smudge

Some of you already know, the majority don't...but with questions being asked on almost a daily basis I thought I'd clear some things up with this post. Long story short, the car is still nowhere near completion and I have decided to take the car off Nev at F1moto near Brands Hatch. After months of very little (if any) progress and a lack of updates, customer service or any ability to show that he can complete it in a reasonable timeframe, I have no other choice but to cut my losses with him and pursue other avenues. When I first met with Nev towards the end of 2015, we agreed that the car would be in his hands from around April 2016 and he would need around 3 months to complete the work, give or a take a few weeks owing to the fact this is the first GT86 in the UK to have this sort of work carried out on it, so of course we may find some snagging points. The first week in April went extremely well and I was there to help us essentially get the engine and gearbox mounted into the car within just a few days. Since then, I have been in constant contact with Nev and made him aware that I had shows, magazine features and of course a lot of people in the car community eagerly waiting for the end result. The initial 3 month period passed and when asking for new deadlines, I was always told "next week we'll be doing x and y" and "should be next month so you can make it to x show"...but of course those deadlines came and went without so much as an explanation or an apology, but I kept my faith and let Nev carry on with the work. It finally came to a point about 6 weeks ago where I couldn't wait any longer. I gave him an ultimatum to say that he needs to give me a deadline that he can have it finished by, and if for any reason we run over that deadline, then he will no longer receive any credit for the work in any of the features that are lined up and I would be talking to Trading Standards and possibly Small Claims Court to start a compensation claim. It's the last route I want to take in any situation, but I felt it was necessary to threaten this, otherwise it would never be completed. Nev came back with a deadline for end of November, assuring me that he has taken my words seriously and completion was imminent. I went to visit Nev in person on Monday 28th November and was frankly horrified at the state of the car, his lackadaisical attitude and his unwillingness to reach any sort of reasonable resolution. The car has been used for storage of other car parts - bumpers (not mine), batteries, a gearbox (not mine) and various other bits which I was appalled to see. When questioned about why the car wasn't ready, the typical "I have other projects to complete too" was the response I received. Reminding him of the original timeframe and the fact I've paid several thousands of pounds didn't seem to bother him at all. When asked when it would be complete, I was given 2 options: "If you want it done anytime soon, I can start charging you £50/hour + VAT and I'll have it done within a few weeks" "Or you can give me until the end of January 2017 and we should have it done"...which actually later changed to "end of February 2017" within 5 minutes of us talking. Absolutely shocking... Despite us agreeing money and timelines before the car was even in his hands, I now also apparently owe him another £2,000 as a result of his choice to change the ECU for a more expensive one (the 3rd ECU he's mentioned to me) and also go for a more expensive, more elaborate and unnecessary chargecooler rather than a straightforward intercooler system. None of this was mentioned until my visit on Monday. My response? Essentially "f*ck you, I want my car back". I have absolutely no faith that Nev is capable of finishing this car anytime soon. I have been extremely lenient with him and it's time to pull the plug. I simply cannot work with someone who clearly doesn't care about my car or his reputation. It almost feels like he thinks he's doing this project as a favour for a mate, rather than a paying customer. Since Monday, I have been speaking to the usual suspects in a vain attempt to get some help - Mark at Abbey, Mike at TD etc amongst a few others. Unfortunately it's so difficult for any of them to say yes to taking the project on as no one is really sure what stage the car is at, what is left to do, what the state of the work that has been completed is actually in and also being larger, more reputable companies, they are of course fully booked well into 2017. Mark and Mike were extremely helpful but without more information it's just not possible for them to really help at this stage which I completely understand. So in my quest to try and find out some more information from Nev to help me out, I also uncover that the new Link G4 ECU he's trying to charge me part of the extra £2,000 for hasn't even been purchased! The flywheel spindle STILL hasn't been cut to the size it needs to be! The list goes on and it pretty much got a point on Monday night where I started making a spreadsheet of all the parts on my car so that I could start splitting the brakes, suspension etc etc and sell the bare shell and be done with this nightmare. I've had enough! Fortunately, I'm surrounded by so many amazing car people who have convinced me that I can't just throw this all away because of someone else's negligence and inability to provide a service. Trading standards will be hearing from me about this entire saga purely out of principal. So, now Thursday, I have been speaking to friends and hopefully come across someone who is highly recommended and I have seen his work in person on several cars. He is known for engine builds and making custom looms which is exactly what I need. Although he's only a small outfit, just a 30minute phone call added to all the reviews and feedback from friends that have used him has assured me that he is (hopefully) the man to get this back on track! I have sent Nev a very concise yet demanding request: asking that the car be cleared of all the shit inside and any damages found will be his responsibility to put right that he mechanically completes the car (i.e. finish off the gearbox, I've been told everything else is done. Obviously need to check this...) have the car ready for collection by 14th December (2 weeks seems more than reasonable) and I will be claiming back £2,000 of the money I have paid as a result of having to source someone else to complete the work due to his lack of ability I was going to ask for much more, essentially half what I've paid him, but adding up the cost of parts I think £2k is a bit more reasonable and the last thing I want is a dispute over money. As mentioned before, Trading Standards are already aware of the situation and are waiting for me to put in a formal report which will then assist with any Small Claims Court action we may have to take if the money situation isn't resolved amicably. It's a last resort which I hope isn't needed, but after all this I can't take anymore chances. So even though taking the car elsewhere will inevitably make the wait even longer, I'm pretty sure the experience can't be any worse than what it is now. I just need someone who can take the car onboard, give me an actual decent timeline and stick to it as best as possible. Finger's crossed!

