Car Talk!

[RamonGTP]

Yeah, he just finishing installing the Whipple last week. Interestingly enough, the whine from the Whipple is significantly more subdued than the the stock blower is with the smaller pulley. I'm uploading the rest of the video's now, among them are my buddies one successful run, so you'll be able to hear the difference between stock blower and the whipple.

[Bizkitkid2001]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RamonGTP

Thought you guys might enjoy these video's of a Dyno Day I went to yesterday. I'll be adding more soon and uploading them to photobucket, but for now they're on my personal ftp server.

Movie.wmv is a friend getting his cobra dyno'd

Movie0001 is another friend getting his cobra dyno'd, and blowing a head gasket (we think)

Movie0005 is your truly doing my very own dyno pulls on my car. I gassed it too early on the first pull and it downshifted, but I got it right the 2nd time around. Oh, and the HP figure at the end of my run is not correct, we were expirementing with different load levels on the dynojet during that run. My real RWHP figure was 267.5


ftp://timo:123456@bf2.xweb.org

Your car sounded great when it down shifted. I looked up the specs, and it says it has a 3.5L V6, would you know if the 3.5L V6 in the Avalon is the same engine, but tuned for lower performance? The avalon has a similar low growl, but not as loud as your car.

[RamonGTP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bizkitkid2001

Your car sounded great when it down shifted. I looked up the specs, and it says it has a 3.5L V6, would you know if the 3.5L V6 in the Avalon is the same engine, but tuned for lower performance? The avalon has a similar low growl, but not as loud as your car.

Similar but not quite the same engine. My car has an 11.8:1CR and has both direct injection as well as the more traditional port injection. The only vehicles using this version of the V6 is the IS350, GS350 and GS450h. The 3.5 in the Avalon, and all other Toyota/Lexus 3.5 V6's have a lower CR (don't recall exactly what it is) and have port injection only.

The only mod to my car is I replaced the rubber accordion intake tube with a smooth aluminum one and added a K&N drop-in which give it a slightly throatier tone at WOT.

[The Real Bingo]

Finally got the car to the body shop!

[RedFury]

Both stabilizer links on the dakota were broken. Think I took care of that weird noise up front, along with the bouncy ride...replaced both shocks. Always a pain to get out. Noisy little dremel took care of them in short order. One of the shocks was so bad it fell apart! I've still got a strange noise out of the front end though. If I run about 10mph and lightly apply the brakes I can hear a rhythmic noise coming from the front end like someone tied a string and a bead onto the rotor and it's hitting something in the undercarriage per revolution. But I only hear it when I brake lightly. I've got more investigating to do I guess.

I'd just like it to warm up a bit! I lost 2 tomato plants to frost yesterday and I may have lost my 2 strawberries this morning due to the cold....grrrrr.

[RobRich]

Still debating on the Supra. Salesman wasn't too sure on low dollar pricing yesterday. Had to talk to the lot owner. Let him sweat for another day, then see what he really wants for the car. It is an automatic, so it is not likely going anywhere any time soon.

[RamonGTP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RamonGTP

The first cobra did 464RWHP

My friends cobra that blew the gasket did have a successful first run and put down 535RWHP

Just wanted to update this thread. My buddy pulled the heads off his Cobra a couple days ago, the head gasket and the heads are fine. Apparently the head studs had stretched out enough to allow boost to get into the cooling system. Not surprising, it is a Ford after all.

[Bizkitkid2001]

I had a horrible experience today at the dealership.


I called and made an appointment earlier this week to get my oil changed and to have my brake pads looked at this morning. I got there before the appointment time and it still took them 20 minutes before they drove my car out of the first parking area.


I then watched a movie on my laptop and realised that it had already been almost 2 hours since I arrived and there was still no word on the status of my car. SO I got up and asked the lady at the service desk if she would be able to find out the status on my car. About 10 minutes later I saw her come back with the Assistant Service Manager (The guy that I first met when I arrived who took down my information) and I overheard him talking to one of the technicians about my car. The conversation is followed:

ASM: "ABout that RX8, have you already done the oil change on it?"
Tech: "No, its just been sitting there the whole time."
ASM: "Hurry up and do a quick lube job and bring it up front as fast as you can."


He then walked over to me and told me that my car is being "wrapped up" and will be out shortly.

I then demanded to talk to the main manager, and he was happy to oblige.

After he told the manager I wanted to speak with him, I saw him go pull my car out of their waiting area where they park cars waiting to get service done, and then saw him drive it into the garage bay.

