Schantin

iTrader: (6)

I'm not one for bashing people (or shops), but my level of disgust is beyond words at this point. I know that TRT went out of business in June, but there's a lot of peeps that had work done on their cars....and they might want to really check out the work performed. Here's the deal:

1.Sent the car to TRT in April 2007 for a HC swap, wrap the exhaust, add 60lb injectors, and install a 3" I-pipe while I was in Iraq. Figured it would be done when I got back and thus I wouldn't be taking time away from the wife and kids to wrench on the car.

Here's what I got:

1. Car was supposed to be set to 7PSI. Was left at 5PSI.
2. Tune exhibited knock when I scanned w/ HP Tuners.
3. 2x fuel leaks from rails (one dripping on my headers).
4. Incomplete weld in I-pipe leaking exhaust by rear axle.
5. Removed all my emissions equipment and threw it away w/out asking.
6. Broken driver-side mirror.
7. Broke AC line to condenser doing cam swap and gave me lame excuse.
8. Never tied of MAF wiring...it was cut in half by poweer steering pully.
9. Left 1x bolt out of catalytic converter to collector on driver side.

Now, this is where I've gotten mad and decided to actually post this:

10. Rocker arm torques ranged from 10-50lbs.
11. 3x head stud nuts were NOT torqued past finger tight!
12. My favorite..... they DID NOT clean the bolt holes before installing the studs. They had swapped from the GM Dexcool to the standard "green" coolant when the heads/cam were changed. Before I pulled the heads this time I vacuumed the water jackets 1st w/ a shop vac (to prevent coolant spilling). Thought I saw some wetness around one of the studs when I wiggled it. Pulled the stud. Full of RED Dexcool. All but one of the boltholes on the passanger side was like this. I've spent the last evening cleaning boltholes and checking w/ an inspection mirrir for block cracks. I'm pissed.
13. Another favorite...... they crossthreaded a stud on the middle row 2nd from front passanger side.

Yet to remove the timing cover and pull the cam (been too busy cleaning other messes). Can't wait to see what's there. Probably find the cam installed wrong at this point

....... beyond unacceptable. I had tried to be nice when I found the initial items and contacted Billy at TRT for resolution. Was more or less ignored. If I knew then how much was f'd on my car....I would have posted all this on-line last January.

Anyhow..... it might behoove some of ya'll to check the work on your cars. I'm sure this isn't an isolated case.......they did go out of business for a reason.

Photochop

iTrader: (74)

That really sucks man. No wonder they went out of business...thats the worst stuff I think I've ever seen with no compensation.

SPRAYED 01

iTrader: (22)

Im not familar with that shop.where is it. What does trt stand for.

Drew04GTO

iTrader: (1)

Texas Rear Turbo. Was based out of Arlington, TX. Sorry to hear about your car dude, although I'm not suprised that TRT did that. This is the exact reason I'm trying to get a shop together down here.

Urban Legend

iTrader: (5)

Wow. I have never heard anything negative about TRT. Hope you can work this out with them.

Reject

iTrader: (24)

i've never heard anything good about TRT!

WizeAss

iTrader: (5)

Although Billy didnt do the work himself, he is to blame since the shop was his. That is why he closed down...... money got tight, bad help, and the wrong type of customer.

After he shut his step son Dustin took over........ that I assure you was a nightmare.

All in all Billy was a good guy and is still honest. He just put every dime he had in trying to keep the business, but with limited resources it wasnt possible.

Just be glad you aren't me is all I can say. I got it as bad as anyone.... 2 popped pistons, 1 grenaded head, some cash and odds and ends. Billy is making some of this right at the moment. But as far as reprieve from shoddy work you as well as myself are SOL!

Reject

iTrader: (24)

knew you would come in

ZL1Killa

iTrader: (17)

well PTK/PTS screwed me... and I was going to order from TRT... oh twell glad I didn't


hope you get everything fixed man

Schantin

iTrader: (6)

Yep, working on it. The crossthreaded head stud is the biggest prob right now. Soliciting best method to fix...or leave as is.

