sogabe

brought my nice set of UMI SFC to a speed shop,
hence their original estimate being 240$, they ended up charging me
420 ****ing bux caz they had to remove the exhaust and LCA

but oh well I do live in a small town and they were the only one who does sfc(all other shop refused) so I kinda had no choice

but yeah, it made my car a nicer ride though
not like a huge difference but i definately felt the difference when going over bumps

systalis

Man, that sux. I had a stick welding machine and the spohn ones. I pre fitted them with a floor jack and the car on jackstands. I spot tacked them with the stick machine and brought them to a muffler shop. The guy there welded them out for me with short arc for $20.
Do you have the stock exhaust on there?

sogabe

my exhaust is new, but its not an aftermarket,
its like a shop bent the tube just like how stock was, and installed
them for me, so yeah im not even friggin sure if they really had to remove the exhaust

o well i aint going back there.. if they stayed legit they had me as a long term customer and made me spend more money than they ever thought.. lol

systalis

The only reason I asked is because I've heard that you should always install sfc's before a custom or bigger exhaust because of clearance issues, but I didn't eaven come close to having problems with the stock exhaust on my install.
Well, I know it cost you a small fortune, but you will be way pleased that you got it done. Myself and many others here believe this to be THE best mod done to our cars.

di11avou

iTrader: (1)

That's why you always get a written estimate. I don't know how it is in California, but in Iowa you can't be charged more than 10% over the estimate without customer authorization.

systalis

Yeah, a writen estimate is always good. I live in a small town in the south and I always try to do buisness with a non-franchised local buisness. Bad word of mouth is much worse than a call from a lawyer to a privately owned small buisness.

I bought my car and completely rebuilt the front end from the idler arm out to the spindles. I brought it to one of those nation wide buisnesses that George Forman advertises for to get the alignment done. Just for the hell of it, I told them that I just bought it, I didn't know a thing about cars, and it was pulling to the right. The guy there told me that one of the tie rods was bent and it was common of these cars that were 15 years old. He gave me an estimate of $400 because it would take over 4 hours of labor to fix!! I immediately told him to drop the car from the lift and pull it around front in less than 2 minutes. When he asked why, I told him to meet my demands or he would hear from my lawyer! I've never been there since.

Sonix

iTrader: (1)

haha, that's a good one systalis... Like the time they asked if I wanted a 4 wheel alignment, and I kinda wondered how they'd align the rear of my car...?
They only did the front,


hey, what's "short arc"? MIG?

systalis

Yeah, thats the technical tterm for the mig welding that uses a shielding gas and a copper colored wire with no flux. Its the one that goes "bzzzzzzzzz" when you weld. The only reason I say short arc is because I work in fabrication and they also have a pulse arc mig, and a flux core mig (that uses wire that has flux in the middle of the wire with a sheilding gas) that we use. I think (but I may be wrong) that the term "mig" refers to the wire delivery system more than the procedure itself. I believe that they also have that universal wire crap that doesn't use a sheilding gas, but I've never used it or seen it used. So when it comes down to welding procedure and inspectors, "mig welding" usually isn't a sufficient explination.

twobirds

$420????Momma needs a new pair of shoes!!!!

di11avou

iTrader: (1)

You can still do a 4 wheel alignment to our cars. A 2-wheel alignment means they align the front wheels to the centerline of the vehicle (completely ignoring the rear wheels). A 4-wheel alignment means they align the front wheels to the thrust line (A line that bisects total rear toe. It defines the direction the rear wheels are pointed.) of the vehicle. The thrust line should correspond to the centerline for the vehicle to steer straight. Looking at the thrust line is a good way of finding out if something is bent or broken in the rear of our cars. I'm not saying it's necessary to do a 4-wheel alignment on our cars, I'm just saying it is possible to do one.