So my friend brought his 2007 Vette down to Cartek..........
#42
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1.) Stop sending funds
2.) Pull the car out of the shop
3.) Do your homework
4.) Get some friends that are mechanically inclined or find a shop you can trust (ask around)
Personally, I would get a crate engine. Hell, ask around maybe someone is doing an engine swap and you can get theres for a good deal. Then if your friend is not mechanically inclined, throw on a blower. Easy enough.
Sorry things went to crap.
2.) Pull the car out of the shop
3.) Do your homework
4.) Get some friends that are mechanically inclined or find a shop you can trust (ask around)
Personally, I would get a crate engine. Hell, ask around maybe someone is doing an engine swap and you can get theres for a good deal. Then if your friend is not mechanically inclined, throw on a blower. Easy enough.
Sorry things went to crap.
#43
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CARTEK if you would like to respond in this thread PM me and i will reopen it for you to respond
#44
So heres the short story. My friend brought his unraped 8,000 mile 2007 Corvette down to Cartek for their stage 3 heads/cam(exhaust, ported intake bolt ons, etc) and spent $8600..he JUST wanted a nice power increase along with the beautiful sound that comes from a cammed LS engine(thats all)....
He was given a 2 week waiting period and the car was supposed to be delivered to him. On the day it was supposed to be delivered he called to ask when the car would be there and they responded with "oh you didn't get a call? we are having trouble with the car...we need more time" So as time passed he was told they put the car on the dyno and on the first pass and the clutch let go. Add $2080 for a clutch job.
After that while the car was getting tuned the engine decided to let go(bearings went bad and the rot. assembly was destroyed) due to a "bad" engine...Supposedly its common for a brand new LS engine to let go from doing a heads/cam swap. Now they recommend he get a fully built 402ci(the works supposedly) and its going to cost him another $8800($1800 just to remove and replace the engine)...and right now the car is all apart getting ready.
What started out as a simple(but over priced) head/cam swap is now costing him $19,480. As of right now he send them 6 of the 10k to get started on the build.My friend isn't really familiar with modding cars so he has no idea what they are talking about when they tell him he NEEDS cometic head gaskets for a simple built engine at 200$ for the gaskets along with all this extra stuff.
What kind of advice can you give him? Right now the car is sitting in pieces with the engine all apart. I recommended going to get the car and doing a simple TSP short block with the heads/cam that he already bought from them....but id like to hear some of your opinions.
He was given a 2 week waiting period and the car was supposed to be delivered to him. On the day it was supposed to be delivered he called to ask when the car would be there and they responded with "oh you didn't get a call? we are having trouble with the car...we need more time" So as time passed he was told they put the car on the dyno and on the first pass and the clutch let go. Add $2080 for a clutch job.
After that while the car was getting tuned the engine decided to let go(bearings went bad and the rot. assembly was destroyed) due to a "bad" engine...Supposedly its common for a brand new LS engine to let go from doing a heads/cam swap. Now they recommend he get a fully built 402ci(the works supposedly) and its going to cost him another $8800($1800 just to remove and replace the engine)...and right now the car is all apart getting ready.
What started out as a simple(but over priced) head/cam swap is now costing him $19,480. As of right now he send them 6 of the 10k to get started on the build.My friend isn't really familiar with modding cars so he has no idea what they are talking about when they tell him he NEEDS cometic head gaskets for a simple built engine at 200$ for the gaskets along with all this extra stuff.
What kind of advice can you give him? Right now the car is sitting in pieces with the engine all apart. I recommended going to get the car and doing a simple TSP short block with the heads/cam that he already bought from them....but id like to hear some of your opinions.
You friend did come in with a beautiful 2007 Corvette. The fact that he never abused it is why some of these problems didn't manifest themselves till the car was making an extra 100+ rwhp.
Did your friend tell you that when we first tore down the motor for the initial install we found a broken lifter from GM that scored up the lifter bore? We call him before we did anything else and got him a set of new lifters to replace them all. The lifter bore was scratched from the lifter coming apart and there was debris in the upper portion of the motor. We cleaned up the mess that was there and kept on going with the job as planned. This did slow us down due to the extra labor involved and having to notify the owner of the situation.
