I thought I would do a brief writeup on my personal experience with Pettit Racing (AKA Excellent Performance) for my '93 FD that I am in the process of restoring.

I called them up and spoke with Jeff Salsbury - the salesman for the company that has been there for something like 20 years according to Cameron Worth (owner who goes by "Cam"). Nice guy who is willing to work with you on what you want. He'll work some deals/discounts if you talk to him. He'll also recommend things that you might not necessarily need. He's not pushy about it at all though. Nice guy - and he's a talker so watch out if you get him going and you are in a hurry.

My car got shipped there from Houston, TX by AAAutocaravan. They are based out of Jupiter, FL. Nice guy named Dave is the one I always dealt with. They are hard to get on the phone (small oufit), but I had no problems with them getting the car and dropping it off at Pettit.

The car was done in about a week and a half after they started (much faster than I expected). I got the street ported engine, new turbos (not '99 spec), short shifter, new intake, new intercooler, new radiator, dp, and all the reliability mods that were needed (already had the AST). There were a bunch of other things I had done or needed to have done, but above is the maor stuff.

About 3 weeks after it was done I finally got a chance to fly down to see the car and drive it (that's tonight as I write this). Cam likes to have his big jobs like this have the owner come out, go over the car, drive it and find things they don't like or that are a problem so that it can be gone over again to get it tweaked right before shipping the car back.

So... I got to the shop tonight at 8PM (an hour late) and Cam and the engine builder, Candy, were there to meet me. He shows me the car, goes over things, fixes up a few last minute things, takes my money, shows me the shop/cars/other stuff and shoots the **** for about 2 hours total!!! Now it's 1020PM and I leave the shop with Candy's cell # in case anything goes wrong (i.e. I get lost, car doesn't work, etc.).

The new short shifter is tight and feels great. It's noisy and I'll have them look at it. I have a pad next to me to jot down any problems that come up. None so far and I get on I-95 heading south to the DoubleTree in Boca Raton. $103 gets me a two room suite with breakfast in the morning. Nice place.

I plan to head down to Key West in the morning. The goal is to get about 500 miles on the engine to break it in before I have to fly back home day after tomorrow.

Even though the boost has been limited to about 6-8 psi for the breakin period, it is still pulling hard and I can't wait to get the full boost going and open it up after I get it back home.

As far as the shop goes, there are about 8 cars in the bay and Cam says he has about 20 or so at any one time that are coming and going. He and Candy build all the engines so that if there is ever a question about the work, he knows what's going on and exactly what was done. If there are parts that need replacing and he has extras around the shop, he just throws it in. He is not interested in taking your money just for the hell of it. I got a quote from Jeff (salesman) and then when the work really began on the car, I talked with Cam who cut back on a few things saying that I don't need them or they were a waste for my application. He's a real stand-up guy.

I plan on writing up more about my experience as I break in the engine and see how the final stages of my dealings with them go. So far I am happy and can't wait to cruise down to the Keys.

I'm sure I've forgotten lots of details I wanted to get out to people. If there are specific questions you folks have, I will try to answer what I know or have experienced. As it stands right now, I give my experience a thumbs up.

MFQ

 

What was the damage $$$???

 

I've talked to jeff and cam , and yes they are great people to deal with and very honest. I wish they were in california so I could take my car to them for service.

 

I also wish they were in California. That'd be extremely helpful.

 

Nice write up. I've also had dealings with Cam, Jeff, and Candy. Alway's been great to deal with. I'd say my car is about 90% Pettit mods. Let's see, Pettit ,DP,Resonated MP, high flow turbo's, CAI, billet dash control *****, underdrive alt. pulley, ECU. Oh and the license plate surround (which my wife broke) so Candy if you read this I need another brushed Aluminum chapion license plate frame )-: Absolutely great people to deal with. Jack

 

Damn, your boostin 6-8 psi on a fresh engine? Id wait at least 1000mi before showing her any sort of boost. But thats just me....

 

Agreed, but when you think about it the factory whenever they replaced a motor would put it on boost right away.

 

I called Pettit to see how much they charged for a compression test. They said just bring your car in and we'll know. Cameron started the car up listen 2 the motor , look at the boost gauge and said your car is fine. No charge. I thought for sure he would say I need a new motor just to make some money on me but damm I was impressed with the honesty.... feel bad so I spended $300 for new shifter boot, shilfter bushing and gasket, 1 gal. fuel additive... which I needed.

 

What engine management are you using? Pettit ecu, PFC????

 

turbojeff - damage so far is $16K

wolf 767 - just the stock ecu right now. I wanted to restore this car as a fun driver, not an autocrosser or monster fast street racer. I don't live anywhere near a respectable tuner for troubleshooting, nor do I have the time anymore to tinker with my car for hours and hours like I used to. Sucks growing up.

 

I thought the same thing, but these guys have been doing this for a long time and since they are the ones actually putting all the work into the engine, I figure I should bow down and listen to them. I don't know nearly enough about these things to second guess them. Anyways, it's been running pretty nice right now.

