Well it's been over one and a half years since Cody picked up my car, and after all this time and $16,000.00 paid mostly in cash the only thing I have to show for this is enough excuses that I can probably start a paperback book and make back the money I'm probably gonna be out in attorney fees that will start accumulating tomorrow. The first delays were blamed on Bensons, where my block was supposedly held in limbo for 6-8 months. I was promised that I would have the car back before last winter......never happened. The next round of delays were blamed on his local engine builder who according to Cody went out of business while in possession of my rotating assembly for balancing. Next up was a tightly fitting bearing that was backordered from Acura.I was promised again that it would be back in my possession in March this year....never happened. The latest excuse was that Bensons did not properly size my sleeves, as they did final honing based off spec sheet rather than actual pistons that were in their possesion at the time.......hmmmmn....seems like a longshot since they do this sort of thing every day. So.....off to another local machine shop to correct Bensons error and now this machine shop is also supposedly taking forever and requiring Cody to drive over in person to expedite the work. Phone calls go unanswered and weeks pass in between getting a return phone call.....most recently blaming phone and internet providers for having phone/email out of service for two weeks. All the while updating the progress on his race car and now advertising dyno days at his new shop. I have put off posting this because I truly believed that his intentions were good and in the end I would have a top notch product. Since his Facebook page went up though, I could plainly see that my car is not even in the shop let alone getting worked on. When I asked him about the whereabouts of my car, he informed me that it was at his former residence, now rented by his brother. So, with regret, I post this story for other would be clients to read of my experience. The only thing going my way is that he took possession of my car in NJ so that's where the court jurisdiction will be.
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Cody and LoveFab
- Thread starter NA1MT
- Start date
Ron is correct; we have had terrible communication regarding his build.
The catalyst for this post is that we left the phones unanswered over the Memorial Weekend in order to try and prep the race car, as well as finish up other builds that were nearing completion. We were planning to call Ron on Tuesday after the holiday weekend. Naturally, after a week of unanswered calls, Ron lost is patience. We regrettably understand.
Why the terrible communication? Fear. For eighteen months we have been trying to get this engine together, and time after time, we find "another problem". It gets VERY old delivering bad news to customers; especially when it seems to be the same customer over and over.
The background of the build is that the engine suffered catastrophic failure due to severe detonation and a laundry list of other problems from the previous turbo and engine builder. I can go into detail, but it's not necessary. "A bomb went off," is sufficient. We were left to pick up the mess. Bensons indeed had the block for almost a year. They sized the pistons based on the "spec sheet" and not OUR specs, which we only discovered a month ago during final block assembly. We call for 4 to 4.5 thousandths piston-to-wall for the kind of power Ron is trying to make. Yes, we did overlook this during our initial inspection many months ago, because we have had nothing but perfect results from Benson over the years. Our mistake. We are glad to have caught this now, or Ron would be REALLY upset when his engine seized.
Bottom line, we have had daily communication with Ron since I returned his half-dozen voicemails at Tuesday, May 29th at 8AM. We are working around the clock to get this build done and to try and rectify our first negative post on Prime.
On a side note, we have cancelled our Pikes Peak Practice plans in order to get Ron's car(and a few other projects) finished before June 24th, our projected departure time for Pikes Peak. It breaks our heart, but, "ya gotta do what you gotta do."
Final note; communication is key. Ron, we apologize for being "scared" to answer your calls. We will get this build done, and it will be built right.
The catalyst for this post is that we left the phones unanswered over the Memorial Weekend in order to try and prep the race car, as well as finish up other builds that were nearing completion. We were planning to call Ron on Tuesday after the holiday weekend. Naturally, after a week of unanswered calls, Ron lost is patience. We regrettably understand.
Why the terrible communication? Fear. For eighteen months we have been trying to get this engine together, and time after time, we find "another problem". It gets VERY old delivering bad news to customers; especially when it seems to be the same customer over and over.
The background of the build is that the engine suffered catastrophic failure due to severe detonation and a laundry list of other problems from the previous turbo and engine builder. I can go into detail, but it's not necessary. "A bomb went off," is sufficient. We were left to pick up the mess. Bensons indeed had the block for almost a year. They sized the pistons based on the "spec sheet" and not OUR specs, which we only discovered a month ago during final block assembly. We call for 4 to 4.5 thousandths piston-to-wall for the kind of power Ron is trying to make. Yes, we did overlook this during our initial inspection many months ago, because we have had nothing but perfect results from Benson over the years. Our mistake. We are glad to have caught this now, or Ron would be REALLY upset when his engine seized.
Bottom line, we have had daily communication with Ron since I returned his half-dozen voicemails at Tuesday, May 29th at 8AM. We are working around the clock to get this build done and to try and rectify our first negative post on Prime.
