zack4173

iTrader: (3)

I need some help finding a good engine builder in washington state i have an 93 rx7 and i need to get my engine built and installed and im having a hard time finding a shop any help woulde be great thanks.

z-beater

There are a few good places...

Corksport, Pineapple Racing & Lopy in Tumwater.

I would stay away from Atkins because I hear that they do not like 3rd gens. I do not want to start a war with this. Just posting what I heard.

-kettlman-

here is a good link to reputable NW shops. hope this helps.

http://www.nopistons.com/forums/inde...howtopic=59463

Upgrayedd

iTrader: (1)

Anyone know what happened to Hayes????

pp13bnos

iTrader: (1)

HAYES?!?!?! YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! Do a search, and see what comes up. Never, never, never take your engine to hayes......I say go with Rob at Pineapple Racing. Rob is topnotch. CJ

banzaitoyota

My experiences with Pineapple were not "TOPNOTCH"

Atkins Dan

The only way I can build a 93 motor at this time is with NEW rotor housings for $3800.00 if you want new castirons and rotor housings it's $4900.00... as for someone to do the install call Andy in Lynnwood his shop name is Mazda-tech 425-710-7427 if he does not answer leave a message as he will return your call as soon as he can... I know he has doen sevreal installs on the 3rd gens with no problems...

Here is my PH# 253-848-7776 if you want to call me on the rebuild.. here is also my web site too.. WWW.AtkinsRotary.com one more thing if you want me to build off of your core I can do that too...

rotary_sex

www.rotaryatkins.com

ddub

zack4173

iTrader: (3)

hayes is not in businees anymore

Upgrayedd

iTrader: (1)

I know they went out of business.... I was wondering if anyone knew why...???

rotary_sex

rotaryatkins.com is not a bashing site, its plainly letting people know experience with atkins, why dont you guys start deleting every thread in the gg/bg section?

pp13bnos

iTrader: (1)

I beleive things where settled between Rob and you, if i'm not mistaken. Try getting anything out of any other vendor and see what happens. CJ

1Seven4Me

iTrader: (1)

just do a little searching on hayes. he's done a lot of people wrong over the last few years, used to be a good shop long ago. went bankrupt last year.

he ripped off my brother for $2000... and counting.

banzaitoyota

CJ: That still doesnt change the fact: HE SHIPPED ME AN ENGINE WITH NO ECCENTRIC SHAFT OIL JETS INSTALLED, HE USED USED APEX SEALS INSTEAD OF NEW. THE OIL PAN BAFFLE LOOKS LIKE A 6 YEAR OLD WELDED IT. Enough EXCESS RTV in the oil pump cavity to choke a horse. A "B" and "D" Rotor (With no dynamic balancing performed) in the same engine. Shall I continue?

"I Guess a screwed the pooch" : Not exactly a confidence building statement from the person you paid to build a high performance engine. If this would have been the first engine I got from Rob, I may have been more understanding. But this was the replacement for the engine that only lasted 5K, and the tranny I had to send back for whining. All I heard from ROB were EXCUSES and finger pointing towards his (ex) employess.

What did I learn: If you want something done right, do it yourself

rotarypower101

iTrader: (1)

I think he has a right to speak his mind, just like you have the right to defend Rob.
And I am not saying you are now, but it seems like every time Banzi post about pineapple you respond in kind.

Banzi obviously feels wronged, and wants to warn people to be aware.
I don’t think that is such a bad thing even if a party is trusted, be conscious
about your purchase and find out as much as you can about your purchase.

I would go to bat for Rob as well he is a smart guy that knows a lot about cars and rotarys. But I had 2 questionable incidents that were never resolved either. One critical IMO had I not caught it, and took efforts to protect myself before finding out the problem.

My engine did not flow oil through the meter oil pump engine galley, luckily I had premixed the first few tanks, and I had intended to use the MOP adaptor to run 2stroke anyway, but it could have proved disastrous had I kept running the OMP in the stock configuration believing everything was OK.