How about the Toms rear lights @GT86-Ian?

Hopefully this stroker kit will prove the rest of us wrong mate. To put it into perspective, both my FA20 engine with the stroker kit and my Mrs' RX7 went bang last year and are in the process of some major engine overhaul. Looks like the house purchase is on hold until 2017...maybe 18

You're first on my list

@TTR might be interested

Sold!

OEM half leather seats from the 86. Used for around 30k miles so still in like new condition with a tiny mark on one of the passenger side bolsters, but yoi could probably get it swapped out under warranty like I was going to do before purchasing my race seats Ideal for anyone wanting to upgrade from the standard cloth trim Front and back seats included. Only picture I really have of the seats, but we all know what they look like General asking price on eBay for front cloth seats only is £500. I'm letting both front and rear half leather seats go for just £500 collected from Sutton, Surrey. Or I can arrange delivery at an extra cost due to size obviously

No thanks bud, hopefully got a buyer at full price

Not really mate. Price is already good as it is Most cloth seats go for £500 so having half leather and the back seats to match for £500 is a bit of a bargain I think

Indeed I was mate, cheers Just seen it on the "other" forum so message me on here or there James

Bump Someone must want an upgrade from the cloth interior?

You not banned yet?

Me and Rob used to own Corsa's. We cool

Swearing and abusing members. Instaban

Just a week?

Wow, I'm actually genuinely shocked at his latest message. Partly because he has actually given me some useful information and agreed to do the work before he leaves on holiday next week, but unfortunately the list is longer than expected meaning he really hasn't done any work on my car over the past few months. Remaining mechanical work: Exhaust manifolds needs finishing off Gearbox mounts need completing where it attaches to the tunnel Bearing spacer for the clutch Flywheel spline is apparently complete, just needs refitting Machining on the supercharger bracket No mention of intercooler for the charger at all, think I'll be swallowing that myself seeing as he wanted to change to a chargecooler. So once all that is done, which he says will be done by the weekend as he's allocated Thursday and Friday to complete it, it's just the electrical side which will be completed elsewhere. Sounds like my words are starting to hit home, but of course I'm not holding my breath until I see the work has been done. No mention of the parts in my car, my spare/OEM parts that he still has and of course no mention about the compensation...yet

