I shipped my entire car to TRM from Canada for a custom turbo setup. This was in 2011 (not a typo). I am still awaiting the car's return and information as to where my car is at. Absolute nightmare.
97 ///M3 Turbo Saloon
VEHICLE: TRM Tuning Turbo System | Built Engine | SwainTech coatings | Custom 3.5" exhaust | Cryo Treated 210mm 3.15 Diff w/40% lock-up | 420G 6-speed transmission | UUC Twin Disc clutch | AMS-500 | AST Suspension | AP Racing | Racelogic TC | Dr. Vanos | Riot Racing BBTB | Vorshlag | UUC | AA | JT Design | Recaro | SPA Technique | VDO | Raid | Turner | Castillo Design FXR Retrofits | Zionsville Autosport | Stewart Components | Motion Motorsport underpanel | Z3 steering rack retrofit | Billet throttle body bushings
SOUND: Pioneer DEX-P99RS | Dynaudio | Morel | Image Dynamics | Arc Audio | JL Audio | Audio Control
OTHER: AEM Wideband Failsafe gauge | Ecliptech | Escort 9500Ci | LI | Hüper Optik | Llumar Air Blue | Skene Design
PHOTOS: Engine Bay: Click
If 2011 isn't a typo, then what is it?
Car was delivered August 2012. Fall delivery, with a massive list of things to do, and a target completion of "spring". Can't use the car in winter, and didn't want it in transport in winter either was what we were told.
A built engine from another builder was delivered before the car iirc. I'd have to go back and look at paperwork for that.
Extensive teardown was on time. Boxing and shipping of the removed parts was on time.
Subframes were removed, modified, reinforced and powdercoated.
Boost controller, gauges, traction control were all installed/wired.
Turbo kit parts were sent off for ceramic coating, which delayed things a bit.
The car was reassembled with a modified rear subframe, large case differential, 6 speed swap, built motor installed, turbo kit installed, and the car buttoned up in spring (March 2013), as scheduled.
The car was fired up, and had a "knocking" noise.
Diagnostics were performed to narrow down the source of the noise. Eventually we pulled the pan, and found that the crank was turned for +0.25 bearings, and standard bearings were installed.
The car was disassembled, the motor disassembled and inspected. Notes were made on the teardown as requested. The motor was then crated and shipped back to the engine builder. (April 2013)
We got the engine back in September of 2013.
The motor was checked. Minor things fixed. The car was then reassembled.
It is now winter. Car has been run on the dyno to make sure the motor is healthy and as part of the break in process.
Boost control will need to wait until the break in is complete. Traction control will need to be set up as well.
It is currently not suitable to drive such a car on the roads even in GA. Moreover, if the car is not to be transported during winter, I suspect we need to wait until it is not winter to send it back to Canada.
I'm not sure how we can not miss an email and not miss a voicemail and get posts like this instead.
We went from hearing from you daily or weekly while we were waiting for parts to arrive, to no communication at all. (I assumed since we were back to a "not much to report" status since the car is assembled.) We sent an update when the motor came back. We sent notes with what we found and corrected. We sent pictures of it assembled. We have photos and videos of it on the dyno that I must assume you didn't get... or if you did, perhaps I'm missing something else? much like the supposed delivery date?
-Michael McCoy
Michael McCoy TRM
Last edited by chikinhed; 01-31-2014 at 02:00 AM.
'97 M3, Estoril blue, 2 dr, euro 6-spd, EFR 9180 divided T4 .92 IWG, RK tuning, CP 8.5:1 pistons, Eagle rods, Schrick cams, L19 11 mm ARP studs, O-ringed block, Supertech stainless/inconel valves, Supertech springs & Ti retainers, ported head, S54 oil pump/pan, 80 lb. injectors, OBD1 intake manifold, Steedspeed twin scroll T4, 3.5" SS exhaust, eBoost2 EBC, HFS-4 W/M injection, AEM Failsafe, Zeitronix data logger, Racelogic TC, OpenOBC w. ethanol %, Ireland Eng. engine mounts, UUC black tranny mounts w. enforcers, UUC twin disc feramic, ARC-8's, MCS 2-ways, Z3 rack, Rallyroad strut bar, X brace, Eibach sway bars, Ground Control LCAB bushings, Bimmerworld RTAB's, Powerflex subframe bushings, 210 4-clutch LSD, Stoptech BBK, titainium shims, steel braided lines, brake cooling ducts.
