Recent Experience With Tillbrooks Anybody?

[Howie]

had my last car down at tillbrooks.. decent job, but wasn't too happy about the price they quoted and subsequently charged me. quoted me $600 and said it'd be no more than $800.. ended up with a $2200 bill.

anyhow.. found boostworx now and couldn't be happier.

[Traitor]

went to tilbrooks for a quote on gettin the rb25det rebuilt bout a year ago,

Still waiting to hear back from them.....ha ha

[MissR34]

Southern Hi Tech Dyno FTW

[fieds83]

Last week i had a shitty experience with Tillbrooks in particular Brady, who managed to fudge the results of a leakdown test on my car.

The car was there for an inspection for a buyer, when i recieve a call from the buyer telling me that there was 28% leakdown in cylinder number 5 but good compression which did not make sense. Anyway to achieve a leak of 28% there would need to be a cracked piston, damaged ring, damaged valve or seat which there were no physical symptoms of. Having learned of the catastrophic problem with my engine, Brady decided t would be ok to run my car on the dyno, WTF? Who runs up an engine that is supposed to be stuffed on the dyno at full load. He had not informed me of the prblem or asked permission to dyno the car with the problem at this stage.

So out of curiosity i went back to the workshop where thye were taking my car off the dyno. I asked for a figure for which i was told over 400rwkw of which i was surprised as it was a 37 degree day. I had to ask for a definate figure several times before i was told the dyno is not calibrated and read over 480rwkw, i wish.

So the car is diagnosed with a problem then run up at full load on an uncalibrated dyno all without notifying me.

Being the sceptic that i am i quizzed him on the symptoms of a leakdown such as this 28%, we came to the conclusion that there were none besides the reading on the gauge. He told me that he had tested the cylinder twice.

I then took the car to my mechanic for a leakdown and the results came back healthy, wow big difference. Yesterday i drove the car to melbourne and had all the same tests performed at High Torque Performance for the new buyer, everything once again came back perfect as the day it was built with comp between 170-175 on all cylinders and excellent seal with very little leakage.

So Brady's actions caused me to lose a sale as he stuffed the results. He was very quick to blame the equipment and organisation of Tillbrooks when i questioned him about the day. Funny how it was him that did all the shit work not the rest of Tillbrooks(apart from the uncalibrated dyno which is not his responability).

Tillbrooks for the lose, Brady was there apprentice and should know better.

[rubzy]

Well thier decent engine builder left there to go to JMS, and now he's on the move again i think to Wheelworx!!

All i know is it seems you need to know them or know someone that knows them!!

BOOSTWORX FTW!!

For this one, brady hasn't gone to wheelworx, he's staying at JMS.

word around says that tillbrooks has a bad rep for blowing cars up on the dyno. i was going to take mine there last time for a tune and i had at least half a dozen people tell me not to.

whats peoples thoughts on morpowa?

In the last four years there has only been one car blow on the dyno and that was because of a fuel pump issue and they were using a microtech ecu and had boost issues. Microtech's (so i've been told) only boost to 25 psi and the boost problem they got shot past 25 psi which caused the ecu to basically 'ship' itself.

Willall=Donnon tuning

Tilbrooks also use Donnon...

there dyno was reading high though last tune I had (they said around 8-9%)

I'm guessing by donnon u mean martin?

Last week i had a shitty experience with Tillbrooks in particular Brady, who managed to fudge the results of a leakdown test on my car.

The car was there for an inspection for a buyer, when i recieve a call from the buyer telling me that there was 28% leakdown in cylinder number 5 but good compression which did not make sense. Anyway to achieve a leak of 28% there would need to be a cracked piston, damaged ring, damaged valve or seat which there were no physical symptoms of. Having learned of the catastrophic problem with my engine, Brady decided t would be ok to run my car on the dyno, WTF? Who runs up an engine that is supposed to be stuffed on the dyno at full load. He had not informed me of the prblem or asked permission to dyno the car with the problem at this stage.

So out of curiosity i went back to the workshop where thye were taking my car off the dyno. I asked for a figure for which i was told over 400rwkw of which i was surprised as it was a 37 degree day. I had to ask for a definate figure several times before i was told the dyno is not calibrated and read over 480rwkw, i wish.

