How should I go about trying to start up a reputation for performance engines/work

[josh817]

:/ I'm doing UTA and wanted to go for aeronautical. I guess I could do engineering then jump into A&M for my masters because I want that ring. There is a race May 16th and some of the flag workers there are stupid rich. Last guy I worked with was John something and I'm not sure if he was making it up but apparently he helped design the Lemans Audi intake and stuff which is crucial for the entire motor. Apparently he designed some sort of header for the Porsche's in our club that actually works really well, all of the "I did this and I did that" makes me curious if he really did. He also owns a shop and deals with Porsche's and bragged about some jagermeister porsche he has. My point is that he's awfully wealthy, a respected name in the industry AND in the clubs like PCA and our CVAR. Maybe he will be at these next races and I can ask him some stuff. I wonder if anyone on here knows him. He's good friends with a dude who looks kind of like him, Patrick. they both have long pony tails, smoke, do flag work for the big boys in the SCCA and FIA. Can't think of their last names. Anyways yah maybe he can throw in some ideas but I am still suspicious whether what he said was even true really.

[johnc]

Last guy I worked with was John something and I'm not sure if he was making it up but apparently he helped design the Lemans Audi intake and stuff which is crucial for the entire motor.

 

Actually, the guy that did that is Ulrich Baretzky (the head of Audi Sport's engine program) and you can read all about it in the January 2007 issue of Race Tech magazine. While you should always listen to your elders, don't always believe them.

 

If you want to find out of he really did the Audi intakes, ask him the following:

 

1. Did they run a snorkel? (Yes they did to help slightly pressurize the intake for the turbos).

2. What manifold pressure did they build the inlet manifold to handle? (2.94 bar)

3. Why did they make the inlet manifold as short as possible? (to eliminate dead zones and turbo lag).

[josh817]

Patrick and John are crazy anyways so I had a feeling I was being fed a line but he kept a serious face for everything so it was like oh god. Both of them carried guns while waiving flags and they both are horribly rich to the point that they own maybe too much stuff, including women. I know John has his FIA flag waiving license, claimed the Audi intake thing but maybe he just helped with it, he's a first responder with his purple pt cruiser (I know thats true because he has all the equipment and lights for it), apparently either owns THE car or the rights to the Jagermeister Porsche because the guy with the psychodelic 911 in our club showed up with a Jagermeister paint job and John apparently claimed he sold/allowed/however that works to the dude, he went to like Florida university or something because he mentioned that he's proud of his sons being in the same fraternity as he was and they still know how to throw good parties. I'm going to find a last name!

 

Oh and he lives out in the middle of nowhere in some little town in Texas. Something like Dripp or Drop or something pertaining to water falling if I do recall.

[essdeezee]

Really all of shop cars are Triumphs. He's just known as the Triumph guru after having experience in racing them and blowing up his own motors blah blah blah.

 

I think you should look into following in your father's footsteps.

 

Just substitute the word "Datsun" for the word "Triumph" in the above quote.

[dr_hunt]

Step back a bit and look at your goals. Running a shop and having a great reputation as an engine builder will take 10 to 15 years to develop. The main steps to getting there are:

 

1. Stay in school and get good grades.

2. Keep out of trouble.

3. Stay away from weed. Its not that its bad for you, it just kills motivation and critical thinking.

4. Take all the machining, welding, and automotive classes you can.

5. Join SAE.

6. Get involved in a the Forumla SAE program.

7. Get into a college that offers a good mechanical engineering program.

8. Do your best to get on as an engineer on a professional race team and try to focus on the powertrain.

9. Save all the money you can by living as cheaply as possible.

10. When you reach 30, write a good business plan and open your shop.

11. Work your ass off.

 

I agree with everything except portions of #3. Weed is bad for you, period. I have several friends with respiratory disease from smoking weed, both are in their 60's now and weed is all they smoked. So , no I don't agree with that statement except that you should not smoke it.

 

Smokey and others like him have told you that it takes time to develop a reputation and I'll tell you it takes less time to destroy it. People finding out you smoke weed is one sure way to run business off, guaranteed.

 

I built a holley DP carb for a guy's 383 gen 1 solid cam motor and he called me yesterday saying that the engine is backfiring, which ruined the powervalve to begin with which is what was wrong when he brought it over. So, now I am going to diagnose the backfiring issue. But in time the old school guys like me always get called because the new hotness fuel injection era guys don't know squat about carbs, how to time them, set point dwell angle or have the equipment to do it, set timing curves, solid lifter cams or much else about the gen 1 sbc. Another guy is bringing his '55 chevy over to redo the suspension and disc brakes, tune up his 6 banger before we install a gen 1 sbc and 700r4 trans, replace the floor pans and bracing under the car.

 

Eventually you'll get known for doing what you do and people will come and find you, but remember you have to advertise, advertise, advertise when you are in business.

[attworth]

Do you ever work on friend's cars? They can be a pretty decent word of mouth marketing tool - provided they're of similar mind-set to you.

 

I started helping my friends fix and modify their cars when they first started driving. First thing I ever did was install a sub-woofer in the back of my friend's Acura. I was 16 at the time and he paid me pretty well for that. That's turned into a phone call anytime something is wrong with his or his family's cars over the last several years. I have at least two other friends with similar situations. They've even recommended people to me for some cheap side labor. I can't tell you how many brake jobs I've done for friends of friends.

 

Just a thought.

