Short story for me...

"Price for a standard GEN3 with upgraded Heat exchanger and upgraded pump, and plug and play harness
2800 shipped to your door."

I got the GEN3, with no heat exchanger, no pump, and no plug & play harness.

Sourcing an aftermarket exchanger and pump is looking around 300 to 350 not including the attaching bits, harness not complete estimated cost 400 dollars.

If you need further details, I'll edit them into it.

Extremely long story for me but I'll keep to short

Jim had my car for a year or 2 and I couldn't get it back. It got to the point that I had to steal it. He owes me a trd side skirt a hiro lip. He also left all his "trial" parts in my engine. I mean he was testing painting engine parts and put them all on my car so I have a heat sheld and valve cover among others that look like crap. Not a huge deal but annoying. My interior is now in pretty bad shape. He scratched up the rear of my car. He ruined my rims.(this was while we were dating) He has the parts for my oil pressure gauge and possible my boost gauge. This list can go on and on.

The interior and engine are just me being petty but after all the money I put in the car and how much work it just annoys me.

I guess I can't get into all my personal belongings that I'll probably never see again?

Wow Shannon, that's crazy stuff.
If you wanna come up for a weekend, I can get your engine bay looking good again, no problem.
A shame that it all went down like this.

rave,
imma move this thread to web disscusion, please spread the word to the others so we can get a detailed list of whats going on.

when i bought the engine set that i put into eli's car, from jim, he didnt send the HX or pump either. i had to hound him for quite a while (IIRC it was a month or 2) before he finally sent it, the company he got them from was out of stock.
the TMIC was slightly damaged (you could tell another motor or somthing sat on top of this one and dented and crushed the IC a hair) and there were a few other small things that luckily, i had spares to replace here.

Roger!

Already sent a few PMs out, we'll see if we can get more details posted on here.

Yea I just stopped contacting him after he made it clear he was not paying to get the harness done, though promised. I figured I would just have to eat it.

My TMIC is bent in a few places as well, very simliar to what you described, something sat on the top of it and bent where you fill it. Figured was the least of my worries at the time. Exactly where my engine came from as well, JDM engine depot. I still don't know if the engine is in good working order, will see more today once I get the valve cover off.

who is this jim guy

Somebody you dont wanna do business with.

Jim

Manny thank you. I'm going to try and get more pictures of the car and engine I'm sure I'll be in touch with you soon

Guys, let's not clutter this thread up with unneeded stuff, let's just stick to the facts and problem at hand.

Klue, the ic worked perfectly, and the engines I've got thru him are all in good running condition, so I wouldn't worry too much about it, just a shame he didn't hold up his end of the deal for you and the others.

Specifics-
I bought the alltrac 3s from Jim well over a year ago. 3 Payments- 1st-$2,000 2nd-$800 3rd-$400 Total $3200 price we agreed on. I have all the messages on here still, and even voicemails he left after I called a lot with no answer.
The alltrac 3s had quite a few extra things promised with it
Alltrac sale forum
It wasn't a big deal at first, but it kept getting put off and put off and put off, and now its well over a year since I paid. Its just a bit ridiculous now. Hope somethings can be cleared up, and maybe ill get my engine this year!

It was over a year ago and I have a bad memory; but it started as...

"Everything you need for an AWD swap", I paid immediately, which was one of the complaints he had about most people. I paid in November 2010. I didnt have any parts until like March 2011. Then he 'forgot' the transmission. I understand 2-3 weeks shipping stuff with freight, but time was very important to me.

In his defense he did eventually get me the transmission, but I was under a big deadline as I made the decision to convert the car to AWD instead of buy a Plate differential and race my car as FWD. I had a race June 2011.... and I really needed the parts. I figured i'd have them all in January, really put me in a tough place as far as getting the car done.

He sent me a driveshaft from a ST185 (i'm assuming), instead of a st205, which didnt fit into the transmission. I end up ordering one from Japan.

Also the front axle he sent me, the threads were completely destroyed. I bought other axles and use his as piece parts.



