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1FASTMX5's Monkey Wrench Racing Turbo Nightmare

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87K views 174 replies 97 participants last post by  rsamani  
#1 · (Edited)
Well as some of you know I had submitted my car for a turbo application to MWR back in March 2005. It took them, after many excuses and unfulfilled promises, 7+ months to return my car to me. During this time I was constantly assured by them that the job was going well and that it would be top notch and worth everyday of the long wait.

When I got my car back it almost immediately gave me problems. When I arrived back to NY 6 hours later it had to be towed because of its increasingly poor running condition.

Hass Pro Turbo discovered a nightmare once the car was taken apart. We originally tried to fix what MWR delivered however it soon became apparent that wasnt going to be possible as things started to reveal themselves the more into the car we got.

IMHO some of the MWR work is so bad, so unconscionable that one has to wonder how a tuning shop with their reputation could ever deliver a car in this manner.

I take sharing this information very serious. Anyone who knows me understands how very patient and fair I am, and how serious I take the notion of reporting negatively about any companies work. However, IMHO my experience with Monkey Wrench Racing was so horrible and so unfair and so utterly incompetent, that I felt it was time to share what happened to me. I am no longer holding my silence. No company in good faith could ever feel that the quality of this work was fair, safe and or appropriate. I stood by them and supported them to the very day of delivery of my car and this is what they repaid me with in return.

I don’t want you to take just my opinion on their work, I want you to see for yourself and make your own determination. Here are some pictures and associated diagnosis made by various professionals and experienced poeple in the industry. Here is what they delivered to me 7 months later...

Wrong Coolant was used in the car.
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Totally contaminated or used some kind of stop leak...reason unknown as this car was delivered virtually brand new. Car needed to be completely flushed or future damage may occur of cooling system.
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Fuel Injector installed improperly crushing grommet.
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Improper size for safe boosting of the 9+psi and boost creep that the car was delivered to me with.

Found several factory harness wires splices failing and not secured properly.

Found several Emanage jumpers in the improper position.

Found relay box normally attached near ECU on firewall hanging below car.

Unused Greddy Emanage ECU wires where left totally exposed as opposed to being removed or properly secured leaving possibility of a short and or problem. Potentially hazardous since the engine bay is not water proof. This was a poor quality control install and incomplete in nature.
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Random Splices
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Cam activation wire was found spliced, bare, frayed and exposed.
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Repairs had to be made to the installation of instrument gauges wiring that was not properly protected under the dash. The wires eventually chaffed and shorted out and scorched aluminum dash. Caused wire damage.
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Scorched wire slit almost caused fire
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Greddy MAP sensor vacuum line is too big for nipple and leaking along with other vacuum lines. Replaced entire vacuum assembly with new tees and the proper braided lines.

Total hacking and insufficient repair to my stock ECU harness
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#154 ·
They weren't a sponsor when this happened. They let the dust settle for years before they became one.
 
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#155 ·
In their defense... they are highly regarded on all of the Toyota 2ZZ powered forums (NewCelica, Spyderchat, Matrix, Corolla, etc). They make a ton of innovative products only for the 2ZZ engine and have a pretty good track record with their full engine builds.

If/when I blow up my 2ZZ I'd probably buy the replacement from them :shrug:
 
#156 ·
parts also

I bought a fuel rail to upgrade mine and had to replace o-rings and hone the holes because it kept ripping the o-rings apart when i tried to insert them...supposedly it fits all injectors.........not....so they might innovate for themselves but seems to me that customer service still needs work
 
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M
#158 · (Edited)
lt0302 said:
I bought a fuel rail to upgrade mine and had to replace o-rings and hone the holes because it kept ripping the o-rings apart when i tried to insert them...supposedly it fits all injectors.........not....so they might innovate for themselves but seems to me that customer service still needs work
Click to expand...
I believe we helped you identify the problem which turned out to be some very unusual injectors that required custom spacers to make even the stock fuel rail work. Our rail works great with all direct fit injectors and in the case of unusual injectors we're happy to help make it work.
 
M
#159 ·
Regarding this thread I'll just say there are two sides to every story and I think ours is obvious in this case. This customer had some trouble but later on dealing with another shop... well I won't go there but I'll just say the troubles got much worse once our parts were off and somebody else tried to fulfill the expectations.

The vast majority of our customers are very happy. Everyone who's ever installed our current turbo systems has been extremely happy with them. It's easily the best kit out there. We use all top of the line components and now use the AEM EMS to do all tuning on turbo cars which has proven itself to be incredibly powerful and reliable. We have two Lotus shop cars for R&D and testing purposes now.

We get great feedback on our products and if there ever is a problem we make it right. You can hold me to that. We can be reached by phone or email during all business hours for tech support which is something most shops can't say.

Every shop has a couple of naysayers. Make sure you look at the big picture before passing judgement.
 
#160 ·
May a bolt of lightning strike your lying self to the ground. I can't believe that you can even defend anything that you did. I was a third party in all of this and I saw first hand what you did to that car. Your lies, deceit, and shoddy workmanship was astounding. Your treatment of your customer as you lead him astray through the whole process was incredible. I was there and saw the whole thing!! I put you in the same class at Stan, Ragnorak, Hass, and the rest of Team Deceit.
 
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#164 ·
Maybe they take the "Monkey" in "MonkeyWrench Racing" a little too literally.

To be fair, do any happy customers want to come forward to defend MWR?

I've bought aftermarket parts from their site, but none were "MWR" products.

I've spoken on the phone with MWR and the guys are talked to weren't particularly friendly. I was planning on buying several parts, one of which was on sale at the time. I was told to buy immediately since the sale would not continue into the next month. Not only did the sale continue, but all the other parts were then on sale too. In his defense, the guy who told me this might not have known about the upcoming sale.

The local shop I use has dealt with MWR on celicas and said they behaved like jerks.
 
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#171 ·
Nothing wrong with you posting your complaints as you were directly involved. And you have it linked in your sig for ppl to see, I think that is fair.

We've had some questionable vendors come and go, Haas & Ragnarok for example. If they mistreat enough people they will eventually be uncovered and go out of business.

But don't word it like I'm sympothizing with anyone. I don't let anyone work on my cars for this exact reason....you never know when your cars going to be the learner car.
 
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