This is in response to the previous post that West Coast Corvettes does not stand behind their work posted by Ripped427
I would like to set the record straight for all who feel that WCC is in the wrong for not reimbursing Ripped427. West Coast Corvettes has always and will continue to stand behind their work and products. For those of you that do not know, WCC has been in business for over 17 years and did not get there by taking advantage of its customers. Our performance technicians have extensive knowledge with over 20 years of Corvette performance experience and we have spent many years developing our products. In light of this we are still human beings and mistakes will happen. I am not denying the fact that this car could have had performance problems that were from our installation or defective parts. The problem with this issue is that when I discussed this with Doug Rippie were the car was taken for diagnoses I agreed to send him a new camshaft on his word that the original one was improperly installed by WCC. At this time he also commented on how nice the work on the head porting looked and asked if he could flow test them. I agreed and he phoned me a few days later and stated that they did not produce very impressive numbers. At this point I was somewhat shocked as we have had great success with our head package but was open to the possibility that there could still be be a problem with this particular set. Our Stage IV heads are CNC machined from the same program everytime and then hand finished which produces very consistant performance but again I was open to have them checked and reworked if there was a problem. I asked Doug to send the heads and the cam back so I could have them checked. It has been over 4 months and I have yet to receive the damaged cam or the heads back. Even if this was a warranty issue, how can someone expect compensation without sending the defective parts back to their maker for inspection ? If there was a problem with the flow on these heads it could have easily been corrected by us and this issue laid to rest. WCC was more than willing to resolve this issue with DRM even though we were really not obligated through our warranty policy. We sent them a new billet camshaft free of charge and were willing to correct the heads but why were they not sent back? We have made every effort to resolve this issue but have not received any correspondance since Doug said he would send the parts back. Ripped427 clearly admits that the problem with the horsepower loss was bad cats. That is probably why the heads were never sent back to us. This issue could have also been resolved if someone took a little more time diagnosing the problem before ripping the motor out. I dont know about any of you but I would not be happy about paying for diagnoses that involved pulling my motor apart and charging me thousands to find out I had bad cats. I am sorry to Ripped427 for his unfortunate circumstance and am still willing to look at the heads and correct them if needed but do not feel that paying all of his requested expenses is a fair claim. It is unfortunate that many come to quick conclusions before all of the facts are in but I hope this will help to clear the air and to show that we are very concerned about these unfortunate situations and always willing to resolve them as fairly as possible.
By the way our stage IV head and cam package has shown repeated results of 430-440 flywheel hp and over 430ft lbs of torque. These are very respectable numbers considering they are produced by retaining complete drivability, fuel economy and passing California smog. The HP numbers can easily be increased by milling the heads to raise compression or by a more radical port configuration but we feel that most people would like to retain the driveability as well as reliability. We also must stay within stringent California smog laws. We are always willing to challenge our competitors to prove that we are more than just "gear installers". Again we appologize for not being able to attend the Route 66 Tuner Shoot Outs but we were having problems blowing the head gaskets on our new 442 ci LS1 motor that is producing close to 1000HP. We have resolved the problem and will be at the C-5 Birthdaty Bash for the Tuner Shootout so for those that want to see what a "gear installer" can do, come out and see. We have attended many shows all over the country for the last few years and many of you have seen our Stage IV car run, only to be beat once by Lingenfelters twin turbo car. Not bad for a head and cam car.

Craig Chapman/President
Happy New Year !!!! :flag :flag


[Modified by West Coast Corvette, 11:59 PM 12/31/2001]


[Modified by West Coast Corvette, 12:19 AM 1/1/2002]

 

Good to hear both sides of the story. I also think it is great for the president of the company to take the time to visit the forum to respond to an issue. Thanks.

 

I'm not quite clear why if someone buys a used car they would go after the shop and not the seller, Although I believe the car was sold as is. If the work was done to the car before it was sold, dosn't that take WCC out of the loop. As I recall, the car was also sold for a substantial discount. Sometimes if it seems too good to be true it might not be. I don't mean to stir things up here, I just can't help seeing the obvious.
JB

 

I read all the other long posts on this subject. This post by W.C.C. seems to be very straight forward, Thanks for the reply, wish you were close to Pa. Skip :chevy

 

Great reply...just the facts. We manufacture components for the high speed cable internet access industry (the cable modems many of you have) and we offer the same policy, return any defective part and we replace or repair at no charge. But we could not offer compensation or replacement parts without the defective/failed ones to test and see what (if anything) went wrong. I am anxious to see the heads/cam shipped back to WCC and see what they find. No arrogance seemed to be in their reply (unlike the Hennesey threads).