So the car is diagnosed with a problem then run up at full load on an uncalibrated dyno all without notifying me.

Being the sceptic that i am i quizzed him on the symptoms of a leakdown such as this 28%, we came to the conclusion that there were none besides the reading on the gauge. He told me that he had tested the cylinder twice.

I then took the car to my mechanic for a leakdown and the results came back healthy, wow big difference. Yesterday i drove the car to melbourne and had all the same tests performed at High Torque Performance for the new buyer, everything once again came back perfect as the day it was built with comp between 170-175 on all cylinders and excellent seal with very little leakage.

So Brady's actions caused me to lose a sale as he stuffed the results. He was very quick to blame the equipment and organisation of Tillbrooks when i questioned him about the day. Funny how it was him that did all the shit work not the rest of Tillbrooks(apart from the uncalibrated dyno which is not his responability).

Tillbrooks for the lose, Brady was there apprentice and should know better.

Fair enuf, brady made a mistake by choosing to put it on the dyno (It's called being human sometimes). He'd been telling mark the dyno needed to be recalibrated for months and nothing was done.

[fieds83]

Yes we are all human, just like every other human sometimes we have to be held accountable for our mistakes. If his original diagnoses was correct and he proceeded to put the car on the dyno and it blew the $18,000 engine, would he have replaced it?

Luckily there were no issues with the engine and it was just a mistake on Brady's part in regards to the leakdown test. Considering that he had full faith in his leak down results( which he thought showed a major problem with the rotating assembley and or valvetrain) his behaviour was just plain reckless, there are no two ways about it. Rather than own up to his reckless behaviour he blamed Tillbrooks. I stated the facts of the matter, make of them what you will.

I would have never bothered to say anything if he had owned upto his mistake, when i spoke to the acting workshop foreman the following monday he informed me that Brady no longer worked there and the foreman himself questioned Bradys's actions and apologised for how it turned out. In saying that, the person who organised the inspection to begin with informed me that Tillbrooks are still chasing him for payment for that day. Payment for what, a dodgy leakdown test, dodgy dyno run and poor workmanship. I am sure that Brady is capable of good work but on the day that i had my experience with him something was amiss.

Edited December 7, 2007 by fieds83

[rubzy]

Fair enuf, when i spoke to him he didn't actually mention the leakdown test issues but anyway. Who did you talk to @ tilbrooks that following monday? michael?

[fieds83]

Dont remember his name, though he was an older guy with his arm currently in a cast. Of course he didn't mention the leakdown test issues, they were the whole basis of his stuff up, i have said all i need to on the matter.

There were other diagnosis that he made that were also proven false, one being an oil leak from a turbo which was found to be a weaping cam cover gasket and he stated that the transfer case was loose and on its way out. Several other reputable workshops examined the car scratching their heads wondering how he came up with any of the above mentioned problems. Morpowa had fitted the transfer case to the gearbox the week before and reported that it was healthy.

There are very few workshops that i trust with my cars these days, I have had good experiences with Boostworx in the past and more recently Morpowa for my gearbox install. Shaun and Troy are very systematic and organised in their approach which shows with their quality of work and conservative billing. Simon and Mark were very helpful and went out of their way to fit my car in and had the work done very quickly. Boostworx were booked 4-5 weeks in Advance at the time which is a testiment to their reputation.

Edited December 7, 2007 by fieds83

[rubzy]

ok, i understand. it's hard to find someone you can trust sometimes to look after your pride and joy if you don't do the work yourself. i personally haven't had ne troubles with brady and he's helped me out with stuff on the odd occassion. boostworx is a bit too far for me aswell anyway.

[c0ris]

had my last car down at tillbrooks.. decent job, but wasn't too happy about the price they quoted and subsequently charged me. quoted me $600 and said it'd be no more than $800.. ended up with a $2200 bill.

anyhow.. found boostworx now and couldn't be happier.

i've done the exact same thing....my S13 was always taken to tillbrooks and i was always happy with their work and tunes but everytime you would go there it would be $xxx amount, you may aswell double that price when you go to pick your car up.

