Well we should have not been told 3-4 weeks from the get go. Hell I can contact tuna and have a kit for my car in a week. The GTO owners are looking that way as I am if I do not have a kit in my hands by Dec 22nd!

I was told intercoolers where the hold up. So I called Joel and explained to credit me and I would get my own. He is suppose to call the guy and find out what the deal is.


People Joel is sourceing out to do his coating,polishing, intercoolers is killing him. If it were me I would check other places. But he is done with the LT1 so I will see what plays out.

 

yeah screw the intercooler at this point, if its gonna hold up my kit for another month I dont want it, I'll find one somewhere.

 

I understand everybodys in a hurry to get there stuff. I just got my first shipment of parts from Joel. Lets give the man some time to get things done.I waited alot longer than 9 weeks to get my stuff.I would rather wait and get good quality. Joel will get you your kits just give him some time. Its true that maybe you should have been told it would take longer than 4 weeks. But things happen that push dates back all the time.Hang in there Joel in the end everything will work out.

 

Where is some updated pics TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

 

*Start of rant*
You would think that nobody has EVER missed a deadline in their own job by reading this thread. I had to wait about 6weeks+ over what I was told by another sponsor on this site for some parts I ordered and guess what? They still made it to my house all nice and shiny and I was just glad I got what I paid for. Now, I didn't come out of pocket quite so much as you guys, but my parts were custom tailored to me like these kits Joel is making. I knew there could be some delay and I planned accordingly. I am also a very patient person.

I just think like a few others, that he needs to work without distraction and get yalls stuff done. I DO think that there should be updates at least weekly though, and if you call you get a straight answer from him (that just seems fair to your customer IMO). But guess what, i'm NOT making kits for these cars, or hand fabbing stuff day in and day out AND trying to make sure my supplier of other parts is on track so I can get shipments out. It sounds a lot easier to accomplish when you aren't the one doing the work. Threatening to go to another supplier this late in the game just makes your buddy loose time on his kit because you decided you couldn't wait any longer. We at least know Joel is working his *** off, we NEED someone like that to make kits. It's not like he's taking money and running. He IS working.
*Done with rant*

Jon (Soon to be buying an OFI kit)

 

Updates would keep people happy

 

Joel, hang in there on this rough F-body crowd It will be worth it on both sides of the coin

 

Your right, probably half the members on the board have waited longer then expected for parts from sponcers. I went through it with a top Quality header company that does it everytime they make a batch. But its worth the wait when you get them because they are pieces of art. Same thing with these kits that are being made. When you get it you will know you made the right choice because its just about the best you can get. We need these company's to stay alive instead of trying to run them into the ground. I live close to ofi and go out there periodicly to hang out. He's there working on things 7 days a week. There's not a lot to choose from as far as turbo kits go for lsx vehicals and I'd hate to see this one go.

 

Talked with Joel. He was sick which is understandable get like that this time of the year. Intercoolers and being worked on as we speak.


Holding tight for a while

 

here's my problem I was told back on 11/11 he was waiting on intercooler to show up and turbo well thats what he told us last week again, the intercoolers are not done?
then on friday morning you get this pm from him over at ls1gto and here it is wednesday night I have not heard any response via pm's. Its been 10 weeks of 2-3 weeks, almost done, another 3 weeks, etc etc...I just want to hear something that I can bank on and I should not have to call every time. I think the fact I paid $5700 up front 10 weeks ago should mean something. I understand both sides though its tough to start a new business

 

I think Joel working really hard to produce great kits at fair pricing. That being said, I think the only thing that really disappoints me so far is how far behind Joel is on GTO and LS1 kits and how much time is being spent on LT1 testing/tuning etc.

 

Joel, please respond via PM or Phone, way off schedule.. Thank you. Jon

 

Im sorry I disappoint some of you guys on the kits delivery time. I have had other shops pm me about trying to find faster out sourcing on some of the stuff. The LT1 car has been here for over 3 months, so I think it deserved the time that it got in the past weeks. Its done now. I have to drive to chicago on friday and deliver it.