The car goes up on the dyno and the tuning begins. Everything looks fine. The first real dyno pull starts and right away the clutch lets go. It spins up like the car was in neutral. How is this our fault? We didn't install the clutch. This is a know combination and the clutch has held on countless cars for us before. I would say go to the track with the stock clutch and dump the clutch at 5k rpm, but for dyno pulls and for getting around on street tires it is more than fine. We notify the owner again and let him know what is going on. This is Saturday night. We trying to get the car done to then deliver the car. The owner stops by on Monday with his friends (3 if I remember correctly) to look over the car. Everyone there seemed to be on the same page and in agreement with what was going on. Not to mention a couple of phone calls from two other people who seem to have experience with modding cars asking questions on his behalf. We have answered all the questions and hid nothing. We have nothing to hide, this is just an unfortunate event for all involved.
Upon replacement of the clutch the clutch looked fine. The problem was a hydraulic failure, it looks like the slave hung up. When we replaced the clutch we also replaced the slave and added a remote bleeder. We went with a new SPEC 3+ clutch and flywheel. So he is good to go. The price you quoted is also with labor.
Thats exactly what I said. He doesn't drive the car hard..and for an LS engine with only 8kmiles to blow up from a simple heads/cam package...
Well so far hes paid the 8800 for the first setup..and hes given them 6 of the 10 to start getting parts..I told him to get a refund on the 6k worth of **** since they didn't build it yet and get the car out of there. He better be getting a good set of heads/cam along with whatever else that cost him the initial 8800.
Well so far hes paid the 8800 for the first setup..and hes given them 6 of the 10 to start getting parts..I told him to get a refund on the 6k worth of **** since they didn't build it yet and get the car out of there. He better be getting a good set of heads/cam along with whatever else that cost him the initial 8800.
I told him to order a TSP short block and I would assemble the long block and put it in the car for no charge just give me his old block....the TSP long block is around 4000 shipped..and comes with a brand new block and brand new GM crank. He does NOT need a 402 or even an engine with a forged crank for what hes looking for.
The situation is unfortunate and we are working on pricing with the owner only because we feel bad for him, but not because we did anything wrong.
The reason the owner decided to go with a 402 was because it was a low cost upgrade considering he needed rods and the crank needed to be cut as well as rebalanced for the new rods and pistons. Debris went through the motor and the bearings most importantly. The motor has been in this condition for some time. The fact the owner didn't really beat the car is the only reason it didn't let go sooner. Once 100+ rwhp was added that put the whole situation over the edge. Driven for some time longer (this summer) he would have been with the same problem.
#45
When we went to dyno the car the first pull with the new clutch everything went extremely well. First numbers with the A:F being fat and the timing being conservative we saw in the mid 400's to the wheel. So with the appropriate timing and fuel we were sure to hit 460's to 470's to the wheel. Very respectable for the setup. The next pull we saw the power increase with the changes in fuel and timing, but the power seemed to fall off in the upper rpm range. We knew what we saw the lifter and debris before, but figured to go through basics first. So we checked a few things and did an additional pull with no tuning changes and the power fell off sooner and by a greater amount. At this point we know what is up and called it quits till we did some investigating. We pulled the filter and cut it open and didn't like what we saw. Pulled the pan and didn't like what we saw...
Once the engine was apart it was apparent what was going on and had happened. Does anyone think that every engine/car that rolls off GM's assembly line is perfect?
We have done many and by many I mean "countless" setups and you never hear anything going wrong. Every so often you you get one car that just isn't right from the get go. So when you modify it the issue becomes magnified.
I have seen on stock cars:
- lobes break off the camshaft
- lifter failures
- timing chain bolts come out and the cam stops spinning and PTV clearance goes away.
The list goes on and on...
This is all on stock untouched cars that came in on flat beds.
To the original poster, if you like you are more than welcome to call just like anyone else.
The owner doesn't have a problem with our work or level of service. We have done everything we can and will continue to do so for him. You don't see him posting here.
Right now this is just a distraction and is keeping us from getting back to your buddy's car so we can get it out of here and back to him.
Nice for your 3rd post.
This is bull and you know it. Many posts have been made in response to this. The person you mention is on his 2nd shop since us. And the motor he got from the tuner after us he already blew too. LOL. So who is the problem?
