jmpdmc
11-27-2012, 07:16 PM
Often, when we have an experience with a vendor, good or bad, we do not share the details with others. I have been guilty of this in the past too but I want to share my recent experience at DPI with the forum. The “Cliff Notes” version is excellent results, with a couple glitches, but be patient. I have purchased parts from most of the vendors and part sellers over my 10+ years of ownership. I have had some service work and accident repair at Grady’s (great work done by Rob). My experience has mostly been positive except for a part seller---burn date early 2006. I was interested in DPI’s stainless exhaust and wanted better shocks to replace the “performance” ones I had, two of which failed after approximately 2000 miles. I also wanted some coolant system work and transmission leak repair. I had been to Josh Bengston’s shop for his open house in 2009 when it was McFly Motorsports. I was impressed with his knowledge and passion for the car. I waited to find out what others said about the quality of his work before I committed to spending money.
After hearing his exhaust at the shop and making a list of work to be done, Josh picked up the car on 09/01/2011. The first two months went smoothly until early November when Josh called me to say he found some corrosion in the VOD. I drove over to confirm and saw this: 15124 Not too bad but how long will it stay like that? I opted for the engine rebuild. Most other work had already been completed. By late November, Josh tore the engine down and discovered a bearing starting to spin as well---another reason to necessitate a rebuild. I had opted to have my cylinder heads re-done since I figured why not while they were off the engine. This ultimately led to at least a 5 month delay. The machine shop Josh had given the job to put my heads and others on the back burner. The shop then was sold and the new owners didn’t want or need Josh’s business. Here is where Josh could have been more proactive and not allow them to grind some of his projects to halt. When the heads returned to Josh in March, they did not meet his specifications. He sent them back and, by May, severed his ties with the machine shop. It was May before work building my engine could resume using NOS heads. I know DPI had some staffing issues at this time and Josh was a one man show. He always answered my emails and phone messages requesting updates, if not immediately then within a few days. By June, some fiberglass damage was identified near the rear window. Some cracking had been there but I think the previous accident had worsened it. Josh had a marine fiberglass man repair this but a month past till he was available and the repair completed. During engine reassembly and testing, a rebuilt water pump pulley sheared off and Josh had to get the radiator flushed and pull the heads to confirm no metal shavings spread through the coolant. More time past until a drive was scheduled for August. The night before, Josh called to ask about a jumper that was installed under the start inhibit relay. I had no knowledge of this. I found an invoice two PO’s before me that mentioned starter repair under warrantee but that was in 1998. I think they had experienced the lack of a starter solenoid wiring mod--- http://tinyurl.com/brhnldt --- and bypassed the relay. I performed this mod in 2003 but missed this jumper from below between pins 86 + 87A: 15125 Josh had experienced hard starting then no starting. The new starter he installed plus the jumper caused this: 1512615127 Thankfully, not much wiring was damaged but the car was not ready for a drive the next day. I visited anyways to check progress and here are some pictures: 1512815129 Three weeks later, we scheduled a first drive. The car has never been better---smooth riding with some firmness from Spax shocks, idles better than ever, and looks great. Josh’s attention to detail meets or exceeds my expectations, which are high already. After a few more small things I decided I wanted were done, he transported the car back to me on 09/30/2012. Here are some photos taken shortly after: 1513015131
Observations and opinions:
1. Lower control arm support bars are well worth the money and improve the handling measurably.
2. New suspension bushings are also a great investment. How good can 30+ year old rubber be?
3. Stainless intermediate steering shaft did not change the steering input effort or smoothness as much as I expected. My OEM part must have been in decent shape.
4. DPI exhaust sounds great and looks great. It is not too loud at highway speeds and the ceramic coating is a great option. The exhaust should be the standard to which others are compared.
5. Josh spends a lot of time making things correct that are just included as part of his work. A couple of examples are the engine light switch and suspension springs. I never had an engine light switch but Josh added one for completeness and did not charge me. Since my suspension was apart, he powder coated my springs at no extra charge.
6. Battery cables: Josh makes custom battery cables for the car which are a great update. They are flexible and not 30 years old. Here are pictures of his vs. my OEM ones: 151321513315134
7. On a side note, Josh says the shipping weight of his stainless exhaust is 58 lbs. I weighed all of the OEM exhaust parts he removed from my car and got 60-61 lbs. for the stock one. Not as big of a difference as you would imagine but still a weight savings.
8. One of the very few disappointments is that fact I still have a transmission fluid leak. The pan, and maybe another location, is leaking. The first couple weeks back were leak free but, after a few heat cycles and 3 weeks, here are pictures: 1513515136 Here is at 6 weeks: 15137 The cardboard being moved accounts for the drips not being consistent. I spoke to Josh and we will address this at his shop in the spring.
9. The other issue that needs addressed in the spring is the fact that the rod coming out of the transmission is about 5/8ths of an inch shorter than it should be, per Josh. This causes inconsistent starts in Park with no pattern to when it occurs. In 2005-6 after Grady needed to crack the transmission case to fix some leaks, this problem reared its head but it is now a bit worse. Since Josh didn’t open the case up, it was not thought that this would worsen but it has. It is more annoying than I thought so it will be fixed in the spring.
