Autoworld experience

[NYCEGUY01]

I figured I always post about the good treatment I recieve so this time I will post about the bad as well.



This is first hand from me and not friend of a friend etc...



I called and talked to ken and donna about an a/c bracket and pulley kit for my 96 Chevy project. They seemed very helpfull and knowledgable about everything I needed. They said they could whip one right up and I would have it on the following Monday. All I could think was wow these guys are sure on the ball.



The following mon nothing arrived. I didnt really expect anything that fast so no problem.



The following monday I called and was told they were verry sorry and my parts would ship in 1 or 2 days. Cool parts at least coming soon.



The following week, nothing yet so I called and got the same story again. Now I was getting worried



The following week Donna, who was starting to sound annoyed by me calling once a week, Said you didnt ever send us any pics of your setup, and I replied that they never asked for any, and I was told 1 or 2 days again and they wouldnt actually need any pics.



The following week I was told that they didnt want to make just one bracket and now that there were 4 or 5 others waiting for the same parts they would start building them ? Great



Finally I was called today by donna who informed me that they hadnt got any built yet and Ken was going racing untill the 23rd and sometime after that they would get right on it.



I tried to call them back but could get no awnser so all I could do was leave a message to cancel my order.



I guess this weekend Ill just fab up something on my own. Im not totally against doing it myself but just thought I would use some of my dollars to "buy" some of thier knowledge especially when they seemed so good on the phone and promised parts quickly.

Guess I was wrong.



Anyone have a similiar experience with this shop ??



What shops have you had a good experience with ??



The only thing I can think is that spending thousands ( instead of the $450 I was qouted ) on a full conversion may be the only way to guarantee good service. I have spoken with other members here ( who I will not mention, if they want to post it is up to them ) who have had similiar experiences but I have seen no posts etc...



This kind of info on where to go or where not to go would have had my truck back on the road a month ago if not sooner.

 

[KHaines]

my experience

I did a repower on my 93 Chevy K3500. I bought the conversion parts from Autoworld. Their produts look good, and show a high quality of craftmanship.



The customer service was poor. Donna was hard to deal with so I tried to talk to Ken as much as possible. 2 major complaints are as follows:

1) Price. The price quoted was not what I was charged. I would talk to them and say lets do it. Send the parts. The bill always came in about 10-20% higher.

2) They almost burned down my truck. I followed the wiring diagram given for the shut down reley. They made a mistake and mixed up the pull-in and hold-in windings. The reley caught fire but I was close by & put it out. It took almost 3 months to get them to make it right. They were going to make me a throtle bracket, but I had the same experience with them being to busy. They said it was on its way several times but after it never arrived, I call & get another promise. In the end they paid for the cost of the solinoid. Ken was great, but Donna didn't even want to pay my costs for a solinoid, even though my actual costs in burned parts was more.



Next time I will build it myself or look for another suplier. Maybe destroked.



Kevin

 

[RyanB]

Sucks to hear about the hard time with them... I have heard it before also. Could be going thru that time in there bussiness when they are almost growing to fast or two busy for the man power they have!



Try making them your self... you will feel better about it when done! I did my whole conversion on my own and although I talked to Donna a few times I didn't want to make brackets that didn't look stock (mainly for the ALT) I used the stock dodge ALT and I am very glad I did!



RyanB

 

[NYCEGUY01]

I also used the stock dodge alt.



It looks like Im gonna use the dodge a/c compressor as well, just mounted on my own bracket.



Ive allready done everything else on my own and was just gonna buy thier a/c setup to save some r&d time and get the truck back on the road quicker.

Didnt work out as well as planned. lol ,this mess probably cost me an extra month of down time.



I have talked to tdr member soswalt on the phone about the stuff he sells and he gave me some good ideas and was very helpfull. I havent seen his stuff in person but would have to reccommend him for others as he has been the only person that hasnt tried to sell me $500 worth of stuff that "might" work.

He even went into great detail about his setup and how to copy it AFTER he allready knew he wouldnt be getting any of my money. He was completly up front about the specific parts I needed and that he wouldnt be able to supply them in the time frame I wanted.

 

[DVolk]

Autoworld exsperience

I got some pics in the mail once from them it took quite awhile



most shops are afraid to give away secrets for what ever reason ,

the one transmission shop everybody talks about is like that to , they check to see what youve orderd first , but on Autoworld there only positive remarks was from that guy that use to work for them , i think any how , but seems ike a grump on the reply you see as well .



Scotts parts do work , i sell them and have added a few peices to make things even easier

 

[RSP]

I have talked to the lady at Autoworld, She told me there was no way I could run an E4OD trans behind a Cummins, LOL YA RIGHT. So They only do Manual conversions, Thats thier problem. I wont ever have a need to call them again for anything.

