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My Experience with Richard...

Dropped 180sx off there November 2006. Many of you may have seen my car in there, it took them 12 months to build a boat anchor so in that time it collected its fair share of black carbon dust and scratches.

2804891_1_full.jpg

Had spun a big end bearing due to wrong type of filter blowing off on another dyno.

Wanted him to rebuild engine, with darton sleeves and 90mm CP pistons.

Supplied him the sleeves and pistons on day 1. Give 1000 cash deposit.

2 weeks later drop off Pauter COnnecting Rods

2 months later (this is how long it takes obviously to inspect engine) he tellsme the crank is scorched and will need a new one.

Phone Japanese Garage, grab Brian Crower stroker crankshaft, Milos drives the thing up to my house the same day and ATS have it the day after.

Work again begins on the engine.

Now... it takes them 6 months to get the machining done. Then another 2 to assemble the engine. I have paid 5000 in cash, and the only parts they needed to supply were a set of ARP main/head studs, which apparently are 700 all up.

The engine blows smoke like a bitch and Richard starts saying it could be the head/sleeves/rings (which they had the work done on).

After another month they have pulled apart the engine to see what is wrong.

"Oh the darton sleeves you supplied arent suitable for turbocharged engines and failed..."

Oh Richard, aren't those the same sleeves used in this ...

<--- 11,000rpm 1400hp gt45r s15

which were also handed to you on day 1, 10 months ago? (dont rememberyou mentioning anything about darton being NA sleeves then)

He then has the gall to send mean updated invoice requesting ANOTHER $9000 in labour, which includes the cost of pulling apart the engine to see what went wrong, and the cost of over $1000 dyno tuning a stuffed engine.

You be the judge.

Luckily now I have letters from darton, mazworx, jack bros. and other 'reputable' shops showing his incompetence.

Edited by simvgas
My Experience with Richard...

Dropped 180sx off there November 2006. Many of you may have seen my car in there, it took them 12 months to build a boat anchor so in that time it collected its fair share of black carbon dust and scratches.

2804891_1_full.jpg

Had spun a big end bearing due to wrong type of filter blowing off on another dyno.

Wanted him to rebuild engine, with darton sleeves and 90mm CP pistons.

Supplied him the sleeves and pistons on day 1. Give 1000 cash deposit.

2 weeks later drop off Pauter COnnecting Rods

2 months later (this is how long it takes obviously to inspect engine) he tellsme the crank is scorched and will need a new one.

Phone Japanese Garage, grab Brian Crower stroker crankshaft, Milos drives the thing up to my house the same day and ATS have it the day after.

Work again begins on the engine.

Now... it takes them 6 months to get the machining done. Then another 2 to assemble the engine. I have paid 5000 in cash, and the only parts they needed to supply were a set of ARP main/head studs, which apparently are 700 all up.

The engine blows smoke like a bitch and Richard starts saying it could be the head/sleeves/rings (which they had the work done on).

After another month they have pulled apart the engine to see what is wrong.

"Oh the darton sleeves you supplied arent suitable for turbocharged engines and failed..."

Oh Richard, aren't those the same sleeves used in this ...

<--- 11,000rpm 1400hp gt45r s15

which were also handed to you on day 1, 10 months ago? (dont rememberyou mentioning anything about darton being NA sleeves then)

He then has the gall to send mean updated invoice requesting ANOTHER $9000 in labour, which includes the cost of pulling apart the engine to see what went wrong, and the cost of over $1000 dyno tuning a stuffed engine.

You be the judge.

Luckily now I have letters from darton, mazworx, jack bros. and other 'reputable' shops showing his incompetence.

wow so then what happend? have you got your car back?

thought id add, after 3 weeks waiting for an update from them, i got fed up and went and collected my car this mornig, when i got there i was told by richard that he tested another r34 auto ecu ((from the guys next door!!!)) and the same error came up, he then inspected the coil packs to discover voltage errors, so he made a new earth for them and bam says im not sure if problem is fixed but take it and let me knwo if it happens..

anyway i took it away and my dad and i went and did 212 kms of driving up to glass house mountains giving it a bit of flog , and no warning lights, car is fine.

im so glad that i didnt buy a haltech under the impression from them that my ecu was f**ked, BUT IM ANNOYED I WAITED 3 WEEKS FOR A EARTH WIRE.....(considering they told me they extensivly tested the car to make sure it was def the ecu... and guarenteed me that it was..

I wont be going back there,

Edited by Silver_R34_GT-T
Eventually got car back after he threatened to keep and sell it.

Now in a legal battle. Anyone willing to help with anything would be appreciated.

