MILLER8338

1965GP,
My experience with G-Force:

I bought a 96' WS6 that had a no start condition.

After calling to be sure they could / would work on it I paid to have the car towed there. 2 weeks later with no call back I got ahold of someone (several times leaving messages the first week.) They hadn't even looked at it but promised to get on it the following week. At he end of the third week (again after many unanswered messages) they said they had run a diaganosis and couldn't find anything wrong with it, but it wouldn't start.

They recommended that they would need to perform "exploratory surgery" to discover what was wrong with it. (I would have to pay "by the hour". Not the best situation in my view but at the time I was worried that LTs were some kind of exotic engine and I hadn't ever touch a computer so I gave them the go ahead. Because I didn't want to get raped by approving an open ended bill I asked that they call me evey time they passed a $500 mark, $500, $1000, $1500, etc. My way of thinking was that I could get a complete rebuilt LT for $2000 to $3000. And I wanted to be sure I didn't walk in with a $5000 bill on the car. Week 4 came and went.

Finally on week 5 I took off work early to go to the shop and 'catch' someone. They hadn't done a thing!

Someone told me that it would cost a lot more than $500 to look into the motor so they didn't even start, then someone else (an older fellow) told me, "Well, we don't work on LTs anyway..."

WTF??? Even at a shop rate if $100 an hour that would be 5 hours. I can dig pretty far into a motor in 5 hours and I'm just a shade tree guy! And why the Hell didn't they tell me that to begin with?

Then when I tried to arrange a pick up of my car I was told they wouldn't release it until I paid $72 for the "diagonostic!" The very "diagonostic" where they told me they couldn't figure out what was wrong.

I towed it home, researched online, & rolled up my sleeves the next weekend. 8 hours of wrench time later She was running. I changed out the water pump, fuel filter, oil & filter, radiator fluids, and other general maitenence in those 8 hours too.

Their shop looked good, their tools were clean, all the cars on the racks looked nice. I'm sure they are competent and good at what they do. I'm sure your friend is a nice guy & if I met any of them at a car show, I'd enjoy sharing a beer and talking about motors. I'm not an angry / bitter guy...

But they gave me very poor customer service and I am not afraid to warn other people.

Crispix396

i've noticed, the nicer the cars are in the shop, the less they care about a normal car. people only want to work on the "awesome" stuff. so normal stuff gets the crap service.

Huntr1117

I've had my 96 at G-force a couple of times. Jay knows Lt1s and does great work. That was a couple of years ago though. Called them the other day and said they don't do work on Lt1s anymore.

So now there's no one around town that will work on Lt1s anymore? That sucks, it's about time for a rebuild. Hopefully someone chimes in and knows someone that will work on them.

NEWBIE T/A

They were at 9305 Harwin Suite N but I believe they have moved.

Phone # (713) 780 8666.

I've had them do a Mopar 360 for a Ram Charger I used to have, they put the stall back in my Camaro 2 years ago , did a Suburban motor for me when the crank on the one in there broke ( crazy thing drove under it's own power to the shop, though ! ) , and the last time I was there ~ 2 weeks ago (they were in the process of moving ) had a jet bike in there they were hot rodding !

Basically, they will work on anything.

Good people , knowledgeable, and fair from my experiences.

Good Luck !

Britt

97SSmokem

Henderson Performance in New Braunfels. Worked on all my LTs and helped me switch over my 97 SS to an LS1. They're not a sponsor so it's their name +.com. Also for side work AhartZ28 has worked and still works on my cars. He is here in San Antonio.

Good luck.

1965GP

Miller- that sucks that you got treated like that. I can totally see that happening at a speed shop. You guys hit the nail on the head- most people think these cars aren't as fun to work on as LS cars.

I got the same thing the first time I took my car to Pep Boys- they said the wiring harness was to far gone and it was going to be $1500 in labor to replace it! The just didn't want to work on it. I will say this though- the 2nd time I took it to them they could not figure it out and they didn't charge me for the diagnostic and they covered the tow which I thought was cool.

Dealer charged me 100 but got me on the right track to fixing it.

SSP

Ok Chris if were going to drop facts and you want to bash our shop lets have the other side of the story. Our side and the truth.

You brought us an abortion. From the the start you told us a story of how the last builder didn't build your LT1 right and it took months for him to get it done. YOU didn't know it was even built right or what was put into it. Your car was leaking antifreeze and oil. There were wiring laying around everywhere in the motor compartment... We knew from the start that this car would come back to haunt us if we got into it any further. So we reluctantly agreed to compression test the car. After our finding and seeing how low one of the cylinders was, we gave you our results. The minute we told you the price you started to bitch about the price. From that point on we wanted no more to do with the car! Yes we charged you $300 for labor. $75 and hour labor and we did 4 hours on it. Look it up on and you will see 4 HOURS for labor. We know from experience when someone complains about price right from the start, its time to walk away from it. So we agreed with you on $150 to cut our losses. The car was put back together the SAME WAY it came to us. The were no stripped header bolts, if there was the exhaust leaks would have been pretty bad on an LT1. There were no wires left on the manifolds.

Don't bash my shop because no one wants to work on a mess...

AdioSS

I would prefer that this thread not get too far out of hand. OK?

GenIIJR

http://www.advancedracingdynamics.com/pages/ard.html

Crispix396

Thanks for the advise, I think i actually talked to that shop last friday, and thats where im gonna take it.

PS. there is a reason SSP went out of business a few months later.

My issue was that they said on the phone $75 to do a Comp Test. when i drove it the 40 miles to get it there, they said "just drive it till it breaks". Then said it was 300+. I didn't start bitching about the price from the get go, I was told one thing, and then told another later. Any sane person would question. Then they said "well we had to take your headers off" which you dont have to do on tri-y's, easy plug access on every one. I can do a complete spark plug change in 30 min.

Our shop is currently fixing one of their "abortions" and the client had about the exact same thing to say about them.

Crispix396

ps. after that whole issue, got another engine built, we installed it and it is running fine. But still need a tune. We just got the wide band bungs in so we can wideband it, so its odd that after all this time you posted that link right at the time I was looking again.

I drive a 383 flat black wagon, its not "amazing" but i get more looks and thumbs up from normal people.

AdioSS

If I were in Houston & needing an LT1 tuned by somebody, I would most likely take my business to Chuck Anders.

And how about some pictures of the wagon?

bdc95ta

I got screwed over by Advanced Racing Dynamics I took it to Brain @ LME b/c he treated me like crap & I had a bad feeling. Sure enough they forced in 1 of the piston bolts & LME had to fix it. He said it was a good thing I brought it to him or it wouldn't of lasted long.

Not trying to start a war; just trying to save u some of the heartache & loss of $$$ I went through.