My Swap Update, Done in a Week or Free! Options

[Coomer]

Sup guys,
I've been asked by a lot of people how my swap is going, so I'm just going to give you guys an update. First, I recieved my original engine from Storm Performance, found out that it was dead, and had them send me another one. After recieving the next engine, there were still a couple maintenance parts that I had to get. After I had the second engine and most of the parts, I was still waiting on the Exedy clutch kit, only to find out that it was on backorder everywhere. So I cancelled my order, and ordered a Clutch Masters Stage One kit for the AE86 Corolla GT-S. A week or so later, I dropped off my car, and the engine was pulled. Two days before I left for school, I painted part of the engine bay and gave my mechanic the go ahead to complete the swap. This was more than three weeks ago.

Last weekend, I came home to find out that the engine wasn't even in the car yet, and he needed a part from the dead 20V that's now sitting at my house in order to mount the tranny to the engine. Also, he had to find a throw-out bearing for the clutch that would work, as the one from the kit didn't fit whatsoever. A week ago today, these two things were taken care of, and then he said that it'd be done by this weekend.

Today my mechanic called me and told me that he'd been in court all week because the city was taking him to court to try to shut down his shop for some ridiculous reason, and he said that the engine still isn't even in the car yet. He promised me, however, that if the car isn't done by the end of next weekend, he won't charge me a dime though, so either my car will be done next weekend or I'll save $6-700. So by Monday the 19th, I should have my car with my AE101 4A-GE. I'm so excited to get my car back, and this weekend I plan to do more work to the car while I'm home and engine is pulled, such as running new wires for my new lighting idea and cleaning up more of the wiring inside the car.

By the way, if any of you are considering buying an engine from Storm Performance, I highly recommend against it. Once they've got your money, they're near impossible to get a hold of, and they'll charge you extra for stuff that you initially pay for, like my AFM for my engine. Also, I still haven't received my axles, and I ordered my stuff over two months ago! I don't need them to do the swap, as the AT200 axles work fine, but the AE101 axles are stronger and more durable, and it's the principle that counts. I've called Storm Performance multiple times, left many messages, and emailed them lots of times, and I can't get a reply from them. I've given up on my axles, and they'll pay, oh will they pay.

They don't realize that they've messed with the wrong kid. I'm in the process of starting a website against Storm Performance, and I plan to actively discourage anyone from buying anything from them. The website should be online soon, and then maybe I'll get some sort of a response from Storm. It's pretty sad when you have to create a website against a company in order to get a response from them.

[Coomer]

Sigh...I'm so discouraged right now...I got home and looked at my car, and the engine is in, but we're having major troubles trying to get the power steering to work. The cable thingy with the metal loop on the end that is supposed to reach the pump isn't even close to reaching, due to the mounting location of the pump on the other side of the engine. I don't want my car to not have power steering, so I don't know what to do.

I wish now that I wouldn't have done the swap, as it's just pissing me off. For five weeks straight, my mechanic has told me "One more week.", and every week, it's not done, and I don't think it'll be done this weekend. Once it's done, if it's done, it'll probably be too late to have it up at school, because the mountain pass I have to go over will have tons of snow on it really soon. So I probably won't have a car for at least a few months.

On top of that, Storm Performance has been impossible to deal with. Now they're saying that I had to pay extra for my ECU and AFM, and that's the reason for the COD charge. Also, they said something about me having to pay another $60 for the axles. I'm thinking that I'm going to need to talk to one of the lawyers I know and write up a threatening letter to them, demanding my parts and my money back.

Tonight has just not been my night. I also found out that the order for my gauge was cancelled because it isn't in stock, despite the fact that the day I ordered it, it was in stock. I wish I would've left my engine stock, as right now it seems like it's never going to be done. My car is my life, and not having it for more than half of a year isn't sounding too appealing to me.