So I'm writing this on behalf of a close friend, its quite along story but Ill give you the basics. Im not ready to use any names so if you are familiar with this story which many of us around here are please refrain from using any names in the comments.
So in the middle of 2014 my friend contacted a very reputable and well known shop here in northern california who claim to specialize in E30s and asked them to build him an s52 for his already swapped e30. The shop is very well known in the Norcal E30 scene.They agreed on a price just over 11k to do a full from scratch engine build. I know 11k is a lot of money for a motor but he planned on keeping the car for many years and wanted to pass it down to his son when he was of driving age (No thats no sob story totally real). The S50 that was already in the car had a rod knock and He just wanted to make sure this was done right. The shop told him they were very qualified and would love to take on the engine build. He gave them the car and a few months later picked it up. Right from the get go the motor just felt flat and weak, but he kept driving it thinking it just might need to break in a bit. A few weeks later the engine was dumping large amounts of oil into the intake. The shop recommended a catch can. A few more weeks went by and the catch can was filling with oil every week or so. The car started to run very badly. He took it back to the shop and they found some issues in the valve train. They had the car for almost 7 months and kept giving him the run around about what was taking so long. My friend had to buy a bunch of parts and gaskets to get the car fixed but eventually again after about 7 months and a lot of complaining he got the car back.
The car seemed to run ok at best. Aging the motor felt very weak but the issue of oil in the intake seemed to be fixed. Soon after the car started blowing large blue clouds out the exhaust. My friend had just kind of had it at this point. He took the car to one of the top notch bmws shops in the area and had them do a leakdown and compression check. He still has the numbers but it had low compression in all 6 cylinders and an absolutely terrible leak down across the board. At this point he had kind of had it. He again contacted the shop who built the motor and explained the issue, they made a bunch of excuses and blew him off, this went on for months. The shop were very unprofessional and refused to make this right. My friend grew more and more upset. He spent top dollar on this engine and at this point the motor was just junk. After hitting a wall with the shop He contacted the Bureau of automotive repair and explained the case. They recommended taking the shop to court and thats what my friend did. The shop agreed to settle in court for $7500 and a court order for payment was put in place. I told him to ask for the full amount but he just wanted it done. My friend has got half the money and the shop will not pay the other half. The shop claim they do not have the money but it seems like total BS. The shop are very involved in social media and business seems to be thriving. It appears things are going very well. I know they have just purchased a quite valuable e30 from another e30 junkie (I have inside info on this deal). My friend just wants his money and for this to be over.
So heres my thing. I have two things id like to hopefully accomplish but not sure how. First off Id like to bring an end to this nightmare for my friend and get his money. Any info or help would be much appreciated. And second id like to share this story but I'm not sure how. I feel this story should be shared but again Im nor sure how to do that. I certainly don't want to spit a bunch hateful opinionated BS but I do feel simply telling the facts here and the name of the parties involved is something that should happen. I feel this community should know who this shop is and how they operate but i worry the minute I open my mouth and say a name the thread will be locked. I don't want to slander anyone or get in any debates but you guys should know. So what can I do, what can I say and how should I say it. Advice will be greatly appreciated.
So in the middle of 2014 my friend contacted a very reputable and well known shop here in northern california who claim to specialize in E30s and asked them to build him an s52 for his already swapped e30. The shop is very well known in the Norcal E30 scene.They agreed on a price just over 11k to do a full from scratch engine build. I know 11k is a lot of money for a motor but he planned on keeping the car for many years and wanted to pass it down to his son when he was of driving age (No thats no sob story totally real). The S50 that was already in the car had a rod knock and He just wanted to make sure this was done right. The shop told him they were very qualified and would love to take on the engine build. He gave them the car and a few months later picked it up. Right from the get go the motor just felt flat and weak, but he kept driving it thinking it just might need to break in a bit. A few weeks later the engine was dumping large amounts of oil into the intake. The shop recommended a catch can. A few more weeks went by and the catch can was filling with oil every week or so. The car started to run very badly. He took it back to the shop and they found some issues in the valve train. They had the car for almost 7 months and kept giving him the run around about what was taking so long. My friend had to buy a bunch of parts and gaskets to get the car fixed but eventually again after about 7 months and a lot of complaining he got the car back.
The car seemed to run ok at best. Aging the motor felt very weak but the issue of oil in the intake seemed to be fixed. Soon after the car started blowing large blue clouds out the exhaust. My friend had just kind of had it at this point. He took the car to one of the top notch bmws shops in the area and had them do a leakdown and compression check. He still has the numbers but it had low compression in all 6 cylinders and an absolutely terrible leak down across the board. At this point he had kind of had it. He again contacted the shop who built the motor and explained the issue, they made a bunch of excuses and blew him off, this went on for months. The shop were very unprofessional and refused to make this right. My friend grew more and more upset. He spent top dollar on this engine and at this point the motor was just junk. After hitting a wall with the shop He contacted the Bureau of automotive repair and explained the case. They recommended taking the shop to court and thats what my friend did. The shop agreed to settle in court for $7500 and a court order for payment was put in place. I told him to ask for the full amount but he just wanted it done. My friend has got half the money and the shop will not pay the other half. The shop claim they do not have the money but it seems like total BS. The shop are very involved in social media and business seems to be thriving. It appears things are going very well. I know they have just purchased a quite valuable e30 from another e30 junkie (I have inside info on this deal). My friend just wants his money and for this to be over.
So heres my thing. I have two things id like to hopefully accomplish but not sure how. First off Id like to bring an end to this nightmare for my friend and get his money. Any info or help would be much appreciated. And second id like to share this story but I'm not sure how. I feel this story should be shared but again Im nor sure how to do that. I certainly don't want to spit a bunch hateful opinionated BS but I do feel simply telling the facts here and the name of the parties involved is something that should happen. I feel this community should know who this shop is and how they operate but i worry the minute I open my mouth and say a name the thread will be locked. I don't want to slander anyone or get in any debates but you guys should know. So what can I do, what can I say and how should I say it. Advice will be greatly appreciated.
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