time to install 4g63??

[josh1095]

just looking for some honest opinions. heres the deal:
i dropped off the car to a local mechanics shop. he agreed 900 to 1000 dollars for a full engine swap. i told him that it had to be fully rebuilt and that takes time. hes ok with that.
i returned the finished engine, ready to install, on the 27th of SEPTEMBER. my car is still not done. he, or his employees, have barely done anything to it. after a month he finally pulled it into a bay where it has been sitting for over another 2 months. ive maintained an open dialogue with him and been as friendly and patient as possible. i finally opened a BBB complaint. that got him moving..... a little. he managed to get the clutch assembly mounted . then he asked for some new parts i might need and i delivered within a week. and here we are. im over 4000 in this project.
has anyone here, or know of anyone, in a similiar situation? i live in ill near st louis and am considering contacting an attorney. are there any dsm experts near st louis that would assist this guy? of course for a fee but that would be between you and the mechanic.
im just bummed out, i have all the money to turn this thing into a beast, yet it sits and collects dust. its a terrible feeling

 

[92AWDHX40]

Did you give him a time from, verbal or in writing, that would save a headache right there from the get go, when spending money those things you should have discussed before you dropped it off to him Experts to help him, im consfused did you know this guy, or do check on him as far as his business?
I would discussed more, in my opionon, i take my money and my cars seriously. Im not the one to be crossed, plus its nice having a lawyer, as a neighbor, and i know a few personally.

 

[sobmurda]

Hey did you give him all the money up front?

 

[92AWDHX40]

Thats another good question.

 

[sobmurda]

I had a friend of mine that gave the money all up front and they took forever to get his car done. When you don't give the money to the shop they try to get the car done so they can get paid.

 

[rlacasse1]

Ill put it in for you or help him out or whatever.

I'm about 45 min from you.

Just let me know. PM me.

 

[92AWDHX40]

Only a few hour job maybe ive done this too many times seems mines out once year lately, .

 

[95 tsi 95 gst]

i can fix the car for u i did plenty of engine swaps i like doing them if i were u id go get ## car back from that guy

 

[josh1095]

no money upfront.
and yes i checked out his shop and heard very good things.
thing is, the guy who removed my motor was a very experienced dude. by the time it came back from the machine shop, the manager, keith, had fired him.
rlacasse, im in st jacob, the car is at keiths automotive in highland,il. the base isnt far from me at all. maybe 20 mins. i think i may propose an idea to him tomorrow. either he hires you to do it, or better yet, he agrees to allow me to hire you and we put the engine in in HIS shop with his tools. otherwise, ill tell him hes getting sued. ill pm you tomorrow with my phone number after i speak with keith. we can talk and get a price going.
unfortunately we had no agreed time of competion in writing. verbally he told me several times " it will be done within 2 weeks at the latest". i heard that one quite a few times from september up til about 45 minutes ago when i popped in to see my car after work.

 

[92AWDHX40]

Documentation, always helps and gives you the upper hand when you need it. I ALWAYS discuss this with my machine shop.

 

[LandSpeed-DSM]

no money upfront.
and yes i checked out his shop and heard very good things.
thing is, the guy who removed my motor was a very experienced dude. by the time it came back from the machine shop, the manager, keith, had fired him.
rlacasse, im in st jacob, the car is at keiths automotive in highland,il. the base isnt far from me at all. maybe 20 mins. i think i may propose an idea to him tomorrow. either he hires you to do it, or better yet, he agrees to allow me to hire you and we put the engine in in HIS shop with his tools. otherwise, ill tell him hes getting sued. ill pm you tomorrow with my phone number after i speak with keith. we can talk and get a price going.
unfortunately we had no agreed time of competion in writing. verbally he told me several times " it will be done within 2 weeks at the latest". i heard that one quite a few times from september up til about 45 minutes ago when i popped in to see my car after work.

Do you have any of these "two weeks at the latest" guarantees in writing?

Why do you think some private owner is going to take on/contract some random forum member to perform the swap in his shop with his tools and then split the revenue? WTF

If you bring up the word lawsuit you better have an attorney on retainer and a plan.

This will not end well, I can promise you. You are about to make this go from an unfortunate situation to an ugly one in a hurry.