I wasnt doubting his claim, I said that something didnt add up. Obviously not everyone has sigs turned on, but personlly I wouldnt be promoting someone/something that I didnt feel 100% sure in. I have no stake in this either way, so Im in just for information.
FYI, some people have sigs turned on...
- - - Updated - - -
Sounds legit to me. I dont understand the TRM bashing that has been going on lately. Tons of people run their tunes, some have their dampers and from what Ive read most people have been quite happy.
Anyhow, hope everything gets straightened out so that unnecessary vendor slander ends.
"almost" 2 years requires a lot of rounding. 1 year 5 months, and much of that waiting on parts or services not provided by TRM, even during the initial build.
Also note that it was *done* in 6 months... and the rest was waiting for a botched engine build to be redone by the previous builders and then reinstalled. It took as long to get the engine back than it did to do the initial car build. From there, having missed the summer months, I was told on the phone "no rush since I don't drive this car in winter here".
So, yes, that makes this a surprise for me.
Michael McCoy TRM
There is always two sides to a story I guess but what's the plan to make your distraught customer happy from this point onward since you feel a year and five months is a reasonable amount of time to turbo an M3?
Sent from my GTX3582R
'97 M3, Estoril blue, 2 dr, euro 6-spd, EFR 9180 divided T4 .92 IWG, RK tuning, CP 8.5:1 pistons, Eagle rods, Schrick cams, L19 11 mm ARP studs, O-ringed block, Supertech stainless/inconel valves, Supertech springs & Ti retainers, ported head, S54 oil pump/pan, 80 lb. injectors, OBD1 intake manifold, Steedspeed twin scroll T4, 3.5" SS exhaust, eBoost2 EBC, HFS-4 W/M injection, AEM Failsafe, Zeitronix data logger, Racelogic TC, OpenOBC w. ethanol %, Ireland Eng. engine mounts, UUC black tranny mounts w. enforcers, UUC twin disc feramic, ARC-8's, MCS 2-ways, Z3 rack, Rallyroad strut bar, X brace, Eibach sway bars, Ground Control LCAB bushings, Bimmerworld RTAB's, Powerflex subframe bushings, 210 4-clutch LSD, Stoptech BBK, titainium shims, steel braided lines, brake cooling ducts.
A year and 5 months is not a reasonable time to build a car. It is difficult to complete a car with no engine. When that is out of our hands, it is out of our control.
A year and 5 months is also less than 2 years, and a lot less than 3 years.
It wasn't just turbocharging the E36, it was disassembling and parting his car, boxing and shipping those parts. waiting for new customer provided parts. etc. We stuck to the target timeline, and the only "hiccup" was the customer provided motor was a dud.
We could have shipped the car with a bad motor if that would have been the customers wishes.
Again, read the above message. The car was "done" on time in terms of "installing a turbo kit", of which almost none of it was a standard kit. The car had a bad motor provided by another shop. That shop took longer to go through the motor than it took us to build the car the first time. The motor has come back and the car is reassembled.
Michael McCoy TRM
You didn't answer my question Mike.
I guess from the info you have provided,as we haven't heard the owners side of the story, the car was completed last spring as promised, engine came out for repairs and was returned to you in September. At this point it was just an engine swap not a turbo build because the car had already been completed. So isn't two or three days to swap in the repaired engine reasonable? Add a few (3) days for break in and dyno tuning. He could have had it back in Canada for early October. With you having to wait for nice weather now to finish his car he will have missed six months of doing what ever he wants to do with his car.
