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NEVER take anything to headworks of nashville

19K views 71 replies 33 participants last post by  280zx!!!  
#1 ·
alright so here's the story so my rb25det head had an exhaust bolt broken off in it so an extractor was used and broke off also, it was attempted to be drilled out and at no extent wasn't successful and somehow it accidentally broke through the oil drain so the head was taken to headworks of nashville to remove it weld it up and retap it...so i take it he tells me $80 to $120 bucks and this is what he does for a living and it wouldn't be a problem alright it takes 2 days and when i go and pick it back up its $125(its 5 bucks but its the point he tells me something and its more) and when i get there the exhaust cam is off and all the lifters cam towers and bolts are laying in a box just thrown in there unorganized, unlabeled and most of the lifters are laid over, then where he cut the bolt out only that running was grinded smooth the other 5 were not i asked if its gonna be a problem and he said it wouldn't( i consider that bad workmen ship he should have decked the whole exhaust side to make 100 percent sure its level)

not only on top of that but when i flipped the head over it had multiple scratches and knicks that weren't there before it was dropped off...we check it out decide that it would be alright and put the head on, we put the exhaust cam back on with accordance to all the factory specs. put her together and we start it up and the bolt that he drilled out and fixed IS STILL LEAKING OIL...i call him up and he suggests that i should use some kind of locktite crap...if i wanted to getto rig my motor i would have just used jbweld in the first place and been done, but this isnt a honda so it needs to be done right...

its been 3 days i was driving home from work the car starts running like shit cant keep it idling has no power i get it close to the house and it dies out, acts like ignition so i take the cas off and to my surprise the cas gear and keyway that are on the end of the cam have snapped off and the cas isnt turning(no spark)....its very difficult to break the steal gear off of the cam and im almost positive that headworks of nashville dropped my exhaust cam on the ground,

so not only is the original problem still a problem but im in need of a new exhaust cam and cas now...i will never go there again and im gonna try and get my money back we'll see
 
#3 ·
thats crazy, i've taken 4 heads to them to have them milled without a problem. granted i never bring them more than a mill job, but ya.


i would consider them a place where i could credibly get my head resurfaced, but other than that i leave it to people with high reputations.
 
#10 ·
sucks to hear mann.. hope all works out for ya..

u should try napa in murfreesboro.. well not exactly napa but it's a place in the back of it you can't really miss it.. that's where i always get my work done.. some older guy really upfront and gets it done when he says he going to.
 
#11 · (Edited)
alright i went into headworks of nashville about 20 min ago, i went in calm and he knew who i was and seen this post about his shop somehow or another and got so mad and started yelling and cussing at me and telling me to get the fuck out of his shop i didnt go in there provoking anything...

he said i was a liar because my head wasnt sitting beside a ka...boo hoo whatever it was a fucking joke (inside joke with a buddy about the ka24 thats sitting on the floor in his garage i thought it was funny sorry if i offended anyone...

then he said something about who drilled the hole in the head, really? it doesnt matter who drilled the fucking hole.... king kong drilled the fucking hole, i brought the thing in to get fixed not interrogated about who drilled what...it was already fucked up when i got it, it was attempted to be fixed and failed thats why the head was taken there in the first place "to get fixed right"

oh and he doesnt know how to spell locktite (its a brand name and its not spelled locktight, look it up) he called me an idiot for spelling it wrong in my original post which i clearly spelled right



i tried and ask him how he uninstalled the cam because the fsm requires you to do it in a very specific way(a rb isnt a piece of shit american motor, sorry) and he did not do it by the fsm nor would he comment on the lifters he said im stupid because i told him i had to spec them to make sure they were within spec(i know theyre self adjusting but that doesnt mean if theyre worn down that they cant be outta spec they can only lift so high and if that gets worn including wear from the cam they can be outta spec)


alright regardless of all the other things including the cam and cas the original bolt still leaks and he has not offered to refund my money, i do not wish him to fix it 1. because if he cant do it right the first time what guarantee's me that he'll do it right the second time? 2.why would i take my head back to a place thats unprofessional and that wont admit that he messed and yells at his customers and tells them to "get the fuck outta my shop or ill call the law"?

and glenn if your reading this why are you gonna get mad that i wrote a bad review on your shop when my original problem with the bolt is not fixed, regardless of anything else? i took a head to you in-trusting it to you of which you said that you would have no problem to fix and i quote "this is what i do for a living it'll be no problem" and yet instead of acting like an adult and fixing the situation at hand you yell at me attempt to call the cops and make a mockery of your shop? i just want this fixed, my number is 615-574-4590 and if you can resolve this than i will fully delete this post and never have your shop name come outta my mouth again...

