# My 640 day experience....



## 2.OhhhGTI (Jan 26, 2003)

....is finally over. After nearly 2 years under the wrench, I have finally sold my car. I have had a lot of ups, downs, loves and hates with my car. Unfortunately, most of you haven't seen my car in person (even the locals) because I have only driven it for about 3 of the last 20 months....the rest of the time it has lived at EIP's shop in Baltimore. My project (AEG 2.0 16v turbo) was a tall order to fill even though it was recommended by Rich and JJ at EIP with total confidence. When I did have the car in my posession, the performance was astounding...20psi at 7000 rpms was amazing with about 325 hp to the wheels. Much to my dismay, the car has never been fully functional since the day the project started. It now sits under EIP's ownership in their outdoor storage shed covered in a layer of filth and bird crap with a blown head gasket and a set of dead forged pistons. I doubt that it will ever see the road again.....









For the memories.....



















_Modified by 2.OhhhGTI at 9:44 PM 1-1-2004_


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## GTibunny16v (Aug 12, 2001)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (2.OhhhGTI)*

Atleast EIP bought it from you and you didnt lose out totally. Sorry to hear you had to get rid of it. 

New Project??


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## 2.OhhhGTI (Jan 26, 2003)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (GTibunny16v)*


_Quote, originally posted by *GTibunny16v* »_New Project??

Nah...I've lived and learned...


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## Agtronic (May 14, 2001)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (2.OhhhGTI)*


_Quote, originally posted by *2.OhhhGTI* »_Nah...I've lived and learned...

Ah common! Don't give up so easily! Build a new car, don't spend money on the looks, and don't go nuts with the power, and you won't get discouraged!








Your car was awesome! Must hurt to see it go.
Edit : Question, how did you blow the forged pistons?


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## Waagenz (May 29, 2003)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (2.OhhhGTI)*

You know I'm gonna miss seeing your car Eric...








But I'm glad you are moving on with other things. (vespa) * cough, cough.*








btw...i'll see ya soon.










_Modified by Waagenz at 9:58 PM 1-1-2004_


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## 2.OhhhGTI (Jan 26, 2003)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (Agtronic)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Agtronic* »_
Edit : Question, how did you blow the forged pistons?

I was told that there was a head gasket leak between the cylinders which somehow caused detonation that killed the pistons....although I never saw things under the hood when it came apart...


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## 2.OhhhGTI (Jan 26, 2003)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (Waagenz)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Waagenz* »_You know I'm gonna miss seeing your car Eric...








But I'm glad you are moving on with other things. (vespa) * cough, cough.*








btw...i'll see ya soon.








Yeah, for some reason 1 cylinder seems so much simpler!
















_Modified by Waagenz at 9:58 PM 1-1-2004_


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## Waagenz (May 29, 2003)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (2.OhhhGTI)*

haha...thats awesome!! can't wait to check it out. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif


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## roccoturbo (Jul 27, 2003)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (Waagenz)*

That was a killer set up, and i read alot about it, it was hyped alot, but really you made big power but not reliable,  and now your out of it? To bad to do all that and now end so quickly, so it's nice to have big power but if it won't last.. And you had all the good stuff too.. Is it EIP fault for blowing up are just nature's course. good luck with what you will start.


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## 2.OhhhGTI (Jan 26, 2003)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (roccoturbo)*

I guess there is a reason why this was basically one of a kind....I think that it could be somewhat reliable with a bit more fine tuning ot the whole package, but I am out of patience for this stuff anymore...


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## [email protected] (Aug 25, 2001)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (2.OhhhGTI)*

damn i'm sorry to see that car go...
fond memories of that car, everything from it on the dyno @ NGP to watching eric clean the coils on the rear springs @ Fall Show'n'Go despite the rain on the way up


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## Holy Piston (Oct 24, 2003)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (Anand20v)*

Another satisfied customer....................