I also had a auto counterweight “conveniently” disappear when one of there employees was informed that I intended on using the engine for a manual application. I was told it would be replaced, but nothing ever came of that after multiple calls.

I checked the porting and each engine parts before assembly, and was very satisfied by the care and cleanliness of the build that I saw.

Engine is still running strong. So I am satisfied and happy, and would recommend Pineapple to anyone that asks.

I know mine could have just been a bad day as well, but it does hit home when you hear things like that, and your heart goes out to any people that incur problems.

These cars can be very disappointing at times, we don’t need any more problems or issues piling up than already exist.

pp13bnos

iTrader: (1)

I stand up for Rob because he's always been there for rotary assistance and has been a great friend for nearly 10yrs.. Whenever I've had a problem, it was resolved quickly. I've had alot of different business deals over the years with Rob, and have never received "the shaft". Infact, all of my friends who've ran pineapple engines have been satisfied. If its wrong to stand up for somone who you beleive deleivers a better product than anyone else on the market, then I guess I'm somone who should be put in my place. CJ

banzaitoyota

CJ, thats great that you stand behind Rob. I felt the same way at one time. When the first engine went bad in 5K miles; Rob didnt seem to stand by his employees very much. He was very quick to lay the blame on the employee who assembled the engine. In Fact I was under the impression that ROB asembled the engines at Pineapple Racing; it was when my first engine went bad I was told otherwise. His Website (at the time) made it seem like ROB GOLDEN did all the engines. Cleaning parts and disassembly I can understand being handed off to an employee, but a customers engine assembly? The site made no mention of the "Pineapple Racing Engine Assembly Team"or "Pineapples Engines are assembled under the supervision of Rob Golden"; all it mentioned was the attention to detail given to every engine by ROB GOLDEN.

When the second engine was being built, ROB told me he was waiting on the new seals to arrive. IMAGINE MY SURPRISE when I opened the engine and found USED SEALS. Low Milage used seals, but none-the-less: THEY WERENT WHAT I WAS TOLD TO BE EXPECTING.

How can you trust someone's workmanship and attention to detail after that?

So, I am sharing my experiences with engines (PLURAL) sent to me by ROB GOLDEN at PINEAPPLE RACING

genrex

To the original poster -

What kind of rebuild do you want? A stock rebuild? A custom rebuild? It would be nice if you post again, and tell us.

If it's a stock rebuild, you should consider a Mazda remanufactured engine. Over the years, several people on this forum bought Mazda reman engines, and so far the feedback has been 100% very positive.

islanders_rx7

iTrader: (4)

Well I would recommend Rob @ Pineapple Racing. My next engine will go to him with out a doubt.

Blake

I probably should not reply but I will anyway.

(1) Humans make mistakes and (2) some customers are unreasonable. Not every single engine we build is perfect. That's why we have a warrantee on materials and workmanship. If we make a mistake, we fix it to your satisfaction or we refund your money. We also could not possibly offer such a warrantee if we expected a lot of come backs. We're talking maybe one engine a year of the hundred-plus, and more often than not, it's a parts defect like a cracked center plate from a core shift in the casting. There was a short time when Rob employed many people (mostly cleaning parts) and one other guy (the shop foreman) who also assembled engines. That did not work out and Rob had several problems directly related to that guy's work. Very expensive and very time consuming. Not every engine, of course, but a few. When Rob nipped the experiment in the bud, he then had to work double shifts to complete the jobs he already took in presuming there would be someone to help. That's sucked but I only know of one problem resulting from his being overworked. And it was a coincidence that it was a warrantee job.