This is a situation where some tact and planning would serve you well, but I assume you are going to go full steam ahead with this disaster anyways and attack me instead of reassessing your approach.

 

[rlacasse1]

no money upfront.
and yes i checked out his shop and heard very good things.
thing is, the guy who removed my motor was a very experienced dude. by the time it came back from the machine shop, the manager, keith, had fired him.
rlacasse, im in st jacob, the car is at keiths automotive in highland,il. the base isnt far from me at all. maybe 20 mins. i think i may propose an idea to him tomorrow. either he hires you to do it, or better yet, he agrees to allow me to hire you and we put the engine in in HIS shop with his tools. otherwise, ill tell him hes getting sued. ill pm you tomorrow with my phone number after i speak with keith. we can talk and get a price going.
unfortunately we had no agreed time of competion in writing. verbally he told me several times " it will be done within 2 weeks at the latest". i heard that one quite a few times from september up til about 45 minutes ago when i popped in to see my car after work.

Sounds good. Just let me know through PM.

 

[josh1095]

land speed: ill tell you exactly why some private owner would subcontract work: because he can NOT ####ING do the job. whats complicated about that? im a clinical engineer and through some terrible business deal was stuck with an xray room that cost over 275000 dollars. it DID NOT work. myfather and i put in countless hours attempting to fix it, and he nor i is by any means a bad engineer. in the end we SUBCONTRACTED a different company to come in and finish the job. this is called being a responsible business person. he also wants to avoid a lawsuit, as would i.

i have taken nearly 3 and half months of patience and thought and have come to my conclusions. how could you begin to claim they are rash. im not intent on attacking you but u came off a bit harsh to me. there has to be a law in place in illinois that states a "reasonable amount of time" a mechanic can keep your car. i have the means to hire an attorney, trust me. i dont want that. most likely the outcome tomorrow will be a total seperation between myself and his shop at, of course, zero cost to me. most likely he will not agree to allowing me to hire a dsmer to do the work in his shop. but im a rational, kind person and think i can get him to capitulate. this is a losing situation for myself and him at this point. he must want out.
if i sound like i havent thought this out and you sir have a better solution other than comments, please, tell me other ways to resolve my problems. ive been asking alot of people and now im reaching out to a forum. its a logical path to follow

 

[LandSpeed-DSM]

land speed: ill tell you exactly why some private owner would subcontract work: because he can NOT ####ING do the job. whats complicated about that? im a clinical engineer and through some terrible business deal was stuck with an xray room that cost over 275000 dollars. it DID NOT work. myfather and i put in countless hours attempting to fix it, and he nor i is by any means a bad engineer. in the end we SUBCONTRACTED a different company to come in and finish the job. this is called being a responsible business person. he also wants to avoid a lawsuit, as would i.

i have taken nearly 3 and half months of patience and thought and have come to my conclusions. how could you begin to claim they are rash. im not intent on attacking you but u came off a bit harsh to me. there has to be a law in place in illinois that states a "reasonable amount of time" a mechanic can keep your car. i have the means to hire an attorney, trust me. i dont want that. most likely the outcome tomorrow will be a total seperation between myself and his shop at, of course, zero cost to me. most likely he will not agree to allowing me to hire a dsmer to do the work in his shop. but im a rational, kind person and think i can get him to capitulate. this is a losing situation for myself and him at this point. he must want out.
if i sound like i havent thought this out and you sir have a better solution other than comments, please, tell me other ways to resolve my problems. ive been asking alot of people and now im reaching out to a forum. its a logical path to follow

There is no such law in Illinois. Additionally you dodged my question, so it seems safe to say that you do not infact have anything documented.

As far as a solutiong: why don't you check out the case that required John Hennessey to pay out and left such a black mark on his initial endeavors he had to change his business name? Also note the expense to the plaintiff and the duration of the case.

He is a shop owner. They took the engine out, so they have the means, but apparently not the will. Why would they care to employ someone from outside the shop to do something they are capable of, not bill for using their resources ad then split revenues. Not only that but it sounds like you have this guys ego to contend with. What if he is the scorched earth type?

Your anecdote is nice, but this is a different situation. How do you know he wouldn't countersue?

This is tricky territory, you are not sounding rational at the moment.