On a side note, we have cancelled our Pikes Peak Practice plans in order to get Ron's car(and a few other projects) finished before June 24th, our projected departure time for Pikes Peak. It breaks our heart, but, "ya gotta do what you gotta do."
Final note; communication is key. Ron, we apologize for being "scared" to answer your calls. We will get this build done, and it will be built right.
It's been over 60 days since they started "working around the clock to get it done" and well.......it's still not done.
Any updates??
Not worth mentioning
Still not done....called three times this week on three different days when he didn't call to update me of progress, but it's nice to see that a car dropped off in spring this year for a complete rebuild is done before mine.
After a week of no reply, I finally received a return phone call and was promised by Cody that my car would be completed and returned to my possession no later than October 25th which is next Thursday, as he will be leaving for SEMA and I wouldn't be able to get it back until the middle of November if he doesn't complete it now. I sent an email to him confirming our conversation, but have not yet gotten a response. It has now been over 2 years(26 months) since he picked up my car.
- Joined
- 28 May 2008
- Messages
- 2,500
Not sure what you're waiting on - I would have a lawyer, file a lawsuit, receive the judgement, and place a lien against his entire property and fly out to Michigan and get my shit back.
Did you pick the car up today?
Nope.....he missed the deadline again citing too much custom fabrication to finish in time before leaving for SEMA. This week didn't bother me so much as I live a mile from the ocean and the storm has left everything in ruins, so this deadline getting missed was actually in my favor. As far as flying out there to get my shit back.....it would be picking up pieces rather than a car....hope that all the parts are there, and then pay someone to complete what I have already paid for in full with him. Believe me, this is the most disheartening experience I have ever gone through in dealing with a vendor.
Ron, I have sent you a PM regarding the manner. I am very sorry to hear about the damage Sandy has caused. I was in PA with family when it hit, no power for awhile. I have sent you a message regarding where we are at. I made a thread here: regarding who I am, but I will be handling all the customer service for LoveFab. I wish I could of started sooner, but from now on if there is something I can help you with please, shoot me a message.
As I stated in my reply to your PM.........it is rather insulting to be pushed off to a customer service rep given all of our situations that were created by Cody and no one else. Nothing personal, but Cody is the only one that I will deal with concerning my car, and if that is a problem you and he both can start to immediately deal with my attorney.
No offense Ron. I know you're only trying to help the situation. I know it's a rough time for Lovefab and they're in a transition phase and such and have moved shops "again" I guess, but this car has been left on the back burner forever.
I read your introduction. We are all aware of why you were brought on board, but in this situation I think it's best for you to say "Cody, you need to contact this person personally". That's the correct thing to do in this situation. Anything moving forward you of course should handle, but past situations that have already gone sour, I think it may be best for the owner "Cody" to talk to them personally.
Good luck.
I read your introduction. We are all aware of why you were brought on board, but in this situation I think it's best for you to say "Cody, you need to contact this person personally". That's the correct thing to do in this situation. Anything moving forward you of course should handle, but past situations that have already gone sour, I think it may be best for the owner "Cody" to talk to them personally.
Good luck.
Any update? At this rate that engine bay better be lined with gold.
After completing 3 other cars in place of mine in the past few weeks, I had to call for a week and a half to finally get Cody to answer the phone at which time he apologized for not returning my calls cause he was so busy. When I inquired as to why these other cars are taking priorty over mine, I was told that they were quick easy money to keep his doors open and that one other guy was a maniac and he needed to get him out of his life.
Cody then proceeded to tell me that he had a few wiring things to button up the following day, and would be starting the car.....this was Tuesday evening October 20th. He said he would call after he got it running to let me know it went ok. Wednesday evening I tried to call him when I realized that once again, I was lied to and would be recieving no phone call. He of coarse, did not answer his phone or return the call, and it is now Friday
evening. I finally forwarded all Cody's contact info to my attorney, who has been after me to take over this matter for me for months now.
Cody then proceeded to tell me that he had a few wiring things to button up the following day, and would be starting the car.....this was Tuesday evening October 20th. He said he would call after he got it running to let me know it went ok. Wednesday evening I tried to call him when I realized that once again, I was lied to and would be recieving no phone call. He of coarse, did not answer his phone or return the call, and it is now Friday
evening. I finally forwarded all Cody's contact info to my attorney, who has been after me to take over this matter for me for months now.
Ron here is your car on start up, it is on the dyno right now.
Cheers,
Matt
Cheers,
Matt
Unfortunately a few hours after this video was taken, there was a catastrophic failure while tuning and the one of the rear bank cylinders is toast. Cody has been in contact with me daily since this went down, and I truly believe he is working to resolve this as quickly as possible at this point in time. I will continue to update this thread as it all unfolds.
Are we having fun yet?
