Jotech racing?

[Mattman]

Anyone familair with this shop? It came recommended, but I was curious if any eclipse owners have used them. Im talking to them now, about my work and a custom turbo kit. anyone have feedback on them I would appreciate it

jotechracing.com

[McLarenross]

Jotech is a damn good shop. BUT..... Your gonna be hard pressed to get them to work on an Eclipse. They deal mostly with highend rice cars and things. NSX, Supra, etc... They are also VERY expensive. They do do good work though.

This is their car.

[Mattman]

ummm yeah...ive been hearing that lately "youll have to beg them to work for you". i dont like that. i dont mind paying for great quality service, but im the customer...your job is to do what im paying you for...why should i have to beg u to take my money? f that

basically i hear that they have the "snob" business edict. that doesnt fly.

[texas4g]

they are damn good shop. Last time i was at the 1/4 mile in Ennis the owner of the jotech had his honda civic. That thing was running high 10 all night long. My friend took his rsx-s there and they wanted 10 or 11 grand for turbo and install. Also they love working on evo's.
Redline performance in arlington is a good shop.

[Mattman]

yeah they have like 4 evo customers but no eclipse. ive called and sent emails....no response from them yet. maybe theyre just busy...ill stop by my next day off, or when im out that way and see whats up. i need a good shop in dallas

[Slippercream]

I've heard positives and not-so positives about Alamo, but that for sure they're a DSM shop, and not too terrible on the rates. Matt, since you've got a 4Gxx, might be worth the drive for you.

[mindlessanime]

hot damn!! its a bout time you showed your face around here bro!! we missed you man.. it was not club4g without the slippercream

bob monty

[Mattman]

ill check it out slipper, just finished the system, and back in town for a month or so...so ims hopping for my next mod.ill kep you posted on what i decide.

[Slippercream]

Cool beans man! I saw that other thread - good start! I forget, but what exactly were you wanting to get done for your car? Also, I'd talk to texas4g about his experiences with shops in the local area. He's had quite a bit done to his ride

Now as for FI, that's always uncharted territory, but don't be too disillusioned - Eclipses are always late in the game with folks who make real headway in that area. Just historically not a lot of folks with deep pockets rolling around in our cars

[Mattman]

well im really wanting FI but holding out to see what develops on the aftermarket. my goal is to have this be a 12 sec or less car. COUGH COUGH although that wont happen anytime soon, i plan on enjoying my warranty as much as i can since its my daily driver. for now

my pockets aren't as deep as some of the other guys on here, changing there look 8 times and shit lol. so far ive been dropping 2g's every other month...alarm, system, suspension...the basics. now i want rims, some body work, then start on basic performance parts.

[lil`Wolf]

Originally Posted by Mattman

well im really wanting FI but holding out to see what develops on the aftermarket. my goal is to have this be a 12 sec or less car. COUGH COUGH although that wont happen anytime soon, i plan on enjoying my warranty as much as i can since its my daily driver. for now

my pockets aren't as deep as some of the other guys on here, changing there look 8 times and shit lol. so far ive been dropping 2g's every other month...alarm, system, suspension...the basics. now i want rims, some body work, then start on basic performance parts.

If your refering to drowsie hes really not rich or anything he's said that abunch of times he just knows where to get deals and stuff, wow that NSX is sexy

[Slippercream]

I understand. But understand also that if you actually know a bit about what you're wanting do to for yourself, and on your own time, you'll find that it's really not supposed to be THAT expensive. It doesn't come without a cost though, in terms of risk.

Give you an example. People save tons of cash having a house built by independent contractors rather than going the cookie-cutter route. Plus it saves on associated realtor costs coz all you need are raw materials and labor. You control the design and outcome of the project.

Same thing goes for most other things - and cars in particular. You wait for a shop to pre-fab or mass-produce something for you, you'll likely have to deal with their issues and limitations, both from a specifications (design) perspective or production (availability).

Another concrete example, back when I had a little seed money for my project (back in '06 in fact) I was talking with Russ about putting together some kind of business deal to outsource for parts. We'll ship some designs offshore and have parts made and sourced in for a "kit". My idea was to go cheap... and in particular to use MHI turbos instead of Garrett-based hardware. Makes it cheaper, without being too much less radical. Twin Big 16Gs on their own manifolds. Not too shabby an idea, no?