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## vdubspeed (Jul 19, 2002)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (Holy Piston)*

Man it must suck to let it go. I built a drag race bug for two years and it lasted 2 weeks so I know your pain. However I might add my two cents.
Don't buy a car and try to turbo it if the factory already did it for you.
NEVER let a company build your car. Next time you build ANYTHING...do it all yourself. You will ALWAYS care for it more than anyone else can. 
Ask yourself this...when you wash your car don't you really take your time. Would you take that much time if you had to wash your neighbors. 
I say buy it back. replace the HG and pistons(and whatever else) go lower on the boost. Pay off you debt.
You will be back though...[scary voice]they always come back[/scary voice]
Jason


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## Jefnes3 (Aug 17, 2001)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (2.OhhhGTI)*

The car looks GREAT. I am sorry it only lasted for ~weeks.

_Quote, originally posted by *2.OhhhGTI* »_
I was told that there was a head gasket leak between the cylinders which somehow caused detonation that killed the pistons....although I never saw things under the hood when it came apart...


This explanation sounds HOKEY. Its detonation that blows headgaskets 
(and pistons) not the other way around.
I hope you don't quit the 'mod car' stuff altogther, your 'vision' (as seen in the
photos) is good.
sorry about your dead car...
Jeffrey Atwood


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## GTI2lo (Dec 19, 1999)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (Jefnes3)*

were you driving when it blew, just wondering how it happened. I know built motors don't last as long as a stock motor, but curious to it's quick demise.


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## speed51133! (Aug 5, 2002)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (GTI2lo)*


_Quote, originally posted by *GTI2lo* »_were you driving when it blew, just wondering how it happened. I know built motors don't last as long as a stock motor, but curious to it's quick demise.

not true at all.
sucks to give up, but do the work yourself. people think payine someone else to do it = reliablility, and having it done properly. I think the opposite is true. no matter mow much you spend, nobody cares about your car as much as YOU do.


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## RafaGolfBr (Dec 17, 2001)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (speed51133!)*

its sad to see it go and the way it happened, I havent talked to you much, but I sure read/seen lots about ur car... I am in the process of building my 2.0, much lower boost thou.. i want to go about 9psi for now and then after the car is paid off and I am out of college I'll get pistons and the whole 9, get rid of some weight on the car and save it for the weekends....
just dont give up man... http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif







I hope they paid you good $ for the car so you can get on with ur life and start working on a new car!


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## sgolf (Nov 6, 2001)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (speed51133!)*

no offense but i think labeling every shop together is so lame. My car was professionally built and I honestly think the guy who built it cares more about my car than I do. Everytime he sees the car he's cleaning the ic piping (something i have no time to do) Calls me frequently to make sure everything is ok and let me watch the entire process and explained everything to me. i know that they're a lot of crappy installer/tuners that'll take your money and no put a lot of effort into your car but again to label all of them together is unfair. 
Just to be clear I'm not pointing out any one company cause I have no experience with most internet or mainland tuners. I do have a lot of experience with repair shops and can tell you out of my 288 customers (repair shops) i would only reccommend a handful to my family and friends. Pretty sad when you think about it.


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## Bauzen (Oct 5, 2001)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (sgolf)*

you know, your an old guy, but your young at heart, it was a pleasure meeting you @ H20 and Show & Go... i wish you all the best and regret to hear about that car's sad ending







, it was really a beauty, and i hope to see you at the comming shows, if anything to hang out with the rest of us http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif


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## Bad Habit (Nov 27, 2002)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (T0oDamnFast)*

If reliability was an issue with thecar,maybe they should have adviced you to not push the envelope with the boost..It is a street car.Speed is right.If you worked on it yourself it may very well still be on the road.Eip built a nice car though. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif


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## Hardcore VW (Oct 9, 2001)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (T0oDamnFast)*


_Quote, originally posted by *T0oDamnFast* »_your an old guy

Youngbucks..........