[rubzy]

they can be expensive i agree, brady being my mechanic leaving tilbrooks doesn't charge me as much at JMS cos the labour isn't like $100 an hour there n stuff. i've had good work from him in the past so until i'm proven otherwise, i'm sticking with him.

[rubzy]

Yes we are all human, just like every other human sometimes we have to be held accountable for our mistakes. If his original diagnoses was correct and he proceeded to put the car on the dyno and it blew the $18,000 engine, would he have replaced it?

Luckily there were no issues with the engine and it was just a mistake on Brady's part in regards to the leakdown test. Considering that he had full faith in his leak down results( which he thought showed a major problem with the rotating assembley and or valvetrain) his behaviour was just plain reckless, there are no two ways about it. Rather than own up to his reckless behaviour he blamed Tillbrooks. I stated the facts of the matter, make of them what you will.

I would have never bothered to say anything if he had owned upto his mistake, when i spoke to the acting workshop foreman the following monday he informed me that Brady no longer worked there and the foreman himself questioned Bradys's actions and apologised for how it turned out. In saying that, the person who organised the inspection to begin with informed me that Tillbrooks are still chasing him for payment for that day. Payment for what, a dodgy leakdown test, dodgy dyno run and poor workmanship. I am sure that Brady is capable of good work but on the day that i had my experience with him something was amiss.

On behalf of Brady,

just to clear up the record, the compression test was conducted twice, once a issue was found the whole process was repeated twice for just to verify its authenticity (snapon leakdown and compression tester)i just make note that anyone having anyexperience with gtr's will tell u the first cylinder to lean out is always number five, just a combination of ineffeciencies and intake maifold design , having a repeated and confirmed result the vehicle under instruction was simply put on the dyno just to check afr's down low and see if possible pump failure had occured or similar setup, a full run was not completed as found not to be safe but a extremely high figure was recorded (irrelivant). i can't explain why the leakdown was not the same as urs thru my error or faultly equipment, but i had no question it was accurate because i've tested more gtr's than most would've ever seen, being the owner of a gtr and doing my whole apprentiship on these vehicles specifically i stand by my evaluation of the gearbox aswell, mark also noted it was sloppy, consistent with high horsepower gtr's being launched, the gearbox itself is attached to a transfer case s/h i presume, just because the gearbox is recon doesnt mean the transfer case had been over hauled. i admit even doing a half load on the dyno wasnt appropriate but to support the leakdown test is usually backed up by a cause and avoid another engine. You were very correct in saying if you cant trust the dyno how are you to trust our equipment, the difference is one was known to be incorrect the other i can explain. Only one vehicle ever blew up wilst on the dyno any that was danny vahoumis's drift car, a boost spike problem on a standard engine and 300 odd rwkw, a fault of danny's, i dindnt chase payment a explained to the manager why, the other thing i will clarify is i left tilbrooks, for issues concerned with management pay and frustration at the continual problems which werent being addressed, i sincerely appologise to yourself for the circumstances which occured i will not however take the blame for the whole situation, many variables still exist which i frustratingly cannnot explain, also wish to appologise to any of the customers inconvenienced during my time there, tilbrooks have undergone many changes but since my departure management has been forced to change their setup rather than relying on myself to carry the place and i hope them all the best their a bunch of top lads.

thanks Brady

[fieds83]

