Shops to Avoid In My Area Thread

[George Hill]

Jae,

Welded Crankshaft in hi revving engine like
S54 is never ever good idea, period. It
does not matter how well its done and how
well is heat treated after... The crankshaft is one
large spring, welding material is destroying the
area around. When the Second order/forces
harmonics occur back and forth the floating
force is interrupted in that area. I know a guy from
CA who snapped his S54 crank in the repaired
welded journal.

Widening the rod journal is also terrible idea !!!!

Say S54 crank is very rare like some MG engines
and one has better chance to hit the National
Lottery rather than finding a good clean crank,
then sure the only one option is to repair/weld.

But this is not the case with S54 crank.

Those who will weld S54 crank are very cheap
and don't want to spent money on getting one in
a good condition.


Regards,
Anri

I thought Langs claim to fame on the crank was widening the journals to run a different rod bearing with more surface area. Why would they need to weld it to perform this service?

[usdmej]

You literally couldn't pay me to take my cars there again.

wow that's really surprising to hear

i've had nothing but good experiences with him and his work. he's actually saved me money multiple times when i've bought in parts for replacement thinking they were dead but instead he ran diagnostics and figured out the (cheaper) root cause fix

imo he seems to know this platform inside and out, did you ever get your FI setup to work?

[9kracing]

Like I said, Wing himself seems like a good guy, I don't think he's out to rip people off.

I think he just didn't want to mess with my car when it was clear it wasn't going to be a plug and play install.

... But if it was just one incident I'd let it slide, like I did the first two times they fucked shit up. The third time was the worst, and the final straw for me.

Wing ended up putting in my old Dinan injectors so I'm running those maxed out atm. Hassan had to back down the power, I think we ended up at 408whp on the mustang dyno, I'd have to look.

It runs, but now that I don't trust anything VT did I'm not going to run it hard.

I bought an AEM infinity, and I'm going to have Ant at Hybridworks tune it with the ID injectors.

Dennis at SV Bimmer is doing my RACP install. Those guys seem awesome, and will be who I use from now on.

[SQ13]

ABR Houston

[Anri]

Why would they need to weld it to perform this service?

I was pointing that there are 2 separate
services. Widening the bearing does not
require welding. Welding repair is only
when the rod journal is burned/damaged.

Regards,
Anri

[Ramo]

I could literally write a book.

Let me preface this by saying Wing is a nice enough guy, and when you talk to him he will sell you down the road, and convince you he has it under control... He does not.

I've taken both my cars there multiple different times. Not one time did I have the work performed with no issues. They couldn't figure out my ACT clutch on my SMG swap. They couldn't fit my Ohlins coilovers. They broke my shock bolts on the X5 when installing my KW coilovers. They got my BRAND NEW LED headlights wet somehow and ruined the drivers side headlight, literally fucked up a $6000 part and told me to have the dealer warranty it, which of course they won't.

They've broken multiple parts, on both cars, and in fact the last time I used them, they had the E46 for ELEVEN months. Eleven fucking months.

The last time I went there, I had them install my exhaust, and put on a smaller supercharger pulley. I also brought them ID injectors, a new fuel pump, and fuel pressure regulator. This turned into an ELEVEN month install. Wing just threw my car on the back burner so he could churn out spring installs. It literally took him 3 or 4 months to get the injectors installed. I had to beg him to contact ID and ask what he was doing wrong, and he told me ID doesn't know what they are doing. I had to post on the forums, and figure out IN ONE DAY that you need to run spacers to get the ID injectors to seat properly.

Then it was Radium that didn't know what they were doing, cause he couldn't get my fuel to not pulse. Ended up just removing the Radium stuff.

They absolutely ruined my 50K mile car by leaving it out in the 110 degree sun with no protection all summer. Didn't think of putting up a sunshade. Also destroyed my drivers seat, IDK if he had a 300 lb tech working on my car, but they seat looks like it saw 50K miles in a year.

They ended up not doing half of the work I requested.... or should I say, couldn't figure it out. Had the car on the dyno FIVE times, four of which they weren't even able to make a full pull due to various issues.

They never installed the injectors, the fuel regulator, the fuel filter, and he told me when I picked up the car that the BNIB supersprint exhaust I gave him had a rattle in it, but he went ahead and installed it anyway.

Ended up charging me almost $9000 for half the work I requested not even done, and my car in terrible shape after ELEVEN MONTHS.