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## speed51133! (Aug 5, 2002)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (2.OhhhGTI)*

yeah, im not implying eip sucks or anything, i mean they bought the car back from you it seems, what else can they do?
but my point was that when you make a car that has so much 1 off hand crafted parts on it, you really got to be the one who made them, or installed them in orter to be able to troubleshoot anthing that goes wrong. makes it really hard if your seeing the car for the first time and its all custom.
anyways, id like to know what exactly was wrong with it all the time. i bet it was just little things that were fixed in a few minutes, but you diddnt know how to , and needed eip to fix it.


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## GTI2lo (Dec 19, 1999)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (speed51133!)*


_Quote, originally posted by *speed51133!* »_
not true at all.
sucks to give up, but do the work yourself. people think payine someone else to do it = reliablility, and having it done properly. I think the opposite is true. no matter mow much you spend, nobody cares about your car as much as YOU do.

True, but not everyone has the mechanical know how to do everything. Some people can only do so much. For example, there is no way I can't weld up something and fabricate. sure I can do a little mechanical, but still I don't trust myself that much.
I do feel bad for the guy that he has to sell his car. It's a difficult situation to be in. You've spent all this money, and you really haven't met upto you expectations.


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## GTibunny16v (Aug 12, 2001)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (GTI2lo)*

You said 325whp @20psi? Doesnt that seem like low #'s coming from a t4'd 16v w/ the works. Not trying to flame anyone or anything, Im just wondering since Ive seen other motors put out close #'s w/ alot less work into them and w/ smaller turbos.


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## Capt.Dreadz (Jun 4, 2003)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (GTibunny16v)*

I seen the video of it on C3cars.com. EIP was giving them a tour and they showed them your car.


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## Holy Piston (Oct 24, 2003)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (I Wuz BottlFedG60)*

Did they show it when it was running or with all the dust and birdcrap on it?I have a Frankenstein setup like that one and I have driven it 5mo. out of 5mo. and I am even running welded together pulley and no dyno time...................daily driver.If a backyard guy can make it reliable,then????


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## g60vwr (Apr 9, 2000)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (T0oDamnFast)*


_Quote, originally posted by *T0oDamnFast* »_you know, your an old guy, but your young at heart

spoken like a true jackass.....


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## 2.OhhhGTI (Jan 26, 2003)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (g60vwr)*


_Quote, originally posted by *g60vwr* »_
spoken like a true jackass.....









He's just a young'n...


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## 2.OhhhGTI (Jan 26, 2003)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (Bad Habit)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Bad Habit* »_If reliability was an issue with thecar,maybe they should have adviced you to not push the envelope with the boost..It is a street car.Speed is right.If you worked on it yourself it may very well still be on the road.Eip built a nice car though. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif 

As far as EIP was concerned, 1 bar was nothing boost wise (which is what it ran at 99% of the time).I never touched the boost controller because I didn't want to push it beyond what they felt was safe. I was told that it should handle 24+ psi without a problem, which we would eventually see. On 2 occasions, I ran into a boost spike on a long 4th gear pull on the road....ran up to about 1.3 bar due to the wastegate placement. They felt that this was nothing to worry about....
Also, anyone who knows me knows that I babied my car from day one...not a scratch on the tires from wheelspin, so it definitely was not abused in the 2,500 or so miles that I drove it (including 2 times to e-town and once to O.C.)
As far as working on my car myself, yes, I am a pretty good shade tree mechanic (I grew up working for my dad at his service station from 12yrs old up through college). I was interested in doing a bolt on setup from the start, but since it was on my almost new (2 yrs old) daily driver, I wanted someone with some experience to handle it for me. As we got more into the thought process of the project, we decided to get a bit more outrageous....all with reliability and power in mind....unfortunately, I just don't have the patience anymore to replace the block (without reciever grooves) and try the whole process again with new pistons to see where the problems were. Keep in mind that these issues were basically at 1 bar...not that extreme.