On behalf of Brady,

just to clear up the record, the compression test was conducted twice, once a issue was found the whole process was repeated twice for just to verify its authenticity (snapon leakdown and compression tester)i just make note that anyone having anyexperience with gtr's will tell u the first cylinder to lean out is always number five, just a combination of ineffeciencies and intake maifold design , having a repeated and confirmed result the vehicle under instruction was simply put on the dyno just to check afr's down low and see if possible pump failure had occured or similar setup, a full run was not completed as found not to be safe but a extremely high figure was recorded (irrelivant). i can't explain why the leakdown was not the same as urs thru my error or faultly equipment, but i had no question it was accurate because i've tested more gtr's than most would've ever seen, being the owner of a gtr and doing my whole apprentiship on these vehicles specifically i stand by my evaluation of the gearbox aswell, mark also noted it was sloppy, consistent with high horsepower gtr's being launched, the gearbox itself is attached to a transfer case s/h i presume, just because the gearbox is recon doesnt mean the transfer case had been over hauled. i admit even doing a half load on the dyno wasnt appropriate but to support the leakdown test is usually backed up by a cause and avoid another engine. You were very correct in saying if you cant trust the dyno how are you to trust our equipment, the difference is one was known to be incorrect the other i can explain. Only one vehicle ever blew up wilst on the dyno any that was danny vahoumis's drift car, a boost spike problem on a standard engine and 300 odd rwkw, a fault of danny's, i dindnt chase payment a explained to the manager why, the other thing i will clarify is i left tilbrooks, for issues concerned with management pay and frustration at the continual problems which werent being addressed, i sincerely appologise to yourself for the circumstances which occured i will not however take the blame for the whole situation, many variables still exist which i frustratingly cannnot explain, also wish to appologise to any of the customers inconvenienced during my time there, tilbrooks have undergone many changes but since my departure management has been forced to change their setup rather than relying on myself to carry the place and i hope them all the best their a bunch of top lads.

thanks Brady

I was the owner of the car and I was not contacted and at no stage gave you permission to dyno the car with the problems you thought it had.

When i asked you for a dyno figure you stated that the car had been run up at full load and put out over 400rwkw which after and only after i asked for more info you told me that the dyno was uncalibrated. You never mentioned at any stage that you did a half run up on the dyno but did admit to full load run. You were NEVER INSTRUCTED BY MYSELF THE OWNER to put the car on the dyno with what you thought was a possible problem. I know the car was loaded up as you stated to me that it had peaked at 26psi which it has never seen on the street, it spkes to 24 and settles to 22 on the street.

Two seperate and well known workshops did leakdown and compression tests in front of myself and the new owner and came up like the 9000km old engine that it is. The results were near perfect and a total contrast to your results. Yes it is a known fact that cylinder number 5 generally leans out first, though cylinder number 5 in my engine had not leaned out and there was no damage. In fact when it was put on the dyno at the second workshop the car was actually running quite rich accross the whole rev range and timing was overly safe. There were no other symptoms of my engine having a problem. All gauges regardless of brand need regular calibration, just because it is snap on does not mean it was calibrated and accurate.

When i asked you where Mark was you stated that he was in the US for a drift meet, how did he assess the gearbox? I never stated that the transfer case was rebuilt, however i did state that it was inspected and in good condition. The two other workshops also stated that the tranfer case was in reasonable condition, not brand new but certainly not on it's way out as you stated.

I had such confidence in the car i drove it to Melbourne to have it inspected by a workshop with an outstanding reputation for new owner. It came up in excellent condition, this workshop also knows their GTR's and is responsible for some of the quickest and highest powered street cars in the country. The whole inspection was carried out in front of me and the new owner which resulted in a healthy report and sale of the car. If i had taken your word for gospel i would have wasted thousands pulling apart a healthy engine for no reason. What would you have done when there was no problems to be found? probably sent me a bill for $4,000 labor.

I understand that you dont like what i have to say, infact once mentioned i left it and the thread was lost back in the pages. I am only responding to those that keep bringing it up. What i stated above is what happened and is the blunt truth with all the bullshit put aside. As for blown engines of the past i can not comment as i was not involved, my issues with you were the first hand experiences stated above.

Brady, i am sure you know your stuff but on this particular day you left a lot to be desired.

Edited December 13, 2007 by fieds83

[Deluxe]

^^^^ It's amazing, you have just gone along the lines of what i had thought about them in the first place, just my thoughts are their dyno has been reading high for a while now, this pleases the customer to see that they have "somehow" got more Kw's than you thought you could get, so in turn they go back for more work, simple!!

Sorry but they f#%ed over a mate of mine with his drift car a few years back, they will never see my car in thier shop!!

As the old saying goes "A leopards spots never change"

[savage GTR]

My car has had over $30,000 spent on it at tilbrooks and want get a cent more out of me.

The last tune was so close to detonation that I'm lucky its still in 1 piece, do you want to see the dyno report.

There is one dipstick that worked there. (forgot to put it back in place and car was taken home gawler 50kms trip in that condition) I went ballistic at Mark. quote ,"Theres 2 dipsticks at your workshop and one should be in my motor."