Not us. It's believed that an injector stuck partially closed during tuning shortly after this initial video, which resulted in a scorched single cylinder. The block has already been shipped to Bensons to have that sleeve replaced(yes, it was that bad), and the new pistons were ordered as soon as the spark plugs were read.
The heads and pistons are at the machine shop for balancing/inspection, and once the block returns shortly after the new year, we should be ready for round two within a week of that arrival.
This build has been the most trying customer build of our existence, and we can't wait for this one to be completed - and I'm sure Ron is in the same boat.
Not us. It's believed that an injector stuck partially closed during tuning shortly after this initial video, which resulted in a scorched single cylinder. The block has already been shipped to Bensons to have that sleeve replaced(yes, it was that bad), and the new pistons were ordered as soon as the spark plugs were read.
The heads and pistons are at the machine shop for balancing/inspection, and once the block returns shortly after the new year, we should be ready for round two within a week of that arrival.
This build has been the most trying customer build of our existence, and we can't wait for this one to be completed - and I'm sure Ron is in the same boat.
After a shipping mishap in sending block out to Benons, Cody informed me that it arrived back to him today. The injectors all tested out within 1% of each other, so that cancels out injector failure. Hopefully everything can be put back together now in a relatively short time and completed, so I can have the car back in a few more weeks.
Approaching the three year mark and still not done.
Will be three years August 6th. Once again, while on the dyno, he blew it up yet again. This time it was the bottom end that went. I could go into more depth, but what's the sense of it all. I suggested putting it through his insurance as a total loss and letting me be done with it all, but there was a key element missing from the possibility of that equation.
The nightmare continues...................
The nightmare continues...................
Ron's engine spun the main bearings after a solid and clean two hour break-in. The engine lost oil pressure for a split second during a power pull, I did not catch it in time to save the bearings, but I did however save the engine from a complete write-off. After careful inspection, meticulous crank polishing and further inspection, the only casualty seems to be Ron's time, a set of main bearings, and a whole lot of my time. Again.
I want to point out to everyone that I did not receive a perfectly good, running car. The engine was toast when it arrived. Oh how I wish I would've loaded it back on a trailer and sent it on it's way. The pre-existing problems are pages long, and still surface every time I work on the car. I have done what I can, and have continued to find issues with the car. Due to the time that has passed, I find huge resistance whenever I ask Ron for financial assistance to cover the work performed to his car. So, when doing this "out of pocket", it does not happen overnight.
Anyway, this time around, during startup, I discovered that the EMS was blown right out of the box from the last time the car ran. If you recall, the engine explosively failed on me at a very low power level last December. Yes, there were other issues, but I should have had some sort of warning sign before a 1" hole gets blasted through one piston. Pistons don't spontaneously explode without warning; unless you have a failure somewhere in the chain. I offered up 30-1042 EMS out of my personal car for a very fair price to get the car running(which I have not yet invoiced Ron for btw). While returning the car's VTEC wiring back to "stock" to work with the 1042, I discovered that the previous shop that basket-cased the car performed this portion of the install. I'm highly suspecting the wiring issue killed the EMS(NOT THE EMS's FAULT), which contributed to the catastrophic engine failure in December.
So, where are we now? Waiting for a new set of bearings so that I can assemble the motor for the last time. Ron will be ordering a new high-flow oil pump to go along with the build. I suspect the oil pump was the culprit for the oil pressure issue. Ron asked if he should replace the pump back in December; I said, "I've never had an issue with them, and your pressure was good." Well, we appear to have an issue now.
In the meantime, I will be combing every inch of the motor to ensure it's free of debris to prepare for the rebuild.
Again.
Yes, the nightmare continues...for both parties.
I want to point out to everyone that I did not receive a perfectly good, running car. The engine was toast when it arrived. Oh how I wish I would've loaded it back on a trailer and sent it on it's way. The pre-existing problems are pages long, and still surface every time I work on the car. I have done what I can, and have continued to find issues with the car. Due to the time that has passed, I find huge resistance whenever I ask Ron for financial assistance to cover the work performed to his car. So, when doing this "out of pocket", it does not happen overnight.
Anyway, this time around, during startup, I discovered that the EMS was blown right out of the box from the last time the car ran. If you recall, the engine explosively failed on me at a very low power level last December. Yes, there were other issues, but I should have had some sort of warning sign before a 1" hole gets blasted through one piston. Pistons don't spontaneously explode without warning; unless you have a failure somewhere in the chain. I offered up 30-1042 EMS out of my personal car for a very fair price to get the car running(which I have not yet invoiced Ron for btw). While returning the car's VTEC wiring back to "stock" to work with the 1042, I discovered that the previous shop that basket-cased the car performed this portion of the install. I'm highly suspecting the wiring issue killed the EMS(NOT THE EMS's FAULT), which contributed to the catastrophic engine failure in December.