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## GTI2lo (Dec 19, 1999)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (2.OhhhGTI)*

What kind of drivability problems were thier, maybe just some insight. Just for others contemplating the aba aeg/ 16v head swap.


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## Waagenz (May 29, 2003)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (GTI2lo)*

I created a little tribute post for your car 2.OhhhGTi... here is a link to it. 
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1173909 
I will truely miss it...


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## 2.OhhhGTI (Jan 26, 2003)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (GTI2lo)*


_Quote, originally posted by *GTI2lo* »_What kind of drivability problems were thier, maybe just some insight. Just for others contemplating the aba aeg/ 16v head swap.

I feel that with a bit more refining, that the AEG could be a viable swap option mechanically and that my car is 95% there....maybe if the project hadn't dragged along so much at the beginning, I might still have some patience to get it 100%. As far as driveability, the car was awesome even at 1 bar of boost...the 16v and tec-3 setup had insane power up to 7200 or so redline. It was just reliability that we were having problems with...
As far as the ABA 16v, I feel that it would be no real problem since it basically was a factory option in europe (although I have no firsthand experience w/this swap).
Keep in mind also, that the reason why I did all of this on the 2.0 was because I had no options for engines except for the 2.0 at the time that I needed a car...I had no plans of FI when I bought it. Unfortunately, I just let the project get a little too envovled for my time expectations.


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## Holy Piston (Oct 24, 2003)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (2.OhhhGTI)*

How much $money$ did you lose in this whole debacle??And what was so "unreliable" that you could only drive it 3 out of 20 months??I feel bad for you man,instead of living your "turbo dreams" you ended up living a "turbo nightmare"..............


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## StevenT (May 28, 2002)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (speed51133!)*


_Quote, originally posted by *speed51133!* »_
not true at all.
sucks to give up, but do the work yourself. people think payine someone else to do it = reliablility, and having it done properly. I think the opposite is true. no matter mow much you spend, nobody cares about your car as much as YOU do.

I'm just tuning in to this thread... damn laptop! This is spoken soooo true. I'm no professional when it comes to building stuff ,but I only trust ME when working on my car, that way if I fak something up, it was me, and not some other wanker. On the other hand if it works shweeeeeeeet then I know it was me who got it there








It's still cool cool that you had EIP do such a car for ya, it's a car that I will look up to when modding mine more.


_Modified by StevenT at 6:41 PM 1-3-2004_


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## 2.OhhhGTI (Jan 26, 2003)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (Holy Piston)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Holy Piston* »_How much $money$ did you lose in this whole debacle??And what was so "unreliable" that you could only drive it 3 out of 20 months??I feel bad for you man,instead of living your "turbo dreams" you ended up living a "turbo nightmare"..............
















I care not to get into the whole $ issue...it's depressing







As a mechanic, I'm sure that you can appreciate the time and $ that went into the construction/fabrication.
The 3 months out of 20 kind of goes like this....
Got the car after about 9 months (March-December)...tuning was very rough w/just basic startup parameters for a few hundred miles break-in...I expected this. Car went back for more tuning (after about a week) and a custom timing gear spacer because it was eating the belt up on the edge. Plus a few odds and ends like a/c function, etc. Car was on the dyno and the turbo went on the fritz...contact of the vanes on the housing. Turbo went back to Turbonetics for a 2 1/2 month rebuild.








Got the car back just in time for Waterfest after another 6 months(July)...still limping around on a better, but rough program (as expected). 
Car went back after about a few weeks...Had some head gasket problems due to the 10mm head studs. Pulled the block and bored out the studs to 11mm, reciever groved the block, did a custom forged crank setup because the stock one showed fatigue on the main bearings.....
Got the car back in September after another couple of months for H2O in Ocean City, MD. Won 1st place in MKIV Golf Wild.







