Weapon X Motorsports

[Gunmetal Speedster]

First off, I would like to say that this experience isn't over and I will update this thread accordingly as it comes to an end tomorrow.

Back in February I was looking into prices to get a cam installed with all the recommended upgrades. I chose Cincyspeed because they are local and gave me the best deal I could find, $1100 for the installation and $600 for the tune. Shortly after that, to my misfortune, Cincyspeed went out of business. But sent their current customer base to Weapon X, I suppose they made some sort of deal to take over Cincyspeed customers. Weapon X was quite a deal more expensive, which is why I chose Cincyspeed in the first place. I asked however that they honor the quote that I was given by Cincyspeed or at least meet in the middle. They opted to meet in the middle. Which was an end cost of $2121.

Fast forward to the beginning of April when I had my entire cam kit together I contacted Weapon X for an appointment. They said they were three weeks out at the moment, the soonest they could do it was May 1st. I told them that worked fine. He asked if Alan and I had agreed on a price and I told him yes, it was $2121. He said great, see you May 1st.

Come May 1st I dropped my car off and met with Alan and showed him all my upgrades and asked if he remembered the quote he gave me and showed him our email and asked if that price was still good, he said yes. I asked if they would change the oil during the install and he said oh yeah, definitely. So I remove my stock tune and leave the car with them. Alan told me it would be done in roughly one week. He also told me that they have a program that they upload pictures/videos to that they email to the customer that way they can stay up to date with real time build updates. The next day I emailed Alan to confirm he still had my email on file for when he sends me the password to their program so I can follow along. He confirmed they still had my email and that they hadnt set up my account yet, they should get to it that day. That was May 2nd. I never got any emails with anything from them.

May 8th arrives, which is the one week mark from the day I dropped my car off and the expected return day that I will pick it up finished. However, by noon I hadn't received a call so I called them. I spoke with the receptionist who I asked if my car was done and ready to be picked up. She put me on hold and asked, then told me that my car was not expected to be done until Thursday, May 11th. Shocked, I said alright I guess. Now mind you that my Camaro is my daily driver, so I've been making plans for rides this past week, and now for the next 3 days until I can get my car back. On Wednesday May 10th, I called back to verify that my car would be done on the 11th, and to make sure it would come with a dyno print out stating the power being made post cam install. The receptionist once again put me on hold in search of the proper person to ask. After about two minutes, she said she couldn't find anyone and took down my number that way she can have someone call me when they return or whatever the case may be. This was at 2:00pm, they close at 6:00pm. In those next four hours, I never received a phone call. Which was irritating to me because now the car is delayed and no one is making an effort to inform me of whats going on.

The morning of the 11th, the date my car was supposed to be done, I called back at 11am to ask what the deal is and why no one ever returned my call. This time I was transferred to Blake. Blake told me that the reason I had not been receiving emails on my build update was because the program was being weird. Fair enough. Then went on to tell me that progress was being made and that he has replaced the springs and the header gaskets because they appeared to have been leaking. I said alright, but thought to myself that this portion of the project is usually early on and there is no way that's all that should be done since I dropped my car off 10 days ago. He then went on to say that he plans to have it all finished up by the end of the day and have started it up and done a heat cycle to ensure everything was good so I could go on the dyno tomorrow morning (Friday, May 12th). So I told him that my car was supposed to be done Monday, then it was pushed to Thursday, and now it's being pushed to Friday and that since my camaro is my daily driver that this was starting to become very inconvenient. He apologized and asked if I needed it by a certain time tomorrow (Friday) and I said I go to work at 6 so I would like to have it before then. He said that shouldn't be an issue and so I said well alright, I'll talk to you then. He did however take down my email that way he could send me a few pictures of what he has done so far so after I hung up he sent them over. This is what I got:







Friday May 12th (Today) I woke up to an email at 10:59 stating that the car was making good progress and that it should be finished up soon, that right after lunch it should be fired up and have the heat cycle done that way it can make it's way to the dyno shortly after during this afternoon. Now that was all supposed to be done last night so things have changed once again. So I wanted to call him and ask if this car had a chance of being done before I went into work. I called and spoke to the receptionist at 1:30pm, she told me he was busy and asked if I wanted him to call me back. Learning my lesson from last time, I said no, I'll call back in an hour. 2:30 rolls around so I called again. This time she told me he was in the parking lot helping a customer and that he would call me back in 10 minutes. So I said alright. After about an hour, I never received a phone call but I did receive an email from him that said "Going on the dyno in a few minutes!" That was at 2:30, so time is really pushing it or they have late lunches. He sent me an updated invoice, which lists the new gaskets I needed, new pushrods, new NGK spark plugs, 8 quarts of Mobil 1, an oil filter, antifreeze costs, and a new serpentine belt. So I'm astounded and told him that Alan and I had already settled on a quote as to what I would be charged. He said that was before he added all these other things I needed because I supplied incorrect parts. The Night Fury cam is the cam in question and Lethal Racing stated that they use 7.425" pushrods on 99% of the LS3's that cam goes into. So that is what I supplied. Apparently they needed 7.400 instead. I know you always have to measure to make sure, but I find it weird that my car was in that 1%. Next thing, I supplied them with AC Delco iridium plugs and they decided against those and went with NGK, which they stated that AC Delco wasn't good for higher HP engines. Yet I got those recommendations from the folks of this forum because I was originally going to go with NGK. But for a full bolt on car with a cam, AC Delco should have worked fine. The comes the new serpentine belt. I bought a Powerbond 25% UDP from a reputable member here with both belts. Apparently one belt was wrong though. So who knows when it comes to that. I don't know too much on that so I cant agree or refute it. Then comes the issue of all of the fluids and filters. If you know a cam install requires those and I supplied you a list of components I was providing, and the fluids werent on there, then why wouldn't they be incorporated with the quote? What was the quote for if you werent going to give me one that had everything I need. What does that accomplish? It's just meaningless numbers at that point.