Never had a problem ordering parts from them. Billy was actually very well priced when it came to parts. It's the labor I had major heartburn with.

rufretic

iTrader: (37)

I actually have a heli coil kit made for our cars to fix stripped head bolt/studs. It comes with everything you need. It's not to bad to fix, you drill it out retap it and then put the heli coil on the bolt/stud. I got it when the same thing happened to me. The kit is great but expensive, the problem is, there just isn't any more options out there, I looked every where before I bit the bullet and got this kit, glad I did though cause it was a nice easy fix, plus they say with the heli coil, it is even stronger. You pretty much have to fix it because it will only get stripped more when you put the bolt back in. Then there is no way your going be able to torque the bolt down to spec to get the clamping force you need to seal the head, that will cause a lot more problems.
I have no need for the remaining heli coils and kit so if you want it, pm me and I'll get you some pics of everything it comes with. I think new it was over $400 but I'll cut you a much better deal obviously but I have to look up how much I actually paid before we work out a price. Let me know.
Thanks,
Lou

Schantin

iTrader: (6)

I'll let you know. Going to remove it a 2nd time and look things over/clean.......again....

BTW, it's not stripped....just cross-threaded. The stud is actually installed right now. It's just not totally bottomed out in the hole (about 1/16 inch from the bottom). It's in there as tight as I'd care to torque it....which is about 15-20lbs. Baasically torqued to the point where the allen key begins to slip on the head of the stud....and I didn't want to round out the hex.

Websy21

iTrader: (34)

Wow that sucks man, its shitty to say you would have been way better off doing it yourelf. Its going to not only take twice as long as you first anticipated but more money as well. Good Luck man, either way it will work out!

rufretic

iTrader: (37)

Yeah, thats cool, just let me know. Just a heads up though, if it's cross threaded that far down I would think the threads would have been weakend quite a bit. Good luck either way, it's a pain when things go wrong.

99Z28LS1

iTrader: (4)

i had my STS installed there in 06' and the car's been making 500rwhp since then, and billy and dustin...... that's right, both of them were the ones who turned the wrenches on it when it was built. I was sad to see billy go, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Dustin helped me out here and there, but i had nothing serious ordered when he got the position. But when he closed down, my buddy had an 05' 5.3 Silverado with Dustin's custom turbo set up. Truck was in the process of getting a new turbo friendly cam and some fuel upgrades + a TA girdle and dustin shut down. So far, my friend is out $1330 with not much help from Dustin, very sad to see **** go down like this.

Beaflag VonRathburg

iTrader: (176)

Ah, the wonders of doing your own work. I can see you wanting to get it operative when you come back, but I enjoy working on my cars. Granted I don't have a wife and kids. I hope that's the full extent of your problems and you don't find anything else.

Louis

iTrader: (7)

Its a shame. I picked up 2 cars, one white camaro and one blue SS turbo truck from this mishap.

The list of parts were nice, but the execution left some to be desired. A little time, some labor and a few missing pieces to the puzzle, and both cars are back up and running, pretty quick I might add too

JAvenger007

iTrader: (9)

First of all, Schantin it is such a shame to see this happen to you.

I have been away from the boards for many months so I have not seen this news of TRT going out of business. Some of you may know and some may not but I went to TRT last summer 07 for a decent amount of work which included springs, oil pump, cam, clutch, flywheel, hydrolics, and the aid of my rear mount installation. The process took a lot longer than expected and posed many issues with me having driven all the way from Atlanta.

I was SIGNIFICANTLY dissatisfied with the way the business was run, the quality of the tools/equipment and shop, and the attitudes of the employees. Billy was a fantastic guy and a gentleman though and I refrained from bringing up any of these issues with him due to the kindness I received. He took me to lunch nearly every day and allowed me to aid in the installation of my own kit in his bay while they did the other work. At the end of the day he only charged a couple hundred dollars extra for the rear mount installation help and his labor rates were below anyone in the area for the cam/clutch install.