Drove the car for another month or so...tuning was getting to be in the sweet spot now. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif The car was very drivable except for hard starting when cold from overnight. Also had sporatic head temp issues that worried me. I was hoping that it was just coolant system routing since it was totally custom. Took the car to Fall Calssic Show and Go at E-Town...took 2nd place in MKIV Wild http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif AND Best of show for Watercooled Engine.







I was feeling pretty good about things finally. Took the car back after about 6 weeks (November) for the cooling system update along with a few other tweeks...
Got the call that the head gasket was shot and detonation had ruined my forged pistons...














They ordered pistons for the car...Rich and I discussed why we could not even run 1 bar of boost without head gasket issues...he felt that the reciever groove was our problem...solution-new block with the new pistons. At this point, the turbo was also having oil problems, so I knew that it would have to go back for another 2 month??? rebuild to Turbonetics.
At this point, a friend of mine was interested in buying the car because I was so completely frustrated with things at this point. Keep in mind that I was told about 2 months for the entire project...we're bordering on 21 months and my car is still sitting there worthless with less than 3k miles since construction began. I finally felt so beaten down morally and by my family and friends that they just stopped asking about the car anymore.
I told Rich that the car was for sale and that a friend wanted to buy it. Rich said that he would buy the car from me. I was relieved because I didn't want to ruin a good friendship even though my pal knew the entire history of the car (he's even the one that I would call to vent to).
To summarize the whole situation, I felt that the fabrication was top notch... http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif to Ian with his welding! I also felt that Fred did a very nice job on the engine work...Also, Rich was getting the tuning just right. I knew that with such a major project that there would be things to sort out and even need to re-work...My main issue is that I never felt that I had any priority at the shop....I would call and get "oh yeah, we're pulling your car in on Monday" and then I would show up 2 weeks later to see what was going on (an hour each way to their shop for me!) and I would pull up and see my car sitting in the same spot as a few weeks ago...this went on for months. Finally, before Waterfest, I went postal on Rich because JJ, who was managing the project, went out of town the week before and left no instruction on what needed to be done! Turns out that Rich, Ian and Fred worked all week late every night to get the car ready for the show. Rich claimed that he was not kept up to speed on the project....Seems to me that if I had a $20k plus project on the rack and it was my shop, I would know what was happening every minute of the way!!! To top off the whole experience, Rich was even an hour and a half late to meet me to go to the bank to get the money (after a few weeks of "I need to get to the bank....blah, blah, blah).
So finally, long story short, I guess if things had been done in a more timely fashion I would be a much happier person righ now....


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## Agtronic (May 14, 2001)

That's sad. Sorry man.


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## TurboABA (Mar 3, 2002)

*Re: (Agtronic)*

Sounds just like those EIP guys. They can't do anything. I'm still waiting for my intake pipe from the kit I got from them 3 years ago! 
Great service! Good old Tank! http://****************.com/smile/emthdown.gif


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## Holy Piston (Oct 24, 2003)

*Re: (TurboABA)*

"Caveat emptor"


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## 2.OhhhGTI (Jan 26, 2003)

*Re: (TurboABA)*


_Quote, originally posted by *TurboABA* »_
Great service! Good old Tank! http://****************.com/smile/emthdown.gif 

Tank and Darell are both history...just Bobby man'in the phones now...


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## Hardcore VW (Oct 9, 2001)

*Re: (2.OhhhGTI)*


_Quote, originally posted by *2.OhhhGTI* »_
Tank and Darell are both history...just Bobby man'in the phones now...









Is that a real recent thing? Darrel was there last time I was down,about 3 weeks ago.