Handed me back my injectors, fuel pressure regulator, a few other parts, and went back to installing springs on G80s.

I could go on for pages, but I think you get the idea. Hopefully Wing reads this and responds, because there was plenty I left out.

You literally couldn't pay me to take my cars there again.

Wow very surprising to hear about your experience. What shop in the Bay do you trust or recommend then?

[9kracing]

SV Bimmer

[Tbonem3]

LTMW

[c watson]

I’d rather have work done by an enthusiast who advertises his services on the forums than a shop.
That’s how I had everything addressed on my car.

[bigjae46]

Jae,

Welded Crankshaft in hi revving engine like
S54 is never ever good idea, period. It
does not matter how well its done and how
well is heat treated after... The crankshaft is one
large spring, welding material is destroying the
area around. When the Second order/forces
harmonics occur back and forth the floating
force is interrupted in that area. I know a guy from
CA who snapped his S54 crank in the repaired
welded journal.

Widening the rod journal is also terrible idea !!!!

Say S54 crank is very rare like some MG engines
and one has better chance to hit the National
Lottery rather than finding a good clean crank,
then sure the only one option is to repair/weld.

But this is not the case with S54 crank.

Those who will weld S54 crank are very cheap
and don't want to spent money on getting one in
a good condition.


Regards,
Anri

I am by no means an expert on this but I did consider repairing my crank. And this was years ago but the economics of welding, grinding, straightening and heat treating didn't make sense when a new BMW crank was $1600 w/ main bearings. And its a no-brainer when you could find good S54s for less than $3k - manifold to manifold w/ accessories and a clutch assembly. I did that - rod bearings, VANOS and gaskets (about $2k) - then parted out the old motor and I came out $1000 in the hole. Not bad - used motor with all of the issues addressed for $1000.

Around the same time I bought 6 bad S54s with the plans to piece together a good one. 5 of course...had bad cranks. Lang bought them all. S54 cranks are like M54B25/30 motors. Yes, you can find them but finding a good one is a whole different story.

I'd be curious hear if someone has had long-term success with a Lang repaired crank.

EDIT:

So BMW ended the cranks w/ shells in 2018...that sucks because that was a steal. A BMW crank is $2500 list price...still not bad considering you know what you're getting.

[AWE46M3]

I’d rather have work done by an enthusiast who advertises his services on the forums than a shop.
That’s how I had everything addressed on my car.

..

[Interlagos]

Not an E46 specific shop as they mostly focus on classic BMWs, but to anyone in the NE I’d stay VERY far away from VSR despite their seemingly good rep. I had my E30 M3 “rebuilt” by them to the tune of $30k+ and have had nothing but issues while the car was still with them and especially after I got it back.

[Anri]

Not an E46 specific shop as they mostly focus on classic BMWs, but to anyone in the NE I’d stay VERY far away from VSR despite their seemingly good rep. I had my E30 M3 “rebuilt” by them to the tune of $30k+ and have had nothing but issues while the car was still with them and especially after I got it back.

Hi,

I think I did ask you on the S14 forum and I still wander what
issue/s do you still have with the tune ? Are you on sequential
ignition or cap/rotor with MaxX ECU ? Assuming you have
not fixed them ?

I am also wandering how come whatever you are not
happy with the tune is not brought back for correction ?

Regards,
Anri

[Interlagos]

Hi,

I think I did ask you on the S14 forum and I still wander what
issue/s do you still have with the tune ? Are you on sequential
ignition or cap/rotor with MaxX ECU ? Assuming you have
not fixed them ?

I am also wandering how come whatever you are not
happy with the tune is not brought back for correction ?

Regards,
Anri

Apologies, Anri — I don’t log into S14 very often anymore so I never saw your questions.

My issues with VSR are bigger than just the tune and for those reasons I’d never trust them with my car again, so sending it back for them to correct was never an option. When we started having issues and I pushed back Mario decided to make things personal, so needless to say my only goal at that point was getting my car and any $ possible back as quickly as possible after it had been there for 8 months.

