This is my first post over here and it is not a good one but one I thought I should post it. I wanted all of you to be aware of an issue I am having with Cerra Racing and wanted to inform you so you do not get caught in the same mess I am!!!! Please follow this link to the Corvette Forum. Warning, It is a long one!!!

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=514184

 

BlackSun,

Ive followed your saga over at the vette forum and I have to give you credit. You have way more patience than I do. Good luck, I hope everything works out.

 

BlackSun(John I believe) sorry to hear about all the problems with the car. Hopefully your done with the problems with the car for a while. I also enjoy the work that Power House does when they recently did a converter and gear swap in my 98 Z28. Id like to see your car and MTI 427 roadsters car sometime due to I also live in the area(Elmhurst). Let me know how the trans is holding up. Im already in need of a new one and am contemplating either Speed Incs 4L60E stage 3 build, FLPs Level 4 trans, or possible a TH400 conversion. Hope to hear from ya.

 

Man I really feel bad for you. I am glad things are finally coming around. Make sure to keep us posted.

 

OMG ! I would have given up long ago. Cerra Racing should have been thankful that you kept the tone of your posts so fair throughout all of this ordeal. Too bad they don't appreciate how much worse it could have been for them had things gotten nasty. They should be bending over backwards to make this right for you even if they feel that some of your problems were not directly under thier control.

Good luck with the car, Ken

 

ive been reading you post on the vetteforum as well...its really sad to see what happened to you. i dont know where you got your patience from, but i would have gone loony a long time before you did. props for all the patience and hopefully you can get all that **** worked out.

 

wow thats all a crock of shat,i hope the car stays running good and your happy with it.oh yeah by the way i loved the oil for their asses comment it made my crappy day that much better

 

When I try to read the thread on the corvette forum toward the bottom, my browser locks up. Tried several times. Anyone else have this problem?

 

HOLY CRAP BATMAN ...
i hope your car hauls now Blacksun

 

Can someone cut'n paste whatever the problem is, I can't wait all nite for the pages of that thread to load, that site is crawling right now.

 

That IS a bunch of crap. Sorry to hear it. I wish you good luck with the car and stick with it man!

BTW, did you graduate from GT?

 

In fairness, this is a post Cerra Racing made to BlackSun at that forum.
I don't know the particulars, just putting some of the other side up.
(I really don't like this forum-hopping, first-post thrashing.. but, oh well...)

From what I read, many on that forum who say they have followed this episode from the beginning seemed to give the most credibility to BlackSun. But, that is just me browsing for a few minutes.

 

I can't read any more of that thread!!! it's like a million pages.

So did Black Sun get it running or what?

He should be making more power but his factory exhaust might be restrictive.

 

He's been the most patient from what I've read and had to go out of his way and spend more of his own damned money to get his car running right. Thats poor business on Cerras part

 

i read the entire thing last night since cerra racing is local to me. i was considering using there dyno but will not be going nere the place with my cars. here is the following post to the one thats posted by black ls1 ta above.

Mike,
Your right, I am NOT happy with your decision to stick me with the FLP bill. I called you on the way home from FLP on 8-5-2003, and you said you would look at the bill and get back to me. You strung me along for more than two weeks. Why would you ask me to forward you the bill if you had no intentions on paying it?? Ask Ryan or Chris, I have called your shop nearly EVERY DAY about this bill and the damn coolant box. I know the FLP bill is not cheap and the removable cat was my idea but that was only $120. Without all the work FLP did on the car it would not be running properly or making the power it is now, which may I remind you is still 50+rwhp below what was originally advertised and told by you in person and on this forum. I am willing to accept this but I am not going to eat a $1900 bill to get your kit running right. Everything on my car engine-wise you have installed. NOTHING else has been added to cause your kit not to work right. You made the decision on those Cometic gaskets, telling me it would add more boost for power, along with that whole piston fiasco. Remember the forged Z06 pistons? What a crock!! From the get go I asked you guys to install a fuel pump just to be extra careful and you told me it didn’t need it. Your kit caused my engine melt down along with several others that no one up here knows about. I hate to drag Earl’s name into this but he is also a melt down victim. The car would not be running right without all the work, tuning etc that FLP did. That is why you guys are sending cars to them now and QUITE a few of your past customers are taking their cars to FLP to not only have the exact exhaust work done but also their tuning looked at! Also, I am still missing take off parts (pistons, high flow fan, coolant box etc) I am not stressing about this because my car is running pretty good now after this work FLP has done. But like mentioned above I do not think I should be responsible for this bill. I have been EXTREMLY PATIENT with you concerning this whole ordeal. You admitted to your shop doing the damage to my car but will not sign an affidavit for my insurance. That was a red flag to me. I have to pay another $500 deductible with my own insurance to get it fixed now!!! Not including having to buy a new hood because the third turbo you put on the car to make more power is causing stress cracks!! Plus all the monies I have paid to FLP the first time, Powerhouse Performance, Apple Chevy, Towing companies, etc. you have not paid. As far as I am concerned this is the end of the road. Like I said on the phone the car is running good but I will not be stuck with this bill in addition to paying for others. And when I told you FLP said it may be the springs you said it couldn't be them. For all of you that do not know what FLP did for me Dan and Chuck are the best. I called Dan back like an idiot and said Mike told me it can't be the springs. Dan told me then they would replace the springs and if it wasn't the springs then they would eat the cost of the springs and replacing them!!! That is a real shop! and when I told you they were going to change them out and if it didn't work you said that was a good deal! Mike you fail to see this kit would not be working right without having all this work done. And you will not be seeing my car ever again so you might as well keep your oil, because you going to need it for your **** when I get done with this in court. And you have been given your just due in all of my posts, if anything I have kept PLENTY out. If everyone even knew the entire saga they would be even more shocked!

