Silvia Club of NSW

I sent my car to another workshop to give it a good once over after being somewhat dis-satisfied with my usual mechanic and the verdict was a little more shocking than I first thought!

When the wiring loom was done to match the engine to the car (s14 engine in a s13), it wasn't completed properly with the following wires cut and taped up rather than connected properly

O2 sensor
Oil Pressure Sensor
VCT
AAC Valve
Water Temp Guage
Gearbox wiring loom wasn't done correctly

Aswell as the following items being neglected

Exhaust - I went cheap on one of those JJR dump pipes, and it didn't fit, so I paid him to make it fit... although he didn't and this knocking noise I had been hearing for a LONG time was the exhaust hitting on the body of the car.
Bracket holding the turbo and exhaust up - completely missing, I though it was strange that there wasn't one, but having never owned a complete s13, I'd never seen one before so I didn't know it was missing
Actuator - hooked up incorrectly - although some of the track day guys showed me how it is supposed to go
Breather hoses - new piping was done and these were blocked off.
Piping - when i asked for a mental intake pipe, I was given a little bit of metal and a pipe that sucked closed over 4000 revs
Failed to pick up a cracked dump pipe
Radiator - NEVER bled properly.


So.. basically, I paid for a conversion, expecting that most of this (bar the last few bits associated with my new turbo) to be included, I crashed a car, I then paid for it AGAIN with the new car.... now after a fair bit of shoddy work and a little help from my friends, I took it somewhere else, and have paid them a fair bit of money to fix it all up.

I know a fair bit of this stuff I should have picked up, and a bit of it i did and some of it my mates did.. but alot of it i I didn't because I'm such a freaking n00b.

Now, how do you feel about paying for things 3 times?

What would you do? would you seek recovery of the some of the bill from the mechanic? or would you cut your losses? Would you bring it up with him? how?

I'm absolutely terrified of having the conversation with him, I've mentioned a few of the issues, and he was very apologetic, but more came through (bigger wiring issues) and now i feel stronger about how much he fucked me over.

BUT.. having said that, he did everything in good faith (i think) and he's the nicest guy EVER... how do I have that conversation with him? what should i aim to get out of it.

I'm so lost.. should i just tell him what was wrong and walk away, and if he chooses to rectify it, he will and if not, I'll leave it?

I'm so lost right now

if you can, get another mechanic to write up a list of exactly whats wrong, then go to the original workshop with the list and leave it with him to look over. explain it and if he's as nice as you say, he should accept some responsibility..

You have taken the first, and major step by seeking a second opinion.

I agree with above, get new guy to make a list, also ask if he will confirm by phone if needed (or put it on a company letterhead) and take it to him.

At the end of the day, how nice can he be? I would be nice to you if you were giving me money too.

It's tough, but if you don't look out for you, no one will.

You have to get some money back, thats a given.

You need to know how much you have spent, and on what. If you don't have an itemized receipt then atleast write a list of the work that was done each time it was in and put the dollars against it.

Stuff that wasn't done (the dump pipe and intake pipe are prime examples) should be refunded in full, i don't think he can argue this. Honestly if there's more than $50 bucks charged for that intake pipe i'd be swinging it at his head.

Things like the loom which were incomplete but atleast mostly done you can argue that he covers the cost of having the work completed by the other guys. (you need an itemized bill from them for this)

Before you approach him you need to know exactly what you are after, and you can negociate from there.

If you want to be nice, you can give him a couple of days to look at the figures, but you've gone and spent extra money to have work done that you paid him for already, you should be chasing the total of the new bill as a minimum. I reckon you could reasonably chase more than that as you have had to make multiple visits, trailer the car back and forth, etc etc. It gives you more room to move if you feel like negociating.

If he is as nice as you say, he will come up with some sort of refund.

If he doesn't, then you need to be prepared to pursue it, and you have to make sure he is aware of that.

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meh

Send badhairdave around to unleash the crying windmill of terror

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Disclaimer: I actually DO know everything

Sil80 - SR20DET 231rwkw
Silvia Race Nugget - SR20DET 225rwkw
Stagea - DeathWagon - RB25DET 185rwkw.

My Lame Gallery: http://www.toomuchboost.com/gallery/main.php

lets not do anything you might regret afterwards......

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meh

If he's the nicest guy EVER, he should cover the cost of getting it fix right cos he should done it the first time..

I'll give it a go.

i think the main thing is the wiring, that's the one i feel strongly about.

I've just gotten $400 odd back for a refund of some dud coilpacks.

I would get rid of your shitbox 180 and buy something reliable like a skyline Or maybe a bike..

Hi-Larious

I am right! See what happens when Lizzy cuts my track time by blowing radiator hoses everywhere..

Hai Liz!

you seem to have forgotten about dumhed's NA S13 pwnage at the sau track day....

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meh

Anyways back on topic,

Liz I didn't realise how much was actually wrong.. Except for the fact it's a 180 *hides*

You said yourself that the mechanic has been quite busy lately so he hasn't had time to watch over the other guys..

You know Powerplay will always look after you..




Yea Yea.. Bloody Andrew keeps cutting me off in the corners.. I think I just won't pass him for scrutineering next track day...

HELLO KITTY! ^_^

P.s Hai!

yeah when i said that, I was trying to not sound like a complete bitch.. yeah, i know full well he did the wiring, and hte rest of the shit stuff came from one of the boys

oh in other news, the coilpacks i had replaced, were actually working fine, and the new ones were dud, so I asked for the old ones back and he had thrown them out

another 500 odd for coilpacks

wooo

I did offer to sell you a proper, working S13 some (many) months ago Liz on SAU :p