate a bit of the problem but won't cure it forever.

someone point me to a boatload of blown jspec cores for reasonable prices.
I keep hearing this time and time again. This is really disheartening and makes my desire to stay with rotaries die a little more each time.
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Old May 7, 2012 | 08:16 PM
  #269  
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Just a quick question guys, is there any rotary shops in San Jose? Or is Mr. Mazda the closest thing to me? The reason I'm asking is because I'd love to intern at a rotary shop to learn more on rotaries and how to fix them.

Last edited by natobait; May 7, 2012 at 08:17 PM. Reason: Wanted to add my reason.
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Old May 8, 2012 | 04:48 AM
  #270  
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Rotorsport updated location

Rotorsport's new location is 2857 El Camino Real in Santa Clara (website still has the old address).

However, I don't think he's taking on interns.....
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Old May 8, 2012 | 06:43 AM
  #271  
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Originally Posted by 088
Rotorsport's new location is 2857 El Camino Real in Santa Clara (website still has the old address).

However, I don't think he's taking on interns.....
Did it replace another shop called Century Automotive & Transmission?
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Old May 8, 2012 | 06:48 PM
  #272  
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Currently doing a transmission swap at Mr.Mazda

Also using a rebuilt Drive Shaft.

My Drive Shaft Snapped + Blew my Transmission on my 88 GXL

Ill let you guys know how things go. But he seems really nice and professional so far. Im also a mechanic in training so im not new to everything so i dont feel or think hes lying to me.
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Old May 11, 2012 | 09:45 PM
  #273  
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nice pic even better rides
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Old May 19, 2012 | 02:57 AM
  #274  
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Not a fan of Paul at Rotorsport. Seems like he only wants to work on stockish cars that he can use his obd scanner on. I'd done light mods to my car and was having a fuel delivery issue. Took it to Paul and he glanced over it very briefly and told me he didn't know what was wrong. He assumed I'd modded the fuel system, which I hadn't. Turned out there were major dead spots in the tps. Should have been easy to diagnose but I don't think he really wants to see cars that he hasn't personally modded. To be fair he didn't charge me, however taking my car to him was a huge waste of time. I'm a respectful person and am somewhat knowledgeable about cars, I don't know why I was treated that way. A mechanics job is to find a problem, not assume the owner is dumb *** and did something stupid. Frankly I don't see the "sport" in Rotorsport. Looks like LA is the only option for now.
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Old May 20, 2012 | 11:12 AM
  #275  
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Shop in Nor Cal

Try Evil Genius Racing in W Sac. Guys there have owned and raced Rx7s and did a good job with my new exhaust and suspension.
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