Not really an option for a number of reasons, mainly being that just "looking" at the car while it's on the floor doesn't really give you an answer as to what might need doing After another day of what feels like arguing with a child, he's supposed to be getting back to me on my demands tonight. I have 0 faith that he actually will though... I saw on Facebook that he had commented on things like "what would you do with $10m" and "homeless people to be fined for sleeping on the streets"...so I told him if he has time to be on Facebook answering trivial questions, he has time to come back to me on my demands... Hopefully have an update tonight, but I've told him categorically that I'm collecting the car on Monday 12th December. He said I can't do that until he's agreed a resolution with me, yet he's the one that is stalling this whole process. The car will be in my possession again on the 12th regardless of his (or lack of) actions before then

Everything I have ever said to him has been as civil as possible, up until my message the other night which had a few more swear words than usual as I'd just completely lost my rag. But ultimately, everything has been said in a professional manner otherwise Apart from the initial conversation with him before he had the car, when Michelle and I went to visit him so she is a witness to what was discussed, every conversation has been on Messenger so it's in writing Would my insurance legal cover get involved in this?

Thanks for the advice bud, experts wouldn't be hard to come across at all. Abbey, Fensport, Tuning Developments, CGR - pretty much any trader on this forum could carry out the work I don't know why but I'm still hoping this knob will do the right thing and just get my very minimalist requirements sorted. Until them, I am hounding the guy so that he see's me as a pain in his arse and gets things sorted ASAP Unfortunately, he's decided that today he is too busy to do any work and has informed me he's been collecting a car from up North...great use of your time when you go away on the 12th December. I've said that unless he meets my demands for completing whatever work is left and paying me the compensation I've requested, then I'll be picking the car up on the 12th regardless and I'll begin court proceedings ASAP Had enough of trying to be friendly and sort this amicably. It's clear the bastard doesn't give a shit

Citizens Advice/Trading Standards have both directed me towards small claims court. Solicitors are expensive

I genuinely feel like I'm dealing with a child! Ask a question and I either get a load of bullshit with no answer or the answer is in some for of cryptic sodding clue! I've resorted to asking him questions where only a "yes" or "no" will suffice, see if he can grasp that concept

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear... He's got his "numbers" over to me in a pathetic attempt to basically say he doesn't owe me anything, but without actually saying it because he knows he's fucked up. His latest message to me has me literally SHAKING with rage He has stated the the original quote was for £8k to supply and fit a 1UZ engine, supercharger and gearbox in full working and running order. But then tried to lay out some parts that "were outside of the original quote"... - stripping and painting the engine (agreed on day 1 of discussions before he had the car, stating that I need the engine to look as good as it goes) - fitting new driveshafts and differential (again, agreed on day 1 of discussions before he had the car, I would be supplying the parts for him to fit) - SERVICING the engine! WHAT THE ACTUAL F**K?! Was he intending on giving me a 2nd hand engine and just hoping it would be OK? Is this guy having a f**king laugh?! He's then set out a list of costs next to various parts and random number of hours for labour. He's even trying to charge me £1750 for the Rotrex when the original discussion (which my girlfriend actually reminded me of as she was there at the time!) was that I wanted a twin screw supercharger, but he knows someone at Rotrex so will include one in the price as he wants to develop a kit for him to then sell onto other 1UZ owners in the future. My response was a little less professional that previous ones, I have blown my top and essentially lost it with this guy. The long and short is, he needs to meet my demands (which he still hasn't directly agreed or disagreed to) before legal action is commenced. Every fibre of my body is telling me to go and get me car tonight, right this second. But I need him to finish this car mechanically so I'm not taking it to someone else to then have to put more work into it, purely because this lazy bastard essentially can't be arsed to do the decent thing

Not even the first chance I've given him...lost count of how many!

I'm almost certain that he hit a wall when he first started looking at the wiring months ago, but instead of admitting it doing anything about it, he buried his head in other projects to keep him busy and have an excuse (even though it's not) to not work on mine I'm still waiting for him to accept my requests as he's "running some numbers to send to me this weekend". When I asked him what numbers these were exactly, I of course got no answer. He goes on holiday in a few weeks, if he thinks he can drag this out until then, he'll have a nasty shock when he gets home

This is on it's 2nd set anyway isn't it?