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## Tommy K (Feb 23, 2003)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (2.OhhhGTI)*

i am not the biggiest fan of eip, but if you dump all that money into a var for that kind of performance. you should expect something like that to happen!! if you didnt that is your stupidity! did you think it would run perfect for ever after that for the rest of your life. stop crying and start dump more money and make it even faster! thats what we do in the fi forum


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## Holy Piston (Oct 24, 2003)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (Tommy K)*

You are kidding right Tommy K?,you are saying everybody should expect to blow up their car every couple months??I'm glad you're not working on my car!!I am going on 1&1/2 years on same bottom end,over 15k miles later and still good compression and pulling vacuum,and I run 20+psi at the track .I don'tv run a lot of advance,but I am not blowing gaskets and melting pistons(and some will say I'm not making a LOT of HP)but I am still driving it evberyday,no problems at all...............I think your "expect to blow it up with lots of $$ into it" is stupidly rediculous!!


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## Boragirl03 (Nov 23, 2002)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (2.OhhhGTI)*

Wow, that is a really sweet ride, sorry to hear the unfortunate outcome...however this is where i learn my lesson, many may disagree..feel free, but it stands to be true. It is/feels so great to make power on a motor like a 2.0L 8v, or any motor that is NA for that matter, but it never lasts. These motors were not built for tremendous amounts of power that people are trying to give them. As much as I hate to admit it, there are reasons why people pay the extra money for fast cars from the factory...they were meant to BE FAST. After taking a 115hp motor and bumping it up to 200hp I am completely satisfied, I might not have a monster of a car, but it has the quickness that I need and the ability of a daily driver. Would I like to start another project car, of course, but to me it would make more sense to start on a car with the capabilities I need. Until then, I will just work on my car payment.


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## KVR6turbo (Sep 22, 2003)

Sorry to hear what happened to your car. ATP did the same thing with a VR6 turbo project. I first went there first a turbo install. Well they got all excited when the car hti 325 whp with only 9-10psi. Well the car blew because the oil cooler line came off while the owner of ATP was driving. They kept on saying that they will work on it. We were trying to build a 10 sec VR6 turbo. ATP SUCKS!. They are incompetent when it comes to doing things in a timely fashion and building cars. Then I pulled the car after 13 months and took it to another shop, Tomas Sport Tuning. They are very good and do things in a timely fashion. I took it there to store for 6-7 months until they had the time to work on it, because at ATP i found dents, scratches and a cake of dust on it. Tomas (TST) found that the timing chain was off a tooth and the timing chain cover was all messed up from the timing chain. Then I told TST that I don't trust ATP, so I told then to take off the head. Well I found out that my big valve head is no more. I called up ATP and complained. They gave me a GT35/40 to make up for it. The brakes, axles, and suspension had to be all redone. The car shoud finally be done after 2 1/2 years, trying to deal with ATP garbage and cleaning up their mess and ordering new parts. I and now running a DTA w/ schimmel a/w intercooler, intake manifold, fuel system w/ fuel cell, other goodies. TST has done a great job fabricating and they are very maticulous. They say that they want the car to be as close to perfect, since their name is on the car and they DO NOT want a bad reputation. I know many other guys who have had their cars messed up at ATP as well. For example, 1 year for a tec 2 on a 2001 A4. 
So I do feel your pain man. It sucks when these things happen to people who have trust in the shop to be able to do the work and the work cannot be finished. I think that ATP should just stick to making and selling parts, not building cars.


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## 2.OhhhGTI (Jan 26, 2003)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (Tommy K)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Tommy K* »_i am not the biggiest fan of eip, but if you dump all that money into a var for that kind of performance. you should expect something like that to happen!! if you didnt that is your stupidity! did you think it would run perfect for ever after that for the rest of your life. stop crying and start dump more money and make it even faster! thats what we do in the fi forum

If you read my long post on the time line...you would get a hint that I'm not bitching at all about the $....it's seeing my car sit on the lot for months with nothing being done! The car depreciates, I still have to cover the insurance, etc.... If it had not dragged on for nearly 2 years already, I would not be on here about this! All I'm saying is don't predict a 2 (or even 3) month project and make it 10 times that....I understand that stuff breaks and there is trial and error with the project...my http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif to the overall work that was done...just don't tell me that you are working on my car and have me find out weeks later that there hasn't been jack done!


