$1950.24

lol

I was told before they did it that they were going to purchase all Burns tubing cause thats all they will ever use. he didnt charge me anymore for the parts by him ordering them all. It would have cost me the same so the money surprise wasnt really there. They also told me straight up that they do not estimate hours of labor, they charge 65/ hour and what they work is what you will get charged. I agreed. I was like "surely 5 hrs max..."

I had the header's 3" 3 bolt flange cut off and replaced with a 3" Stainless steel v band. I also have 1 other v band so the muffler can detach. I also provided my own flex pipe that was not true stainless as advertised, so they provided me with a true stainless/leak-less burns one. pretty much all I provided was a header and a muffler.. lol

I also specifically told them to tuck it as high as it can go for ground clearance without hitting the chassis. this caused more bends needed of course.

The exhaust fab was also purged and gassed so the welds look pretty. all tig welded.

I also got a 45° turn down coming off of the muffler added.

so to be fair, I understand really. I just wasn't really guessing correctly haha. I don't mind paying for quality. I could have done this tons cheaper but I'm know for jumping in with both feet and full wallet when i really want something. My fault.

its okay, ive done worse and it could have been more expensive really.


pretty funny thing afterwards my buddy who build my 8 point cage at MER told me he could have did full Ti for that price. FAWK ME! lol

 

Just swung by there on my lunch break to try to see if the owner would give me a break on the price. he was also out to lunch. I did grab a pic though and cranked her up. sounds MEAN

HOW IN THE FAWK DO PEOPLE DD THE ANIMALS??? WOW ROARRR

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcrimson/6636105339/http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcrimson/6636105339/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/jcrimson/, on Flickr

 

I hate to tell you this but they ripped you off. Burns is expensive, but even if you priced all the parts together, it shouldn't have been more than say, $600 for materials. They are charging you WAY TOO MUCH labor to weld up an exhaust. Dude must've taken his sweet time and billed you to the max. Your friend is right, for $2000, it should've been a Titanium catback.

$2000 = a above average road racing cage by a reputable builder already. And that takes way more skills than building a catback exhaust. Speaking of which, how much did you pay for your cage? I saw a few photos and it looked pretty nice.

 

yeah im trying to call the owner of the shop now and see if i can get him off those numbers.. just doesnt sound right.

My cage cost about 2600, their actual price was 3600, they only charged me 2600. MER in cresson texas built it. all in nasa specs. 8 point but touches my chassis 16 times. and they are deff a reputable builder. I was completely happy with their work and staff. super welcoming and full of knowledge. plus, they are right outside of motorsport ranch cresson tx. so anytime im at that track, if i need something they dont mind me coming by. scales, air, tools, fluids, etc.

Motorsport Enterprises Racing - Home

 

looks sweet though

 

Unfortunately one off custom work by someone with a proven record of building racing quality parts is over the top price wise.... A top of the line Trek bicycle is pushing $10,000 these days and they aren't one off but have a number of personal choices of parts and equipment to choose from... With the connectors used I'll bet it will flow like crazy.

 

doesnt sound right is an understatement. Im suprised they didnt quote you on it to begin with. Owell i guess. When you told me you expected !k, i was like "for custom 3" header back on that lil car that does sound right." I dunno, maybe they think that since your a tuner and was able to drop a new motor in the fit that your made of $. Or they are just "good ol' boys" who think that they have the name to charge that. If it was some tuning shop the was well known, i might could see a number >1k but for some shop like TCW, not so much. Hope it all goes well for you and hope he comes down on that price.

 

It may have a lot to do with the present rate of inflation... Just about everything cost far more than it did just a year ago especially labor charges.. an E-3 in the military makes over 15 times what they made when I was in.... Flat rate for turning a wrench was 10 bucks an hour in the early 70s... A new Ford truck in 79 was under 7K by 82 it was over 12K... we are having the same kind of inflation as we did when Reagan was in office... And the lenders that were baled out with taxpayer dollars still own the houses they foreclosed on.