Rob offered Banzaitoyota a refund and he opted not to take it. Case closed. Get over it. Stop searching the forum for any mention of Pineapple Racing so you can play the victim all over again. (What are you doing in the Northwest section anyway?) Mentioning you did not have a good experience is one thing. The Crusade you've made it is quite another. Had you been refused warrantee service or a refund, I could understand. You weren't. Unfortunate, yes. Tragic, no. We regret it but by offering you the refund, we wash our hand of it and move on with our business. Perhaps you should move on with your life.

Banzaitoyota is not the only unreasonable customer we've ever had, but he is the most vocal and shamless in his hobby of evangelizing against us after we fulflled our warrantee. He does not seem to understand that his was a unique case, despite the lack of other "victims".

Have we had to honor our warrantee in the past? Yes. Will we need to do so again in the future? Probably. Does that make us untrustworthy? I don't think so. Quite the contrary. We've only had one motor come back a second time on warrantee and it happened to be someone who can't accept that we feel bad about it, made good on the warrantee and understand that while we don't expect to be on his Chrismas card list any longer we also don't expect to be raked over the coals for years on end. It would be reasonable to be dissapointed and occationally mention the fact on a public forum with the caveat "but they offered a refund after not satisfying me completely". What is unreasonable is to make it your mission to discredit us with the implication that this sort of thing happens all the time. It does not. To imply that is unfair. That is my one and only problem with Banzaitoyota.

Right now, we have way more work than we need. The current backlog is 2 months and people still line up knowing that in advance. That's why I probably should not bother defending us against unreasonable attacks, but it's hard to sit idly by. Forgive me for taking it personally. Like I said, mistakes happen. The warrantee is there for a reason. Proving the warrantee is honored is not a good way to illustrate a point about trustworthiness, no matter how dissapointed you were.

banzaitoyota

What is wrong with making the customer aware of the "professional engine" ROB let leave the shop? Like I stated, the first engine can be chalked up to all the excuses offered. But the second engine?
It didnt have one mistake, it had multiple. I am unreasonalbe because ROB GOLDEN shipped me a poorly assembled engine that obviously had no QUALITY ASSURANCE inspections performed on it?

You get over it BLAKE. I was not shipped what I payed for, and CHOOSE not to let ROB have yet a third attempt (Fourth, counting the transmission) to correct HIS LACK OF ATTENTION TO DETAIL and ATTEMPTS TO DECEIVE (USED APEX SEALS, when he stated he was waiting on NEW to finish the assembly)

I am glad you have a 2 month backlog. But I HAVE STATED FACTS, not OPINION. SO LIVE WITH WHAT YOU SHIPPED.

It would have cost ROB even more if I had started that engine witout OIL JETS installed. And how badly would it have vibrated with that B and D Rotor? How badly would the oilscreen pickup/Filter have clogged when the EXCESSIVE RTV in the Oil pump went thru the system?

I can only conclude from my dealings with Pineapple Racing that the "Company" doesnt care about customers across the country, and will only put forth their best efforts to the local customers.


We wont go into the "just dump bars leak into it" Fiasco.

Blake

Where are the legions of other customers with problems like this? Answer: they don't exist. You are alone. Like I said, we are not perfect, but it is absolutely rediculous to suggest that this is the normal state of things (presuming your story at face value, which is questionable). And you refused a cash refund. End of story.

I've known Rob for ten years. He is the most honest, scrupulous, knowledgable person I know. The effort he puts into each motor is beyond reproach. There was a rough patch due to trying to satisfy demand by expanding the business, but that was years ago and everyone affected (all three or four) were taken care of (including you).

If you have an honest bone in you body, the next time you weigh-in on a disussion of this type you will clearly state "I was dissatisfied but refused a refund" and "my experience appears to be unique" (if not, please name names). Any other answer is deceptive.

jenkin

iTrader: (2)

1+

Upgrayedd

iTrader: (1)

Banzai, if you're not satisfied with our local businesses, TAKE YOUr BUSINESS ELSEWHERE!!! You don't belong in THIS forum and I'm sick of this Pineapple bashing. I don't care who's right, but you don't belong here so GO AWAY!