Do you trust your local mechanic or reputable shop or do it all yourself thread????
08-27-13, 08:16 PM
#31
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I just cannot seem to trust anyshop in town for any kind of maintenance. I am the only one driving a SC3 in 30 miles radius. Chances they know anything about a 1JZ SC3 is out of the question. I did the swap myself, it was a pain in the *** because i had to go to school in the morning and work on my car all afternoon till evening ( Thanks to a friend lending me his garage space). I still felt i was way better off doing it myself than giving it else where to get it done. Later i wasnt happy with the soarer harness extension. I tried to make appointment with about 5-6 shops for a harness swap and they would never call back and tell me if they are capable of doing it or not. I ended up giving my car to a fellow CL member to swap harness and do a little bit of cleanup job, since i dont have a garage space to work on. But i still feel i was way better off doing that , rather than giving it locally to someone who has no idea about what my car is about.
Once i had given my previous vehicle to a shop for a drive shaft bearings and fuel pump job. Never got it back running perfectly, hell i even had vibration after the bearing swap. Few 100 dollars on that thing taught me a lesson to learn how to do it all myself. I'm glad i can do most of the things myself now.
Shops here literally want us to beg them to work on general public cars like their tools were made of gold or something. Only thing i would really go to a shop would be welding, tuning and this like alignment or underbody stuff. I'm no way in hell going to let any shop touch my motor.
-L0kz
Once i had given my previous vehicle to a shop for a drive shaft bearings and fuel pump job. Never got it back running perfectly, hell i even had vibration after the bearing swap. Few 100 dollars on that thing taught me a lesson to learn how to do it all myself. I'm glad i can do most of the things myself now.
Shops here literally want us to beg them to work on general public cars like their tools were made of gold or something. Only thing i would really go to a shop would be welding, tuning and this like alignment or underbody stuff. I'm no way in hell going to let any shop touch my motor.
-L0kz
08-28-13, 07:55 AM
#35
I try to DIY. Not as much because I don't trust the shops, but becuase it is much cheaper, and it helps to have the knowledge of doing everything yourself.
Here is an extreme "trust" story that went down the drain very quickly, though, this wasn't a Lexus, thank goodness. It was a big, crappy, 2001 Chevrolet Express van.
Boy, was that thing a lemon. Anyways, with this van, the motor needed to be taken out for everything. To do the spark plugs, you had to almost take the entire engine out. There was this one day when the oil pump inside the engine failed, and it wasnt circulating enough motor oil through the engine, and the pressure would not hold. BTW, this van had only 90k. This required the engine rods and bearings being removed. (well, of course. It's an express) My Dad got a call a couple of days later. The guy said..."Well, unfortunately, one of my mechanics blew your engine and it needs replacing now." He was like "WTC?" The mechanic was a snot and had put the engine bearings and rods in, completely backwards. Shot a rod immediately directly through the oil pan and made a hole the size of a quarter. On top of that, he had cracked the cap. My Dad wasn't very happy. An 8k van just depreciated to a 2k van. To make things worse, the owner wanted the $1200 of the money that they used to FIX THE VAN. Lets just say it wasn't the best day. They ended up giving us the van, siezed engine and all, for free! (how bout that! BONUS.)
Now, this place was a really trustworthy mechanic that my Dad knew for yearsand we had taken all of our vehicles to him, up until now. We haven't gone there since. Just shows how important trust is.
We're not planning to go back there any time soon, if ever. He lost a customer for life.
Of course, we aren't going to replace the oil pump ourselves. But if one happens to go out, Moneysworth will not get it.
On the positive side, the 2001 Express hunk of crap was sold for 1200 with no motor. Figures. 7k down the drain from a careless mechanic.
Here is an extreme "trust" story that went down the drain very quickly, though, this wasn't a Lexus, thank goodness. It was a big, crappy, 2001 Chevrolet Express van.
Boy, was that thing a lemon. Anyways, with this van, the motor needed to be taken out for everything. To do the spark plugs, you had to almost take the entire engine out. There was this one day when the oil pump inside the engine failed, and it wasnt circulating enough motor oil through the engine, and the pressure would not hold. BTW, this van had only 90k. This required the engine rods and bearings being removed. (well, of course. It's an express) My Dad got a call a couple of days later. The guy said..."Well, unfortunately, one of my mechanics blew your engine and it needs replacing now." He was like "WTC?" The mechanic was a snot and had put the engine bearings and rods in, completely backwards. Shot a rod immediately directly through the oil pan and made a hole the size of a quarter. On top of that, he had cracked the cap. My Dad wasn't very happy. An 8k van just depreciated to a 2k van. To make things worse, the owner wanted the $1200 of the money that they used to FIX THE VAN. Lets just say it wasn't the best day. They ended up giving us the van, siezed engine and all, for free! (how bout that! BONUS.) Now, this place was a really trustworthy mechanic that my Dad knew for yearsand we had taken all of our vehicles to him, up until now. We haven't gone there since. Just shows how important trust is.
We're not planning to go back there any time soon, if ever. He lost a customer for life.
Of course, we aren't going to replace the oil pump ourselves. But if one happens to go out, Moneysworth will not get it.
On the positive side, the 2001 Express hunk of crap was sold for 1200 with no motor. Figures. 7k down the drain from a careless mechanic.
08-28-13, 10:18 AM
#36
Mark to be honest with you I learned all this crap on my own, trialing error, breaking stuff, spending ridiculous amount of money. Setup after setups, from 1jz, to na-t, from 2jzgte to na-t, na-t to na-t, then na-t , then gte, then another na-t.
I wish someone would just spoon feed me.
Ali will tell you when did stuff on my car and learned how stuff worked on my 2nd SC with all kinds of Toyota parts on it and modification.
I wish someone would just spoon feed me.
Ali will tell you when did stuff on my car and learned how stuff worked on my 2nd SC with all kinds of Toyota parts on it and modification.
That thing ran so hard If I remember right I think the headgasket went the next day on an overboost 20+psi or something. My hand might as well have been glued to the oh s#!& handle.
08-28-13, 07:18 PM
#39
Its just another unicorn!!! LOL
08-31-13, 05:36 AM
#43
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i am a machanic by trade went to school for it years ago an i have been with nissan for 10 years now, i have seen good and bad things about dealerships its all about the guys and how deadicated they are to finding the right problems, me personaly i hate just throwing parts at a car once in a while might get lucky but i like to do this right the first time, i have been doing a lot of performace stuff on the side for years, been building nissans for people like crazy mostly sr20's, but i have a buddy that had a swaped rsx with a tsx k24 motor swap was done ok, but then when the same shop boosted it thats where i found a lot of stuff wrong with it, the car never got a good final tune they ended up screwing him out of money and what not the car held to gether for about 9 months till it broke a few ring lands, so a good buddy and me tore the thing apart new pistons redid the head new head gasket studs all the good stuff, i ended up fixing a bunch of wireing, intercooler piping that was rubbing on its self, and the big thing to me was there was no heat wrap on anything, if some of you don't know hondas with that motor the exhaust manifold is in the back against the fire wall, so there was alot of heat sitting there, i wraped the manifold down pipe and cleand it all up i had the car for over a month fixing issues after that it was awesome ran great got a new tune made 500whp was a bit crazy but it was a sweet car. its all about time an the little things
08-31-13, 07:33 AM
#45
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ya i started out at a toyota dealer was my first dealership just out side boston was crazy busy all the time, but i cam accross the sc from a buddy so i gave up the 240 for the sc and man i'm glad i did its a blast to drive just can't wait to put some more money into the build