Bad Z shop experience

[Timecode]

  Just want to let people know about my experience with Sunrise Z in Burbank, CA.  I had them perform a lot of work and the results were not impressive.  I just want to give people a slight understanding of how this shop conducts business.  I came in with my 71 turbo 240z.  

 

   I blew my Felpro head gasket and broke the datsun 5 speed in the first month of owning the car. When I bought it, It wasn't running well until I started fixing things and as it made more power things started breaking.

 

  I went to Sunrise Z because of good reviews online from forums and Yelp.  

First thing I said to Art (the owner) was to take his time and do it right.  Money was not a concern ever, just a good job.

 

Things needing repair:

Transmission-  Fixed with a 240sx trans conversion.

Brakes/Ebrake- replaced front calipers and E brake

Head gasket- new 2mm MLS

 

  Trans swap went ok.  Its leaking a tinny bit under the car. He charged me for Royal Purple but no royal purple is in my trans.  It was leaking standard trans oil.  They told me Royal Purple turns that same color after use. After 300 miles!!  Called R.P. and they say it only goes darker never lighter. I never did like R.P. much so I guess thats a good thing. This leak was never fixed. When I noticed it I had already decided not to bring the car back to them.

 

  He charged me $250 for two used front hubs! Had to pay because I couldn't find any for sell at the time.  Months later I found some for $20 each.   The brake caliper looked good from the outside but on the inside it had rust all over the finish.  He charged me for a new one.  It doesn't effect performance but still sucks.  I didn't even bother telling them about it.

When I first picked up the car the new wheel studs they used on the front were half way threaded into the lug nuts.  Seriously? This is a 450hp track/road car.  Had to leave it there again.

Charged me for custom brackets to make the e brake cable work with the 240sx disc brakes. Finally got the car home and OH NO! e-brake wasn't working. Looked under the car and nothings hooked up. Not even close to working. 

 

  When they fixed the head gasket they used regular nuts and lock washers on the exhaust manifold.  This leaked within 100 miles.  Brought it back to them and after fighting with them to cover the repair, at no charge, they tried to fixed it.  They planed the manifold (they should have checked it the first time) and 40 miles later another exhaust manifold leak.  Called Art and he would not cover it this time.  Said he did all he could and my cars to blame.  He wanted me to pay half the cost of the repair.  I said hell no this should be warrantied, he did not concur. 

 

He also charged me $70 in Royal Purple oil, filter, zinc additive, which was never done.  I thought they used the same filter as me so I never noticed until I got it home and the oil was not purple. 

Went to Precision Z and they pointed out the exhaust nuts and said I need exhaust nuts with the flare on them, no washer. With Art, I never received a written estimate for anything. I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. BBB rep said I could get ALL my money back (if he has the money) because of the lack of proper paper work from Arts end.  I had Precision Z fix it and decided to just ask for the cost of the repair instead of all my money, not even the oil charges.  Im not a dick and Art is a nice guy he just wasn't thorough enough.

 

 I have more complaints but this is getting very long.  I haven't driven it lately so who knows what else will go wrong.

 

  What did I learn?  Art was a little cheaper than other shops but I went there based on reviews.  As all this went down another guy recently posted on yelp of major issues with Sunrise Z as well. I contacted him and he told me his horror story which was worse than mine. I even saw his car there.  They couldn't get Megasquirt to work on his l28et for months and months.  He got it fixed in ONE DAY somewhere else.  Just checked Yelp and his post is gone.  I don't know how that works but that sucks.  Whats the point of posting a review if it can just be deleted if its negative?

His shop was really disorganized and that should've been the the red flag.  Precision Z was like a museum compared to Sunrise z. There work is top notch.  Little pricey but worth it.  So do your home work, check out the place prior, and get everything in writing. Hope one day this post helps someone pick a quality shop. Plus nobody is going to be deleting this just because its a bad review. Drive safe my friends and don't believe the hype.

 

I really hope Art reads this and learns something.

Edited May 1, 2014 by Timecode

[OldAndyAndTheSea]

That's unfortunate...At least it sounds like you could get compensation in the long run, so it's just the time really, and the heartache.. Nonetheless, that situation is never good.

 

But, be glad that you actually have SPECIALTY Z shops in your area.. And not only one, but multiple to choose from. So I still consider you lucky, regardless of bad experience.