if anyone that reads this that thinks im wrong about anything let me know
 
#13 · (Edited)
i wouldn't say he doesn't know shit, im sure if you brought him a 350 chevy heads or a 351 Cleveland something along those lines im sure he knows what he's doing with it but one thing i do know is he doesn't know much about is nissans... and i kinda specialize in nissans thats really all ive worked on, drove and fixed is nissans...hell i even co-owned and co-ran a datsun/nissan parts and restoration business. i dont claim i know everything and i learn new things everyday but it doesnt take a rocket scientist to take a head to a headshop because one of the bolt holes on the exhaust leaks oil because its been drilled and asked for it to be welded up because you need it to stop leaking oil and it still does then he gets mad when i write a bad review about it?

i asked for a very specific thing to be done, and i was told it would be no problem, WELL I GUESS ITS A PROBLEM I TAKE A HEAD TO A HEADSHOP AND IT DOESNT GET FIXED, and on top of that i told his specifically i was going to take the cams out so i can rebleed all the lifters and i get there and the exhaust cam and lifters are out...wtf? i didnt ask him to take the cam and lifters out so why would you even touch them? everything was fine before the head was taken down there and it ends up coming back to me and the cam breaks, the cas breaks because of the cam and the shit still leaks...thanks 120 bucks for a new cam and a borrowed cas so the damn thing can run(still have to buy the cas so no telling what thats gonna cost) and $13x wasted on fixing the original problem

dont do shit to something that wasnt asked to be done and you probably wouldn't be accused of breaking it....

oh and i also know someone who took a piece of intercooler piping down to them to weld an intake temp sensor bung into it and they scatch the hell outta the pollished finish...
 
#16 ·
Never run your mouth on an forum without giving actual facts

@ 280zx!!!

First off, when you want to run your mouth on an open forum, it is usually best to have all your facts in order. You came in here with your original problem you needed something welded, ok thats good you want to push off that your friend drilled straight through the head into the the oil return passage, cool way to blame other people. Then we fix it for you, tell you that the stud is fine where it is at and it is ready to bolt on. You say you spent $150 on new studs for the exhaust side, but you used all new studs say for the one we had in there ? Why would you buy all new studs and not put them all in, but when you took that one stud out and put anti-seize on it, you probably put it in to tight and recracked the head, but instead of being a man about it and saying hey I messed up you throw blame at the people who worked on it. Again no big deal I put up with jerkoffs like you more than a dozen times a year.
Secondly, if your going to accuse someone of dropping your cam, then do it dont say, "Oh I am almost positive they dropped it", either you are or your not, man up say we dropped it or better yet why dont you take another look and see where you probably assembled your engine wrong. Everyone makes mistakes dude, just because you screw your engine up when you put it back together, doesnt mean a free ride to blame the people that did the work on one component of it. Machine shops around the world are easy targets when retards like you screw up on your own work. So, again man up for your mistakes and stop blaming other people. On another note, when you came in here, you pointed out to us that Mark at the Napa in Franklin had scratched and dented your head, then you hop on this forum and tell everyone on here we did it, hmmm there has been a big difference about what you have told us when you came in here and what you are telling these people on this forum.

Also yes you are wrong, and you deserved to be laughed at and called an idiot, locktite is how you spelled it, actually it is : Loctite.

Then of all things you come back in here and again you spread lies, more so on this forum when you lie about what happend. You came in here right off the bat being insulting and provoking the owner. He was nothing but patient with you until you started spewing out more and more lies about what you had, and had not done to this head. When you started becoming irrate and blaming everyone else but yourself for your problems you were then asked to leave, you sat up here for an addtional 15 mins ranting on how none of this could be your fault and how bad the workmanship was, and even after you were told that you could bring it back and we could figure out what exactly had happened and fix it. Seriously are you even sure that it is coming out of the same hole that was fixed ? No you aren't because you havent even re pulled the head off, you keep driving the car around like an idiot.

@Jankenshank

Dude, I dont even want to know where you get your info from, no one from NADC has been hired here.... ever, secondly we dont do fix-it work like just replace freeze plugs. Thanks for your useless attempt at trying to get your voice heard where it doesnt even apply to you.
 
#18 ·
A professional response would speak volumes about your company if you came in and stated the facts and cleared it up. Unfortunately, you come here and argue and insult a customer and referred to him (and other customers) as "jerkoffs" ...

I wouldn't deal with them. I don't care if they are right or wrong - its apparent from the response that this business doesn't know how to approach people professionally.
 