10. Josh returned all old or OEM parts I asked for that were removed from my car.
11. Josh told me on a few occasions that he dyno’s all new builds but that never materialized for my car.
12. DPI’s stainless replacement parts are all first rate and worth the investment.
Having service work at DPI is really like a cooperation of two enthusiasts with a common goal. I think Josh cares more about some of the cars in his shop than the owners. This is not assembly line work and a lot of time is spent making things right. Josh shows quality of workmanship, attention to detail, and customer service that all vendors should emulate. I will update this thread occasionally as things occur, good or bad.
Jeff Porter
After hearing his exhaust at the shop and making a list of work to be done, Josh picked up the car on 09/01/2011. The first two months went smoothly until early November when Josh called me to say he found some corrosion in the VOD. I drove over to confirm and saw this: 15124 Not too bad but how long will it stay like that? I opted for the engine rebuild. Most other work had already been completed. By late November, Josh tore the engine down and discovered a bearing starting to spin as well---another reason to necessitate a rebuild. I had opted to have my cylinder heads re-done since I figured why not while they were off the engine. This ultimately led to at least a 5 month delay. The machine shop Josh had given the job to put my heads and others on the back burner. The shop then was sold and the new owners didn’t want or need Josh’s business. Here is where Josh could have been more proactive and not allow them to grind some of his projects to halt. When the heads returned to Josh in March, they did not meet his specifications. He sent them back and, by May, severed his ties with the machine shop. It was May before work building my engine could resume using NOS heads. I know DPI had some staffing issues at this time and Josh was a one man show. He always answered my emails and phone messages requesting updates, if not immediately then within a few days. By June, some fiberglass damage was identified near the rear window. Some cracking had been there but I think the previous accident had worsened it. Josh had a marine fiberglass man repair this but a month past till he was available and the repair completed. During engine reassembly and testing, a rebuilt water pump pulley sheared off and Josh had to get the radiator flushed and pull the heads to confirm no metal shavings spread through the coolant. More time past until a drive was scheduled for August. The night before, Josh called to ask about a jumper that was installed under the start inhibit relay. I had no knowledge of this. I found an invoice two PO’s before me that mentioned starter repair under warrantee but that was in 1998. I think they had experienced the lack of a starter solenoid wiring mod--- http://tinyurl.com/brhnldt --- and bypassed the relay. I performed this mod in 2003 but missed this jumper from below between pins 86 + 87A: 15125 Josh had experienced hard starting then no starting. The new starter he installed plus the jumper caused this: 1512615127 Thankfully, not much wiring was damaged but the car was not ready for a drive the next day. I visited anyways to check progress and here are some pictures: 1512815129 Three weeks later, we scheduled a first drive. The car has never been better---smooth riding with some firmness from Spax shocks, idles better than ever, and looks great. Josh’s attention to detail meets or exceeds my expectations, which are high already. After a few more small things I decided I wanted were done, he transported the car back to me on 09/30/2012. Here are some photos taken shortly after: 1513015131
Observations and opinions:
1. Lower control arm support bars are well worth the money and improve the handling measurably.
2. New suspension bushings are also a great investment. How good can 30+ year old rubber be?
3. Stainless intermediate steering shaft did not change the steering input effort or smoothness as much as I expected. My OEM part must have been in decent shape.
4. DPI exhaust sounds great and looks great. It is not too loud at highway speeds and the ceramic coating is a great option. The exhaust should be the standard to which others are compared.
5. Josh spends a lot of time making things correct that are just included as part of his work. A couple of examples are the engine light switch and suspension springs. I never had an engine light switch but Josh added one for completeness and did not charge me. Since my suspension was apart, he powder coated my springs at no extra charge.
6. Battery cables: Josh makes custom battery cables for the car which are a great update. They are flexible and not 30 years old. Here are pictures of his vs. my OEM ones: 151321513315134
7. On a side note, Josh says the shipping weight of his stainless exhaust is 58 lbs. I weighed all of the OEM exhaust parts he removed from my car and got 60-61 lbs. for the stock one. Not as big of a difference as you would imagine but still a weight savings.
8. One of the very few disappointments is that fact I still have a transmission fluid leak. The pan, and maybe another location, is leaking. The first couple weeks back were leak free but, after a few heat cycles and 3 weeks, here are pictures: 1513515136 Here is at 6 weeks: 15137 The cardboard being moved accounts for the drips not being consistent. I spoke to Josh and we will address this at his shop in the spring.
9. The other issue that needs addressed in the spring is the fact that the rod coming out of the transmission is about 5/8ths of an inch shorter than it should be, per Josh. This causes inconsistent starts in Park with no pattern to when it occurs. In 2005-6 after Grady needed to crack the transmission case to fix some leaks, this problem reared its head but it is now a bit worse. Since Josh didn’t open the case up, it was not thought that this would worsen but it has. It is more annoying than I thought so it will be fixed in the spring.
10. Josh returned all old or OEM parts I asked for that were removed from my car.
11. Josh told me on a few occasions that he dyno’s all new builds but that never materialized for my car.
12. DPI’s stainless replacement parts are all first rate and worth the investment.
Having service work at DPI is really like a cooperation of two enthusiasts with a common goal. I think Josh cares more about some of the cars in his shop than the owners. This is not assembly line work and a lot of time is spent making things right. Josh shows quality of workmanship, attention to detail, and customer service that all vendors should emulate. I will update this thread occasionally as things occur, good or bad.
Jeff Porter