 

Where I live, no one will touch these cars. And I've had to teach myself how to do all of this stuff.

 

 

So, when you're feeling bad about your situation, just remember, at that moment, I'm probably laying under my Z, in my unheated garage teaching myself to build my car(s), because simply, if I don't, no one will.

 

 

I hope your situation improves. Best of luck.

[Timecode]

  Thanks. That exhaust leak sure was annoying.  It was the worst sounding car on the road.  I here exhaust leaks from a lot of Z's at    the meets. Wonder if they are in the same boat I was. This is the first time I've had anybody touch any of my cars mechanically. I prefer to do things myself but with two kids now, and still being kinda new to the L series, an engine teardown in my garage wasn't happening. It is nice being in so cal but living cost and traffic blows. 

[seattlejester]

I've heard some people even go to have stepped washers so that they hold the intake and exhaust at different heights to prevent leaking.

 

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. At least the Z is on the road again .

[Powerglide]

You shouldn't be hearing a lot of "Zs with exhaust leaks" any where. If you are then the shade tree "mechanic"/owner did a terrible job installing the manifold/header in the first place. The cheap header on my EFI 76 has been there for 6 years and 50,000 miles and it doesn't leak.

 

Suggest you do the work yourself. Very few shops out there will the work properly. You'll be much happier in the long run. And you'll avoid the absurd markup on parts.

[terse]

Sorry to hear about your experience. I acutally just dropped off a car there, but did not speak with Art.

I dealt with Sev.... not sure if he's also an owner or just a tech? Was he there when you were there?

 

Hope I don't get the same type of service there, but we'll see.

[Timecode]

Never saw or talked to a Sev. Unless its under new management and the place has cleaned up I would avoid the place all together.

 

I think peoples exhausts are leaking because they are using the wrong hardware when installing there exhaust manifolds. Non-flared nuts and lock washers dont work.

Edited April 20, 2014 by Timecode

[BluDestiny]

It's not. Art owns it, Sev was a tech that came on after another tec passed away. That was almost 3 if not 4 years ago now. I've had no issues with them, but that was when mike was there. They do charge a lot, but i learned that when I asked them to install an engine in my ZX and it cost $2000. 

[terse]

thanks for the info guys. i'm just doing a tune up.... thinking about l28et swap with 5spd sometime down the line so we'll see if i take back there or not.

[terse]

Never saw or talked to a Sev. Unless its under new management and the place has cleaned up I would avoid the place all together.

 

I think peoples exhausts are leaking because they are using the wrong hardware when installing there exhaust manifolds. Non-flared nuts and lock washers dont work.

 

 

It's not. Art owns it, Sev was a tech that came on after another tec passed away. That was almost 3 if not 4 years ago now. I've had no issues with them, but that was when mike was there. They do charge a lot, but i learned that when I asked them to install an engine in my ZX and it cost $2000. 

 

Was the $2000 quote including the engine or just labor/misc parts?

 

I spoke with Sev yesterday, and he informed me that Art is no longer the owner there. Sev is now the owner since Jan 2014.

He came along 3-4 years ago but has now taken over. He seems very knowledgable, sensible, and not out to rip off the little guy.

[BluDestiny]

I brought them an engine in a truck bed (long block) and everything else in the truck of the zx. It was just to pit the pieces back together, I think a few pieces were missing that they sourced for high prices ( relative to me now knowing how to get parts now) and they did all the fluids, bled the lines and basically made sure the car was road worthy.

[BluDestiny]

Ive also used them to do a quick rebuild on an l28. Using all stock components, and after all the machine work and rebuilding, they charged me a little less than $1900, which I though was reasonable. But I have also bartered z parts with them in exchange for work or labor which was nice.

[doliente1102]

Sorry for your troubles. On the bright side you have plenty of shops to choose from in SoCal. I'm up North in the Bay and 3 that I know of. They're not even Z shops, well, one Z shop and the rest were Z mechanics that of Z shops that closed down.

 

Sounds like you have a nice set up there. Like to get some info and ideas if that's alright. I have a 73 stock. I was in line of buying a donor 82 turbo. Couldn't bring myself to it knowing my motor was pretty damn near perfect running condition and weather strip is old, gauges inop, fumes, fumes, fumes. Little things here and there.