When he came back, me and the main manager were waiting for him so that I could discuss the matter. I first asked the ASM what they had done with my car in the past 2 and a half hours while I was in the waiting room. He said that they had done the oil change and checked my brakes like I had asked, and that the car was just minutes away from being finished.


I then told him that I had seen him just a few seconds earlier, drive my car into the garage bay for the very first time. He said that was true, becuase that is where they do the oil changes. I pointed out to him that just a moment before, he already said that my oil change was finished. He then stuttered for words but never made a complete sentence.

I then asked him about my brakes, how much wear did they have on them. After stumbling for words again, and trying to keep a straight face in front of his boss, he ended up saying "Good." Just "Good." is all he said. I asked him what the wear percentage was, and he said "You have many miles left."

I then again, reminded him, that the last time I came in, he had said (THis was the same ASM) that my brake pads were at around 30% wear left and would need to be replaced within the year. ON my service report, they had then marked down as "Yellow" indicating that repairs would need to be made soon. And those same brake pads, he now says are "Good and have many miles left on them."

After that, the main manager dismissed the ASM, and told me that I would no longer have to talk to him, and he assigned another ASM to assist me with this current issue and any futhure service.


The new ASM told me that there was a recall for my car, that the ECU needed a flash to update to the latest version. I asked him what the recall was for, and he said it was to fix rough idling and loss of power in high ambient temperatures. These symptoms are what I had told the last ASM in my previouse visit, and he said that nothing is wrong with my car. And now I find out that there was this recall out for my car which is suppose to fix the symptoms that I am having. SO, he lied to me about the oil change, about the brakes, and now about there being a recall.


Then the new ASM recheduled me for another day. He waived the oil change cost, and said that when they do the recall on my next visit, they will also do a complete inspection of the car. I forgot all the details, but he said that everything on the car will be checked over free of charge. I think I saw something on their pricing board that they had a 121 point inspection for $250, so that might be what he was referring to.


I made it clear to the main manager many times about Mazda's "We will not walk away from any Mazda Owner" satisfaction program, and the fact that they are not the only Mazda dealership in San Antonio. When I told him that I would make a phone call to Mazda Corp. if this was not taken care of, I probably could have made him eat a dog treat out of the palm of my hand while on his knees.



The problems did not end there. When I got home, I just happened to look up at my oil sticker and saw that they had put in 10w30 (Mazda specifically states 5w20 and NOTHING else) oil in my engine. I immediatly called the dealership and talked to the main manager and told him about having the wrong oil put in my car. I told him that Mazda sent out a report saying that using the wrong type of oil can lead to premature engine failure (be it the wrong weight, or using synthetic oil) and told him that he better be prepared to give me a new engine under warranty if this oil messes anything up.

[RobRich]

Stealerships FTL. You can occasionally find a good dealer, but it is a huge YMMV possibility. Sadly, the stealerships give the few actually good dealerships a bad name by association.

You could have demanded the keys, filed a complaint with Mazda, then drove to another Mazda dealer or certified service center. Despite the manager showing willingness to help, incompetent middle management is oftentimes a sign of incompetent upper management as well.

[RedFury]

Wow, and I had thought of switching jobs to being a service writer Of course, I'm a little bit more proactive than this guy was obviously.

That really falls under the horrible customer service dept. I mean, getting behind is one thing, but when you've got a guy sitting in your waiting area for that long and the car isn't being taken care of in a timely manner, you gotta at least go out and talk to the guy. It's like being in a restaurant, the waitress needs to check to make sure you have your drinks topped off and that your food is good to go from time to time.

Speaking of a bad day, I get a phone call from my boss bitching to me about complaining to other people in the shop about the fact that he's putting $800 into a beater truck of ours just so it'll last another year and be in decent shape to sell and still hasn't replaced the tires on MY truck, which I've been complaining to him about since winter started.

He yells at me for not talking to him about it and telling others. I yell at him saying that I've been telling him about the tires since before Christmas. He tells me that they are within minimum spec, and I tell him where he can stuff the minimum spec since I already had to be pulled out of one ditch, recovered from a customers driveway, almost hit 4 cars on a side street trying to get up the hill to another customers home, and that the thing is hydroplaning horribly. Just pissed me off. I also told him that I didn't appreciate the fact that he's gambling with my life over a set of $300 tires.

At that point ( about 5 minutes into it ) he tells me that the mechanic ordered a set of tires for my truck, so I'll be getting them. I'll believe it when I'm riding on them.

He also claims that we are getting 4 new trucks next summer. I was told this same story 3 years ago

So, I feel your pain Biztan!