6G Celicas Forums

yep fuses r all good

does the engine start? could be the battery. if not, i can't think of anything else other than triple check your fuses.

yep the engine starts runs great..... Just those lil things dont work but they are major becuz i cant drive at night and i have no ac and i smoke lol so i need my windows to go down!

oh dont worry. there is nothign on the other side (if that dyno is where i think it is) just maybe a hapless bystander wondering what all the racket is...lol

ok everything works now their was one lil wire that came off. Car runs great just wish my bov went off a lil easier than it does. Could it be because of the low boost im at rite now?

what do you mean a little easier? it should go off easily no matter what boost your running.

i mean when im reving it the bov does not go off and i have to do like a shift in hi rpms outa first or it wont go off. Shouldnt it go off even at 4k rpms??

if you are free revving the motor, the BOV won't really go off that much cause there is no load on the motor, providing very little boost...

but if you are actually driving you should here sumthin

well i have a blitz dd bov on my car. I came with the filter and didnt take the lil filter off. I wanna replace the filter with the horn u can get but i dont kno were to get the horn.

edit, delete.

This post has been edited by snapshotgt: May 6, 2007 - 12:29 AM

i called doc and he helped me out. One wire cam off during the ship back it was a easy just slipped it back in its spot. He talked me through it so he helped me the best he could and it was great help.... I have no complaints.

what is it with you and the doc?

You know what's even more funny? When you pay someone to do a swap because they can do it "cheaper than Dr Tweak", and six months later, you STILL DON'T HAVE YOUR CAR BACK.



Brian, like all of my customers, has my personal cell number and can call me anytime he has a problem, he doesn't need to post on a forum and hope that I answer.

-Doc

Cool, glad you guys sorted it out.

god! doc got some teeth on him! jeez!!

I would too. He has a small business running and word of mouth is EVERYTHING in the small business world. Shoot down that slander with the fire of a thousand sons my friend.

When I get the cash lined up, I'd heading to Savannah.

I guess most of you don't know the whole situation with Collin (snapshotgt) and I. Well, let me lay it out for you. I just ran a search in my Gmail to refresh my memory, and I have 127 emails and chat sessions with him (not a typo). This doesn't include dozens of PMs here on the board before we switched to email. The first email I have from him dates back to 1-15-06... that's right, over 15 months ago!

Collin had a bad engine in his GT, and rather than swap in the same engine, he wanted to upgrade. The problem was that his parents were paying for most of it and they didn't want him to spend much money. He was on a STRICK, TIGHT budget. So for the next several weeks, I wrote emails and word documents and so on (literally hundreds of hours over the course of the next 6-9 months) helping Collin to explain to his parents how much each swap would cost, which one was better, and so on. (The choices were 3SGTE or 1MZ). Working together we managed to convince them that the 1MZ was a good choice and compromise... it made more power than stock, but it was also very reliable.

1-16: "....is there anyway to cut the price down a little...while still have a safe and reliable engine with a good life...? ...if you were to do the camry swap...would i get a discount for being the first? ...anyway, if there's anyway to get a lower price, that would be great...as long as it is fair to both of us..."

This whole time I'm doing everything possible to save Collin every penny possible, because he keeps stressing to me that he can't spend much on the swap. I cut down the labor cost. I don't mark up any of the parts at all. We decide to use the ever-reliable S54 tranny that he already owns instead of spending extra money on an E153.

This whole time, every day that I logged into my email there would be three or four emails from him, giving me links to this engine or that engine, is this one a good deal, what about that one, etc, etc.

2-20-06: "Basically, what I need is a super deal for a swap setup...I need one of those deals that only come twice in a lifetime :-) Let me know what you think :-)"

About the end of February, he decided that a 3SGTE swap (quoted super-cheap at that time of $4500 for the complete swap) was not feasible for him and he would not be able to do it. It was then that we started talking about the V6 swap.

Around this time, Collin saw 95WRC's post selling a 3MZ with 1MZ manifolds and wiring. Along came the barrage of questions about whether or not this was a good deal, was else was needed to swap, etc etc. Not only that, I actually spent some time emailing him myself asking all the questions to make sure that the engine had everything we needed. I help Collin come up with a good offer, and finally he pulls the trigger and buys the engine. On to the next chapter.

This guy Derek (95WRC), totally a good guy I'm sure, but he was real busy at the time, and the engine that Collin bought was not fully put together. Derek was REALLY dragging his feet getting it done, I'm sure he had good reasons, but either way, Collin was calling him and emailing him and getting little response. Finally, I had to personally get on the phone and call Derek up and sort the whole situation out. After getting some missing parts in, and calling him a couple more times myself, the engine almost ready! (This whole situation took from late March to late June of '06, by which time I was getting settled in GA and joining Southern Car Customs where I am now).

