I heard rumors they shut down? Anybody have any actual true information? I have not talked to either one of the guys up there in so long now.

 

I don't know, but...

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/brand-new-rebuild-blown-help-622701/

 

Yep, they are gone. Well, the shop is atleast. I drove by there yesterday as a matter of fact, coincidentally enough. From what I understand, the shop went under a few months ago.

B

 

Dang, oh well, at least i still have Don's cell phone number. Thanks for the info Brian.

 

Go check out the link that Weaklink posted above.

My car is at Gotham right now. Don did a terrible job of porting my motor, which is ironic considering he used to be famous for his porting work.

The irons on my rebuild were overported and the ports seemed very rough along the edges. One of the side seals on my rear rotor was scraped away (a ton of shavings were found in my wastegate) and the side seal completely collapsed and snapped in half after 400 miles.

Don has avoided all of my calls after the incident and I haven't seen him since he built my motor. I've left him voicemails on his home number and he hasn't returned any calls, and has since closed down the shop.

Basically, Don fucked me. I've been a very loyal customer of his for 3+ years and I always had a great working relationship with him, but he really screwed me over bad this time.

 

That's basically what happened with Luke's motor. It was overported, although I won't go as far as saying the ports were bad. Actually, they were pretty good in my opinion. I've always liked Don's porting theory; I happen to agree with the theory as it's the same thing I do. But, his motor did have the same side-seal failure. I honestly don't know what to think of it all so I'm reserving the right to be silent.

B

 

Yeah. I still have his cell number, so at least I can still get in touch with him. That's all that matters. Thanks for the info on the whole shop closing. Sorry to hear about your motor wompa, good luck with Gotham. Those are a bunch of good guys that know what they're doing, I'm sure you'll be satsified.

 

My motor definitely was overported, it broke a side seal twice, side seals dont just go, twice both at a 1,000 miles or less. I am now even going to get into all of the countless amounts of BS I had to deal with with that shop, but bottom line is they were once a good shop at a good price, now they are completely unreliable and absolutely dont stand behind their work. I haven't really got to boost my car, I'm always in break-in or broke (wallet and engine). They goodness for my 12A, shes always there for me.

 

Well, here's something for a change, my motor was absolutely phenomenal. Hands down a work of art. I'm sure others can vouch that theirs was the same as well. It's such a shocker to read that there were bad motors built and nothing done about it.

Just an FYI, and I know this should not be the owners of the cars fault or have anything to do with them, but I do know Don has recently gone through very tough times. His whole marriage and home life is really not good. Last time I talked to him he told me he was going through a lot of rough times like this...Sometimes I guess it takes the best out if some of us...his awesome, talented work being what is being affected because of things like this. It's a shame, either way. This guy has been around a while and knows what he's doing, there has to be something going on with him.

 

I was also a customer for many years. When I first went there about 5 years ago it was a good shop that did good work. Don oversaw everything that when it and out, and made sure the work was done properly. About 2 years ago 876portturbo and I had engines built at the same time. Luckily I only had mild porting to compliment my stock turbo and Rteck ecu.

After I installed the engine I took the car back to the shop to get looked over, have a wideband O2 bung welded on the down pipe and get an exhaust leak fixed. Well, like 876portturbo experienced the welding was terrible. Not only did they ignore the exhaust leak, they didn’t even get a good weld on the O2 bung. I had to pull the down pipe off and take it to a real muffler shop for proper repairs. This is where things got fun. EVERY stud on the turbo was cross threaded. This resulted in breaking 2, but all had to be replaced. This was a major pain, I had to pull the turbo and get every stud drilled and tapped. Since they where there I wanted them to put the stock O2 back in the stock location. That also got screwed up. They decided to put a random bolt in its place which resulted in, you guessed it stripped out threads!

I could have down all this work myself and saved a lot of money. After spending months at that shop during the two engine builds, and listing to countless hours of bitching about lack of money or parts to make money, I wanted to give them some business. What should have cost less than $20 was more like $100 and almost a month of down time. Sixty of that was paying there shop to screw up my car and tell me it’s nice.

After my first oil change I also found a good amount of metal shavings at the bottom of the drain pan, clearly a result from not cleaning the irons after porting. I warn anybody thinking of doing business with Don Marvel. You won’t be happy with the results. I suspect he is on speed. He had all the same characteristic, and was rarely there.

Read about 876portturbo’s experience here.

 

Dang...this sucks to hear...

 

I know of three reputable shops that have had this same issue.
You can be a business person, a wrench turner or a racer. Its an exception that one can do all of them by themselves and one other person.
I wish the shop owner and the hurt customers the best and hopefully both can be made whole another time.

 

Anybody know what happen to Don? I have been out of the loop since I joined the Army and got movied to Ga. Is his shop still around, I need a motor built. If he is no longer there are there any new decent shops around DFW. I'm in Iraq and need to drop a new project off and get a new motor installed.

Thanks,
Kris

 

Unfortunately, nothing good happened. The shop isn't around as far as I know. I would try Steve at Gotham.

BDC is still around, but there is always something.

 

Don has gone down a bad path. He's not around the rotary scene any longer and probably won't ever return.

 

Read this:

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showthread.php?t=658515

 

Get ahold of me, Kris. I'll take care of you.

B

 

^^agreed^^

I'm a recent victum of what happened at Dons shop, BDC rocks, great work and tuning and he still has passion for the cars

 

Hah, how ironic. I drove by the old shop today, it's no longer Marvelspeed. Kris, I plan on giving him a call on his cell here soon, I'll let you know what he says.

Don't forget about Rotary Performance, they do good work. I have not heard anything but good stuff about Gotham as well. Good luck to you over seas, man, take care.

 

link no worky-what was the gist. I need to know. Don built my motor and I was thinking of using him for the next.

 

BDC I didn't see any prices on your website.

 

I normally don't list them up. What work do you need? Shoot me a PM if you'd like.

B

 

From what I understand, Don had some personal issues that got mixed with business and probably shouldn't be discussed with respect for him. Some people had trouble with his business, understandably, but he is a good guy overall. It's too bad Marvelspeed had so many issues, it could have had a lot of potential.

 

+1 I agree. I won't badmouth him. I miss the guy.

B

 

That's too bad, because I really was happy with the work that he did. I literally have pounded on the motor, and with hurley seals, which everyone says are crap, and it still runs. Although it does sound like I have the side seal issue. BDC, I'll shoot you a PM.