So, where are we now? Waiting for a new set of bearings so that I can assemble the motor for the last time. Ron will be ordering a new high-flow oil pump to go along with the build. I suspect the oil pump was the culprit for the oil pressure issue. Ron asked if he should replace the pump back in December; I said, "I've never had an issue with them, and your pressure was good." Well, we appear to have an issue now.
In the meantime, I will be combing every inch of the motor to ensure it's free of debris to prepare for the rebuild.
Again.
Yes, the nightmare continues...for both parties.
All parts/labor for this build have been supplied by LoveFab, and I have played no part in blowing up my motor the two times you have failed. Don't try to villify me in any way when you have admittedly been caught lying, cheating and stealing from me over the coarse of the last three years. The first time the motor blew up because you chose not to listen to me when I advised you you had to degree my cams....you just "lined up the marks" and proceeded to attempt to tune a motor with cams that were twenty degrees out from each other.....then tried to blame it on a faulty fuel injector so that you could shrug it as being a manufactures defect and get me to pay. This time you tried to blame an oil pump, which you admitted after I questioned you on it was fine. As far as the AEM goes, why did it not explode during the 500 or so miles it was wired before you got the car. And if you invoiced me for it, you would have been paid for it already as per our agreement. How about my headers that you sold to another customer after I had paid for them? How about the guy that you told him his drivetrain was on the ground and he snuck up on you to find his car untouched? How about the other blown up motor that's there now because of your shops errors? How about I had to call Bensons and get him to release my block cause he felt sorry for me and had another block to hold hostage if you didn't pay him. How about the motors at CSR right now that won't be getting any work done on them till you cough up some money. The "poor you" scenario doesn't really hold any water with me or probably anyone else around here who has either been following this and the numerous other threads about all your "misfortunes" which can all be directly attributed to your mismanagement of your business which can without a doubt be directly related to funding of your Pikes Peak racing program, which you really have no business being involved with considering the shambles your shop is presently in.
Why don't you stop trying to pull an "Obama" on me and just accept responsibility that these motor failures have been under your watch and just get it done and end the nightmare. Maybe if you had shop insurance you would have been able to put a claim in and recoup some of your losses caused by your own negligence. And since you keep on hinting at me not wanting to pay why don't I disclose our original deal to everyone.
When Cody picked up my car, which was running at that time, he was taking it to retune it as there were smoking issues. After discovering the issues, we discussed the rebuild and upgrade to his turbo kit cause mine of coarse, was sub par by his standards.....funny how EAC hasn't had any issues to date with it. I expressed to Cody at that time my desire to sell my car so as I could purchase a Gallardo which at the time 04's were selling for around $70k. Cody agreed at that time to rebuild my car with components needed to reach the 800hp level at his cost of parts. In return, I would leave my Gallardo with Cody so he could fabricate a bolt on kit, of which I would also pay for parts for, that he would market though LoveFab. My car was to be completed by that Spring as he picked my car in August. That was three years ago, and I have heard every lame excuse one can endure as to why it isn't yet complete. The only reason I believe any work is getting done at all is because I finally, after two and a half years of deceit, involved a high profile law firm here in NJ to resolve this. So now, the story he will tell you is how I am "blackmailing" him with the law. If he likes I can start posting all the PMs from others in a similar boat that I am with him over the past couple years.....it's more than a couple.
JUST TAKE RESPONSIBILTY FOR YOUR ACTIONS AND FINISH MY CAR.
Why don't you stop trying to pull an "Obama" on me and just accept responsibility that these motor failures have been under your watch and just get it done and end the nightmare. Maybe if you had shop insurance you would have been able to put a claim in and recoup some of your losses caused by your own negligence. And since you keep on hinting at me not wanting to pay why don't I disclose our original deal to everyone.
When Cody picked up my car, which was running at that time, he was taking it to retune it as there were smoking issues. After discovering the issues, we discussed the rebuild and upgrade to his turbo kit cause mine of coarse, was sub par by his standards.....funny how EAC hasn't had any issues to date with it. I expressed to Cody at that time my desire to sell my car so as I could purchase a Gallardo which at the time 04's were selling for around $70k. Cody agreed at that time to rebuild my car with components needed to reach the 800hp level at his cost of parts. In return, I would leave my Gallardo with Cody so he could fabricate a bolt on kit, of which I would also pay for parts for, that he would market though LoveFab. My car was to be completed by that Spring as he picked my car in August. That was three years ago, and I have heard every lame excuse one can endure as to why it isn't yet complete. The only reason I believe any work is getting done at all is because I finally, after two and a half years of deceit, involved a high profile law firm here in NJ to resolve this. So now, the story he will tell you is how I am "blackmailing" him with the law. If he likes I can start posting all the PMs from others in a similar boat that I am with him over the past couple years.....it's more than a couple.
JUST TAKE RESPONSIBILTY FOR YOUR ACTIONS AND FINISH MY CAR.
