| :Our customers realize that we aren't the way that your "group" portrays us to be. Is Ash part of this group too? Or did he come from yours? La-Z-Link AshsZ
AshSPEC, Inc. AshsZ's Avatar Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Edgewater, FL
Make/Model: 1991 300ZX Converted Twinturbo Slicktop
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Posts: 166
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After reading where this thread has gone since I last spoke up, I feel compelled to once again speak from experience of being on the 'inside' of Z1 Motorsports. It is one thing to be a customer, and it is yet another thing to actually have worked there. In the positive words left by previous Z1 customers who have been happy with their experience, what is lost is the fact that the exchange for those situations was simple; "bought a 1-piece driveshaft and it was great!", or "called for used part 'x' and it showed up on time and at a great price". You will rarely see a post from customers that had extensive work done where a lot of money and time was put into the deal for the primary reason that, during the time I was there, it was a 90/10 chance that when a customer's engine was installed, for one reason or another, it had to come back out of the car for some ridiculous oversight by the technician. I know because I was usually the person to discover the problem. Much of my time at Z1 was spent 'holding hands' with the technicians because they were incapable of figuring out at least one element of their job. I spent a more significant amount of time with these 'buildups' on the dyno while final-tuning them and in 80% of the cases, the tuning process had to be aborted and significant problems corrected before it could be final-tuned. I was usually the one that fixed these problems myself and spending days in some cases doing this. All because of 2-bit mechanics. It appears that their ability to successfully and consistently build high-performance Z cars is just as bad as it was before I showed up. They learned a lot from my time there - I spent a good deal of time educating all of them on various aspects of the Z32, engine building, electronics, etc etc etc. I spent a significant amount of both company time and personal time working with the engine builder that was building the engines for Z1 when I was there. Unfortunately that engine builder has significant personal issues which led to his unemployment with the machine shop. The person building Z1s engines is no longer the same individual that was building them when I was there. Even despite all of the advances in their knowledge of the Z32, there still appears to be a significant lack of the finer knowledge of the Z32 that is required to build up these vehicles, tune them, and make them last. In addition to all of this, and bearing a historical trail of its own, their customer service leaves a LOT to be desired. Some of the ways I saw Russell handle warranty issues on engine buildups, turbochargers, etc, were something that makes me feel really sorry for the individuals that got involved with Z1. I'm sure there was more of this happening that I didn't see. Eric Norris's engine build brings a really good example of this to mind. He had Z1 build an engine for his Z32 and put 6000 miles on the engine and was complaining about a consistent tapping noise; much louder than a lifter. This was back when I still worked with Z1, BTW. Eric removed the engine and brought it to Z1 and Russell told me to figure out what is going on with it, so I took it into my own hands. This engine was built by the previous engine builder before my time there, of which some 23 performance builds came back for catastrophic failures of one sort or another. I disassembled the engine and took the block up to the machine shop and we measured the cylinder bores. None of the 6 cylinders were any less than 0.012" overbored and this overboring was causing the pistons to rattle excessively. Eric contacted me the following day to follow up and I confirmed suspicions with him about this. I ordered new bearings, rings, and we used a newer set of the Wiseco pistons to put into a new properly bored cylinder block. Now here's the kicker: Eric showed up to get his engine and Russell had a ~$1200 invoice waiting for him. Eric did not want to pay for what was done obviously because the overboring was not his fault, but I informed Russell of what the problem was so he knew very well and clear. So, is the customer right here or what? I think it goes without saying, but Eric came to me with this invoice, I was shocked and told him that I did not feel that he should have to pay for an oversight of the company and that it should be taken care of for free, at least. He went back to Russell and exchanged a few words and Russell agreed to fix it free of charge, but that conversation obviously did not go well at all and Eric expressed how "he was through with Z1" from that moment onward. To make matters even worse, the following morning when I arrived to Z1, the scene was not pretty: Russell began arguing at me about that situation and told me that I should not have told him the cylinders were overbored.. He and I got into one of the biggest verbal disagreements of any other time I was there because he wanted me to lie to the customer and I was not going to do that. This is just one of many more similar situations I could carry on about in reference to what I know about Z1's customer service being on the 'inside' of the company. Perhaps some day I will carry on about Dave Parker's Z32 that Z1 built back in November last year after I left and how that car is still in their shop today, on its 3rd or 4th visit, and Dave is incredibly unhappy at how he was treated. Because of my position in the community, I communicate with a lot of Z1 customers on an almost daily basis as a lot of them approach me with some question or another, or just looking for some advice. Some of these people have had serious issues with their Z1 builds and there are a handfull that still have ongoing issues and their situations are not being addressed in reasonable time. All of these people are keeping their mouths shut for the simple fact that they do not want to jeopardize the relationship they have with Z1 for fear that it will make the matters even worse than they already are - it is very obvious that the gang at Z1 is a vengeful group - it is the "Georgian way", or so I speak from my own experience. Granted, all of this is simply my own opinion on the matters based on my experience over the past couple of years and I have disclosed some situations of which I have first hand knowledge of. I am not alone either - there are other x-Z1 employees that would express their dissatisfaction in how the business was run as well as how customers were treated, but unfortunately they are not members of the Z32 community.
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