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## 2.OhhhGTI (Jan 26, 2003)

*Re: (Hardcore VW)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Hardcore VW* »_
Is that a real recent thing? Darrel was there last time I was down,about 3 weeks ago.

Yeah, just before the holidays...


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## Tommy K (Feb 23, 2003)

*Re: (2.OhhhGTI)*

thats great that you car is still running and i know about tons of cars that push high boost and some with stock bottem ends that last 35000+ miles, but when you enter the world of upgrading to some sort of fi you have expect it. 
p.s. you dont know one car that i have built there champ so dont be saying that you wouldnt want me working on your car.


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## corradokyd (Jun 4, 1999)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (2.OhhhGTI)*

and all i wanted was to see the car on the road locally, i mean i do live like 10 min from you. 

sorry to see her go but good luckin the future.


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## Hardcore VW (Oct 9, 2001)

*Re: (Tommy K)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Tommy K* »_thats great that you car is still running and i know about tons of cars that push high boost and some with stock bottem ends that last 35000+ miles, but when you enter the world of upgrading to some sort of fi you have expect it. 
p.s. you dont know one car that i have built there champ so dont be saying that you wouldnt want me working on your car.

He called you "champ".


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## Holy Piston (Oct 24, 2003)

*Re: (Hardcore VW)*

When someone spends that sort of $$$ on a car,you figure they can atleast drive it more than 3 mo.!!I got 6 guys on the Vortex(out of 13 that I have built) I have built turbo cars for,and they all drive them everyday!!Maybe they all dont make 325 whp,but none of them are sitting here broken.It is not that hard to build a reliable turbo car!!


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## dubworld2.0t (Apr 16, 2003)

*Re: (Holy Piston)*

hey eric sorry to hear that ... hey, why not buy my car







actually both of them there for sale!


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## eiprich (Mar 4, 2003)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (2.OhhhGTI)*


_Quote, originally posted by *2.OhhhGTI* »_If you read my long post on the time line...you would get a hint that I'm not bitching at all about the $....it's seeing my car sit on the lot for months with nothing being done! The car depreciates, I still have to cover the insurance, etc.... If it had not dragged on for nearly 2 years already, I would not be on here about this! All I'm saying is don't predict a 2 (or even 3) month project and make it 10 times that....I understand that stuff breaks and there is trial and error with the project...my http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif to the overall work that was done...

I don't want to get too deep into all of the details of this situation but I will say that in general the car took longer than anticipated however the original time estimate was for a simple 8v turbo setup which of course did not include the vast majority of the custom parts that had to be designed and built specific for this project. There was no way to predict the tremendous amount of unique parts and unique problems that we were going to encounter while transforming this mild project into the wild creation that it has become. 
As the project continued to grow in scope and complexity, so did the timeline for completing such a project. Combined with a totally booked shop schedule, each change means the car gets re-scheduled for the next bit of work, all of which makes such an undertaking far more time intensive than originally estimated. Additionally as this was mostly all custom, we encountered several unexpected problems with the block, headstuds, and headgasket all of which had to be custom designed and made specific to this vehicle. We also had previously advised Eric that the cast crank could present a problem, which of course it did, and thus a forged crank had to be modified for this chain driven oil pump block as well. Basically the car was completed several times during this process. 
As for my personally involvement with this project, as I was becoming more involved with all aspects of our operation and particularly customer service, I began to get more directly involved with our customers. This is when I had the opportunity to hear from Eric regarding his feelings about the overall project at which time he made it clear to me that he felt that he was not being kept properly informed etc, etc. Obviously this was a major concern to me particularly while I was doing everything in my power to improve customer service in the other areas of the business. From that point on I became personally involved in this project and it came together pretty quickly and ultimately it turned out very nice barring the headgasket and headstud problem. 
The bottom line is this; we will sort out and solve any final mechanical issues with this project just as we have been sorting out any and all issues regarding all areas of our customer service. This of course includes our bolt-on customers as well as those with large projects. We cannot turn back the clock so there was no way for me to change the timeline regarding this project but ever since Eric and I spoke he was kept in the loop and provided accurate and honest information. 
Regarding our various staffing changes which were mentioned here, many months ago as I became more involved here on Vortex, I made my intentions to dramatically improve all aspects of our customer service clear to everyone here on Vortex as well as to everyone on staff here at EIP. With the help of many Vortex members I was able to quickly identify who was causing problems for us and who was helping us move in the right direction. I gave all of our staff members the opportunity to work with our new company policies and to work with me to improve customer care. Those who failed to make the necessary changes and improvements no longer work here. This is a positive move toward improving the quality of our customer care.

