My experience with TrueStreet

[TEAMJACOB]

In November, Truestreet contacted me regarding a thread I made, stating that they could do my build.
What I had posted was this

I have a 91 fox. The motor is out of the car. The tranny is still in it. my 351w is currently fresh from the machine shop with crank rods and pistons already in it. Heading up from the block, I have brand new heads that have been ported, 1.7 rr, valve covers, a trickflow tfs intake that has been gasket matched, a 90mm egr delete, a 90 mm mass air, arp head studs.

I do not have the head gaskets, intake gaskets, throttle body, or the anderson power pipe to put the filter in the fender but I think I want something fabricated that's at least the same diameter as the above mentioned. I also do not have the pushrods since I don't knoe the length.

Heading down, I have a new 351w swap kit with pick up and dip stick, new oil pump, and the arp oil pump drive shaft.

I do not have swap headers yet.

I'm sure I'm leaving out a few details but basically I'm trying to say I have everything for the build less the things I mentioned and the bracket to make my accessories work.

The car is already a nitrous car with a walbro 255 pump installed.

All the nuts and bolts are there but are lumped together with no organization.

Can any shops get me in. I want my engine bay painted sonic blue. I already have the single stage paint, reducer, and hardener. I want the long block assembled and installed with the shop cleaning up and/or painting brackets, accessaries, and misc bolts so that the build looks nice. I then need it tuned with nitrous and given to me turn key.

If you are a shop please pm me. I want this project finished. Thanks

this is a copy and paste from a pm clint sent me


You are looking at $600 to assemble motor, and $1200 to stick it in the car and hook everything up. Any parts gaskets fluids will be extra. Hope this helps,

Call and we can get you set up on the board so we can knock this out.

Thanks

Clint

The car gets built and I pick up the car around May 1st.
Here is the invoice

[racrguy]

And theeeeeennnnnn?

[Sean88gt]

Is there any more to this?

[white88]

Is this good or bad?

[jw33]

I feel bad for people who can't work on their own stuff. In short, you brought in a basket case half finished project to a shop and got charged what appears to be a fair price for everything listed.

[Mach1]

Cool story bro!

[TEAMJACOB]

When, I pick it up there is no mention of any vibration, that everything went as planned and all was well. They mentioned, "the car did something weird on the dyno, where the clutch wouldnt disengage" or something to that affect, but it only did it once and they hadnt ever had a car do it before and they cant reproduce it so if there ends up being a problem, to let them know.
Immediately, I start having problems. On the ride home, I dont show any oil pressure. Ended up being an oil sending unit which i bought and replaced. No mention of this when I picked up the car or them noticing it on the dyno.
My new dipstick had been broken and not mentioned to me.
On maybe the 2nd day of driving, my clutch fan comes loose, breaking it, stredding the belt and putting a hole in my radiator. All of which I bought and replaced myself. At around 400 miles on the build I sent them a pm saying I wanted them to look at the car because of the vibration I was feeling and I gad smoke coming up from my breather
that pm is here

Sorry j couldn't make it wed I was called into work. I just passed 400 miles and need the oil changed and looked at. There is that vibration and did Toby notice a liitle smoke coming from each breather? Thanks

[TEAMJACOB]

And theeeeeennnnnn?

Is there any more to this?

Is this good or bad?

I feel bad for people who can't work on their own stuff. In short, you brought in a basket case half finished project to a shop and got charged what appears to be a fair price for everything listed.

Cool story bro!

sorry guys its going to take a while to type and post and link stuff.

[Sean88gt]

Why didn't you do the work yourself?

[FRANCISCO308]

Why are you posting the invoice?

[white88]

Damn that's a lot of shit to go wrong in the first 400 miles. Are you going to get those dowels and put them in to see if that's your vibration issue?

[Mach1]

When, I pick it up there is no mention of any vibration, that everything went as planned and all was well. They mentioned, "the car did something weird on the dyno, where the clutch wouldnt disengage" or something to that affect, but it only did it once and they hadnt ever had a car do it before and they cant reproduce it so if there ends up being a problem, to let them know.
Immediately, I start having problems. On the ride home, I dont show any oil pressure. Ended up being an oil sending unit which i bought and replaced. No mention of this when I picked up the car or them noticing it on the dyno.
My new dipstick had been broken and not mentioned to me.
On maybe the 2nd day of driving, my clutch fan comes loose, breaking it, stredding the belt and putting a hole in my radiator. All of which I bought and replaced myself. At around 400 miles on the build I sent them a pm saying I wanted them to look at the car because of the vibration I was feeling and I gad smoke coming up from my breather
that pm is here

I thought there was originally no vibration issues and it developed over time, I want to say I remember hearing that.

