TopSpeed - Why to use Professionals
This thread will continue with the interesting things we get here, but it will start with this:
A customer brought us a car for tuning, that had alot of work done by another shop out of state. To make a long story short the work was sub-par. We spent 10hrs fixing all the noticeable issues with the just to get it in a condition that we could tune it.
The shop that worked on the car prior to him bringing it to us had installed a Perrin fuel rail kit. All the top fuel lines that went to the distribution block were the perrin supplied Good-Year fuel lines. What we couldn't see was the shop must have ran out of the good-year lines because they used heater hose on the lower fuel lines under the intake that connect the two rails. They also covered all the fuel lines with fire sleeve making it even less noticeable.
That is until the heater hose (fuel lines) decided it wanted to burst covering the entire engine bay and underside of the car with fuel... which then led to it catching on fire.
Pretty interesting way to start the day..
Cliff Notes: Don't let an incompetent shop work on your car or touch anything that has to do with fuel lines. IE: don't use a 2ply heater hose for a fuel line.
Quote:
Originally Posted by siegelracing
So, like Doug said, we went over all the vacuum lines and things, EVERYTHING was wrong. The Perrin fuel rail kit is pretty straight forward, and everything visible looked good. The lower lines all had "Fire Sleeve" on them
So I got it running last night, started tuning on it, took it to the gas station, put a few gallons of gas in it... Got on the highway and did some pulls... With the Hydra's, you have to do some work on cold-start, so as usual, I drove the car home so I could work on cold start in the morning.
So this morning I go out and FIRE up the laptop. Start the car, sure enough it's real rich with 55 degree coolant temps. So I'm sitting in my driveway working on the coolant temp enrichment table and...
BOOM!!!
Flames, like real orange FLAME, SHOOTS from the hood-scoop, I'm like "Oh my gosh." I turn the key off, reach for the turbo timer button, and FLAME LICKS UP THE PASSENGER SIDE OF THE CAR.
"Oh DANG!!!" I jump out, and think "FIRE BOTTLE"... "IN THE GARAGE..."
I run to the garage and the stupid keypad needs to pressed really slowly, or it freaks out for a bit.
So I SPRINT to the front door, throw it open, go tearing through the house, out to the garage, get the garage door going up, start frantically searching for the fire bottle. I know my big 15lb pit bottle is near the door, but I don't see it....
"KITCHEN FIRE BOTTLE!!!!"
I sprint through the house, grab the little 5lber and sprint out of my house.
SPRAY, SPRAY, SPRAY, out.....
"HOSE!!!"
I run back onto the porch, turn on the water, go back over the railing with the hose and spray the car down.
It melted the under-body, side-skirt, bottom of the front bumper, and some other stuff. We'll be going back for pictures soon...
My big fire bottle was right next to the door, but it was in it's cardboard box... now I know why fire bottles are RED
The customer fully understands that this was entirely on the other shop.
DON'T LET RANDOM SHOPS INSTALL YOUR FUEL-SYSTEMS!!!
Siegel
TopSpeed Inc.
2130 Brandon Trail
Alpharetta, GA 30004
678-297-7770
[email protected]
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by MIKE.P
And I fixed it taking my time. Throughout I learned so much about my car Versus people who just take it to the shop. I agree taking it to a professional is faster and more reliable but I did the whole install pretty decent. My car runs like a champ now by just researching and asking for advice. The next time will be even easier since I have a wider knowledge of my car. Throughout the whole process of being my own mechanic..I never took it to a shop or professional and I'm proud of what I've accomplished. 
If I didn't have steps to follow to uninstall or install anything at all; then yea, I'd take it to the shop! Things like tuning and flashes, I'd take to a pro! 