#22 ·
ok none of my original questions were anwsered...in what sequence was the cam unbolted?

i know you messed the cam up because ive installed the cams numerous times in rb's a nissan guru was there doing this also..

if i dont know how to install my cam properly then why is it running right now with a cam i had to buy that your shop didnt touch...it runs just fine and nothings broken

also the studs that are in the motor are fully threaded and cant be put in any tighter than by hand, and all the nuts on the motor are torqued to factory fsm specs so how could i over tighten the bolt or why would i even want to my manifold is stock along with the turbo right now and it didnt nor did it ever have an exhaust leak my only consern is the oil...


and 99% of what you are saying is irrelevant, childish and unprofesional and is only hurting you not me and i would suggest that you let the shop owner handle his business not a shop hand...


like ive said before my number is in this thread and if you would like to make things right then give me a call if not continue to do what you want and ill continue to post all of my experience on every open forum, craigslist, the tennessean, and local paper and anywhere else i can find a place to put it...trust me ill do whatever it takes to get the word out...but i will delete this whole thread and not have your shop name ever come outta my mouth again if you deside to do the right thing...

im not some dumb underage kid that you can bully around not do a good job and blame it on my error...ive replaced my cam and i will replace my cas and call it a loss because in retro spec i know you did it but there is no paper proof so there's no way to persure it...all im asking for is a refund from what you've done so i can have the problem fixed right...im not taking the head off and ive found someone who can do what i asked...

and if you think that anything that ive said is in question i have 2 eye witnesses that can attest to what i have said...

if i got my head back in one piece not all taken apart and the bolt hole didnt leak oil anymore do you think i would have said a word? i would have been happy to get what i paid for...
 
#24 ·
There's always two sides to every story, and I appreciate that we got to hear the other half, since that's generally rare.

That said, his response could have been more professional.

I've taken several things there and generally deal with the owner, who seems pretty stand up, and I've always been satisfied with the work.

I won't stop bringing them work because someone felt the need to defend their shop.
 
#25 ·
wow Sorry to hear that.Hope this all get fixed.All thu I don't know about this machine shop due to the fact that I'm in FL. area, Put he did wrap the rope on his own head talking like that to a client.I work on rbs as a daily basis and if you don't set timing right you can snap the half mood pin not the hole key.So its odiously not him.Even if he does it wrong it wouldn't snap the hole thing.
Now I would just get another head and give this a end.You can use a rb26 head with some mods.But You should go to skylineownersusa.com There is lots of people that sell heads for cheap.
Just take the lost and be done with it.What really matters here is that you get your car back in the game.
Good luck bro.
Now to the machine shop owner.Dude you don't need forums.Stay away from them they are nothing put trouble.Specially if you are the type that Cos and Dis.Unless you are like me.Baller almost retired.lol.
 
#30 ·
While you have a right to be upset over this, it seems that it was your attitude with the guy when you went back in there that turned him on you. Machine shops ALL deal with people blaming them for what they have done when most of the time it was customer error or miscommunication. It is easy to get errors fixed. You just have to be understanding of the fact that mistakes happen. In your case, there isn't much he could have done to check his work. You need to give people the option to fix their mistakes and making demands is not a good way to go about that.

Now to the guy from headworks..... I understand why you would be pissed. Let me tell you though that coming on here ranting like you did, does not make you look good. I have a shop too and have had internet fights with people but I won't do that anymore because it's a waste of time.
 
#32 ·
^ well its hard to see how it would be my error on the bolt since we got it put it on and it immediately started to leak, its not very hard to torque a bolt to spec especially when the fsm is right infront of your face...

and kindofevil...thats exactly right, labeling everything and making sure they go back where they came from is very professional, when i took my head to have it decked and the valve stem seals replaced, mark labeled everything and even laid it back exactly like it was and when i went to pick it up he said all i had to do is lube it and bolt it up, cant complain about that...

javajoe- i had no attitude toward him when i went in there, he was mad because he had seen this post before hand and the first words to come outta his mouth were "you have a big mouth" ...

i followed up with him and called him right after i put the head on and he seemed professional but suggested loctite i stressed my concerns about not wanting to use it because its a band-aid on getting it fixed right, he suggested no other way we could have worked it out and suggested that i had to buy the loctite...does that make sense to anyone?
 
#34 ·
^

javajoe- i had no attitude toward him when i went in there, he was mad because he had seen this post before hand and the first words to come outta his mouth were "you have a big mouth" ...
Ok I get it. I understand why he would be mad then. You didn't give him a chance to fix it before you posted right? That makes him in the right for blowing you off.

You need to give people a chance to fix a mistake BEFORE you badmouth them.
 
#33 ·
Both sides need to handle this more like adults. I don't think all of the story was told though. This would have been a lot better if the OP went in and calmly talked to them instead of attacking the company on a public forum.
 
#38 ·
I totally understand man, I am with you. Did you first post on here about it or did you ask him first to fix it? That is the key point I am trying to make. It should have been done right the first time, I agree, but sometimes fixes like that don't take and it can be nearly impossible to ensure it will work without trying it. I am not trying to defend them but if someone first complains publicly, then asks for a fix, you pretty much give up your rights to fair treatment after that.
 
#39 ·
this exactly....

it's one thing to not give someone a 2nd try because it's completely evident they dont know what they're doing, but if the job was manageable and wasn't perfected, give them the opportunity to perfect it...


example: i was buffing milons gf's black is300 one night and there was some hologramming i couldn't see with the shop lighting, well he took the car out the next day and it was completely evident of where i had been working on the car... i came by that afternoon and got the car back to approve standards... and all was good...