I’m not a customer of Al’s/Speedworks yet. But my cousin works there so :thumbup:!! So Neil, any word on rear disc brakes for my car?
Hello my name is Marvin Pascual and I am a representative of Autodream.
I would like to clarify a few things.
Your friend Alex’s first engine had no compression on one of the cylinders due to detonation. It was completely unrelated to the installation of the engine. We did not warranty that motor for a few reasons.
REASON NUMBER 1:
Alex had an SDS stand alone fuel management system and boost controller which he chose to tune HIMSELF.
REASON NUMBER 2:
It is hard to honour a warranty when the owner of the vehicle picks up his car, upon leaving, does a burnout, goes to the cul-de-sac down the street and perfoms a few donuts.
If you want me to explain why that makes it hard to warranty, reason number 1 in itself will void the warranty. When vital engine functions are not done properly it seriously jeapordizes the life of the engine. Alex was told to get it done by Ross at Racetech (the engineer who designed the system) but he was adamant about doing it himself. Reason number 2 shows abuse to the engine which also hinders the life of the engine and its components.
Despite these points, we still cut him a deal on a new “block” NOT a complete engine as you say. We even threw in a GReddy head gasket and installed everything for FREE. A few weeks after it was installed, we received another call from Alex telling us that his engine blew again. All he told us was that Titan Motorsports opened up the valve covers and saw metal shavings. At this point is was hard to tell what caused this problem as he wished not to bring the car over. He simply asked for his old engine back to grab the oil pump from it. That was the last we heard from him.
I’m not a math whiz but when I count it, I can see him buying 1 complete engine, and 1 block. I fail to see where 3 complete engines come from.
I’m not too sure what the policies were before I started working here, but we inspect all of our engines before installation. We make recommendations to change a few parts before installation and it’s up to the customer to have them addressed or not. I know we check oil pan damage as the sump is close to the bottom of the pan. As far as Alex’s block is concerned I cannot say for sure whether it was in tip top shape as it was a while ago and I will not make claims based on assumptions.
As far as our cars being slow, what basis do you have to prove this? We can install and tune engines but we cannot teach people how to drive. Our S14 did a best of 13.7. With SDS and a T3. We have another car with a A’pexi Power FC, and a larger T3/T4 and it also does 13.7. What does that have to do with us as a shop? Can you explain to me why one of our customers can do 12.8 at Medicine Hat with stock turbo? Quarter mile times have so many factors that blaming a bad quarter mile time on engine INSTALLATION and tuning is completely ignorant. We have dyno graphs of the 13.7 240 making 300whp and the 12.8 240 making only 220whp at the same dyno (Mustang which is proven to give lower power figures than Dynojets) Why is it that the more powerful car is slower? One could argue that the 300whp car uses skinny street tires. Another one could argue that the driver is too scared to launch it hard because he’s scared to break his driveshaft again, and he can’t afford that one piece that he’s had his eye on for so long. You did a 13.7 in Edmonton, congratulations I must admit that it takes alot of skill to do that with a “stock” sr20det. So good for you.
Okay about our drift cars. We have nothing built yet. We have plans to make 2. But of course they are not built and thus not “drift” cars. We are not the best drifters nor do we claim to be. Hell, we’re even considering sponsoring Mark for drift events if none of our cars follow through so we can do some R&D to better help our customers. We don’t even claim that our cars are race cars either. These are daily driven machines and some are even driven in the snow.
Aaron I’ve tried to be nice to you already. I’ve approached you regarding sponsorship of your site and giving members of your site special discounts, but you declined. You said that you tried to talk to us at VUB in Calgary and one of my employees didn’t want to listen to you and was showing off our cars. So I did everything in my power to ensure that will not happen ever again. That was rude and impersonal of us and I take FULL RESPONSIBILITY. You also mentioned that speedworks is another sponsor and us being a sponsor will conflict. Honestly, what will happen? A price war? Better customer service? Many things change when competition is involved and the biggest benefit is to YOU the consumer and all of the members of your site. If you feel that our business practices are so bad that you won’t even recommend it to the members of your forum then can you at least let us know what we are doing wrong so that we can adress it and correct the problem? If you are going to bad-mouth our shop can you at least make sure that they are true? You even say yourself that you have never had any business with us and all of your claims are based off “reliable” sources. I know you aren’t stupid, so why can’t you tell that when word gets spread around that they almost always get exaggerated? Honestly Aaron, this really steams me that you are saying all of these things and you post it yourself as a moderator of the forums. But you are entitled to your opinion and I cannot stop you from saying whatever you want. All I can do is offer my hand to you and apologize for our incident at VUB and hope that maybe one day we can become friends.
Sincerely,
Marvin Pascual
Autodream
I like this guy! He brings up some very valid points and seems to be honest enough to take full responsibility and tells it how it is. Hell as long as there’s no actual conflick I can’t see why we don’t give these guys a chance, for the greater good of the club! :roll:
Hello Marvin,
Well, I have two major points:
-
Thank you for posting on here, and defending your position, as you have every right to do. I know (or at least should have) that there are always two sides to a story.
-
Flat out, I know that I’m man enough to be able to give an appology when one is due. And well, sorry.
I guess my bashing resulted from me trying to defend our sponsor, my friend, and his shop, although I have no official role in doing so. Mark’s knocking of Neils shop just triggered me into doing the same right back. Another contributor is my no experience with your shop, and hearing stories of Alex’s car and a story or so on other forums, so I was quick to make assumptions and shoot down whatever was in my way.
Of course when you only hear one side of the story, as with many situations, you tend to gauge things in that retrospect. Just as I did. So thanks, like I stated above, for coming on here and stating your side of the stories.
As far as the sponsorship issues. Well, as a new club, for us to have all sorts of different sponsors within one area of vehicle areas would be ridiculous. We are having a meeting next Sunday, and one of our main topics for discussion is the sponsorship stuff. Whether or not we want a shit load of companies on as sponsorships, or if we only want one for each area. Your company will be taken into consideration, along with the other companies that have shown interest in our club.
And with the competition area, Neil never did have a problem with it, I just didn’t want many sponsors on board when we couldn’t justify the cost of sponsorship against the number of members that actually buy at a location.
I’ll chat with you later about this,
Aaron
P.s. Once again, sorry for drifting off topic.
…did someone say drifting ?
I knew someone would say that, I was gonna change it. Ahh well.
well I’m oredering a s13 black top sr20det from japan for 2800 SHIPPED with two axles with lsd and for a extra 800$ I’ll be getting a GREDDY front mount intercooler with pipeing etc. as for instaler my freind is putting the final touchs on starting his new buisness up he will be doing my swap for around a grand. The price includes my swap from and auto to a 5spd. If you got anyquestions tho pm and I can hook you up with the same kinda deals. My freinds have conectinos in Japan and can get brand new motors or used for cheap.
$2800 isnt that cheap.
Marvin, thank you for the clearly written reply. It is good to see somebody who values the English language and tries to be clear without laying blame.
I bought my 180sx engine from AutoDreams and Marvin was very helpful along the way and even after it was installed he checked up on how everything was running and I was glad I had purchased it from them . Shipping of the engine from Calgary was done very well too and had no problems with the Oil Pan as can happen in shipping.
$2800 isnt that cheap.[/quote]
2800 is with more than just the s 13 black top motor
either way theres a importing site called www.worldcarlink.com they sell all kinds of motors for imports they also sell true JDM cars you should check it out