It is a gamble, is what I am telling you. Don't be so confident with stuff like this.

It takes all of a couple hours to pull and replace an engine with two people and a case of beer. Not a difficult process. So again, don't waste your time fighting the good fight with me on the internet.

 

[josh1095]

sorry , forgot to say. i have nothing in writing. i thoguht i said that but reread and i didnt. no i dont want to sue him at all. it will cost me a ton out of pocket, its a huge gamble most likely i will win, but nevertheless i wont see my car for 6 months. these processes take time unless a settlement is reached immediately.
in summary your solution as you put it is to check out a lawsuit between john henessey and someone else? i will google that now but dont see how that will get the engine back in my car. cmon landspeed, ## not making much sense. i understand and fully agree that legal action is a final recourse. but after 3 months, we are at the final stages. i will most definitely update this thread with exactly what keith says tomorrow. or next time i get to see him, and report back. whether he agrees or totally refuses and i look stupid, i will be honest with the results.
rlcasse, expect a pm tomorrow... i think i know how this will turn out. this man has a horrible defeated look on him. ive been there and felt the same way. he wants out.

now, anyone other than landspeed feel free to chime in with personal experience and how you RESOLVED the matter, not bash me. or do so if need, but be kind and offer an idea of how to accomplish the task while ## at it . thanks guys, even u landspd

 

[buhay6]

Ok here's my 2 cents.... personally I'd tell him he's had your car for 3 and a half months and done virtually nothing so you'll pay him 50% of the total cost now for the inconvenience and deception of the matter. Take the car from the shop and either find a new shop or maybe rlcasse has the tools to put it in and you make another good DSM friend. Either Way you have nothing to loose by telling this guy to shove it and take your car away, in my opinion your extremely patient; alot more then you should be. Also detour as many people from his shop as possible because he's earned that response, your a constumer not a friend and should be treated as such. I've never heard of a shop taking this long to do an engine job its freaken ridiculous. Oh and if you do do what I'm suggesting you do its a good idea to right down dates and stuff (when you dropped it off and picked it up) so if he try's to take you to court he's got no leg to stand on.

there thats my 2 cents

 

[95 tsi 95 gst]

josh 1095 i could help but im in ohio i enjoy working on these cars my friends help me i help ppl right back

 

[josh1095]

thanks guys. i got called out on a service call but plan on confronting him this evening when i return from springfield. i have written down and made notes on almost every encounter weve had, i have the bbb notes logged, and i have the receipt from the machinist proving what day the engine was finished(and dropped off back to the mechanics) sept. 27th. 95tsi, i really appreciate the offer. thats a long haul tho, i travel to cleveland a couple times a yr on business, not a fun drive. ill post the outcome later as promised.

for all who are interested: after a 20 minute talk and giving him different options he chose to let me hire someone and use his shop and tools to complete the job.
he has asked for the difference to be payed to him tho. ie: if it costs me 500 dollars to hire someone, i have to pay him the remaining 500. im still gonna pay full price for this no matter what. god why did i ever take my car to keiths automotive.......
calling u now rlacasse.

 

[josh1095]

i can bump this now, for all who care and who get in a situation like this: be more aggressive than me . dont let someone go 3.5 months before u get pissed about ## car not being finished. i had another talk today and he suggested towing it to wherever i wanted, at his expense of course. it looks like i wont be able to use his shop, but i wont owe him a dime. i DID, in other words, tell him that a lawsuit was inevitable, win or lose, i would go through with it. this seems to have had an effect. he also agreed to loan me his cherry picker and some other tools i might need.
so rlacasse and i will most likely be dropping an engine in this weekend. since i dont have a garage suitable for the job at my ouse3, were using my dads place. im gonna have a running gst finally!!! im pretty excited and glad that dsmtuners exists.
just to set the record straight landspd, read the 9th post in this thread, i clearly stated i didnt have anything in writing. no ones "dodging" a question as simple as that . i think u may either work at or own a shop, u seem pretty biased against the consumer on this one. nonetheless, its well on its was to being fixed, without lawyers, so im happy. im still paying someone to help but itll be a good learning experience for me. im stoked.

 

[92AWDHX40]

Well good to hear thats all cleared up and you learned a lot from it, thats all that matters in the end.