I need to get something off my chest. If I don’t post this, then I feel I would be letting others down. This may be long, but please read and learn from my experiences.

I bought my 1979 RX7 in 2001. After owning it about a year, it was time for a new engine. I could buy a new car or to dump some money into this 79 that I really liked. So I decided to go for the gusto and fix my RX7. I had no idea where to go to get a new engine, but noticed that there was a Mazda shop called Mazda’s & More, AKA RAPID ROTARY, just down the road from my house.

There’s not enough space for me to tell you every detail of what has happened in the past two years, but here is a brief history of my experiences.

September, 2002, I decided to have Mazda’s & More do all the work with modifications for a supercharged system p/o 13b. I was charged over $10,000 for the new motor and the supercharger modifications. Included in the charges were a few other things that needed to be done besides the engine work.

October, 2002, I had to go back to Mazda’s & More because the car was still having a few problems. I was very careful breaking in this supposedly new rebuilt motor. Who wouldn’t if they spent this much money

Not more than a couple months after having all this work done, more problems started to occur. The car was dieing at stoplights and just basically ran crappy all the time. It seemed like every month I had the car in Mazda’s & More because my car wasn’t running right. I was told that the carb was out of adjustment.

Finally after having my carb adjusted several times, the car was still running crappy. I took my car to Jerry’s Little Cars to see if they could adjust my carburetor. Was I ever shocked when told that I had much bigger problems than just an adjustment on my carb. The front part of my engine was bad and the middle and back of the engine were not great but ok.

I went to Mazda’s & More to report this bad news, but I was told, “Don’t worry. It’s no big deal, TRUST ME, it’s just a broken apex seal.” I was then told that he would fix it for me cheaply. I had no idea these problems were because of the poorly rebuilt engine that they had installed. So I paid another $1,900 to fix my apex seal.

Once again, I carefully went through the break in process. The car seemed to be better after the apex seal was fixed, but “better” is a relative term. The car was still not running right with overheating problems and dieing at lights, etc. Of course Ken blamed me for this saying I was real hard on the engine, and that I blew it up. Little does Ken know, I don’t drive my car like a crazy person, but as someone who appreciates a machine like this.

I went back to Mazda’s & More, this time with the knowledge from a reliable source that bad used parts had been used in my engine from the get go. A very heated discussion happened and words were exchanged. Finally it was agreed to have a compression test on the engine done. It is no surprise that the test was not very good, plus bad oil pressure. I was offered to have another engine built. So I am breaking in my third engine in little over a year.

You would think that this long saga had ended with the installation of the third engine, but during the motor installation, an accident happened and my car was damaged. The hood of the car was dropped on my car to the floor, and chipped, dented and scratched. I had my car painted April this year therefore, the paint job was not that old, and I was told it could not matched. The car will have to be painted over again. Originally Mazda’s & More did not want to paint my car, even though it was in their shop where the damage occurred. I was given an estimate of how much it would cost Mazda’s & More to paint my car. One reason they did not want to pay for the paint job, was because Mazda’s & More does not have insurance to cover accidents or damages that occur on their premises. I shutter to think if a fire had happened while my car was in that shop. In the meantime, I called my insurance company who told me to get a couple estimates. The estimates were much higher than what Mazda’s & More was willing to pay.

It has been a fight to get my car fixed for the damage that occurred while in that shop. Mazda’s & More gave me a check which will cover part of the new paint job. However, I have to pay $200 plus tax to the paint shop for damage to my car that happened while my car was at Mazda’s & More.

This is a shorten version of all that has happened. There is much more. I totaled what I have spent in the year’s time on my car at Mazda’s & More, and it comes to $18,903.56 not including exchanged stuff under the table for work and parts. This includes my other things that I have bought for my car, except my paint.

Now you would think after spending this amount, I should have one hell of an awesome car. This car should run perfect. God, hope that this third engine is good. I have just started breaking it in, but so far, I believe the engine is finally what it should be.

If you go to Mazda’s & More, you are guaranteed to hear, “TRUST ME”. You are guaranteed to be charged a bit more than normal for work done on your car. And, believe me, you will also be guaranteed to have to come back because of problems. I have found out that my radiator fluid was drained out, and then put it back in my car, yet, I was charged for new fluid. I could say more, but why bother?

Recently I was told by a business owner if you are going to be dishonest, “DON’T GET CAUGHT”. However, with dishonesty, it will eventually catch up to you like it has caught up to Mazda’s & More.

Ken Durkey is the owner of Mazda’s & More. Odd, but for some strange reason, I like Ken as a person. His shop can do good work if he is not cutting corners. If he screws up, and you catch him, he is true with his word to fix what he screwed up. But if you don’t catch him, you will be back. Ken asked that I do not return to his shop. I am definitely honoring those wishes. Kens last words were “I hope you can sleep at night knowing that he was ripped off”. How could that be, when HE damaged my car…lol. I wonder how he sleeps at night, knowing all the people he has ripped off year, after year, after year. Please be careful if you have work done there.