The idea fell through just because Russ thought it might not be sustainable on the long term. Plus who knew how the market would be for MHI down the road. It's much easier to go with what's mainstream.

I guess my point is this: if you assume the risk for your own projects and get your R&D in tandem with the shop you're working through --- instead of having them do everything for you, there's more fulfillment and chance for success that's in the neighborhood of your goals. "Looking for a shop" won't have to be about a one-stop shop where you're placing all your chips on one table.

Have an exhaust shop or custom welder fab your piping. That'll cut costs down significantly. Have an engine shop pegged for one all-inclusive motor build... which I'll already suggest would involve Evo heads, if at all possible. Have a mechanic or performance shop that you can trust install the engine, and if you're handy with tools (which I assume you are given your mil background), do the bolt-on installs yourself. Have a tuner lined up for all the FI-related tweaks. Chances are, they'll do the FI hardware installed for you as well.

It needn't be complicated. Look up Tony Palo from T1 Racing Dev up in your neck of the woods. If you need "who sent you" references, hit me back and I'll direct you to some of my best friends with DSMs.

You really don't need one shop to do all. In my experience, it's like buying into a lifetime maintenance contract that'll cost you more than you really need. Just my $.02

[Mattman]

i appreciate that advice. very well explained and supported, given your experiences and lack of mine, i should adhere. however, my experiences (though unrelated to the aftermarket/custom car) is that when you have different people working on different parts of the project, they try the blame game. you know what i mean..."oh this plumbing wont work because whoever you had install the cabinets did it wrong."

I just thought by having one shop for everything mechanical would help relieve some of this. o well. ill try tracking down a specialist in each field. and like i said i wont be starting the FI project until later down the road so i haven't really started researching. i dont know if you caught the other thread but now im looking for a custom system setup for my subs and amps. probably have to go custom with this as well

[Slippercream]

Point taken and very valid, Matt Think of it this way, though - onus is on you to make sure the design is correct, and that you keep your tuner well appraised of the development of each stage of the project. HE's the one link in the chain that's truly crucial to success, believe me, and not your pipe fabricator or engine installer. Well... I'd say your engine builder is another, but really - if you know engine, "an engine's an engine". I can't stress this enough - find a good shop and stick with them. In TX there are lots to choose from, and in Houston we've got quite a few.

Finally, once any kind of fabrication is complete, you again have to hold it to your fab guy to make sure it's correct. Have them do final fitment to confirm it. And the only liability they should have, and in writing is a statement concerning the workmanship of their product. Pipes are pipes, no matter what people say. If they used the right materials, right welding method to match the material, and you can see the skill in the welding, those should be decent indicators of the quality of the work itself. Typically, once they fit, and you're absolutely certain the design is correct, pipes are going to be the last source of any problems.

But going back to making all the players to work together, here's another analogy for you - any car that goes into the dealership for warranty work typically goes through several departments. Parts handles any materials, finished or raw. Machine shop takes care of any engineering-related services or issues. Body shop does the same for structural and exterior finishing. Shop floor does all installations and regular maintenance. What one department does, the others don't need to get into, save for the knowledge and assurance that their functions are performed correctly. That's what specialization is for.

Most "performance" shops aren't any more than outsourcers and distributors. All engine work is outsourced to their preferred engine shops - mostly even whole engine builds. Sometimes even pipe fabrications are done elsewhere. You might not even know who these other guys are. Yet the guys you actually see when you check in on the progress of your car only just do the installation and tuning. Most shops make their bread and butter by upselling and retail. Most really don't focus on doing a good job with the specialized work (i.e. tuning). They have a dyno, and that's good enough to rack in the service time dollars. And what's more, when you have a "general" performance shop, you can't really expect a Jack of All Trades to know everything about your car --- one day he's wiring underbody neons and the next he's manning a dyno and tweaking for optimum A/F mix!

Like I said, take what others can give you in advice with a grain of salt. In the end, you're the one spending the cash. As with anything and everything in life, act with due diligence and make the best decision based on the best planned courses of action. Without proper preparation you'll just be blindly depending on others for what they tell you, and you'll find that, especially when "boosting" a car... you're always gonna be at the end of the communication chain.

[Mattman]

word, thanks a lot. i didn't know they contract the work, with that being said its obvious itd be better to go staright to the source. im with you now. LEARNING HAS OCCURRED and i thank you. now get over to the sound system thread and help me out once more lol

[Slippercream]

kewl! Glad to be hoff some helf!