 

Also, if you ever do any work outside of your dad's shop, I'd recommend having some kind of liability insurance - especially if you're working with safety equipment like brakes and suspension. I assume that if you work at his shop, he's got you covered - but you may want to ask.

[SuperDan]

What NOT to do.... http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/pts/1151734573.html

[attworth]

What NOT to do.... http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/pts/1151734573.html

 

[josh817]

Haha! I don't do drugs and alcohol isn't my thing unless its something hard and then I only drink a little before I become a noob and it feels like I'm breathing fumes and like someone punched me in the gut. I'm known as the car dude at school so people know who I am but its Keller. When these teens have their cars wrecked or if something is wrong, mom and dad are there to swoop down and wisp them off their feet and take it to some local Quick Lube where they charge for **** that isn't broken. No one is independent in Keller it seems like. I tried to help out a hot friend of mine and she was all open to it except she was told to wait for her dad to get home and I know he is the type that I just described so its like whatever dude. I have some buddies that go to the track and waste their clutches and I said I could probably change it out for them for way less than a local shop. Even though I don't work on the newer cars its pretty simple to just grab a Haynes manual and read it if you have the tools to do the job.

 

Anyways I posted in Braaps thread a little while ago since he posted some ITS racing videos. This brought in a new idea which is basically, force yourself into learning the cool stuff by joining an ITS group so in order to win, you have to learn the "secret" trick **** in order to make good power out of a pretty stock motor. Like Sunbelt did. Plus I would love to go racing and win on a budget, or get close to winning. Its all floating in the air right now. I don't want to ditch the BMW project because right now its an unfinished project so we can'teven sell it really.

 

Some incite of what we do I guess..

 

Racing is in the family grampa, dad, and myself. Dad doesn't like pictures, thus we only have one from CVAR but he did TR6 enduro's and stuff:

 

 

 

Personal cars we've restored:

 

 

And like ten zillion more, he goes through them like its some sort of food. Our race cars now along with the old shop and customer cars that Dad and I have restored for them:

 

 

 

 

 

Thats all I have I guess until I remember to bring my camera to the new shop.

 

Sorry for 56k users, if they are still around anymore that is.

 

We're having an open house for the new shop sometime in June. Attworth, I'm dragging you along and anyone else who feels like coming is welcome too. I'll get specifics sometime soon.

[BRAAP]

What NOT to do.... http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/pts/1151734573.html

 

Bwahahahahaha.....

 

Dan's moonlighting again using his HBZ nickname, Cain!

[johnc]

That Midget is cool.

 

And there's a SCCA Improved Touring (IT) class for your 2002. Its called ITB. And the real "trick" to wining in IT is seat time.

Edited May 4, 2009 by johnc

[josh817]

The bmw is already out of the rules it was meant for cvar so we have the giant dcoe's, giant cam, high comp, all sorts of crap. Oh and we sold everything which would help us make weight requirements. CVAR does like a 1.13 x displacement = weight requirement and it comes out to be like 2300lbs... Thats like stock 2002 weight! So we said forget it, we're taking the points hit for weight but because its actually a '68 1602 with a 2002 motor so we weigh in at some retarded feather weight. If you're going to break the rules, atleast make it worth something right? All the bmw's run in the back except for one thats way up there with the CP 240z!

 

Dad bought the Midget because it has a full record book and also raced with my grandpa up in the north east. Came with a ton of complete Ford flat head 60 motors, quick change rear ends, etc. Only problem is that neither of us can fit in it without unbolting the steering wheel... So I told him if he decided to run it in CVAR and he crashed he would have to wait for someone with a 3/8" socket and ratchet to come along before we could pull him out.

 

 

Or just weight until his legs burned off. >_>

 

Oh and Dad kinda poopoo'd my ITS idea because he's so hell bound on saying SCCA is too political. Too large and too political. He did SVRA and I think thats large too so you know, whatever. Ignore the grumpy wise one for now.

[Lewis Maudlin]

My suggestion to get a good rep is to do good work for free. Where is your shop?

[josh817]

Arlington, Texas near Rosedale and Pioneer.

[attworth]

Hey Josh. If it's the first weekend in June, forget about it, or reschedule.

 

http://www.texasscottishfestival.com/

[Kingnothing616]

You are in a tough place working for your father, sounds like you have a great place to work and learn, but all the regulars will always go straight to your father. Unless he gives you 100% credit for the things that you do, its hard to get them to look at you as just a technician. I have dealt with this since I started. I am only 22 now, and have been working at an independant shop for 2 and 1/2 years, only about the last year have the regulars started coming to me with their problems instead of the boss. I worked at a Toyota dealer for about a year straight after TSTC and gained zero respect from anyone because i was so young. I hate how people are, but it is really amazing how much a clean cut, clean shave, and tucked in shirt will get you.

[josh817]

dad is real good about giving credit to the right people. He's a straight business/shop owner, won't do anything disrespectful or whatever. The people that try to make jokes of us tend to come back apologizing later on for being wrong.

 

For instance a guy had a blown rear end, had Dad rebuild it, then a blew up again. The cause was from an oil splash plate breaking off so the top end of the diff wasn't getting any oil. The guy goes about trying to make us look like fools and Jeff, the other British auto guy (who dad use to work for and started up the Caterham dealership with him), is sitting there laughing about how "Ed finally screwed up". The guy then goes to a different dude, rebuilt it, the dude tells the guy that Dad did nothing wrong with the diff and built it as strong as it is suppose to be. Thus the reputation of a shop owner is saved and an apology from angry wrong customer has been received.

 

Funny how those things work.