Want more...PM me
Thanks for listening...

Tucky the pillow tight Durkey, Turkey, Jerky, whatever your name is....I mean Jerky turkey...

personally, Id like to just call you Robben "my wallet".

Insurance

 

He is scum and I too had to find out the hard way as well. When people say things such as "trust me" and call themselves good Christians then run away. Liars and thieves have to re-assure their victims with hollow words. Good people earn trust with honorable actions. Ken is the kind that has to advertise that his is trustworthy. But his actions are to the contrary. This SOB needs to stop taking up so much oxygen that the good people of the world could use.


I hope he reaps what he has sown and winds up broke and homeless on the streets. Any less would be too kind.


Think I'm wrong? Go there and find out the hard way.

 

Thank you very much for the heads up. I will avoid any/all business with this establishment.

 

Great post. This is what we need more of in the NW section. This information is extreemly valuable to all rotary owners in the NW.

I vote for a Sticky on this. Put this clown out of business.

 

close um down

 

Well Ken was going to give a free 79 hood to try some mods on ,but im sure thats out now . so anybody have an extra hood to give away . it does not have to be in great shape ... let me know

 

thanks for the info-wont go there! Sorry for your loss

 

i did have bad luck with MnM once, i took my car to them for an electrical issue... the dash board would completely go out while i was driving, the car sometimes died and wouldn't restart... they took a look at it, said they fixed it.... then while i was driving home it happened again, and they fixed nothing... i figured out what was wrong by myself, i took the kick plate off by the clutch and it started right up and never had an issue again... the bundle of wires behind the kick plate was shorting out... they didn't do me well at all... and yet i still went back to them to install my clutch, flywheel, counterweight, and driveshaft(which they did and i had no issues, cause i supplied all the parts), and to build my motor, which i haven't had installed yet to see if it works... we will find out won't we

 

I remember buying some wires there years ago for my 2nd gen. Now with my 3rd gen i will only trust GROUND ZERO MOTORSPORTS in portland. They did my single turbo and installed my motor. I have had my car for 9 months and no problems exept a broken clutch fork. I work on all of my own cars, right now i am in the middle of putting on my greddy fmic. In feb. i am going to ground zero to have the rest of my fuel mods, and dyno tuned by ralph. I will never go to MAZDAS AND MORE for anything, especially after your post. Thanks

 

Thank you, this is exactly why I told my story. I felt it was very important that no one else go through my experience.

 

How do i go about gettin a sticky put on this post . do you have to put it to a vote....?

 

What about a thread on good/bad rotary places in the NW? In the tri-cites, we have this place called Meyer's Auto Tech. They are not exclusively rotary, but they sure know their way around them. They are completely honest and repair the car awesomely and fair priced.

 

I totally agree about posting a thread on good and bad shops, and other businesses, so that if someone is looking for a shop, they can decide from posts where they want to go. This way it's really not singling out one shop.

It might even cut down on posts

How do you make a sticky? Maybe we all should consider making that post version13.

 

Wow codeblue I thought you were never going to tell that story. So they dropped your hood and wont pay to fix it. Sounds like small claims court to me. Thats having a lot of faith in your mechanics not to carry insurance. Or maybe your just really really, cheap, the kind of cheap that tells you to use old sub par parts on a 10K dollar rebuild. Thank god he doesn't rebuild airplanes.

Well Jerk Racer you were totally right about Mazdas and More I give you that.

What about Mark has he completely left now?
If so we the rotary community should try to steer him some business.

 

I went to "MaM" once to look for a body and was refused to look around unless he was there with me. So after 10 min. of waiting I spent 30 secs to walk through only to find junk. While it may be a fine place to get a few parts and some MINOR work done this rippoff practice will stop only with info like this. I have seen his adds online for the cars he buys for $500 and sells for $3000. Not that it is all bad but he cares WAY more about $$$ than YOU and your car so take your biz elsewhere please.

Just my nickels worth, Kosh

 

Woundup7…
I really had no intentions of posting dirt about Ken. My plans were just to never go back there, and not say anything after my engine was installed, but with such a fight after he damaged my car, and the way he acted. I thought enough was enough. I heard “trust me” just way too many times. He did pay for most of the repair, but I paid $275 out of my pocket.

I think it’s extremely important we all stick together, and inform one another about situations like this. I really did not do this to be revengeful.

Ken build an airplane…”lol” yeah right.

Yes, Mark has left for good, and I do hope that he succeeds. I will send as much business his way. If you could throw in a good word, and others that know him, please do also. Marks toll free number is 1-866-825-1170.

Thanks all of you
“Gotta stick together” and stop crap like this.

 

I have known Code Blue 1 & 2 for five years now, and they are two of the best and most dependable people in the world that I know. I can verify all the facts regarding their ill treatment by Mazda’s and More.