The thing that really bothered me was he kept stringing me along with time. "Going out tomorrow, for 4 months" I would have rather accepted, hey yeah i dont know when you're getting it if ever.... at least i could have planned for that with my build.

Manny/pressure tried to help out gave me his cell and even talked to him for me which I greatly appreciated, but when you're not dealing with honest people it doesnt make much of a difference.

I didnt have a bad experience with Jim, per se, but it could've gone better. This was before any business got started with anyone else. Talking in chat, he told me he had a couple of spare engines in his garage, mainly for use as parts. I bought a 3S-GTE from him right before selling my Celica. I PM'd him before he shipped it out and let him know the situation, that I wouldn't exactly have a car to put it in anymore. I didn't ask for any special favors. I told him he could still ship the engine to me and I would take a hit on reselling it and shipping it to someone else. He responded saying that he could save me a huge hit and sell it for me directly from his garage, then send me the cash so I only had to pay for shipping once. That sounded like a bargain to me, so I agreed. I paid Jim $1,800 for the engine (in payments, all on time if I remember correctly- its been a long time though and I was poor so I might have been late) and a few weeks later, he sent me a PM saying he had found a buyer for the motor but they weren't willing to pay what I did. The timeline was perfect for me since I had just bought a new car and I could use any large sum of cash that I could get. My cost was $1,800 and I got $1,000 back.

Was I duped, and was there really no buyer? I'll never know the truth. I lost $800 but I've accepted that because I really couldn't tell what was really going on and I agreed to the $1,000 offer. I would have lost at least $300-400 anyway, had I actually gotten the motor.

Do I ever expect to see that money again? No. Lesson learned, my own fault, and he could very well have been telling the truth.

Edit: I just checked my Paypal history to get the specifics details and dates. I'm on my phone and snapped a screen shot, so forgive the size.



As you can see, my memory is incorrect. I even forgot one payment. I paid Jim $1,600 for the motor, not $1,800 as I thought. I got $1,100 back, not $1,000. His second payment to me of $50 was for powdercoating his brakes for him, which I would have done assuming I ever got the brakes to powdercoat. So that puts me down $500, not $800. And I still agreed to his refund so it's my own fault, really. I've accepted that I won't see that money again and I'm not losing any sleep over it. Other people here were taken far worse than I was and I've really only posted here to support them, not attack Jim.

I just had some contact with Jim. He is telling me to stay out of everything that I am not a part of anything and its not my buisness. He said he has contact with anyone who is deserving. I told him we are gathering information. I can see him jumping on and writing to everyone saying not to worry. I just think that will be enough. I even offered to take parts of his hands and arrange the for shipment myself.

So I just read through all my saved PM's with Jim (yes there are a lot of them) and I started my business with him late June, 2010. I wanted a FULL motor set, so we discussed some things and settled on the price of $2500 shipped to my door. I was just leaving for Mexico so I told him I would send $1000 before I left to save my motor and the rest right when I got back. I did this because at the time I was so naive that I actually thought if I sent full payment, the motor had a chance to arrive before I was ready for it, haha! Good joke I know..

Anyways, so I got back from Mexico and sent the remainder of payment. I'll have to look at the PM but believe it said something to the tune of 8-10 days to ship after payment, 2-3 weeks shipping. I was more than thrilled. I then wanted to clarify that my harness was going to be extended, and saw a thread where Jim was offering as a bonus to buying a motor set an aftermarket intake setup and harness extension from Phoenix Tuning for $300. So after confirming mine did not include this, I paid an extra $300 for that.

Fast forward a month or so, and I'm hearing no contact. Then finally (after telling me multiple times it would "be out this weekend") he tells me he compression checked my motor and the one he was going to send me was low. So he had to wait for a new shipment since he's such a good guy and didn't want to **** me over (lol). So, he tells me the new shipment will be on the 6th (I'll have to check PM's for exact month). So, I'm all happy and thankful to him for not sending me a bad motor. Side note, my PM's were nothing but respectful and just sometimes a tad worried, but NEVER, EVER rude. Anyways, the 6th comes and goes and I PM him informing him that it has been a month since the new motors came in..