Sent from my GTX3582R
'97 M3, Estoril blue, 2 dr, euro 6-spd, EFR 9180 divided T4 .92 IWG, RK tuning, CP 8.5:1 pistons, Eagle rods, Schrick cams, L19 11 mm ARP studs, O-ringed block, Supertech stainless/inconel valves, Supertech springs & Ti retainers, ported head, S54 oil pump/pan, 80 lb. injectors, OBD1 intake manifold, Steedspeed twin scroll T4, 3.5" SS exhaust, eBoost2 EBC, HFS-4 W/M injection, AEM Failsafe, Zeitronix data logger, Racelogic TC, OpenOBC w. ethanol %, Ireland Eng. engine mounts, UUC black tranny mounts w. enforcers, UUC twin disc feramic, ARC-8's, MCS 2-ways, Z3 rack, Rallyroad strut bar, X brace, Eibach sway bars, Ground Control LCAB bushings, Bimmerworld RTAB's, Powerflex subframe bushings, 210 4-clutch LSD, Stoptech BBK, titainium shims, steel braided lines, brake cooling ducts.
Sigh.... I actually do run a shop. I manage mine a bit differently.
I am asking straight forward questions. I'm not trying to be a jerk. Since communication is the major issue with this customer this is a great opportunity for Mike to make it right.
It's great that TRM is finally trying to straighten out there business. Good luck.
Sent from my GTX3582R
Last edited by chikinhed; 02-02-2014 at 04:21 PM.
'97 M3, Estoril blue, 2 dr, euro 6-spd, EFR 9180 divided T4 .92 IWG, RK tuning, CP 8.5:1 pistons, Eagle rods, Schrick cams, L19 11 mm ARP studs, O-ringed block, Supertech stainless/inconel valves, Supertech springs & Ti retainers, ported head, S54 oil pump/pan, 80 lb. injectors, OBD1 intake manifold, Steedspeed twin scroll T4, 3.5" SS exhaust, eBoost2 EBC, HFS-4 W/M injection, AEM Failsafe, Zeitronix data logger, Racelogic TC, OpenOBC w. ethanol %, Ireland Eng. engine mounts, UUC black tranny mounts w. enforcers, UUC twin disc feramic, ARC-8's, MCS 2-ways, Z3 rack, Rallyroad strut bar, X brace, Eibach sway bars, Ground Control LCAB bushings, Bimmerworld RTAB's, Powerflex subframe bushings, 210 4-clutch LSD, Stoptech BBK, titainium shims, steel braided lines, brake cooling ducts.
While I hate to bump such a thread, I am going to anyway. Perhaps we can get Dennis to respond somehow. Email, phone, PM all have been without response.
I still do not understand how we went from regular communication and you understanding the timeline (as we waited on parts sourced by the customer or parts shipped to places for coatings or the likes at the request of the customer that had long wait times) to having a disassembled car and good communication, communication while waiting for a motor, lots of discussions on said motor, the re-arrival of said motor, more communication, and then the install and completion of the major steps and suddenly no more communication... and then a post on the forum. The car running and driving at that point, videos and pictures emailed to you BEFORE the post date, and then no communication other than that post (which was incorrect) and then a post correcting the arrival date.
Please call us, or email us, or call me, or PM us, or something. We would love to complete this project and ship it home.
Michael McCoy TRM
Maybe because it's been near two years? Literally almost no excuse for that. Local shop is cranking out 1800+hp lambo builds in under two months, and I can bet they have 3x more the builds than you.
It hasn't been two years. The project was "completed" on the scheduled timeline. That timeline was set by the customer. One of the customer supplied parts was defective. The customer opted to have the defective part handled by the original provider, and that delayed the project for ~6 months. We were in contact with the customer at that point. We reassembled the car and sent pictures and videos of the completed project ready for testing *before* he posted that he hadn't had contact from us on his "3+ year" long project. We were unable to contact him while he was posting. We have been unable to contact him since as well. We are trying to re-establish contact.
Michael McCoy TRM
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