Cheers

I remember seeing your car there twice i think ( in between 5000k services ) and its a really nice car mate, i just assumed it was some project they were doing, Like that green r33 thats always on the hoist at the back, )

That car has been there for ages!!! You were damn lucky it didn't get torched when they had the fire on the dyno. Your car was absolutely covered in foam and powder from the extinguishers!!! Am also surprised there wasn't more dents/scratches as it was never moved much to make way for other projects. I too go elsewhere now... took a couple of rebuilds though...

That car has been there for ages!!! You were damn lucky it didn't get torched when they had the fire on the dyno. Your car was absolutely covered in foam and powder from the extinguishers!!! Am also surprised there wasn't more dents/scratches as it was never moved much to make way for other projects. I too go elsewhere now... took a couple of rebuilds though...

oh well there ya go. didnt even know that. all i know is the awesome paint and panel i had done at Adrenalin is looking pretty average.

massive gash on the back bar that was never fixed. imagine saying darton liners are only for NA engines though... you could write what he knows about engine building on the back of a stamp with a crayon. awesome if you have an old peugeot 205 though thats just not quote right and needs a haltech e11.

Like that green r33 thats always on the hoist at the back, )

It belongs to a mate of mine... He ended up buying an R34 GTR cause it was taking to long...

You should have a close look at that r33 tho, its show car quality paint and panel is one of a kind with moulded bumpers (cost just under $20g in panel work)

Hey Col, not being a smart arse or anything, but I thought u were abig fan of Allstar...

Not really, I just researve many opinions from posting on the forums thats all...

Im a bit of a positive spin type of guy, you know look on the upside...

All I said is in this thread was for every good experience you hear about there is at least 10 bad experiences posted...

Its rare to find a shop with a absolute smick record, hence why I do all my own work (within reason)...

That all said I have disagreed with Richard on a few occasions and when I did the second dyno day in 2007 I choose to use Godzilla instead due to many reasons...

I also have spoken with Bryn quite abit about his situation in th past few weeks and told him to go and get the car as what Richard was suggesting was not the right solution...

So in short officially no im not a fan of this particular establishment...

I had a few good experiences and a few bad ones with Allstar, not my first choice is another way to put it...

It belongs to a mate of mine... He ended up buying an R34 GTR cause it was taking to long...

You should have a close look at that r33 tho, its show car quality paint and panel is one of a kind with moulded bumpers (cost just under $20g in panel work)

Haha! Your on the money there man, it has been there since around october last year... I'm just getting them to put the front suspension back in so i can roll it out of there back to another shed. Going to hang onto the shell to possibly complete the project one day :cheers: On another note, my brother took his WRX there when it was blowing smoke, they diagnosed (literally without doing anything more then listening to it and viewing the smoke) that it was a blown turbo and did up all the quotes and pricing. He took it to subaru for a second opinion, turned out to by bad fuel...

thought id add, after 3 weeks waiting for an update from them, i got fed up and went and collected my car this mornig, when i got there i was told by richard that he tested another r34 auto ecu ((from the guys next door!!!)) and the same error came up, he then inspected the coil packs to discover voltage errors, so he made a new earth for them and bam says im not sure if problem is fixed but take it and let me knwo if it happens..

anyway i took it away and my dad and i went and did 212 kms of driving up to glass house mountains giving it a bit of flog , and no warning lights, car is fine.

im so glad that i didnt buy a haltech under the impression from them that my ecu was f**ked, BUT IM ANNOYED I WAITED 3 WEEKS FOR A EARTH WIRE.....(considering they told me they extensivly tested the car to make sure it was def the ecu... and guarenteed me that it was..

I wont be going back there,

Since then,.... 4 days after collecting the car, the lgihts have come back on, BUT im fairly certain its coil packs, so im going to replace them and see what happens. still, ive been told by a mate that the coils shouldnt have the second earth that they have wried to my battery as its going to cause issues, so i might remove taht when putting new ones in.

GOt Boost, what were you doing with the Green r33? track car or daily?

Since then,.... 4 days after collecting the car, the lgihts have come back on, BUT im fairly certain its coil packs, so im going to replace them and see what happens. still, ive been told by a mate that the coils shouldnt have the second earth that they have wried to my battery as its going to cause issues, so i might remove taht when putting new ones in.

GOt Boost, what were you doing with the Green r33? track car or daily?

Was going to be a daily, had a RB25/30 with T04Z, gearbox rebuilt with PAR gearset and a whole lot of shit all done for it, then when the motor was finished (6 months) i decided to sell it all off and go for the GTR. All i have left now is the shell, suspension and wheels and stuff like that.

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