It's good to hear both sides especially since we have all heard good things from both WCC & Doug Rippie customers plenty of times here....they both have my respect. :yesnod:


[Modified by TLewis4095, 11:57 AM 1/1/2002]

 

Craig, if you had not told me to "PUNT" your words in July. And had not responded to my email as you did I would not have approached this this way. You NEVER offered to look at the Heads. Are you now? the Here is the Dyno sheet of the West Coast Corvette Heads and Cam TPIS headers Z06 intake, computer program, throttle body, intake, exhaust, radiator and several other items installed by WCC's to the tune of 16K spent to make more HP you decided if it did? :crazy: P.S. the Motor is Still Sick and if your willing to I'll put the motor back in the C5 and re dyno it without the bad cats.. And if it doesn't make anymore power what will you do to make it right? I'll even pay for you to fly out and observe the dyno run.. The problem isn't the cats...Nice try though.. And Guys I did offer to ship the car back and was told it wouldn't be necessary by WCC's


:crazy:




[Modified by Ripped427, 12:12 PM 1/1/2002]

 

Most warranties are written to cover the manufacturer and the end user as fairly as possible. Typically, most warranties cover the defective parts only and almost universally exclude all tangential costs associated with the replacement of defective parts - including labor, freight, loss of use, rental cars, etc.

The best bet would have been to have the car back in the hands of WCC (assuming the warranty was transferable)





[Modified by '98 Six Speed, 12:25 PM 1/1/2002]

 

I have not had many experiences with the service of WCC, but in the times that I have, they have been more helpful then I expected. When I purchased my chrome rims at Carlisle 3 years ago, they let me inspect the wheels until my heart was content. In the process rejecting rims I felt were not up to my standards, while other customers looked at me like I had two heads, because they did not see the "alleged" problems, and subsiquently purchased what I felt was bad. None of these "bad" rims by the way were ever a problem for the eventual owners. Then when I thought I did have a problem they were willing to personnally inspect them while on the car (this was 3 yrs after purchase by the way) and found that the "problem" was not an issue with the rims. Never had they tried to deny for any reason covering a replacement under warranty.

Now I am waiting for their remanufactured rear since last March, and I have received calls from Craig to keep me abreast of the shipping, plus I have had conversations with Fred on this. It has been offered to me for a deposit refund on this item due to the long wait, and I did not even ask for it ! If a supplier is this concerned with these items, I don't know why their opinion would be different on anything else. I also firmly agree that the "diagnosis" of the low power of the engine was not handled properly. In the situations I have been involved with, if a car has no reasonable explanation of power loss one of the next "tests" is to uncap the exhaust to eliminate a bad cat or bad muffler or even an internally collapsed exhaust pipe, so why was this not done ? Can any of the forum members who own repair shops, or work at them act any differently when "your" work is being diagnosed by someone else ? Don't you always just wonder a little if they did their job correctly before blaming you ?

 

This is not pretty!

 

Craig,

I got through about four sentences before my eyes starting rolling around in my head. Unfortunately, the lack of paragraphs stopped me from reading further, so I don't know your response or what caused it. It might be nice to break your statement into paragraphs in the future. :cheers:

Herb

 

Interesting read.

I'm certain that in the future WCC will be as cooperative as the post claimed they "were" to Ripped; but for Ripped to be this upset, I must believe that this wasn't the case back then.

The suggestion to "punt" ... is not the same attitude that started this thread. I think WCC "burped" on this one and now has regained their professional composure. I just wish Ripped would get something for all the aggravation.




[Modified by Mike Mercury, 3:52 PM 1/1/2002]

 

I appreciate the WCC response ... a healthy discussion will help bring out the facts. Communication is the key to resolving these issues. This one is pretty complicated.

My situation had a similar flow but after my rebuttal the tuner in question had no more to say. :smash: :rolleyes:

 

At least nothing that we saw for very long....hint.....hint..... :mad

 

Just a general comment on head porting, not a comment on this situation:

Once a head is messed up while porting, rarely can it be fixed. Once the material is removed, it is gone. In some cases you can weld on the head to re-build up an area, but that is very bad for many reasons.

It seems like folks are routinely getting charged TOP DOLLAR for LS1/LS6 head porting. And often this is fairly generic head porting, just a particular CNC program with a cleanup (no specific grind-flowtest-grind development). In some cases, the porting doesn't seem that extensive considering how much is being charaged.

For the prices being paid, customers should insist on a flow test of the finished product.

 

You are so right on the porting issue. My bet is that factory LS1/LS6 heads are certainly easier to port well than any SBC factory head and yet the prices remain out of line. Maybe it has to do with many tuners just buying and reselling the service instead of being hands on?

 

Well, heads are welded up every day. Often times, this process makes the heads better than they were before. We have welded up the spring perch on brand new heads before in order to raise the roof of the head. I wouldn't say that these heads were worthless at that point. There are also repairs to customers heads that we have welded up, usually resulting in a stronger head and extra material. :)

Now, back to the WCC story....