Exhaust welding worksmanship

[sergei]

I don't think they have a leg to stand on from point of consumer guarantee act, or WOF standard, as that weld is definitely not airtight.

[Ninja25t]

Mate, I think you should name names now because even if they do repair this to a satisfactory standard I wouldn't want to expose other members of this forum to the same hassles you are experiencing?

In my opinion the fact they were willing to let work of that quality leave their workshop in the first place is enough to warn other people away from them.

Cheers,
Shane

[Vertigo]

Ill do so after I get my car back, and money if necessary.

[Stott69]

Personally, at this stage I would be calling in each night/morning and checking progress. With time n money spent so far, a few early finishes if you can would be worth it.

[Akane]

Ok, all joking aside though, a few questions:

What do you guys really think of the overall design? There is similar flow from each tip, so I assume the right hand pipe length doesnt matter so much. It sounds decent. I had something different in mind (a muffler with an output pipe on either side, for instance), but if it sounds good and doesnt hurt performance, Im happy.

The twin resonator in series is actually not as bad as you think, it can look the bee's knees if done correctly. Also just had another look of the setup, I don't like the tight 180 degree turn just to serve the second tail pipe, to be honest I think you should have a double resonator a bit like my setup, or a single resonator and a 1-to-2 muffler if you are hell bent on having twin exhaust.



and another view, clicky instead: http://iforce.co.nz/i/2hsflylp.y1x.jpg

[MrOizo]

Wowzers! All i could think of was birds like Stott69 mentioned.

Consumer is a good place to look for advice on poor goods/services. Also have templates for letters rejecting poor goods/services. Get one of these ready for if you want your refund.

https://www.consumer.org.nz/articles/le ... t-services

Point of Law
Work done by tradespeople - be they builders, plumbers, electricians, mechanics, hairdressers or whoever - must be carried out with reasonable skill and competence. If the work is not, then the Consumer Guarantees Act says you can ask the person who did the job to fix it at no cost to you. If they can't or won't, then you can employ others and claim the cost from the original tradesperson

[dskd]

A blind man wouldn't even be happy to see that shit

[92mr2paddy]

they definately bent the pipes by bending in a vice bit by bit to get such 'even' kinking, hahahaha
i really cant believe these pics and that they had the guts to charge you for it!!
def name and shame time!!

[Vertigo]

Got the exhaust back, they used mandrel bends as I requested this time. That part is much better. The welds, well... they look much the same. Better, but still lots of weld material heaped up. They are probably quite leak free, but they arent pretty. It seems louder now with the mandrel bends? Guess that means good things in terms of performance.

Anyway, its probable that nobody will be surprised by this, but this was Pitstop - in particular, Pitstop Browns Bay. The place I was recommended was Pitstop Albany, and the contact there AJ. I gather hes fairly well respected in this club, too. However I $&#$% up and misheard the name of the place, and ended up at Browns Bay instead.

I did take it to Albany for their opinion, and they were pretty shocked.

[LatitudeNZ]

I really do hope you get some sort of refund for the shoddy welding.

Surely if one branch of the same franchise wouldnt say its acceptable, it would be worth fighting yet again, and seeing if they will pay for the welding to be done properly.

I sure as shit wouldnt pay for those welds.

[Boosted_162]

Have never used Browns Bay, but yes AJ is real good. Quite busy at the moment too from what he said when I saw him last week. He did the pipes on the Fuga plus some brake disc machining etc.

[Vertigo]

Put the car up on the stands today to check out whats been done at my own pace. The bends arent actually mandrel, they are crush bends - just bought ones instead of hand/vice bent. The welds are ugly, and more importantly than that, I found 6-8 leaks. Im done, seeking full refund or replacement done by another shop.

Newest pics: http://imgur.com/Hapd5bF,YOnPt7p,RSkSqj ... my,fBIVb82

Re: the last pic, is it standard to do this with an exhaust tip? Ie. just run the pipe in and forget about it? Or should it have some forming done to flatten to the sides of the tip?

[RS13]

That is just awful. I guess he didn't want to pay the welder twice for the same job so attempted to fix himself. I know you said you didn't have much option but I wouldn't have accepted the car back until it was perfect, or at least leak-free. Reminds me of that chap in the SW20 that nearly died from carbon monoxide poisoning overseas, you don't piss around with that sort of thing!

[Dell'Orto]

Yep, abysmal. Very poor that they let it go out the door leaking!

[Vertigo]

Honestly, Im actually really glad they failed this spectacularly the third time around - gives me an easy way to get the entire thing scrapped and redone. I want nothing more to do with it.

Bring on a brand new exhaust through Albany!

[duddley]

I can't believe they think that is acceptable. I use the workshop next to them so will ask if they have heard any horror stories.

[Vertigo]

I can't believe they think that is acceptable. I use the workshop next to them so will ask if they have heard any horror stories.

Please dont let on that Ive now spread the word, dont want it affecting my chances of them not paying up.

That out of the way - guess you might have seen/heard my MR2 then?

[duddley]

Haven't been in for a while but need a gearbox flush and diffs, engine oil done so will probably head in next week. I won't say anything about your exhaust just to be safe. Have you had the new workshop write a report on your current exhaust?.

[Vertigo]

No not yet. I was in contact with the regional manager on Thursday and hes not very happy. I didnt give him the name of the branch, but did say I didnt have faith in them to get it done properly. Turns out I was right.

[evil_si]

Holy $&#$%, get your money.. all of it and run.

If i was to do it, that sort of money would get you stainless mandrel bends, tig welded with good quality mufflers and most likely a bit of change