 

[FordCummins]

Yea, i love the way they claim that no automatic will live up to the Cummins torque, tell that to Maddog, running 1000hp through an E4OD. Or the countless other guys running massive power through a slushbox.....

 

[SOswalt]

I also used the stock dodge alt.



It looks like Im gonna use the dodge a/c compressor as well, just mounted on my own bracket.



Ive allready done everything else on my own and was just gonna buy thier a/c setup to save some r&d time and get the truck back on the road quicker.

Didnt work out as well as planned. lol ,this mess probably cost me an extra month of down time.



I have talked to tdr member soswalt on the phone about the stuff he sells and he gave me some good ideas and was very helpfull. I havent seen his stuff in person but would have to reccommend him for others as he has been the only person that hasnt tried to sell me $500 worth of stuff that "might" work.

He even went into great detail about his setup and how to copy it AFTER he allready knew he wouldnt be getting any of my money. He was completly up front about the specific parts I needed and that he wouldnt be able to supply them in the time frame I wanted.

Thanks

Sorry I couldn't get to ya in time.

Thanks

Scott

 

[SOswalt]

I got some pics in the mail once from them it took quite awhile



most shops are afraid to give away secrets for what ever reason ,

the one transmission shop everybody talks about is like that to , they check to see what youve orderd first , but on Autoworld there only positive remarks was from that guy that use to work for them , i think any how , but seems ike a grump on the reply you see as well .



Scotts parts do work , i sell them and have added a few peices to make things even easier

Thanks

Donovan

 

[DVolk]

Autoworld exsperience

Scott no problem !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[MMcCallie]

The dialogue with Dawna sounds almost exactly like what i went through, though i let it go on for a couple months, believing them all the time. They sent me things that didn't work, charged me for stuff they sent that they didn't tell me about.

The only thing i liked from them were the engine mounts, though they were slightly off. Had to redo the alternator bracket a couple times, and i did email pictures that even had a tape measure in the shots for reference. I also got the feeling i was a nuisance to them. They promised instructions for many things for several weeks even after i had my parts. They never came through for me, ever with instructions as promised. I was sadly disappointed.

While a conversion will likely cost thousands no matter how you try to keep costs down, i recommend doing the project yourself. You will probably spend less buying all of the tools you need compared to paying someone else to screw everything up. My truck went to 5 different shops over 9 months when i had to leave my truck behind. It took my dad and me 5 solid days to straighten out mistakes made by the mechanics, just to make the truck driveable.

 

[RyanB]

BINGO!!!!! I did my conversion... everything on my truck my self except for the engine build and even then I only sent it to the best (Haisley Machine).



Now... I spent a wack on my truck(more than a brand new one would have) but I did everything my self... had all my own things machined and had most of the tools in advance. I figured it out one time $$$ wise and if I would have been doing just the conversion I would have spent $3600CDN and thats for everything needed to make it run.



My truck was alot more than an engine conversion but I tell you I learned more from guys on here than I did from other shops "specializing in conversions" or so they say. Best thing I found was do a search for guys that have done similar things and ask away... most like my self are more than willing to help others out and share or at least talk about the headaches I had.



Good luck... RyanB



PS... no response from AW??? wonder why

 

[NYCEGUY01]

Well, my mounts don't look stock but they seem to work great.

I went a little overboard on them and had to do a little modifying. I actually built them so I could use a stock belt , tensioner, pulleys etc...

I didnt want to be out in the middle of knowhere and have to try and find some special sized belt etc. .

I still have to spend a good day or so cleaning up all the wiring and get some new a/c hoses made up but she will be makin smoke on the road very soon.



I will try to get up some pics of the brackets posted. Maybe it can help someone else out with the idea.

Im the kinda of person that if I see it I can build it. Just figuring out what to build when starting from scratch is what kills me. I usually end up doing this stuff 3 times to get something I am happy with.

 

[wicked6]

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience with Autoworld. . My experience was a positive one - engine mounts, AC bracket (GM compressor mounted next to injection pump), plus - advice, advice, advice... Craftsmanship was good, response was good - no complaints. . maybe dealing with them over the winter ("off season??") was the difference, or timing. . whatever. . sucks to have a bad experience though. . (trust me, I know - defunct body shop got me for $850 in work never completed... )



Linc

 

[JCrockett]

I had similiar experience with them when I started my conversion. I then called Fordcummins.com and got the parts I needed shipped here to AK, got here in a week and everything worked great, bolted right in, everything fit like it was supposed to. I had lots of questions and they were always there to answer them and help me out in anyway. I know alot of members here talk bad about "the other conversion shop from Montana" but I have had nothing but great support from them.



Just my . 02, don't want to start anything here, just letting people know I had good parts and help from Fordcummins.com, it may be another option for some.