I would also like to mention that in the past (even the recent past) we definitely took on far too much work to try and please everyone and in the end we were unable to offer the individualized service that most customer want, this is no longer the case. We are now scheduling work in a far more realistic way and that is better suited to our ability to complete the work. If this means we lose some jobs, so be it, I would rather ensure that each customer that we do service has a positive experience even if it means reducing our overall output. 
We have always strived to produce both powerful and reliable projects and we are usually very successful. This vehicle will soon be back together with a slightly modified combination and it will live on as my personal vehicle for a while. It is an awesome piece of work and I am happy to be able to carry on what Eric and EIP started. 
-Rich Chiavacci


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## 2.OhhhGTI (Jan 26, 2003)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (eiprich)*

Well Rich, I think that you and I have both learned from this experinece....good luck to you w/the GTI...I guess if the whole thing had not dragged on from the start, I would be much happier now. The head gaskes/pistons/block was just the final straw for me...


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## zissou (Aug 21, 2002)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (2.OhhhGTI)*

wow, i am late on this, i was very lucky to see this car in person and shoot it for the site and also see it dyno. The car will be missed, keep in touch eric!


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## KurtP (May 24, 2001)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (n2o)*

hey man, im real sorry to hear you wont be doing another project.







maybe something a little more lo-key that you can DIY? or maybe let NGP take a crack at something for you, ive never been anything but happy from the things ive had done there. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif


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## ranzuo (Apr 24, 2002)

*Re: (Tommy K)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Tommy K* »_
p.s. you dont know one car that i have built there champ so dont be saying that you wouldnt want me working on your car.

By your attitude alone, I wouldn't want you working on my car either.


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## ranzuo (Apr 24, 2002)

*Re: My 640 day experience.... (sgolf)*


_Quote, originally posted by *sgolf* »_My car was professionally built and I honestly think the guy who built it cares more about my car than I do. Everytime he sees the car he's cleaning the ic piping (something i have no time to do) Calls me frequently to make sure everything is ok and let me watch the entire process and explained everything to me. 

I back this up totally. The same mechanic built my car. He is even willing to do a clutch swap for free, even tho is was a manufacturer defect.


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## ranzuo (Apr 24, 2002)

*Re: (KVR6turbo)*


_Quote, originally posted by *KVR6turbo* »_Then I pulled the car after 13 months and took it to another shop, Tomas Sport Tuning. They are very good and do things in a timely fashion.

Props to Tims shop. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif He is a good guy and his shop is top rated. I had some good experiences there.


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## Tommy K (Feb 23, 2003)

*Re: (ranzuo)*

holy piston,
nice 60ft time *STRAPPER*
2.1 that weak
keep wasting money on that 90 corrado


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## GTibunny16v (Aug 12, 2001)

*Re: (Tommy K)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Tommy K* »_holy piston,
nice 60ft time *STRAPPER*
2.1 that weak
keep wasting money on that 90 corrado


Lets see your time slip? I want to see a 2.0 60' on street tires (not drag radials) from your car.


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