I had the best experience that I have had not only with Performance shops, but also with any company that I have done business with yesterday. I wanted to share this with everyone to show you how professional and outstanding of a business Amazon Racing is. Here I go:
I called Linn late on Thursday trying to get an appointment for a dyno tune on Saturday. Lucky for me someone just cancelled so she had a slot for me at 10:00am. I thanked her and eagerly anticipated a nice Saturday morning of getting my car tuned and then driving around enjoying the new found power.
So I get up and head up to Amazon Racing from Quantico, VA. It is about a two-hour drive that turned into a 2.5 hour drive because I get stuck behind the 9-11 Remembrance Ride. Not too bad a thing to get stuck behind if I do say so. So I arrived at Amazon at about 10:15am and the staff is there ready to go. After getting some stuff ready, Rick pulls my car onto the dyno. As he pulls it on Derrick notices this wet stuff all over the back of my car. He points it out and says it looks like gear oil. Rick immediately says lets back it up and get underneath it and check it out.
Right now I am freaking out! I am along way from home and this is my only car. So we get it jacked up and look at the rear diff cover. There is a crack/bulge outward where it is obvious that something has really tried to punch its way out! I am floored. I had 4:10 gears put in about 7 months ago and something about them had never quite set right with me. A few times I had heard some grinding but didn’t think anything of it. Well now I am really thinking about it!
Rick and the staff were quick to realize that they had a totaled 01 Cobra in the shop that was being parted out. We crawled under the 01 and it looked like the pumpkin was good. So Derrick and I started tearing it out of the totaled car. The bad part was that the car was so messed up we couldn’t get the IRS to come out. So Derrick turns in a favor to the shop next door and they bring in the plasma cutter. Needless to say we finally get out the entire pumpkin and it is in great shape.
So when a spot opens up in the shop I get my car in and Derrick, Eric, and I all start tearing apart my car. Much easier then the 01 was that’s for sure. We get it all apart and open up the pumpkin and there are 4 bolts completely out of the ring gear! They were just sitting in the bottom of the housing and clunking around in there. Apparently when the gears where installed he didn’t torque them down enough. The rest of the bolts could all be loosened with my fingers! I am really lucky that one of those bolts didn’t get stuck in the gears and lock them up sending me into circles at about 80+ mph.
The reinstall was rather quick. Everyone in the shop was there helping out and we get it back out on the road. After a road test everything is sounding good and looking good. Now let me remind everyone that this is at about 7:00pm. The shop has been "closed" for a few hours now. The entire staff was still there and helping me get my car back up and running.
So we get back from the test drive and Rick says, "lets get this thing on the dyno." After an entire day of working and staying late to help me out he still wanted to tune up the car for me. That is amazing! So Rick sets out to do his magic on the car and gets 437.0 Hp and 470.3 lb/ft of Tq on the dyno. The car pulls like you would not believe and it will definitely set you back in the seat. This turned my long day of frustration and worry and made it all worth it.
In closing I want to thank everyone at Amazon Racing. It is this kind of company that supports our community and shows us what a company that cares can really do. I don’t know what I would have done if something like that had happened at some local shop. The professionalism of everyone at the shop was amazing! The dynamic of the staff is what great companies are made of. Thank you Linn, Rick, Derrick, and Eric for everything you did for me. I cant put into words how you all made my weekend!
If anyone has any question about what shop/company to deal with, just ask me and I will tell you about the best shop in the United States!
Semper Fidelis,
Kris
I called Linn late on Thursday trying to get an appointment for a dyno tune on Saturday. Lucky for me someone just cancelled so she had a slot for me at 10:00am. I thanked her and eagerly anticipated a nice Saturday morning of getting my car tuned and then driving around enjoying the new found power.
So I get up and head up to Amazon Racing from Quantico, VA. It is about a two-hour drive that turned into a 2.5 hour drive because I get stuck behind the 9-11 Remembrance Ride. Not too bad a thing to get stuck behind if I do say so. So I arrived at Amazon at about 10:15am and the staff is there ready to go. After getting some stuff ready, Rick pulls my car onto the dyno. As he pulls it on Derrick notices this wet stuff all over the back of my car. He points it out and says it looks like gear oil. Rick immediately says lets back it up and get underneath it and check it out.
Right now I am freaking out! I am along way from home and this is my only car. So we get it jacked up and look at the rear diff cover. There is a crack/bulge outward where it is obvious that something has really tried to punch its way out! I am floored. I had 4:10 gears put in about 7 months ago and something about them had never quite set right with me. A few times I had heard some grinding but didn’t think anything of it. Well now I am really thinking about it!
Rick and the staff were quick to realize that they had a totaled 01 Cobra in the shop that was being parted out. We crawled under the 01 and it looked like the pumpkin was good. So Derrick and I started tearing it out of the totaled car. The bad part was that the car was so messed up we couldn’t get the IRS to come out. So Derrick turns in a favor to the shop next door and they bring in the plasma cutter. Needless to say we finally get out the entire pumpkin and it is in great shape.
So when a spot opens up in the shop I get my car in and Derrick, Eric, and I all start tearing apart my car. Much easier then the 01 was that’s for sure. We get it all apart and open up the pumpkin and there are 4 bolts completely out of the ring gear! They were just sitting in the bottom of the housing and clunking around in there. Apparently when the gears where installed he didn’t torque them down enough. The rest of the bolts could all be loosened with my fingers! I am really lucky that one of those bolts didn’t get stuck in the gears and lock them up sending me into circles at about 80+ mph.
The reinstall was rather quick. Everyone in the shop was there helping out and we get it back out on the road. After a road test everything is sounding good and looking good. Now let me remind everyone that this is at about 7:00pm. The shop has been "closed" for a few hours now. The entire staff was still there and helping me get my car back up and running.
So we get back from the test drive and Rick says, "lets get this thing on the dyno." After an entire day of working and staying late to help me out he still wanted to tune up the car for me. That is amazing! So Rick sets out to do his magic on the car and gets 437.0 Hp and 470.3 lb/ft of Tq on the dyno. The car pulls like you would not believe and it will definitely set you back in the seat. This turned my long day of frustration and worry and made it all worth it.
In closing I want to thank everyone at Amazon Racing. It is this kind of company that supports our community and shows us what a company that cares can really do. I don’t know what I would have done if something like that had happened at some local shop. The professionalism of everyone at the shop was amazing! The dynamic of the staff is what great companies are made of. Thank you Linn, Rick, Derrick, and Eric for everything you did for me. I cant put into words how you all made my weekend!
If anyone has any question about what shop/company to deal with, just ask me and I will tell you about the best shop in the United States!
Semper Fidelis,
Kris