He tells me a bunch of stories of why he couldn't ship it and then continues to tell me since I have been so patient and told him I was in no hurry, just wanted to make sure I receive a quality motor set that he will give me the 19,000 mile motor that he WAS going to put in his car, but he was going with a forged build instead and no longer needed it. I was ecstatic, totally stoked, well worth the wait! However I never got to see a pic of the cluster that came with the clip because he "sold it" or whatever..

So now, in my mind, Jim has totally redeemed himself at this point. I don't foresee any shadiness whatsoever. So I start talking about E153 LSD trannys with him. He was selling the E153 and EVERYTHING TO CONVERT IT TO FWD for $1600. But since I had been so patient (it is now about January, 2011 and had not received anything yet) he would sell me ALL THE STUFF for $1400. So I went to paypal, and sent away.

So end of February comes and finally the motor shows up with the E153 on the pallet as well, I was stoked. Then I started picking through the motor. I will say, the motor does look to be low mileage and in good condition and I am happy with it. But there was no ECU, the harness was attached to the motor and clearly not extended (which we had discussed that he would ship the harness to be extended prior to sending the motor, and that I would receive it separately), no aftermarket intake or piping, no stock intake or piping, no stock bypass valve, no axles, no tranny mounts or brackets.

So I contacted him, and he informed me that he likes to ship the intake, axles, and ecu separate to avoid getting damaged or falling off the pallet. Phew, just what I wanted to hear, and before I know it, another package shows up. An ECU. At this point, Jim is telling me he doesn't know how the other things didn't show up on the pallet. At this point I was told my axles would be shipped "this weekend" for about two months before Jim completely cut off communication with me in all forms. PM, text, phone, or Email.

TLDR:

I never got what I paid the $300 for the harness extension and aftermarket intake. From the whopping $1400 I paid for the transmission, all I ever got was the tranny itself and what I hope to God is GT4 shift linkage (reference czwalga getting the wrong driveline), WTF! For $1400?!?! Where are the axles? What about the brackets and mounts (and do not say the ones on my AWD tranny, that is BS, I paid extra for more parts! That is for me to sell off if I don't need, not you!). $1400 for a transmission and some shift linkage?!?!?! Also never got a stock bypass valve, also never received any intake, period.

Anyways, its been 2 years since my first payment. I made all my payments in FULL exactly how much I was told, and exactly when we agreed it would be sent, never any problems WHATSOEVER with my payments. And I still don't have my parts, and to be honest, I am so butt hurt about getting basically ripped off for that much money, that I have had no desire since to spend more money on anything related to my 3sgte or my e153 . Guess I just always hoped Jim would come through until it got to a point where now I don't really have the means to do the swap at the moment.

Edit: Grammar. Lol @ **** linkage.

^ Yep... my tranny came with no brackets, no shift linkage, no mounts etc...

I was reading through this thread thinking "that really sucks for all you guys" AND THEN I SAW HIS USERNAME!

In early 2010 we tried to work out a deal where we would trade some parts. I would mail him my HKS Gen III 272 cams and he would mail me stock injectors, stock timing tensioner, alternator bracket, stock cams, a 5s starter and a few other things. Most of the parts I needed ot finish my engine. Of the stuff that he sent me the alternator bracket was mr2, the timing tensioner was frozen shut, the 5s starter was for a 5s mr2 (different plug on the starter but still works), the cams were fine and so were the injectors. So I got stock cams and injectors with some other junk parts in exchange for $700 HKS 272 Gen III cams. I had to keep bugging him to send me his parts after I sent mine. So I sent mine and waited 6 months to get the stuff.

I'm not mad at the guy, these things happen. It was in the past and it was a minor setback. I just wish I would have known about him before hand.

2 weeks ago jim asked for my address to ship the last parts owed.

Nothing heard since.