Steve Drier, owner of Houston Performance, is not a bad guy. Ive dealt with him over the years, they tuned one of our cars. I havent seen or bought anything from him in years
Back in the late 90's, all of the old school mod motor guys only used HP to tune their cars here in houston, being the only autologic people around, that was the way to go. A couple people had a few bad builds, not sure what they are now.. Years ago, they had a great shop and steve was great. However, Ive heard bad stories about them over the years. Hard to say because ever single shop has at least a few bad stories floating around.
Ive always used Richard Lelsz at Strictly Performance(they have won a number of NMRA championships). They have done tons of work over the years on my cars. However, I dont use them anymore as they have become so big that they have too many mechanics and way too many cars at one time. Plus, Greg Flatt, the original mechanic, is no longer there.
I would stronly recommend a family mechanic that I trust as much as anybody around.
Javier's Autos Unlimited
9443 Clay Rd, Houston - (713) 461-5595
The guy has built some of the top offroad racing vehicles around. He specializes in Toyota Landcruisers and has been in many of the top offroad magazines. He will not steal your money, and not scam you or give you wrong information. Let him know you want the car checked, and specify if you want to a compression test or anything else done. PM me for more info about him.
Mark