So I replied that I supplied spark plugs I wanted you to use as well as the pushrods that Lethal recommended. And that the fluids should have been part of the quote because it makes no sense for them not to be. He then dropped the charges for the spark plugs and counted the pushrods as an even trade for the ones he supplied which was nice of him, but then went on to say "I'm sorry Alan didn't quote you correctly and that you thought we would pay for the fluids." and that my new total was now $2400 instead of the $2121. So I replied to him that I was fine with paying for the new gaskets and seals, and even if the belt was wrong I would pay for that too. But that I didn't feel it was on me to pay for what should have been in the price of the quote. The point of the quote was to provide me with shop and labor charges as well as the cost for the dyno tune. Why on earth wouldnt the fluids and filter be included in that quote? And by the way things have gone, having my car for almost an entire week past when I was promised I would get it back, the severe lack of communication, that the whole process has been unprofessional in my opinion. And that I think we should meet in the middle of what you want to charge me at $2250. That to me that seemed fair and it would help balance everything negative that had happened so far. But that if they decided to make me pay that full $2400 and not do right by me, that they would lose me as a customer. But I made sure to tell them how I appreciate the hard work that they have put in so far and I thanked them for it. And that either way, I would be there at 10am to get the car.

I have yet to hear back from him, probably called it a night. I feel that they should make this right by me for everything that has happened so far. I will continue to update this thread with the results coming tomorrow morning. I had many future projects I would like them to help me with so I hope this turns out alright. If not, I suppose this is a learning experience for us both.

UPDATE: So after going to Weapon X this morning and talking it out in person, I'm pleased to announce that we were able to agree on a price. Everything turned out well for me in the end so I am a satisfied customer. They made it right on their behalf and I feel that was a good step for them to take as now I trust them enough to bring them my future business. I will not edit this review beyond this statement as I feel it is still important that people are able to see my full experience and can learn from my mistakes or gain some insight on what to look out for when attempting something similar. The guys at Weapon X are truly awesome, just make sure you know exactly what it is you're going to be charged for so there is no confusion. Even through and after this experience, Weapon X remained professional and courteous throughout and did everything in their power within reason to help satisfy me. I would recommend them.

[Texas_RS]

That sucks man, I know you were super excited about getting the cam in and posting about the results. Hope things get better and they get you fixed up sooner then later!

[Jrichards73]

A. I'm glad i did this myself.
B. What cam kit doesn't come with new gaskets, and who wouldn't quote them if the customer wasn't providing them?
C. Aftermarket axles are $1500, as after the cam i couldn't keep a factory cv joint together longer than a week....
D. You are slowly turning it into a race car, so don't plan on it being a daily driver. My cycle is as follows;
(something breaks) I hate this car! (Orders parts)
Parts are in! These look AWESOME!
Its ALIVE!
Sure I'll Race!
(Something Breaks) I hate this car! (Orders parts)
It was never a daily driver, but if I absolutely have to be somewhere, I don't drive it. I have more factory parts under the house than under the car, and a tow plan on the insurance.

[Gunmetal Speedster]

Originally Posted by Texas_RS

That sucks man, I know you were super excited about getting the cam in and posting about the results. Hope things get better and they get you fixed up sooner then later!

Thanks man! Things turned around for the better and the cam is in as well as I have the car back. Happy that it all worked out in the end!

Originally Posted by Jrichards73

A. I'm glad i did this myself.
B. What cam kit doesn't come with new gaskets, and who wouldn't quote them if the customer wasn't providing them?
C. Aftermarket axles are $1500, as after the cam i couldn't keep a factory cv joint together longer than a week....
D. You are slowly turning it into a race car, so don't plan on it being a daily driver. My cycle is as follows;
(something breaks) I hate this car! (Orders parts)
Parts are in! These look AWESOME!
Its ALIVE!
Sure I'll Race!
(Something Breaks) I hate this car! (Orders parts)
It was never a daily driver, but if I absolutely have to be somewhere, I don't drive it. I have more factory parts under the house than under the car, and a tow plan on the insurance.

For now the camaro has to be a daily driver haha by fall I'm hoping to have enough saved up to change that. Luckily for me, outside of CamaroFest I don't leave my hometown much so it's all short distances haha.

[jeff657756]

Pushrod length is never really a given. When i had my NF cam installed, I supplied my installer with both 7.425 and 7.4 so he had both on hand. Measured for length and 7.4 was what he deemed appropriate. I would be glad that they actually told you and didn't just install the wrong ones.

My tuner wanted colder plugs so i went with TR6s as well when i had my cam put in. I dont think they were trying to get over on you or anything. The last thing a shop wants to hear is "Well the guys on the forum said..." Sounds to me they did an OK job on the car, just a week or so behind which is the risk you take when its your daily.