I own a 1980 Rx7 and have had my engine rebuilt there too. My car is all stock and I have not had any problems with it since the rebuild. The main complaint I had is when the engine was rebuilt for $3,000 I wanted some small things done at the same time. One in particular was one of my windshield wipers needed fixing in the housing. When I called Ken to see if the car was ready he stated that it was. I asked if the wiper had been fixed and he said no. This was at 5 :00 p.m. on a Friday in the year 2000. I asked him to fix it and said I will pick it up next week when it is done. He stated to me that he needed my money now so he could make payroll. I found this to be very lame, and a very unprofessional business practice to depend on one customer, who might not even be available at the time, to make his payroll.

On top of that when I went to pick my car up that Friday, Ken had the nerve to complain to me that he had to go through eight engines just to rebuild mine. It seems to me that a job that you’re paying for, and a service department that writes down on paper what you want done to your car, before the work is done, should fulfill their duty of fixing the problems that they agreed to. They also should not complain to the customer, after the fact, that they can’t make payroll. Totally lame in my estimate!

Looking back on this situation, it makes me wonder what kind of engine rebuild I got when you look at all the problems the Code Blues have been through. I am glad my car has not had any problems since this event occurred. All I can say is what comes around, comes around again, so beware if you go there.

Happy motoring!

 

BUMPO TO THE TOPO....................

 

I don't visit here a lot, as I usually hang out at Mazspeed, but I noticed that the confirmation on the bad motor came from Jerry's Little Cars. Not to do this for the millionth time to bore you guys, but Jerry is good. Some folks seemed browned off that they were not greeted with flowers and a cup of hot coffee or somesuch when they went there. Well, even if Mr. Wright is not always warm and fuzzy, he gets 100% of my business. He has for nearly 15 years.

The job on the motor in question is very custom. But lets think about this a moment. 10K should get you nearly a brand new motor and new Supercharger should it not? The motor quality should be spot on for this kind of money. I mean spot on. Look at a Mazdatrix high end rebuild motor and the cost of the super. Now, think about labor cost on dropping it into a car. For 10k you should be able to thrash that thing no problem.

The point? Throw Jerry's your business. Also, talk straight up to the guy and ask him what he will do. He built motors for friends of mine in the 80's for their rally cars, which got thrashed all to hell and held up very well. If you said, Jerry, would you would do a build and install on a 13b with a super? I would guess his answer would be this: Yes, I will do the motor. Yeah, I can put the super on it, BUT the owner is responsible for runnability, which may not be anywhere near stock.

And thus my final point: Salesmen will sell you anything you ask for. Jerry will give you technical advice as to what is reasonable, but then you have to decide what is best. Don't listen to sales people. Listen to a guy who raced IMSA, and started on rotary in the 70's in Puyallup at one of the first rotary dealers. You will be much better off. Just my .02 and I really hope this works out for you on the motor.

 

etherhuffer...

Where in my post does it say anything about Jerry's little cars being bad??? The reason I took my car to Jerry was because someone needed to find out what was wrong with my car. Its not good getting bad news when you take your car to get the carb adjusted, but hey Im glad that Jerry found the problem, certainly Mazdas & More couldnt.

This post is not directed at Jerrys in any bad way what so ever. In fact out of all the shops here in the NW, I would take my car to Mt. Peek automotive or Jerrys, and stay completly away from Mazdas & More.

 

Sorry if that was not clear. I think Jerry is top notch. I just find it odd that so many folks spend money at the other shop in question, yet go back to Jerry to figure stuff out! Why not use him first? I really feel for you on the whole story. That is just a lot of bucks to spend and not have it right.

 

Yeah, I like the idea of people saying when this stuff happens. There are a lot of people doing dirty buisness out there and it just sucks. I just wonder if he took advantage of the fact that you were getting forced injection so he could play it off like it was just because of the supercharger that the seals would go that fast. For the price, you should be ablet to get your engine with new rotor housings and seals for about 2200ish (at pineapple and possibly atkins?) and they are both very well known and make great rebuilds.

 

Well reason being I went to Mazdas & More in the first place was the fact I didnt even know a thing about these cars, let alone know anything about all the shops that work on this wonderful cars.

Mazdas & More was close to my house, and you would think that most people are fairly honest.

"YES" I was STUPID to go back for more..

After the fact, I did hear about Jerrys little cars from my friend skyblue7, and all the other shops.

I have made a point to at least have 1 thing done at each shop, except for Hayes.

I did buy my car from a guy that used Hayes on a regular, so my car was originated from Hayes. I guess Hayes told the guy that owned my car to part it out...I was planning on making a trip to Hayes, to show them the car they wanted to part out.

Anyways, I will be going to Jerrys from now on, if I can't get to Mt. Peek first. Even if my car breaks down in front of Mazdas & More, I would tow it elsewhere.

One last thing...
Thats why its good to have forums like this, to inform peoples of situations like this/with good and bad.

 

Amen. Mazspeed and this board have saved me a lot of heartache over the past few years.

 

Sorry...bump one last time...