Chicane Sport Tuning in Torrance, CA

[No.11]

Long story short, my car has been a pain in the ass, as you may read here. I thought it would be fun to work on my own car, but it turned out to be more than my level of mechanical understanding can handle. I had to concede defeat. My car has been sitting for a month and when I had finally done the repairs I thought I needed (problem didn't go away) I turned it on to find that my brake lights won't work and this time it's not the fuses. Along with my brake lights, my passenger side power window is out too... so I'm thinking I may have an electrical problem as well. I decided to just take it to somebody who knows what they're doing. I had been thinking of Chicane for a while but I was hesitant to put down the $90/hr for service. However, at this point I just want someone good to service my car-- someone who knows Mustangs. Chicane seems to be the perfect place. I'm going to go down there possibly this weekend. Before I head on down there, though, I wanted to ask for your input here. Any good/bad experiences? And also, is this the right place for what I need or is this a place more like for high performance services? I spoke with (I forgot his name X_X) over the phone when I first started having trouble with the car and he sounded like a very serious no bull**** kind of guy. That's good because at $90/hr I want someone to get right down to business. I also want a shop that I can build a relationship with and that I can count on. I've had bad experiences from pretty much every mechanic I've dealt with... whether it's a part that wasn't really replaced, they tried to sabotage me so I would have service done there, they told me the wrong things my car needed, or just straight out "As long as it gets from point A to point B" sloppy work. I'm a college student making only $1100 a month but I think I've toiled enough with this car and I'm willing to shell out the money to get my car running right. I mean road trip right. I mean spirited driving right.

Uhhh ok maybe it wasn't such a short story.

Anyway, any input would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

[rbonella]

ahhhh, you should go out and buy a 12 volt test light and track the problem down yourself. I have no personal experience with Chicane, but you could save a lot of $ tracking this yourself. Spend some time searching the forum /google/etc...on your cars problems and do it yourself. Iam NO master mechanic, but I pick my battles wisely. Wiring can be really frustrating to hunt down, but time is $, and when I was in college back in the day making 7-14k/year, I learned to fix a lot of things myself (especially car stuff) Just my .02

 

[No.11]

ahhhh, you should go out and buy a 12 volt test light and track the problem down yourself. I have no personal experience with Chicane, but you could save a lot of $ tracking this yourself. Spend some time searching the forum /google/etc...on your cars problems and do it yourself. Iam NO master mechanic, but I pick my battles wisely. Wiring can be really frustrating to hunt down, but time is $, and when I was in college back in the day making 7-14k/year, I learned to fix a lot of things myself (especially car stuff) Just my .02

Well the electrical problems are just the last straw. My car also has a problem that it is low even though it has nothing that should be lowering it (maybe bad springs). Also my driveshaft is hitting the tunnel of the car, and there is a noise that seems to be grinding around the ebrake area when 1. the car has more weight on it and 2. I'm accelerating. I'd like to fix it myself, which is what I initially intended, but it's been hard to do that since I go to school even on Saturdays. Also, I've tried doing a few things but I haven't found the problem. It's beyond my narrow expertise, I guess.

 

[Metalcop]

Joe Gozinksi (sp?) is the man behind Chicane, and from your description, it was definitely him that you spoke with, lol! If I lived in CA, and needed performance work done, there is no other place that I would bring my car. Joe worked at Saleen for years and is responsible for a lot of the technical advancement of the Saleen product. That being said, I would not bring my car there, for the problem, that you described. I would tackle it myself, as previously stated. If it is outside of your comfort zone, how about a good old Ford dealer? Should be about 1/2 the price, and a competent job should be done. Or I would just find a good overall mechanic/shop that I could trust for that basic, simple kind of job.

 

[Shaolin Crane]

Chicane is also giving away free gear sets in any ratio, all you gotta do is pay for the labor...