Here is the bad part:

My vehicle blew a head gasket almost instantly on only 5psi. During the spring change I asked to see how tight the motor was and the cylinders were spot on. You would think the vehicle only had about 30k miles on it. It actually has 85k because I have babied it for years and left it basically stock so no compression issues what so ever before the install. The car made little to no power and poured coolant everywhere. I had to drive it home after Dustin told me there was nothing he could do with the tune and that some cars just take poorly to FI. I didn't buy it and was already days behind schedule.

Once I arrived back in Atlanta I purchased a set of LQ9 heads and had Vengeance Racing install them. They were fantastic with service, have excellent facilities, and have always treated me with great respect. During the head swap they found a 14mm socket INSIDE the valve covers and took pictures. The socket was the very one that one of TRT's mechanics were badgering me about saying that I "stole". Later during the tune, Vengeance pointed out nearly a dozen things wrong with the tune, from poor tables and timing to injectors. The car was scaled for 36lb injectors even though I had 42lb installed right there with them at TRT and illustrated this during the tune. The car immediately picked up to 420hp and became perfectly drivable. They mentioned that if I ever went into full boost with the TRT tune I likely would have immediately blown the motor due to how dangerously lean Dustin tuned it. After analyzing the car on the lift, I spotted a few bolts TRT failed to replace during the exhaust work, one of which they stripped out and I asked to have replaced.

NOW, the clutch has gone out completely after only a few thousand miles. Luckily it is not my daily driver, but it reveals how poorly they installed the clutch given the few miles I actually put on it. It is rated to 600lb ft and I only make about 450. The clutch replacement will likely cost over $1k due to replacement parts if there is little to no damage from the burn up. Other than the dyno tune at Vengeance, I NEVER took this car to a full 5psi and over 5000 rpm with that clutch. So, I have yet to feel the actual power potential of this package.

I contemplated revealing these issues to the board but TRT always seemed to have such perfect reviews. I felt that the news would affect Billy, a good hearted business man plagued by ignorant, irresponsible employees. Now, I have no regrets with sharing the information. If there is one piece of advice to give it is always do your research and trust the shops with a longer, more developed track record.

A shop like Vengeance will always see my car, even if they are slightly more expensive for a particular service. The support and treatment there is worth every penny. I'm not trying to make a sales pitch for them, but primarily support the fact that you get what you pay for. I TRUSTED TRT with every phone call and late night email up until I got there in person. If they get involved with any sort of spin-off companies please approach with caution. I hope Billy the best, but still, check your cars if you have passed through their lifts.
-Jason

99camarosupersport

iTrader: (6)

I don't know how people operate like this and live with themselves? I really don't?

Schantin

iTrader: (6)

Couldn't have said it better. Car's coming along. Deck's been cleaned. All but 6 bolt holes to go. I should be in good shape after that. (Still have to remove the timing cover for the cam....so there's one last "unexplored area" where things could be screwed up.)

As for the one head stud that seemed crossthreaded, I spoke w/ the guys at Va Speed (a shop that I actually have been very impressed with). Learned that there can be some slight varience in machining on the bolt holes. Their $0.02 was that since I cleaned the bolthole prior to install, the stud's installed, it's tight, and within 1/16 to 1/8 inch of the others in height........ to leave well enough alone or I'll most likely create more probs. I'll find out when I torque the stud nut and then re-check the torque after the head's installed

If I don't run into any major snags from here should have it together and started by the end of the weekend. Tuning it myself....so I'm using someone I trust This combo w/ my supporting mods should make more power than when the STS was in it.

Of course.........I wonder now how much power that STS would have made if I didn't have 15+ unknown issues holding it back...........