[2165 Turbo Rail]

sub'ing

[TEAMJACOB]

I bring the car to them and they leave it with them. They inform me that they swapped balancers on it and it did the same thing, so it must be in the balance of the motor and wanted $1500 more to pull it back out and put it back in plus what ever cost was associated with that.
I fought them on this because their stance was that I brought them a block with a crank and pistons in it and that is the only thing they didnt touch and since "they do all their work to spec" it had to be in the short block and refused to consider anything else.

i felt it was weird that i didnt have a vibration for several days and it would come and go and that didnt sound like a balance issue if it comes and goes.
none the less they refuse to fix it because they claimed it was in the short block and they didnt do that.
I sent them this pm trying to be civil and explaining that i felt i paid for a complete build not for them to pick up where some one left off

Hey Clint, Chris here. I wanted to talk to you a second about the car you guys did the swap on. I'm sure I'll ramble a little but please bare with me. To begin, I want to say that overall, the experience with Tim, Toby, and you was pretty awesome. You guys were pretty understanding when my company was bought out and I had to sell my own vehicles just to pay you guys off. Over all communication was good and the general attitude of the shop was fun. I think Toby is very sharp when it comes to what he does and Tim was always pleasant on the phone. And as with any builds there is almost always sure to be some bugs to work out. The car left me stranded right at 380 and 75 a few miles from the shop and I noticed I "had" no oil pressure on its maiden voyage from heading home from Truestreet but that was due to a battery and you guys already told me about it needing one and also it needed an oil sending unit. We jumped it, got it home and let it be until I was able to buy a battery and an oil sending unit the following week. The first time I drove it to work once replacing the battery, the fan flew off and threw the belt leaving me stranded and the car overheating. I had a buddy come get me, and with a trip to the parts store, picked up some tools and a belt and tighted the fan back up and installed the belt. It was then that I discovered the tensioner you guys had powder coated was bad (sticking up) and I went ahead and replaced that as well. These are just little bugs and were fully expected, so I just took care of them happily, with a smile. There was also the new swap dipstick which was damaged, the exhaust leak, and the smoking coming from both breathers but when I took the car back to you guys, ya'll made solid and took care of everyone of these issues. My final bill with you guys was $5463.61 of which labor only consisted of
$ 42.50 was for cai installation
$600 was for motor build
$1200 was for motor installation
$85 was painting the block

for a total of $1927.50 just in labor that was done in your store. There was other labor, but I'm assuming that was sourced out and not beneficial to Truestreet. This issue I'm having is the car has a vibration. I dont recall it being there on the way home from picking up the first time. When I brought it back for the first oil change, I guess a different ballancer was swapped on it which made it worse and led Toby to believe the vibration is in the short block. Tim told me it would be another $1500 to pull it out and put it back in plus fixing what ever is "wrong" with it. I dont have that kind of money to throw at this car any more. I sold everything I had to get you guys paid and I bet it all on this car to be dependable. A little frustrated I paid for the oil change and arranged with Tim to pick up the car Sunday. The key were stashed for me and after making the trek with my girl and 2 kids, I get to the shop and the car isnt put together. Now Tim went above and beyond to make this right and had the tech come up there and put it back together for me on Sunday but i couldnt wait with a fussy baby so I headed back to Ft worth. Monday I picked up the car and I dont know what changed but the car was smooth as ice through all gears and all rpms. Now instead of a nasty vibration around 3500 rpm, the car only had the vibration when you pressed in the clutch and took it out of gear to coast down after a high rpm pull. I'm not sure how a bad bottom end can not have a vibration upon pick up, then develop one, then go away after swapping the balancer back and forth, and now the vibration is back again. I know that ya'll didnt assemble the block but I also didnt pay a discounted amount on the motor build ($600) or the installation ($1200). I feel like for these amounts, you guys should back up the entire install regardless if ya'll built the short block or not and if ya'll didnt feel comfortable with someone elses machine work, then for the amount I paid it should have been torn down and double checked. I can't pay another $1500 to pull the motor out and put it back in when I couldnt really afford it the first time. I think whats fair is, if it is infact the short block, I would be more than happy to pay for new bearings, gaskets,rings, turned crank,etc etc or what ever else is needed if it does need to be put back together, but I dont think I should have to pay for the labor of it coming back out and in. I brought it to you with 700 miles on the build and it hasnt seen anything over 5k rpms. (had to seperate in 2 pms, was too long)

(had to send in 2 pms, too long)

I hope that you can see where I'm coming from and can help me out. I am not one of these baller customers you have that have deep deep pockets, but i do love cars and being around the hobby. I know my $5400 bill is probably chump change compared to some of the customers you have but I did everything possible to make right on getting you guys paid and I would be the happiest guy if you guys did what ever had to be done to get my car right. If you'll consider it, please call me anytime at 817 938 7538.
thank you very much
chris

[Mike]

I thought there was originally no vibration issues and it developed over time, I want to say I remember hearing that.

Probably didn't notice until after all of the other parts had fallen off, lol.