I agree, the sales staff needs to understand budget and real world performance...

 

What I look for in a shop:

- honesty
- knowledgeable staff
- reputation
- good customer service

 

The biggest things I look for are pretty basic and are the reason I use American Motorsports nowadays.

A) Their staff is friendly as hell. First time I went in there I met Dennis and Squirrel. Squirrel was a little busy but took the time to say hi and Dennis ended up helping me out with a bottle fill and a couple parts. Introduced himself, asked me my name, we talked about cars for a bit, talked about credit card debt because I kept using my card to pay for stuff... hell, he was just a personable guy and it made me wanna come back.

B) the biggest thing. Parts in stock. I've had ONE thing so far that wasnt in stock at American when I went and it was a tiny Earls fitting that I needed to do something out of the ordinary. They ordered it and I had it 2 days later. Can't really complain about that.

the bigges tcomplaint about them is that they are a good deal out of the way for me and require driving through bad traffic, at least for me. For me though, its worth the drive.

 

Thanks bigmike, I definitely see American Motorsports as a head-2-head challeger, meaning that what they have is what I'd like to offer....and then some. Of course, to get in a shop like that I'd either need bigtime upfront investors or time to establish on the internet and to start rolling in enough profit.

AS for a dyno, I've talked to several companies and the going rate for an above ground dyno is:
Rent: $2,000/mo
Purchase Outright: $50,000
So you do the math on why a lot of dyno shops charge so much. I can see cutting people a deal though, $35 for a before-after pull if you buy a part(s) valued @ over $250.00.

 

Seriousley, I would like a shop that did computer tuning. Obd2, and obd3 (whenever it comes out). Being able to show a customer his A/F tables, and changing shift points.

 

yeah i understand. that is a lot of money to put in up front, especially to match most of their prices. thats a lot of buy in money to get into those warehouses.

its not a bad idea to just start off on the internet. sell your wares there first and work out of a small warehouse with a bay or two. rent on something in an industrial park i dont think would be too expensive, something like norris has going but with space for a small storefront as well. or a smaller version of corvette masters (they have a small space up front they use as an office that could be converted to storefront, but a massive work area which isnt totally needed in your case, at first).

 

"old slow relics"? I've got one that you can try your luck with.

 

well, he himself owns a new-age old school relic. Read his sig and check out that bad bitch of a camaro he owns. Single turbo efi... woohah.

his bad *** ls1 isn't too shabby either.

 

I wont start anything, but turbos are for diesels.

 

Let me know if you ever find and shops with all of that.
Honesty: most will lie right to your face.
Knowledgeable staff: kids who read car magazines and fancy themselves knowledgeable.
Reputation: see above.
Customer service: whats that nowadays.
I'm not down on every shop in the world, but the only one I ever had any luck with was JB Performance here in Melbourne. But I've known the owner for about 25 years. We grew up near each other. But I know other people who hate him. ???
Chassis Engineering was good when I tubbed my Monte. But that was 10 years ago.

 

bwahahha...........that was the dumbest thing ive read all day.

thanks for the laugh, at your expense.

PS. if you would like to reply, please PM me (i would love to see you justify that statement), or start a new thread, so we dont ruin Brutus's thread.

 

This is hardley ruining a thread. Plus it gives Brutus' an idea of what people drive and modify.
Your sig says" will somebody make a good turbo" or something to that effect. So whats the laugh?
People have gone faster with carbs for "only" 40 years. Turbos have about 2-3 years of drag racing sucess. And at a very high cost. Usually custom made systems that are one off aplications.
Guess you havent been around too many diesels.
Well, there is my justification.

 

Right got it! A turbo-diesel camaro conversion. I'll email Gale Banks right away! You guys......anyway, I hear turbolocity is in the process of making an f-body turbo(s) kit for LT1s and another for LS1s and there's a guy who's relatively sucessful at doing 3.8 turbos in f-bods now.

 

I think it was Banks that went 222 mph at Bonneville with a turbo diesel. And drove it there. May have something there.

 

good thing i own a 2000 Ram 3500 CTD..