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So I'm not really sure about how to go about this so I'll just start with the story. As many of you know I have been rebuilding my R32 for about two yrs, I recently (March 28/12) bought a R34 complete power train from J Spec Auto in Ashland, Virgina. At this time I felt they were a stand up company, seemed good to deal with, provided me with a video of the compression test for the motor, advised me that there was damage to the rear dump tube, also a cut wiring harness. I told him this wasn't really a issue for me as I already had replacement dumps and would not be using the harness.
Photo of Powertrain
So upon receiving the motor, I then remove the turbo's from the motor to check for shaft play, and inspect them for damage as it as good smack, broke the factory R34 Dump tube at the weld...... I even went so far as to spin both of them up on compressed air. Both Turbo's checked out perfectly.
Photo of the new Manifolds and dump tubes.
So once this was completed, I got called to work for about three weeks, once that was over we then proceeded to install the motor at the shop, which offers a lifetime warranty on there work, as well as being the premier performance shop in Newfoundland. This shop just came in Top 10 at the Atlantic Nationals with there custom Camaro that Brian built. Here is the link to the shop.
Now two days later the motor and Tranny were installed in the car, the next morning, I fired it up for the first time.... I even went to the trouble of pre oiling the motor with a accumulator.... very difficult to prime to 80 psi without a working motor... LOL. Anyway, it fired up and ran perfect, the car was a little rich, but nothing serious. I then moved the car out of the shop to the back driveway/parking lot, this is where the car failed.... I backed down the driveway, came to about 3 grand in first, shifted to second, burped the fuel, and listened to all the turbo fins rattle around my exhaust..... then the motor..... Catastrophic failure......
I borrowed a borroscope from work to investigate the cause with out pulling the motor apart..... What I found was the rear turbo, the one that had a damaged dump tube...... The turbo shaft must have had a fracture in it because it actually let go in the middle of the centre cartridge, sending he exhaust side everywhere, and the intake side went thru the motor the other way.....
A compression check reviled 1-5 have zero, 6 is 155. This is where I want everyone to be warned!!!!!
I then called J Spec AUTO in Ashland, Virgina. Now please remember, the total on my bill was 11,300 US. I called Chris - Customer Service rep, he told me he would talk to Sam(Owner) and see if we can work something out, and that he would call me back.... This went on for days, then weeks. I finally called bait pissed, because prior I was trying to be diplomatic, I told Chris I wasn't looking for my money back, merely a replacement short block, not even a full motor.just a block and head, nothing more.
So after a few weeks, when they realized I wasn't going away, Chris told me they wouldn't even look at doing anything for me, said it didn't matter where the work was done, they weren't going to help me period. I then called back and got Sam - Owner. This is the response and I quote "Your from a city, in a province that I don't now where it is, that is in a country I don't care about."..... "So what are you going to do??? " he asked, sort of snotty.
I told him I would fly down there and burn down his shop and be back in Canada before they put it out.... I then thought about it, and said to him "but you probably have insurance, so that would only help him. He agreed laughing. I hung up. This was the first time I ever had a engine retailer do this, I have had three b18C's that smoked like trains right after install, got either another motor or the money back.... I was actually pretty speechless.
So the moral to this rant is this, DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM J SPEC AUTO. I will have a You Tube Video up soon about this ordeal, detailing the timeline and the fact that they ripped me off solid. My only hope is that they never get the opportunity to do this again to a fellow car guy/girl.
As a last note, If anyone has a "good" engine retailer that is in Canada, please forward me there contact info as I'm currently looking for another motor......
Thanks for reading, Ken
Photo of Powertrain
So upon receiving the motor, I then remove the turbo's from the motor to check for shaft play, and inspect them for damage as it as good smack, broke the factory R34 Dump tube at the weld...... I even went so far as to spin both of them up on compressed air. Both Turbo's checked out perfectly.
Photo of the new Manifolds and dump tubes.
So once this was completed, I got called to work for about three weeks, once that was over we then proceeded to install the motor at the shop, which offers a lifetime warranty on there work, as well as being the premier performance shop in Newfoundland. This shop just came in Top 10 at the Atlantic Nationals with there custom Camaro that Brian built. Here is the link to the shop.
Now two days later the motor and Tranny were installed in the car, the next morning, I fired it up for the first time.... I even went to the trouble of pre oiling the motor with a accumulator.... very difficult to prime to 80 psi without a working motor... LOL. Anyway, it fired up and ran perfect, the car was a little rich, but nothing serious. I then moved the car out of the shop to the back driveway/parking lot, this is where the car failed.... I backed down the driveway, came to about 3 grand in first, shifted to second, burped the fuel, and listened to all the turbo fins rattle around my exhaust..... then the motor..... Catastrophic failure......
I borrowed a borroscope from work to investigate the cause with out pulling the motor apart..... What I found was the rear turbo, the one that had a damaged dump tube...... The turbo shaft must have had a fracture in it because it actually let go in the middle of the centre cartridge, sending he exhaust side everywhere, and the intake side went thru the motor the other way.....
A compression check reviled 1-5 have zero, 6 is 155. This is where I want everyone to be warned!!!!!
I then called J Spec AUTO in Ashland, Virgina. Now please remember, the total on my bill was 11,300 US. I called Chris - Customer Service rep, he told me he would talk to Sam(Owner) and see if we can work something out, and that he would call me back.... This went on for days, then weeks. I finally called bait pissed, because prior I was trying to be diplomatic, I told Chris I wasn't looking for my money back, merely a replacement short block, not even a full motor.just a block and head, nothing more.
So after a few weeks, when they realized I wasn't going away, Chris told me they wouldn't even look at doing anything for me, said it didn't matter where the work was done, they weren't going to help me period. I then called back and got Sam - Owner. This is the response and I quote "Your from a city, in a province that I don't now where it is, that is in a country I don't care about."..... "So what are you going to do??? " he asked, sort of snotty.
I told him I would fly down there and burn down his shop and be back in Canada before they put it out.... I then thought about it, and said to him "but you probably have insurance, so that would only help him. He agreed laughing. I hung up. This was the first time I ever had a engine retailer do this, I have had three b18C's that smoked like trains right after install, got either another motor or the money back.... I was actually pretty speechless.
So the moral to this rant is this, DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM J SPEC AUTO. I will have a You Tube Video up soon about this ordeal, detailing the timeline and the fact that they ripped me off solid. My only hope is that they never get the opportunity to do this again to a fellow car guy/girl.
As a last note, If anyone has a "good" engine retailer that is in Canada, please forward me there contact info as I'm currently looking for another motor......
Thanks for reading, Ken
See how this all pans out.
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