Then, he needed to ship it. So again, Collin emailed me and I spent a few hours calling different shipping companies and whatnot, finding the CHEAPEST and best possible price, etc, finally found a real good one and put Collin in touch with them.

Around this time it's the end of March and while we're waiting on the engine, we're sorting out all kinds of other stuff. I figure out prices on gauges, exhaust, etc that he wants to do. In fact, I even quoted out doing a full engine replacement on his mom's Previa!

Finally the engine was ready and everything was lined up for the swap. It was mid-July and I was settled into my new shop and Derek have finally gotten the engine ready, everything else was set up and I get this email from Collin:

"Hello Josh-

Firstly, I want to thank you for all of your help and generosity. I have learned huge amounts from you -- master tweak! :-D

I am sorry to report I will not be able to come to you for my V6 swap. It is strictly on a business level -- a financial decision I've made.
The individual that will be doing the swap, including v6 tranny, mounts, axles, exhaust etc will be doing them less than your estimates -- also the swap will be charged by the job, and not by hourly --
which is very important to me. By the rough numbers, it looks like I'll be saving a 1/3. I'm really sorry to do this to you, but financially the numbers work out better for me.

BUT, if this deal falls through, looks weird etc, I'll be sending you another email or two about swapping it for me.

Thank you again for all you info and help. Hope to see you on the boards, and posting threads of your awesome swaps! Keep up the great work!

Sincerely,
Collin"

So basically, after all the time I spent with Colling guiding him through every aspect of the V6 swap and making exact lists of all the parts needed and so on, he took all the time and all that work and brought it over to someone else who promised to do it cheaper than me. This is mid-July remember. Collin listed reasons why he did this, which basically came to the overall conclusion that I have no idea what I'm talking about, because the "GT radiator isn't going to keep the V6 cool" (totally BS, since the GT radiator cools 250whp 3SGTEs all day long), the GT transmission isn't going to hold up (totally BS, since we use GT trannys on 250whp 3SGTEs all day long), the GT axles won't hold up (BS again), and so on.

And you know what this other guy's quote was for the WHOLE V6 SWAP? Take a guess, comon. Okay, here it is: (email dated 7-26) "$2500 engine installed with v6 tranny (this includes tranny, axles, st205 tranny mount etc.), exhaust, and all other engine parts like a beefier V6 radiator etc."

That's right folks! FORGEMAN will install a V6 engine into your Celica, INCLUDING the E153 tranny and axles, ST205 mounts, exhaust, custom radiator install, and everything else needed for ONLY $2500!

Not only that, but Collin had some relatives that live nearby this guy, so he was going to drive over to him, drop off the car and have the swap done while staying with his relatives, and then pick it up and drive home. This is late July. Here are my last words to him before he decided for sure to not have me do the swap: "Just think things over carefully, and make sure that the decision you make doesn't turn a fun, cool swap into a long-term nightmare!"

Fast-forward a few months to October 9th, and guess what when I ask how the V6 swap is going? "It's going okay...in fact, it just started...being that i went the v6 tranny route, i ended up having to source parts from the uk like the st205 tranny mounts etc"

I spoke with him again in December, and he reported that "the V6 has been test-fitted", and "I'll have my car back by January". Well here we are, it's now May 9th, 2007, and Collin still doesn't have his car back. He's no-doubt spent THOUSANDS of dollars over the original quote not to mention the expense of having no car for all these months. All to save a few bucks.

So that's the whole story. Over the past few months Collin has repeatedly and aggressively lashed out against me on the forum, insinuating or outright saying that I don't know what I'm doing, that *I* quoted him too low when I was going to do his V6 swap, that *I* am way underquoting the cost of a V6 swap, etc etc. It sounds to me like Collin is a little bitter that this has taken so long and costed so much. I'm not sure how that negative energy got directed my way, but that's what's been happening. Making posts like this one, trying to stir stuff up, which he has now deleted:




-Doc

This post has been edited by Dr_Tweak: May 9, 2007 - 9:20 AM

wow that was actually a decent story lol... Is the v6 swap faster than the 3sgte swap stock?? This girl i kno just picked p a celica and is looking to do a swap to it. Asked me what to do so im asking doc. In ur recomendation v6 or 3sgte?? Il be talking to her and she will be coming to u sooner or later by the way!

The 3SGTE is a little faster, but the 1MZ could be a little cheaper of a swap when you add it all up. The V6 is more unique, since there's only one out there running as of right now, with another on the way.

-Doc

alright sounds good ill talk to her soon and get back to u on quotes and wat not for the swap...