Hi peeps. Yeah I'm still alive. I've been helping a friend build a car for this season of road racing. He, Dan, dought another friend's 93 Probe GT to build for ITS, but he's got no skills for mechanics. So he found this shop in Brentwood NH he struck up a deal with.
The car needed a timing belt, CV joint & fix a brake line leak. There were other items tha needed to be done, but those were 1st priority. Last on the list was a set of racing stripes. Guess what got done & what didn't? Dan's car didn't make it to the tech day, nor will it be ready for the school Apr 20 - 22. I will be letting him use my Escort GT for the school. Hopefully we will have the car fixed by the June school at Lime Rock.
Below is my 'opinion' that I posted on my web site & blog on my myspace. Please feel free to warn others if you wish.
WARNING!!! Anyone that is thinking of going to East Coast Creations on Rte 125 in Brentwood NH shouldn't. These guys are a bunch of hacks and thieves. They overcharged Dan for the work they did & never did the work they were supposed to. The work they did do was half-assed and sloppy.
The car was brought to them late January. They were given a list of things to do, in order of priority. They were quick to tear down things, but that was it. Dan made many visits & calls to East Coast trying to get news & information about the progress. Most of the time he didn't find anyone around. When he did get ahold of someone he was given excuses and lies about waiting on/ordering parts.
The car was supposed to go to Affordable Welding, less than a mile up the road, in early March. It took 2 weeks of phone calls, then Dan had his Uncle (Paul's Towing of Epping NH 603.679.5512) just show up and take the car with his ramp truck. It spent just over a week at Affordable Welding where an AWESOME cage was put in.I highly recommend this place for any welding work.
The car was shipped back to East Coast Creations on March 28. It needed to be DONE and picked up on April 1st (they were given that date as the LATEST it could be done). They made excuses again, the car wouldn't be ready. They were given an extention until Fri April 7. I was to go up there with my car trailer after work, but Dan called me to tell me that they STILL weren't ready. They asked us to wait until Saturday (the car was supposed to be at a tech day in Walpole Mass on Sat!!). Dan called the Brentwood Police and an officer advised him on a few things. The officer also made a visit to East Coast Creations to let them know that Dan, the customer, was VERY upset.
Dan, Ganoe & I (along with crew cheif Bailey) agreed to meet at East Coast around 2PM Saturday. That should leave them enough time, right? Wrong. We got there and they wanted us to wait. It wasn't ready. How could they NOT be ready??? We did a quick visual inspection of the car. The interior was painted, including the roll cage (we told them to NOTpaint the interior way back when they first got the car). Very little was done. The motor was still apart. This time the Brentwood Police Cheif made a visit. East Coast was given until 7PM, so we had to kill time until 7PM now. The Cheif said that he would have his officer at East Coast at 7PM to make sure things happened.
Meanwhile I took a spin by Affordable Welding to pick up some sheet metal Dan ordered. East Coast called them the day before asking if Dan was 'paid up'. We're not sure why that would matter to East Coast, but East Coast did ask Affordable to lie to us about the car. He would not. He told me that the car sat outside for 3 days after it came back from his place and didn't move (hmm, that's why they painted the interior, the cage started to get rust on it from sitting out in the snow/rain for 3 days!!!).
We got back to East Coast at 7PM, they wanted us to wait until 8PM. What could they be doing?? Time was up!!! We said "No, now!!" They said it would be about 20 minutes. 30 minutes in the officer went inside to tell them to move it. The garage opened & FINALLY they gave us the o.k. to move the car. Tha dash board was 'hacked' back into the car. Obviously they didn't care how it went in around the cage. The trailer was set up so all we had to do was push it up. As far as we know, we have all the bits and pieces of the car. If not, Dan has a parts car to scavenge from. We brought the car & trailer up to Dan's.
The next day, Sunday, I went up to Dan's and took a daylight look at the car. Those PUTZBAGS got overspray on the outer body panles!!! I took a closer look at the 'hacked' in dash. We should be able to get it secure enough.
The timing belt, CV joint, brake line leak STILL aren't done. Those were the "need to do first" items we told them to do. Now with less than 2 weeks until the school at NHIS, it's doubtfull that the car will be ready.
Last edited on Tue Apr 11th, 2006 10:59 pm by WIZARD Racing
____________________ "It's better to be a racer for a moment, than a spectator for a lifetime."
Sorry to hear all this bad news. I really don't know what to say.
Is Affordable welding basicly next door to Burger King and Rt 101?? If so than I can also vouch for the guy. He only did a small job for me but it was a decent job. He put cab corners on my Green '83 truck. Nice guy and he told me he does a lot of cages for the guys racing at New England Dragway.
another decent welding place is Richards Steal and Iron on Rt 108 in Plastow right on the Haverhill border. He fixed my Toyota frame for short change and met me after hours so I could pick it up. Nice guy also.
Are you 3 gonna tackle the Timing chain, CV and brake line or take it to someone? I can give you my cousins number if you like(Transmissions Ect). He's just off Rt 125 (near Cumbies & Duke of Saab) in Plastow.
Not sure where East Coast Creation is exactly but I used a shop on 125 (I think in Kingston) near the Aerobics Center and a couple used car/trailor sales places. From South to north - County Court house (on left) - Road with no light (on left) - right after the road on the left is the shop I used. They only did brake work for me but I talked with the guy for a bit and they are into racing. They might even be some of your compitition. Can't think of the name of the shop right now tho.
Whatever you do, good luck and I hope you get him running for the school he needs to go to.
Affordable Welding is AWESOME!! I'd go back to him in a second!! He has been a great help, and his work is great. He is the one just South of Burger King. East Coast is just South of him, same side of the road, across from Sampson's used cars.
I'm going to ask a friend of mine if he can do the mechanical work. He has all the tools & knowledge and is good. Thanks for the offer. I'll keep it in mind if we need another option.
____________________ "It's better to be a racer for a moment, than a spectator for a lifetime."
I've actually heard that before about East Coast Creations.....I use to race at Star and Lee and about 6 or 7 different people said that they are a bunch of hacks there. One guys car got crazy messed up from them.....sorry to hear about all the trouble