The car received a new chip for the ignition and is running the cap/rotor with the Maxx AN for fuel. The tune related issues I had were a bit hard to describe, but essentially the car felt like it didn’t respond to the throttle inputs I gave it in lower RPMs. When driving at slow speeds or being in a parking lot and quickly going from 1st to Reverse back to 1st the RPMs would surge up and kinda hang there for a second even though I was no longer giving any gas. It also just never felt as strong as I’d expected given the extent of the build. Beyond that I got stranded and had to be towed the first time I drove the car upon getting it back because some bolt came out of the shift lever or something and I lost the ability to change gears on the interstate. Mario said this had nothing to do with him even though they changed the driveshaft, clutch, flywheel, etc. and installed a different short shifter than what the car went to them with. I also had issues with the rear diff/axles once I got the car back and again, Mario denied this had anything to do with them even though there were no rear end noises when they got the car and they specifically did other rear end work… oh, the car also came back with scratches on the bumpers and Evo front splitter that verifiably weren’t present upon VSR’s initial intake photos. Edit: I forgot, they also used the wrong injectors even though this is a common build for them and ran the car on the dyno for multiple runs before realizing their mistake… I never got true dyno numbers from them after that.

There’s more to the story, but it just pisses me off thinking about it and I don’t want to type a whole book here today. At this point I haven’t seriously driven the car in over a year because I just don’t trust it and that sucks, because my dad bought the car when I was in middle school and I learned to drive in it. The car was our long term project together and the VSR rebuild was my dad’s dying “wish” for me to keep the car forever. It was one of the only things my dad and I saw eye to eye on and IMO Mario ruined that for me, especially when he decided to tell me he was doing me a favor by continuing the build after my dad passed since they’d been the ones to discuss it up to that point (even though the title is in my name and I paid all the bills he sent). Now the car is just an expensive, yet somehow worthless, paperweight that sits on a battery tender in my storage garage.

[Anri]

Apologies, Anri — I don’t log into S14 very often anymore so I never saw your questions.

My issues with VSR are bigger than just the tune and for those reasons I’d never trust them with my car again, so sending it back for them to correct was never an option. When we started having issues and I pushed back Mario decided to make things personal, so needless to say my only goal at that point was getting my car and any $ possible back as quickly as possible after it had been there for 8 months.

The car received a new chip for the ignition and is running the cap/rotor with the Maxx AN for fuel. The tune related issues I had were a bit hard to describe, but essentially the car felt like it didn’t respond to the throttle inputs I gave it in lower RPMs. When driving at slow speeds or being in a parking lot and quickly going from 1st to Reverse back to 1st the RPMs would surge up and kinda hang there for a second even though I was no longer giving any gas. It also just never felt as strong as I’d expected given the extent of the build. Beyond that I got stranded and had to be towed the first time I drove the car upon getting it back because some bolt came out of the shift lever or something and I lost the ability to change gears on the interstate. Mario said this had nothing to do with him even though they changed the driveshaft, clutch, flywheel, etc. and installed a different short shifter than what the car went to them with. I also had issues with the rear diff/axles once I got the car back and again, Mario denied this had anything to do with them even though there were no rear end noises when they got the car and they specifically did other rear end work… oh, the car also came back with scratches on the bumpers and Evo front splitter that verifiably weren’t present upon VSR’s initial intake photos. Edit: I forgot, they also used the wrong injectors even though this is a common build for them and ran the car on the dyno for multiple runs before realizing their mistake… I never got true dyno numbers from them after that.

There’s more to the story, but it just pisses me off thinking about it and I don’t want to type a whole book here today. At this point I haven’t seriously driven the car in over a year because I just don’t trust it and that sucks, because my dad bought the car when I was in middle school and I learned to drive in it. The car was our long term project together and the VSR rebuild was my dad’s dying “wish” for me to keep the car forever. It was one of the only things my dad and I saw eye to eye on and IMO Mario ruined that for me, especially when he decided to tell me he was doing me a favor by continuing the build after my dad passed since they’d been the ones to discuss it up to that point (even though the title is in my name and I paid all the bills he sent). Now the car is just an expensive, yet somehow worthless, paperweight that sits on a battery tender in my storage garage.

Hi,

Thanks for sharing. I read your post 3 times because
I could not believe my eyes..

I knew Maxx was used before you even shared. I know
the issue running this set-up. I am very familiar with S14/S38
aftermarket engine management system. Using this set up
gives me the indication.


Not providing dyno data with honest number demonstrates
absolute failure and disrespect to the customer who brings
busyness.

I am sorry to hear that and thanks for sharing this, people
needs to be aware of.

Regards,
Anri