 

Chin up now Joel....Keep up the good work and get your paid customers taken care of before you take on more customers.

I would recommend on the next batch that you don't take deposits, I think all the posts would be geared more toward excitement and anticipation for the release of the next batch instead of threads about how some people paid 5K and are waiting x amount of weeks.

 

Yeah ive been waiting my fair share of time i dont think joel should get knocked because your unhappy with how much time is spent on something that isnt yours BTW i think it took like 2 weeksto complete. That isnt too long for a whole diffrent kit

 

Ok whatever. Yeah I'm sure fabbing, testing and tuning a complete new kit for the LT1s really took only 2 weeks. From what I understand it was harder then the LS1s. Look I understand Joel is working his *** off and have refrained from posting anything negative so far because I believe he will come through. I'm not bashing him just pointing out that is doesn't look very good to the many paying LS1 customers (some waiting ALOT longer then me) who have nothing to show for their deposits.

 

Reality check. How many guys are welding these kits? ONE! JOEL! He has to source the parts, wait on the suppliers/delivery schedules, measure, cut, trial fit, prepare the parts for welding, put them in a jig, tack weld, verify the welds, keep up with welding inventories and any schedule issues on that availability, eat food some G.D. time, sleep somehow with this sh*tstorm of PM's and emails and phone calls. It looks like it's a full time job replying to the PM, Email, phone and snail mail alone. I'm sure some of you would rather he work on the kits themselves than walk over, open Outlook and scan thru hundreds of emails/PM's and answer each individual item. Look, the real deal is this when you quote a specific time to deliver ( I quote projects for my contract work each week and have since '86) you're giving a customer a time span with certain assumptions:
1. All parts will be on hand and/or readily available.
2. There will be no interruptions from bad weather, material shortages, access to machinery, sickness, accidents, family tragedies, etc
3. The customer will understand that, barring specific STATED and agreed to "late delivery penalties", they are paying me by the project, not by the hour.

I make every effort to be expeditious but things happen. In this case, I believe Joel, with the best of intentions (and perhaps not expecting the volume of orders) gave people a ballpark idea of delivery, based on working on a single setup in a dedicated manner before moving on to the next kit. Now he has to manage much more inventory, delivery of parts, trial fitting on 3 different engine/chassis platforms, business AcctsRec/ActsPay/Banking, unpacking shipments and verifying contents/backorders, packing up shipments for UPS. I'm sure he's much wiser about all this now but I bet he's smarting from the drubbing he's been getting here. He makes a wonderful product that is absolutely worth the wait not only in function but in visual appeal. If having to wait a bit longer for this kit is the worst thing that has happened to you, you're blessed.
Keep up the great work Joel! Consider an intern soon!!

 

Yeah that's all fine and dandy, but if you just make the damn kits and THEN POST UP THAT THEY ARE FOR SALE, they are ready for immeadiate delivery and you don't **** the whole world off. It's not that complicated; don't take ANY MONEY until you have a kit ready to ship, and then you aren't inundated with constant nagging and having a crowd of pissed off people. That would have all of these posts (points) covered.

 

Starting a small business from scratch isnt easy. Its costs money for materials and even more money for small quantities. You think a business person should just order materials per customer... thats ridiculous if you do. You save alot of money when buying 20 header flanges versus 2 header flanges (just an example). Not to mention the success of 1 kit can result in 50 ls1tech members ready to dish out deposits... which in turn means Joel needs that money to order large quantities of supplies for the kits. It would cost Joel $10k out of pocket to stock only 2 kits. If thats the case, I am sure Joel would want to be doing something else other than turbo kits.

 

But now you are making potential customer's liable for your own startup failure. If you have startup dinero then you can get to work.... without it you must rely on "pre-order $", if you go under you are sticking it to your customers. This isn't B2B where a loss gets written off, it's taking real people's hard-earned cash...

-sorry for the jack, and I know Joel makes REALLY NICE stuff, it's just back to business basics...