I would like to hear about experiences with your buildup. Mines been miserable so I get to whine first! Please make me feel like I'm not the only unlucky person around!
My build started as a head and cam job to compliment my STS TT setup, ended up going stroked LS2 402, Tick MN6 trans, built diff, ported fast 90, ported TB and supposed to up the boost....after almost 1 year it's trailered back to me in non running condition due to a bad tune, turned it over to Bret, Blownbluez06, who finished up where the last guy had problems. Drove it maybe 2 hours and engine dies due to ingesting my meth nozzle, engine toast, rebuilt with iron block. Rode in Brets car, big mistake, and sold my Sts and went ***** to the wall Ysi setup. Get it going and alternator gave up, new alt and battery, get it going and the alt pulley is ripped off, towed home, crazy loud pulley somewhere in there, Andy steps up to the plate, got a flip drive, get it going and check engine light stays on, code says it's cam bolts, pulled apart and all is well, the stupid cam sensor harness came messed up from the vendor so quick fix after tearing it all down, now it won't start, after much time diagnosing it was a damn wire not connected to the alt for the fuel, get it going and start on the hwy noticing the voltage is low and getting lower....dies. Pull alt and bat and they test ok, put em back on and car starts and makes it home. Come to find out the starter main power line was simply dangling in the casing, replaced starter and all is great. Go to Brets where he gets my Ac going and we start some fine tuning at which point were sittin there for awhile due to him trying to tame my cam idle and drivability issues. He says go and clutch stays depressed out of the blue...everything is new, twin disk, hydraulics and trans so I'm all freaked out. Bret pulls it up and were not exactly sure what happened but it's fixed, drive it home and the kid wants to ride so we head out and barely got into it at which point the supercharger hose pops out, fix it and test and it happens again, changed around some of the clamps and I believe it's fixed. Woke up and was lettin the car warm up and I see a big puddle of oil coming out...turns out the quick disconnect had come loose. So i've been driving it today and nothing bad has happened. I know I have missed things but that's the big list. Someone please top me so I feel better. Glad to have people like Bret as friends

 

Cant top that but here i go...

Mine was when I was on my very last deployment. My wife took my car to a shop in Texas. It was her way of giving me a surprise. Well the guy has never tuned a car out of Texas and my car was in Arizona. When I got back I drove the car she seem to fall on her nose after 5500 rpm.

Well I know a thing or 2 about cars so I started to dig...
He used stock rockers with Comp R lifters, his tune was a big cam generic tune where he by passed all 4 02 sensors and was running dangerously lean, was leaking oil from the passenger side head, and from the timing cover She started to die at stop lights and wouldn't idle for ****, He said he put 59CC chamber heads with no type of relief like a catch can. He said the cam was a 232/238 600/600 on a 109LSA but no relieves where done to the pistons (59CC chambers mind you)...yeah explain that one to me. That where the nightmare began. He talked her into buying an after market tranny, aftermarket diff and a lot of **** I didn't need cause I wanted to keep my car under 600 rwhp. She ended up spending close to $10K with this piece of **** guy and the car when I ran against my buddies completely stock '00 C5 I couldn't pull on him for ****...That's when my mind just snapped.

Needless to say I took it to my tuner and he pretty much confirmed I had a ****ty build and showed me the tune and I wanted to cry. When I brought this to the attention of the guy he started to berate me telling me how I had no right in having some one look at his tune, build, and that I just voided any warranty he might have extended to me and over all just a piece of crap individual. I tore my motor apart sold the build he put together and went a completely different rout.

If you live in Texas and want the shops name PM me and I will gladly give you his name and the shop.

 

Seeliger racing engines? Rons automotive?

This guy opened/closed shop a couple times...he burned me out of 10 grand for SBC long block that was supposed to be very custom. I never got the engine and only pictures...dead serious

 

If you need to feel better, just read this thread.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-t...lxr-heads.html

 

That just sucks. I feel bad for both of you. I would need some serious medication if that happened to me. Best of luck in the future.

Chuck

 

I forgot to mention that my brake line had been rubbed through to the point of failure when I got it back, my LC1 failed and yesterday I noticed a vibration that is either the torque tube couplers or maybe tire wear.....and to top it off my wife left me and much of the blame was due to the amount of money and time I spent on that car! Dayuuum!