This is a 300rwkw gtr with bugger all oil pressure and oil all over my bonnet and motor .

I wasnt very happy especially at $100 per hour.

My stock exhaust disappeared from the back lock up.

The last clutch cost $500 more than my new one (exactly the same unit) and the nizmo clutch adapter that I got charged for was never installed $480. Want to see receipt

Lets just say that I will never go there again and Now see Steve at Manta racing .

The tuning is done at wilall racing and wasnt tuned by Martin but by Peter Hall .

He is the one that corrected my tune.

Now I must admit that Mark wasnt the one who did the work on my car (Mick K. from subzero who left anyway did 75%)

But is the shop owner and must take responsibility for the work done in his premises.

He nows that I still respect him and his advice ocasionally but knows that I will never take my car there again.

All above said, He told me last time I spoke to him that He was considering shuting up the workshop at the end of the year due to being hard finding reliable and hard working mechanics that know imports.

[Deluxe]

My car has had over $30,000 spent on it at tilbrooks and want get a cent more out of me.

The last tune was so close to detonation that I'm lucky its still in 1 piece, do you want to see the dyno report.

There is one dipstick that worked there. (forgot to put it back in place and car was taken home gawler 50kms trip in that condition) I went ballistic at Mark. quote ,"Theres 2 dipsticks at your workshop and one should be in my motor."

This is a 300rwkw gtr with bugger all oil pressure and oil all over my bonnet and motor .

I wasnt very happy especially at $100 per hour.

My stock exhaust disappeared from the back lock up.

The last clutch cost $500 more than my new one (exactly the same unit) and the nizmo clutch adapter that I got charged for was never installed $480. Want to see receipt

Lets just say that I will never go there again and Now see Steve at Manta racing .

The tuning is done at wilall racing and wasnt tuned by Martin but by Peter Hall .

He is the one that corrected my tune.

Now I must admit that Mark wasnt the one who did the work on my car (Mick K. from subzero who left anyway did 75%)

But is the shop owner and must take responsibility for the work done in his premises.

He nows that I still respect him and his advice ocasionally but knows that I will never take my car there again.

All above said, He told me last time I spoke to him that He was considering shuting up the workshop at the end of the year due to being hard finding reliable and hard working mechanics that know imports.

That Mick guy did Mark NO favours what so ever, hasn't helped him in anyway, and i'm sure he's spewing he employed him, I would be!! As you say he does have to take responsibility.

As for closing the doors at the end of the year............ Don't understand that, Look at Shaun and Troy, 2 people with a diary booked out, yes they really do need a new bigger shop and another worker there, BUT in saying that, there will always be people that WILL wait for the time to book in.

[SLED]

This is a 300rwkw gtr with bugger all oil pressure and oil all over my bonnet and motor .

Do you mean crankcase pressure?

You shouldn't lose oil pressure by removing a dipstick.

[fieds83]

Mick was a useless tool, i remeber him building a twin gt35r powered 2JZ that only pulled 370rwkw. The owner spent rediculous amounts of money building an engine that could have had the same power with a single gt35r on stock internals.

[savage GTR]

Do you mean crankcase pressure?

You shouldn't lose oil pressure by removing a dipstick.

The loss of pressure, not all wasn't the biggest problem but the danger of the motor lossing oil was the bigger of the 2 evils.

Was told by Mark himself that this wasn't good for the car as he new where I lived and (quote "a GTR should be driven enthusiastically" ) new my driving style "(give it a boot here and there)

He did do the next service cheap and threw in a clean under the bonnet for free (so he should)

Hope he kicked the responsible person's ass.

[fieds83]

The loss of pressure, not all wasn't the biggest problem but the danger of the motor lossing oil was the bigger of the 2 evils.

Was told by Mark himself that this wasn't good for the car as he new where I lived and (quote "a GTR should be driven enthusiastically" ) new my driving style "(give it a boot here and there)

He did do the next service cheap and threw in a clean under the bonnet for free (so he should)

Hope he kicked the responsible person's ass.

Did he build that engine? cos it sounds like you have excessive crankcase pressure due to poor ring seal. Your engine should not be blowing oil out the dipstick even it was left out.