Beware Of The Dog...badog That Is
11-14-2003, 05:32 PM
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 19
I would like to share a bad experience I have had with a tuner that frequents the boards here named Tony Kutlu, (Badog). A few moths ago I set up an appointment to have a single turbo TO4S kit installed at the RX-7 Store and have my car tuned by Tony, who lives in Columbus. I have taken every precaution to make sure my 9 month old Pineapple engine could handle it. The install went great and called Tony up to do the tuning. He came over and we dyno tuned for an hour or two and put down about 430rwhp. He informed me that he had to run home for an hour or so, but would like to fine tune it a little more on the road. He told he I could drive the car around till he was free. I drove the car around for an hour or so and it felt great. The car had tons of power and nothing at all seemed wrong, but I figured that if he felt more tuning was necessary, then we should do it. After he was free, we started off on a Columbus highway to do fine tuning. We made our first stop, he made some changes and we were on our way. Immediately after the changes we did a half throttle run and noticed a stumble around 4-5K. “See if you can re-create that” he says. I pushed the throttle down half way and felt the car stumble again, and then heard a loud ping, and also felt it in the gear shift. We pulled over at a gas station and the car wouldn’t Idle. I knew in my gut that the engine had gone. I called Zavier and told him and he said to meet him at the shop and we would look at it, but Tony said he had to go home and asked to be dropped off at his car. I asked him if he intended on keeping the tuning fee of $400 if he blew the engine, and he said that we should find out if it is blown, then we would talk. We confirmed that the rear rotor had gone. There was talk of the timing being advanced too far, but we sent the engine back to Pineapple to find out for sure. In the meantime I again asked for a refund, and he kept telling me that it wasn’t his fault, although the car has been running great for the last 9 months, and is basically new under the hood and Zavier could find nothing on the car that failed. He again said that we would talk after we hear back from Pineapple about why the engine went. Pineapple finally got the engine and tore it apart and said that it indeed did blow from tuning, and that there was nothing wrong with the internals. Since then I have sent 2 e-mails and left messages for him and he refuses to return my calls or answer e-mails. I am just waring anyone who plans on using him as a tuner that he seems to be a shady character. Hopefully he will see this and respond as of why he feels he is not responsible, even though everyone else involved says he is.
11-15-2003, 10:45 PM
#7
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 5,547
Originally Posted by 93 R1' date='Nov 15 2003, 12:02 PM
Sick of what? Sometimes things *can* happen when tuning a car. Thats just a risk you have to take.
Here's what I'm sick of. Everybody on NP automatically knows what Jason and his people do, so why does everybody else come here to tell their tale of how someone at Jasons blew their engine? We all know that this **** happeneds, so there's no need to tell us about it.
You might not like my opinion on this whole subject since I do not own an RX-7, but I'm entitled to it, and I understand very well that things can happen when tuning. But, why does it happen at Jason's most often, and why are his people (his tuners and employees) always on the defensive about it?
11-16-2003, 03:09 PM
#8
Junior Member
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 14
Did you actually read the post? Tony does not work for the rx7store. He had the work done there, but the tuning was done by a local guy with no affiliation to the store. Any other brilliant comments?
I have never heard of Jason blowing anyones motor.
I have never heard of Jason blowing anyones motor.