 

What was the "bunch of other things" that you had done? Cause 16K is REAL steap for what you have listed. In my opinion you shouldnt even have paid any labor on installing all of the aftermarket parts because they needed to be pulled out and reinstalled when the engine was pulled. They should have just charged you parts cost for most of that. The engine was probably what? 4K or so plus labor so I'd imagine $5500-$6000 total for engine and labor? The turbos go for about $2600 or so and all the other aftermarket parts you listed should be around $2500-$2750. Where is the other $4K-$6K???

Damn, I need to open a shop

Stephen

 

maybe in the initial investment in the car?

 

Other stuff included new rotor housings, plugs, fuel filter, fuel dampener, a solenoid, gaskets, thermostat, coil harness, oil meter lines, fixing my A/C (which I need to the look at again because it doesn't cool for **** sometimes and it's only about 75 degrees max out there right now), oil pan, both motor mounts, NGK plugs, turbo manifold, hose kit, lightweight flywheel, alternator, idler pulley, plug wires, leading coil, slotted brembo brakes, new pads, steel brake/clutch lines, differential bushings, and getting the fenders rolled. The labor on the engine rebuild is a killer at $1400 (20 hours at shp rate of $70/hr.)

I didn't fuss with the prices much since I wanted them to worry about doing a great job, not seeing where they could cut corners since they gave me such a "great deal". I've found that with respectable places, you really get what you pay for. I've been saving for a while to get this done, so I'm not freaked out about spending it either.

I will probably have to spend some more when I drop it back off - smells like my stock primary injectors need to be replaced (leaking just enough fuel for me to smell it in traffic).

BTW - has anyone had the R-12 refrigerant changed to the newer one and noticed the A/C now sucks donkeys. can you go back? I'm going to ask Cam that tomorrow.

 

The only thing they didn't replace was the kitchen sink...

 

i lived in Cal the time I 1st bought a header from them. Suck welding , didnt fit.No blocking plates, and no supporting hardware. But that was in 1992. I must assume they have become business good people since and maybe better product manufacturing.
I would stick with RB.

 

true... The car had really been abused over the last 4 years while it was not in my possession. when they got it, the car was covered in dirt and mud - they said they had never seen anything like it. Luckily I never saw it in that condition otherwise I would have lost my ****.

 

I know a lot of people that have worked with Pettit and they always have nothing but the best to say. Now post some pics of this bad boy, I wanna see all the work that they did.

 

i bought all my mods from the, and they were really nice, my problem was when i orderd the parts the next day 2 huricanes hit and distryed my parts so i had to wait a month to get them to me... but they were nice about it... my only problem is that they the MOST expensive place ever..I would tell anyone to shop around before going to them, leave them as a last resort.

 

has no one on here ever called a plumber/electrician/contractor? is pettit expensive? yes. do they do good work? for the most part. do they address your concerns? always. it takes alot of oney to run a shop. half of the reason so many cars on this forum are fubared is because people dont have the right tools. why? they are expensive. remember there is always someone cheaper. part of why theyt are expensive is to keep a certain segment out of the shop. those that want the 100$ fix on the 1,000 prob and then bitch when it wont work

 

On a side note, after reading my post I dont want it to sound like I was talking bad about Pettit because I really like Cam and think he does a good job. I was just wondering where the other 6K or so went cause it didnt add up. Sounds like you got the entire car overhauled. I'm sure if they suggested you replace it then it was needed.

Damn, I think I would have just sold that one and bought another car, now a days you can get mint condition 3rd gens with most of the reliability mods done for $13K.

Anyway, I'm sure after all of that the car runs and driver great...at least it better lol

Stephen

 

mquraish,

I've been to Pettit Racing three times and they are awesome. Cam is great, knows his stuff, and if i have to bring my car to a shop i wouldn't bring it to anyone else. Cam doesn't b/s and is great to just talk to . . . you learn so much just by being in the shop (me and my non-wrenching *** ). On the third occasion, while getting my car prepped to work on, Cam took me for a ride in his 3 rotor, gt flared, mtc nosed, kinesis wearing, monster and that was icing on the cake for me.

 

Nice writeup, I've installed Cam's motors Here in KC for going on 8 years now, I have the 15th one in my garage right now(not my cars on other people's, people!) All of the motors are on stock twins with Pettit Unlimited ecu's and all are in the neighborhood of 355 whp. Some with close to 60K miles(mine is one of them at 57K)NIce reliable setup and I would concur the "Greatest Guys and Gal" to work with.
Art

 

true that it could have been cheaper to get another car and do it that way, but this has been my car for 12 years now and there is sentimental value attached. Ain't that a bitch...

 

We were just talking about you today before I left the shop, Art - nothing but glowing words from both (in fact, Kandy said that you are the only person she would ever recommend since she doesn't trust anyone to work on these cars). I've PM'ed you.