I didn't buy anything for me or the cat, but the fckng Buick did ok this X-mas..

[Gary Wells]

New, already just received from Kirban.s: a few spare orig lug nuts, braces: rear seat braces, lower front chassis brace, and the 2 small braces for the underneath, none installed yet,

[ledzeppac]

Want to help me with my bills?  

I thought you would never go to Lou again?

[87natty]

How about I give some installations for Christmas?

[Gary Wells]

Lou and I spoke a while back, and in the event of the conversation I asked him if he had a .63 Garrett turbo exhaust housing. He said the he might have one, but did not know where it was. I told him that I was interested if he found it. Limit Engr, or any other turbo builder for that matter, will not supply a .63 housing on their turbos, as the housing is getting very hard to get. They all are using the new PT & E which gives more horse at top end, but needs a convertor otherwise low end boost is history. Slow spool. Lou mentioned on a post on tb.com that he had a housing that I could have. I went to pick it up, Lou would not only not take any money for it, he gave me the .63 Garrett exhaust housing with the balance of the turbo attached. I have come to the conclusion that I am probably one of the worst people to get along with, I am impossible to deal with on quality/cosmetic issues, and we all know that  I am not exactly the height of openmindedness . So FWIW, in the past, I probably have blamed other people for some of my shortcomings. Not intentional, mind you, it's just my basic nature. I have a hard time putting up with myself most of the time. I need to see the other persons viewpoints sometimes. I am planning on support Lou and giving him my motor work, and all of my suspension work to Tim Lee of DonLee Auto in Rancho Cucamonga. I want to have a nice turbo Buick that does not have to take any lickings at the next stoplight from the import crowd. Lou installed my 165

[Gary Wells]

Want to help me with my bills?
No, unless you have a really cute sister that likes dirty old men.
Oh, and doesn't look like you with longer hair.

[87natty]

Grr...

All you need a pickle fork and sledge hammer and your whole suspension is done...

[Gary Wells]

Brian: I really appreciate the offer, and I know that you are always there if I need you, and that I can count on you in a pinch, but I have been away from actually working on anything on a car that as long as I can afford to take the car to a competnet Buick mechanic, I am pretty happy. Do consider something, though, and that is that you might feel the same way as I do when you are my age. What I really miss, though, is your bartending skills in off the wall places. Somehow, I never drink at the house anymore, and for what reason I don't know, but I always drag a few beers along with me to the car shows, or a spiked Pepsi or 2. Pepsi and a good stiff shot or two of Jack doesn't make for a bad quick buzz. It's just the come down and realize that everything is back to normal.

[Be4u]

Lou and I spoke a while back, and in the event of the conversation I asked him if he had a .63 Garrett turbo exhaust housing. He said the he might have one, but did not know where it was. I told him that I was interested if he found it. Limit Engr, or any other turbo builder for that matter, will not supply a .63 housing on their turbos, as the housing is getting very hard to get. They all are using the new PT & E which gives more horse at top end, but needs a convertor otherwise low end boost is history. Slow spool. Lou mentioned on a post on tb.com that he had a housing that I could have. I went to pick it up, Lou would not only not take any money for it, he gave me the .63 Garrett exhaust housing with the balance of the turbo attached. I have come to the conclusion that I am probably one of the worst people to get along with, I am impossible to deal with on quality/cosmetic issues, and we all know that  I am not exactly the height of openmindedness . So FWIW, in the past, I probably have blamed other people for some of my shortcomings. Not intentional, mind you, it's just my basic nature. I have a hard time putting up with myself most of the time. I need to see the other persons viewpoints sometimes. I am planning on support Lou and giving him my motor work, and all of my suspension work to Tim Lee of DonLee Auto in Rancho Cucamonga. I want to have a nice turbo Buick that does not have to take any lickings at the next stoplight from the import crowd. Lou installed my 165

[gordyzx9r]

Holy shit!  You went back!?!  Is there something in the air...'cause what I gather from the posts about Rob...he went back for something too!

[Top Speed]

Gary,  it takes a man to admit his shortcomings (not meant to be a joke but in all seriousness).  

Merry Christmas All!

[Gary Wells]

Holy shit!

[Gary Wells]

More money saving tips. Consider this if you ever order a turbo from anyone other that the turbo builder. When I talked to Pete Hoffman at Kirban Performance about the turbo purchase Pete quoted me about $920 or $930 to my door, don't really remember which, everything included, $749.95 for the turbo, $75. core charge for the turbo, $50 for the machined inlet bell, $ 10 for shipping and the balance, I assume was to cover exchange for polishing the comp housing. He advised that it could add a week or 2 for the polished housing. I told him that was fine. When Diana called me back, she informed me that the bill was $ 949.95 total. When I questioned her about the increase, she informed me that Pete told her to charge me that much. She was charging $ 129.95 for the polishing of the comp housing. She asked if I wantd it or not, and informed me that it would ship out Monday. I informed her that time was not an issue, and she informed me didn't matter. How many people have already guessed that Kirban probably has a policy and they make the claim that they can't charge till the product ships, and removing the comp housing and sending it out to be polished would keep them from charging this year due to the 2 week time delay for polishing, So they charged me full bogey price for the outright sale of a polished comp housing. I should have refused the quote, had them send me the turbo with a non-polished comp housing, which would have reduced my bill $ 129.95, and then either order the polished comp housing as a seperate item for $ 129.95, then have Lou swap them out, and I would have the polished comp housing  on the turbo and 1 plain non polished comp housing to either hold on to for future use, or sell for the same amount of money. I definitely feel that Kirban took advantage of this situation, and I will, and I suggest that you also, take this into strong consideration when ordering anything, especially from Kirban. Maybe they were in a hurry to close their books for the end of the fiscal year, which is what I suppose happened, had a polished comp housing in stock, and swapped them out so they could ship and charge. In either case, it was not fair to me. FWIW, Kirban's sells the polished turbo comp housing outright for $ 129.95, about right for a outright polished comp housing sale. Also installed by Lou , but purchased by me, was RJC's hybird boost controller. Car does definitely run stronger. More to follow, and I really hope that you guys learn from my mistakes and lack of judgement on these items. Monday I am going to have Lou install the RJC plenum distribution plate, and I am sure that he will add the cost of the GNX sensor to the bill. I will do a follow-up on that also.

[Gary Wells]

Lou and I spoke a while back, and in the event of the conversation I asked him if he had a .63 Garrett turbo exhaust housing. He said the he might have one, but did not know where it was. I told him that I was interested if he found it. Limit Engr, or any other turbo builder for that matter, will not supply a .63 housing on their turbos, as the housing is getting very hard to get. They all are using the new PT & E which gives more horse at top end, but needs a convertor otherwise low end boost is history. Slow spool. Lou mentioned on a post on tb.com that he had a housing that I could have. I went to pick it up, Lou would not only not take any money for it, he gave me the .63 Garrett exhaust housing with the balance of the turbo attached. I have come to the conclusion that I am probably one of the worst people to get along with, I am impossible to deal with on quality/cosmetic issues, and we all know that

[Gary Wells]

Gary,

[Gary Wells]

I guess this is going to be the "gary the slut" thread. I am going to keep everybody up to date on my trials and tribulations with mechanics, vendors, and progress or lack of it on the car. I am open to suggestions & comments. This is going to be my "X-Mas present to everybody, excepting for Sylvan, which it will be X-menos present to him", so that others do not have to go through what I have been through, or where I am going to go through. I am merely going to "observe and report" and you guys can be the judge of the events. I have already learned more about a vendor than I would like to have learned.