 

IN the almost ten years that I have been on this forum Ive had many many Pm's from people with similar issues, these folks are all too embarrassed to post this stuff in open forum.. I usually get a topic line like this' I wish I could just go back to stock , or the nightmares are just overwhelming, or mod remorse. You are not alone

 

I will totally admit it. Granted when the car is running it's fun but I would say that it hasn't been worth the headaches I've endured. If I could get my money back.....I would do it in a heartbeat.

 

I forgot to mention that there are many tuners and vendors here that have produced some very awesome builds...we will never know the total pluses and minuses.. Or those that are in denial or withdrawal from a bad experiece... but given a lot of Private feedback, I can conclude that the good build far outweigh the bad build, and of the bad builds, most are created by DIYers or unprofessionals.

 

Sounds to me that you just did not know what you're were getting yourself into.

It's one thing to add a mild supercharger to your car it's another to build a race car. Race cars need a lot of wrenching and maintenance. Take a look out there at the race cars and you'll see them constantly rebuilding them etc ....

To many shops out here bragging about 1,000 RWHP + builds without telling you how much work and maintenance it is to keeping them running.

I've been through a similar experience myself and I only have myself to blame for not doing my homework and realizing what I got myself into. Fortunately, I have an understanding wife and she just blew it off as a mid-life crises

This time around it's a nice mild 550 -600 RWHP build using proven systems that are reliable.

You should have just bought a ZR1 and had some fun. Hopefully you can work things out with the wifey and get your life back on track.

 

You are 100% correct! I do feel like an idiot, I wish I would have been content with what i had. Live and learn.

 

I see this all the time on this forum. Owners mod their car until it just doesn't even run any more. Keep it stock. It is a fantastically fast sports car. Mods just decrease drivability and value.

 

Oh and I forgot to add that I believe a pulley is going out and that my driveshaft couplings are going out as well....vibrations.

 

Well it's never too late to fix the problems. Turn down the boost to a more acceptible level where you're running 6 - 8 lbs of boost.

That will take the stress off of the motor and other components and let you enjoy the car.


BTW, you're not and idiot. To much internet hype, etc ... You can only so fast 0 -60 MPH on the street, after that you're be off to jail.

I too needed to grow up and realize what the heck I was doing, only took me 51 years.

 

got my build done, day after tune ran it through water.

 

I think a more appropriate thread title would be "Who screwed up your car?!!!"

 

I personally dont want to bash anyone. I believe that people have gone through the same problems I have and honestly I kinda feel that it might be something one might wanna know about before going ***** to the wall. In my case it was some bad luck for sure but it happens.

 

A friend of mine wanted an LT1 383, so he bought the Eagle crank, different heads, a lobby cam (I can't remember the brands), with some other cheap, not forged, parts, and his motor lasted a whole 8,500 miles after the build. Altough it's not an LS1 he spent about 5k on the build. He had gotten new headers a couple of weeks before his crank failed. The guy that build his motor builds motors for local stock or modified race cars. According to him, the guy that build his motor is really good at it. I personally wasn't impressed with the motor after the build. Now he is having to show Eagle as to where the crank cracked at.

 

I will add this also, what makes it bad is not that they screwed up, its really how they handle the screw up...A shop can do 1001 great jobs on cars, but if 1002 happens to be your car and the shop or individual treats you like crap you will never forget. the rest of the builds 1003 - 1 million could be fine but its all about how you personally where treated.

In my case the shop owner said he would install everything on for free but i had to buy everything that he screwed up. And I asked him..."You took my wife for $10K and now you expect me to dish more money out..." Needless to say I laughed and hung the phone up.

I wish I still had the pics... the cam had less than 5K miles it already had wear marks, scratches on the lobes that my nail could get caught on, the cam already was grooved and that takes a while not 5K miles. That is a a good show that the guy had no clue on the set up and anything else to boot. My stock cam that i got back wasn't even as grooved as this "new" cam. Let alone when i told him my car was leaking oil from the head and front cover he said it couldn't be possible...