I hope this hasn't been too lengthy, but we felt we needed to post since the "haters" were having their fun.
Happy New Year to all!
Max
Once the engine was apart it was apparent what was going on and had happened. Does anyone think that every engine/car that rolls off GM's assembly line is perfect?
We have done many and by many I mean "countless" setups and you never hear anything going wrong. Every so often you you get one car that just isn't right from the get go. So when you modify it the issue becomes magnified.
I have seen on stock cars:
- lobes break off the camshaft
- lifter failures
- timing chain bolts come out and the cam stops spinning and PTV clearance goes away.
The list goes on and on...
This is all on stock untouched cars that came in on flat beds.
To the original poster, if you like you are more than welcome to call just like anyone else.
The owner doesn't have a problem with our work or level of service. We have done everything we can and will continue to do so for him. You don't see him posting here.
Right now this is just a distraction and is keeping us from getting back to your buddy's car so we can get it out of here and back to him.
OH ****!!!
THEY STILL USING THE SAME GAME PLAN TO GET THAT $$. THEY DID THAT SAME **** TO ME YRS AGO. ON A Z06 FROM HEAD/CAM TO A WHOLE ENGINE SETUP TO A CLUTCH. EVEN A REAR THAT THEY BUILT & STARTED TO WHINE ! ALL IN 6 MONTH TIME FRAME! THE CAR ONLY HAD 4K MILES WHEN I WENT FOR A HEAD /CAM SET UP!!
IM SORRY!! YEAH CARTEK PUT DOWN THE #'S FOR POWER !!
BUT DAVE MAKE'S SURE U PUT DOWN $$$$$$$. WHEN THEY *** UP UR ****.
I NVR AGAIN WILL I EVER DO BUSINESS WITH A SHOP THAT TAKES 4VER TO GIVE U BACK UR CAR. AND DOEN'T WARRANTY THEIR WORK. AND ANOTHER THINK THAT SUCK IS THAT THEY LOCK UR ECU SO U CANT GET THE CAR RE-TUNE IF U ND TO.
THEY *** THAT UP 2 & BLAME IT ON THE DEALER .
GD OLD CARTEK. A SHOP #1 TO GIVE U THAT GD BULLSHIT!!
TELL UR FRIEND TO GET IN FINE PRINT WARRANTY FOR MORE THAN 30 DAYS.
THEY STILL USING THE SAME GAME PLAN TO GET THAT $$. THEY DID THAT SAME **** TO ME YRS AGO. ON A Z06 FROM HEAD/CAM TO A WHOLE ENGINE SETUP TO A CLUTCH. EVEN A REAR THAT THEY BUILT & STARTED TO WHINE ! ALL IN 6 MONTH TIME FRAME! THE CAR ONLY HAD 4K MILES WHEN I WENT FOR A HEAD /CAM SET UP!!
IM SORRY!! YEAH CARTEK PUT DOWN THE #'S FOR POWER !!
BUT DAVE MAKE'S SURE U PUT DOWN $$$$$$$. WHEN THEY *** UP UR ****.
I NVR AGAIN WILL I EVER DO BUSINESS WITH A SHOP THAT TAKES 4VER TO GIVE U BACK UR CAR. AND DOEN'T WARRANTY THEIR WORK. AND ANOTHER THINK THAT SUCK IS THAT THEY LOCK UR ECU SO U CANT GET THE CAR RE-TUNE IF U ND TO.
THEY *** THAT UP 2 & BLAME IT ON THE DEALER .
GD OLD CARTEK. A SHOP #1 TO GIVE U THAT GD BULLSHIT!!
TELL UR FRIEND TO GET IN FINE PRINT WARRANTY FOR MORE THAN 30 DAYS.
Cartek is bad news, and if you had read the past few threads on them you would know that. A guy i used to talk to from Long Island NY spent $25,000 on a built LS7 for his 08 C6Z and ended up turning into 40k. he sued them and only had to pay $10k though lawyer fees included.
I added cartek to my list of shops to avoid years ago..
and also if i was that guy there would be a lot more problems than just money
I added cartek to my list of shops to avoid years ago..
and also if i was that guy there would be a lot more problems than just money
I hope this hasn't been too lengthy, but we felt we needed to post since the "haters" were having their fun.
Happy New Year to all!
Max