 

It really makes no difference. This place, inflation or not, does not, imo, have enough cred as a tuning shop to charge that much for what they did. Its a typical situation of some good ol' boys in tyler putting far too much value on themselves. People here think they are metro area bigshots and they are just small town talent. They shouldnt be charging what they are just because they think they are that awesome.

 

What you are saying has merit... I was in a tobacco shop in Tyler to get a can of American Spirit tobacco and found that they charged $13 for a can that I could get for 10 dollars here... I told the lady about the price difference and she informed me I was in the big city now and had to pay big city prices... I left it on the counter and let her know I didn't have to do business in the "big city" and walked out... It's really different in East Texas... The Feds did an investigation down here about 14 years ago and declared this county to be beyond belief... I think I told you about the book titled "Smith County Justice" that was about the case that the movie "Rush" was based on.. A wealthy oilman purchased every copy that was printed after a few copies had been sold and had the ones on shelves in stores removed and destroyed.. Some how the guy scared the publisher out of printing anymore copies... The Feds came down over that deal also.

 

TC, i completely get what your saying. I actually come from a city 4x bigger than tyler and paid LESS than i do here. lol. But J i also missed the actual price they are charging you and all that info from that post. I really think (after reading it) that they think you are lacking common sense. They charged you for over 20 hrs labor and theres NO WAY they spent that on it. But i also guess if you were charged reasonably in dallas, the money you saved on labor would have been spent on trailer-ing it to and from DFW.

 

FWIW i payed about 2K for my custom header and 3" exhaust. that is including the cost of parts

 

Usually things cost less in Tyler than here in Palestine.. If you check prices here at Walmart and look at the prices of the same item at a Walmart in Dallas the difference would blow your mind...Ten years ago a gallon of milk was $1.00 cheaper in Dallas and there are two Walmart warehouses here. Retirees move here all of the time but most don't stay around long... There are beautiful houses that would be priced at millions in California so a lot of them are in and out of here all of the time... You can forget about washing clothes, dishes or taking a shower when a mess of them decide to fill their swimming pools at the same time... The water pressure is a fraction of what it was 12 or 15 years ago.. I can't believe the number of Mercedes, and Range Rovers that are on the roads here now.

 

J already had a header. This was just price of parts and welding. I could understand it more if it was custom from the block back but it wasnt. Im just glad to know that its done (99.99% at least) and will be tearin up the roads here soon. It just bothers me when ppl here charge like that.

 

JCrim you have a hell'ava track car with pics to back it up.... Keep on doin' your thing. When a person is happy and satisfied with his piece that's really all that counts.

 

Very true...I know j is gonna live it! And that thing is going to be a beast on the track now!

 

Very true...I know j is gonna live it! And that thing is going to be a beast on the track now!

 

Yeah man, can't wait for the vidz..

 

haha thanks for the support guys!

Speaking of track. I'm already scheduled to go this march haha. all of us road race junkies are going so this turn out will be huge. going to MotorSport Ranch, Cresson TX.

Update on the car:

well, all I can say is Tensioner! grrr

I picked up my car and 2 million dollar exhaust system Friday. Trailered her home. Drove her off the trailer and the exhaust sounds great, just not the timing. so took her apart to time. Found that the tensioner is garbage and has failed. Both cams were mechanically in time, but not in correspondence with the crank. the crank was 90° off to the left. I ordered a ton of new bolts to go inside the valve cover because one broke.. and I got a replacement brand new oem tensioner coming in tomorrow. so I'm back in the waiting game for these few parts and hopefully she will be ready by this weekend... again..

I first started off building this car with that frame of mind, "Building a car." Everyday I find that I'm building more into myself.

This car reflects who I am and what I am capable of doing. All my life I have been a "Mover." I have met many many "Dreamers" in my life that always talk about things they will do. But that's all they do is talk. I have noticed that when I will something, I become a charged magnet, and my goals are drawn towards me. Yes, I do make foolish mistakes and sometimes even disregard responsibility when I really want something to come together. When this happens, I now accept it as a chance to practice patients. And when the goal is complete, oh how sweet it will taste.

 

What tensioner was on there that failed? Still waiting for that video of this monster