By the way, do forward me all the forums you are on because I will make this my freaking mission in life that everybody knows how you screwed me over if they don’t already.

 

So he had a built motor and it blew up?

 

John,
The storys a long one. I think its over 13 pages. But to summarize it:
1. After 5+ months car returned to him from Cerra Racing -3/15/03
2. Car returned "not only dirty but has chips, dings and scratches". Also "stress cracks" in hood from third turbo. Taken to autobody shop. Cerra refused to sign off on insurance. Stuck with $500 deductible to have damage fixed.
3. Car upon receipt set multiple SES codes and only put out a little over 1psi.
4. Car dropped off at FLP to install level IV trans. To resolve possibly slipping issue and lack of boost. -4/16/03
5. Car picked up from FLP, max 1.1psi, no trans slip, "trans works great". - 4/23/03
6. New wastegate ordered from Cerra 4/23/03
7. Wastegare received 5/20/03
8. "The wastegate was replaced and we got boost... But another problem has reared its ugly head! We have some detonation." 5 degrees -5/22/03
9. Cant fine tune on dyno, PCM Locked(Ed Wright), cracked header found, plus"car is going in tonight to Powerhouse Performance because for one it is running like CRAP!!!! It is bogging and dropping down to 400-500rpms and then stalling and also because it turns out the coolant lines are too close to the turbo and they are starting to melt!!!!"- 6/5/03
10. "...We have notice that the coolant lines and AC Lines are melted now and the header has a crack in it...." - 6/12/03
11. Car sent back to Cerra(header/tuning) - 6/25/03
12. Dyno after 'fix', 373rwhp and 444rwtq. Plus, "It is still at Cerra. The waterbox needs to be replaced. It turns out the plastic that was used to make the new smaller box is bowing under the heat/pressure" - 7/4/03
13. Turbo replaced with T-72, "Well, Another worthless trip... Car dynoed at 388rwhp 521rwtq with the T72 after about 10-15 dyno pulls. Very disappointing. Also the T72 created stress cracks in my hood." 7/15/03
14. Car dropped off at FLP. "I just took the car to FLP and the hood is melting now and the stress crack are about 3 inches, The water box cracked (again), and there was oil all over the inside top of the hood due to them not putting a PCV valve in." - 7/23/03
15. Car put on dyno by FLP, "366rwhp and 371rwtq!!!!... It seemed the air fuel was in the 9's and some other COT was turned on that should not have been..."- 8/1/03
16. FLP Tuning results, "Just got off with Dan again at FLP and it is at 451rwhp and 440rwtq!!! at around 8lbs of boost!!!!! running at 12.0 air/fuel. " - 8/4/03
17. Final dyno numbers 459.8rwhp and 451.2rwtq -8/5/03
18. "The car is running GREAT right now. FLP did an AWESOME job"
19. "But so everyone knows Cerra is NOT covering the FLP bill. They only want to cover $300 of and $1,887.46 to repair their system and for me to give them R&D. The system has not performed at all up to the printed spec's from Cerra and I am forced to get an attorney as of Monday and go after Cerra Racing" - 8/23/03


Cant believe I just re-read that thread. God, I must be bored.

 

Mike great summary, thanks for saving me about 10 hours.

 

Thanks Mike, I'm glad you have all these free time.

What exhaust is this Cerra C5 running thru?

I think the CAS TT M6 C5 is putting out 425rwhp thru stock exhaust and cats, Pugs do you know??? Pugs?

 

Mike00FRC - THANKS for that summary!!!! That was AWESOME!! You pretty much hit alot of the nails on the head. Except I dropped the car off in Oct, YES, October of last year!!! Here is a link to the begining of the nightmare!!! http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=420854 I just picked up my car from FLP tonight where they had to replace my 2400 stall Vigilante with a new 3000 stall Vigilante turbo str TC. What a difference!!! All the post were locked on the Corvette Forum. I'm not sure what exactly is up with that but I'm sure they did it for good reasons.

I am running thru Borla Stingers. I was told these are GREAT FI exhausts.

I just wanted to spread the word of what was going on with my current situation with Cerra Racing. I think even Ray Charles can see what is right and wrong here!