 

[autoworld]

Response to NICEGUY1



JJ, i am so sorry we were unable to get this done for you. As i explained to you on the phone, you have an unusual AC bracket with the drivers side, upper mount pump and it takes him about FOUR hours to build each bracket - when you first ordered this, i thought we were talking about the usual GM pump - then when i talked to you again and realized he needed to see a picture, i asked for that - then he worked til 10PM every nite before he had to leave and came down with the FLU friday nite -he COULDN"T get out of bed Sat and Sun - he fully intended to get your bracket done (and now that we are back, has made the others ordered), he had to fly out wednesday - just didn't have time, for that - we are sorry. But - if you drove a Top Alcohol Funny Car for a professional team that depended on YOU to be there for a National and Divisional event, what would you have done??? This is why i called you to let you know what was going on, for that i took some harsh dialog... . and now this.

FYI - Auto World is first a VERY BUSY RETAIL store, i have three phone lines, i work the counter, answer phones, answer everyones emails, organize all the orders, do all the bookkeeping, cleaning, banking,

and spend ALOT of time helping repower people on the phone, as much as 3-4 hours a day, ALOT of time ones that are just picking our brains for info, keeping me from getting other work done - it is 7:50 PM and i just got home. Theres Ken and me and 2 shop guys, Ken does all the fabricating and welding, R&D etc, works in the store too and spends about 3 hours a day on the phone helping people ALSO - resulting in at least 10 hours per day EACH.

We have a minimum of 10 mount/bracket orders at ALL times right now - we have put out over FOUR HUNDRED bracket sets/mounts in the last year, i dont know how we can work any harder..... for that we are very sorry.....

dawna

 

[autoworld]

Kevin,

I have your invoice right here in front of me, the prices you were quoted were exactly what you were charged plus ups.

and yes, our shop guy told me the wrong wire and yes it was almost a disaster, luckily it wasn't, thats my fault for trying to help and including wiring diagrams which we normally didn't do - it has been corrected.

your credit card was credited for $200. 00

I did a repower on my 93 Chevy K3500. I bought the conversion parts from Autoworld. Their produts look good, and show a high quality of craftmanship.



The customer service was poor. Donna was hard to deal with so I tried to talk to Ken as much as possible. 2 major complaints are as follows:

1) Price. The price quoted was not what I was charged. I would talk to them and say lets do it. Send the parts. The bill always came in about 10-20% higher.

2) They almost burned down my truck. I followed the wiring diagram given for the shut down reley. They made a mistake and mixed up the pull-in and hold-in windings. The reley caught fire but I was close by & put it out. It took almost 3 months to get them to make it right. They were going to make me a throtle bracket, but I had the same experience with them being to busy. They said it was on its way several times but after it never arrived, I call & get another promise. In the end they paid for the cost of the solinoid. Ken was great, but Donna didn't even want to pay my costs for a solinoid, even though my actual costs in burned parts was more.



Next time I will build it myself or look for another suplier. Maybe destroked.



Kevin

 

[autoworld]

I got some pics in the mail once from them it took quite awhile



most shops are afraid to give away secrets for what ever reason ,

the one transmission shop everybody talks about is like that to , they check to see what youve orderd first , but on Autoworld there only positive remarks was from that guy that use to work for them , i think any how , but seems ike a grump on the reply you see as well .



Scotts parts do work , i sell them and have added a few peices to make things even easier

so, i sent pictures & info for free and it took too long, i'm so sorry... .

 

[autoworld]

Sucks to hear about the hard time with them... I have heard it before also. Could be going thru that time in there bussiness when they are almost growing to fast or two busy for the man power they have!



Try making them your self... you will feel better about it when done! I did my whole conversion on my own and although I talked to Donna a few times I didn't want to make brackets that didn't look stock (mainly for the ALT) I used the stock dodge ALT and I am very glad I did!



RyanB

like i said at the time, using stock stuff is up to the person doing the job and i'm glad it worked out for you, did you put a regulator on that stock dodge alt?

how much time do you suppose i spent on the phone with you? just wondering since i am being trashed here by others, did all the information i gave you help you out, save you any time, make things easier????

 

[autoworld]

I have talked to the lady at Autoworld, She told me there was no way I could run an E4OD trans behind a Cummins, LOL YA RIGHT. So They only do Manual conversions, Thats thier problem. I wont ever have a need to call them again for anything.

At the time we had no source for adapters for the ford automatic, we now do with destroked products, they make a real good piece, our trucks are built for pulling heavy loads, and still wouldn't use any automatic (maybe the allison once the electronic issues are ironed out). i also said we wouldn't use the GM automatic again in that same conversation since our little 12 valve destoyed 3 of them, stock, wazoo and super wazoo to the tune of $10,000 in experimentation -

and you know what those transmission builders said - the ones that GUARANTEED these trans

would stand up? oh, gee thats too bad, sorry about that... but then again we pull 20K loaded race trailer. our problem nv4500 ONLY lasted 400,000 miles ...