Can anyone recommend in CANBERRA area.

[eKay]

Hi Folks,

Its been a very long time since I have last posted and it's has taken a bit to finally get back here and remove the cover off my EK and gain interest again.
The short story:
I need to get my car on the road and start enjoying it, it's almost there.
Can anyone recommend in the Canberra or surrounding area a custom exhaust centre to bend me up a decent exhaust system? It's relatively simple, just from the CAT back (V6 motor). I also need someone who can align panels, my bonnet needs proper alignment. I can't workout if the guards are out and if so, are the doors out etc. The car was fully stripped a while back, but not put together as well as I had hoped or paid for.

I'd appreciate any feedback.


The longer story for those bored: (helps me vent also):
I have/had a really nice Ek with FB trim that I managed to purchase back in 2006 or thereabouts. I decided to have it freshened up and get it stripped to bare metal and painted. After a search for a decent custom shop, I was recommended a place in Victoria, who turned out to be the most dishonest crooked people on earth. I won't name the players, but the business was known as Motorace in Ringwood (it's gone now).

After stripping my car down it sat for ages with delay after delay after delay, not a big issue but as I know these things can take time. Anyway, it turned out the business was going bust and instead of just letting me and other customers know, the crooks, as they do, kept asking for progress payments and took some nifty photos to declare work done. Unfortunately for me, I was interstate and my contact was photos, emails and phone calls. Suddenly it all stopped - my car was in the shop for over 3 years as every time they stripped back something, the old nutshell "whilst we have this apart, we should do this". It worked out OK and I agreed as I figured, well when it's all done, it will be a damn good vehicle. So the contact stopped.

A trip to Victoria was in order and I rocked up at the workshop. it was close to Christmas and the doors were locked. It was a warehouse, so no real windows to see into. I asked other neighbouring businesses but most of them had their heads up their butts and couldn't remember if it was open or not. Luck would have it, the crooked owner turned up. I watched from over the road as he opened the doors and went in.
I went over and cornered the dog. He was all apologetic and said his website crashed and that he'd dropped his phone and changed his number yada yada yada. The workshop was totally cleared of vehicles and cleaned out. He said he was in quiet period and only had a few cars which were getting some minor work subcontracted. Mine was at the auto electricians, which was where the vehicle was supposed to be as it was getting wiring done. He said it was almost complete, just the wiring and it would be good to go. He said he had cleaned out the workshop to redo all the floors for maintenance and get it ready for a big year. This guy is a slick conman and I asked him if everything was OK and he said yeah definately. Turned out it wasn't but I had no real reason not to believe him. If the dog had of just said I'm having problems financially and looks like I'm out, it could have been solved then and there, but he ensured me that everything fine and on track. He even "tried" to ring the auto electrician whilst I was there, but said it looks like he has closed up for Christmas. I got new phone number from him and went away thinking all was OK.

That was the last time I saw the dog or my vehicle for nearly 12 months. I wish I just claimed insurance now and be done with it, but as a stubborn fool, I rang around following different invoice leads and after some months of searching, I eventually found an auto electrician in the area who had the car. He was fuming also, saying Motorace owed him $$$ and he also couldn't find the owner either. He didn't know who owned my car and was preparing to sell it to recoup costs.

So another trip to Victoria to sort out everything. When I got there, I was devastated. The car was nothing but a shell. Poorly prepped prior to being painted, glass missing, panels hanging off and probably over $20k worth of parts and trim missing. After paying off the sparky, I organised for the car to return home were it has sat for the last 3 years in my garage where I could not go near it, but the time has come to get moving.

The owner dog of Motorace seems to have escaped prosecution. Something to do with bankruptcy and other things I think. I know there were at least 6 other people affected and someone with a really nice custom EH. Not sure what their story is. There was also a young bloke who worked there named Shannon who was doing up his own EK wagon. If you read this Shannon, if we cross paths one day be prepared, I know what you look like and I know you took a lot of my parts.

8 years of "joy" I'm ready to face this project again.. Thanks for reading..

[NoMAD]

man i cant help out with your request... however i can say that sucks dude!

but glad you are keeping at it... none of that stuff will matter when you are enjoying a cruise!

Cheers
Nathan

[Blacky]

Wow - this happens so often, its amazing how many of these stories you hear

Good to hear you are persevering with the build though

[WayneXG95]

Post a list of whats missing...

[iso007]

Ekjay. I cant help you with any direct info but thought I would let you know that I know how you feel. I have a similar story, paid for work up front, kept calling in but no progress so I left it for 6 months. Next time I went there, the landlord was waiting at the gates for the scrap dealer to take away the last shell as the business owner had done a runner. The last shell was my rolling shell of my Isorivolta Lele. No fittings were left, no grill no front bumper. No parts in australia. All this stuff had been originally hand made in Italy and I had to track it all down and this was before the internet. Anyway that too is all just a memory and it doesn't even make me angry any more. I reckon I Have made at least 20 life long friends from all over the world just from chasing those parts. It is now my most prized vehicle because of what we went through together. There is a silver lining to every dark cloud. The thing is, you will probably beat at least half of us in finishing your car anyway. Good luck chin up. See you on the road.
Ian

[Joe_FBHolden]

EKjay I can give you a list of local business I have dealt with since moving to Canberra recently. I own a FB special and had a serious breakdown not long ago. If it's mechanical I use Gary Shepard in Queanbeyan, I've been quoted for body work/rust repair at Gilmore smash repairs (he seems genuine) and AA sandblasting & CANFAB for sandblasting and powder-coating. Exhaust wise I haven't had any work done recently but last time I lived in Canberra a few years ago the exhaust shop in Belconnen did a good job.

Hope this helps

[eKay]

Post a list of whats missing...

Actually that's a good idea. I will need to go through the boxes I have and go from there. A lot of the stuff that went was extras, such as a pair of HR Prem bucket seats, A set of 15" Magnum wheels/tyres, a PERFECT pair of guards, all glass, barr a front windscreen for a sedan, the original under dash heater box, the exhaust system including some custom headers and then a lot of my stuff was swapped out. My bumpers and over riders were perfect, I have been left with old pitted ones, (re the comment about Shannon and his wagon.) If I can get the exhaust done I can actually drive it, just no trim and then I can hopefully have a few months of some enjoyment and get right back into it. Actually the back seat as well AND it was custom made with cut outs for small wheel tubs, two tone grey if someone suddenly comes across that item. Then again maybe heaps of people have wheel tubs.. cheers

[eKay]

EKjay I can give you a list of local business I have dealt with since moving to Canberra recently. I own a FB special and had a serious breakdown not long ago. If it's mechanical I use Gary Shepard in Queanbeyan, I've been quoted for body work/rust repair at Gilmore smash repairs (he seems genuine) and AA sandblasting & CANFAB for sandblasting and powder-coating. Exhaust wise I haven't had any work done recently but last time I lived in Canberra a few years ago the exhaust shop in Belconnen did a good job.

Hope this helps

Thanks..

[fingers]

Bang it on a trailer mate get it up to Rustydungers he will be able to realign and work on your ...hes just your side of Sydney ....give him a call or try Bootlegger ....both these guys do some pretty good work at a reasonable rate and wont f33k you around ................Fingers
PS I will PM their nos to you

[parisian62]

What a horror story

Good for you with sticking at it eKay.

Stewart

[eKay]

Bang it on a trailer mate get it up to Rustydungers he will be able to realign and work on your ...hes just your side of Sydney ....give him a call or try Bootlegger ....both these guys do some pretty good work at a reasonable rate and wont f33k you around ................Fingers
PS I will PM their nos to you

Got the PM thanks

[Devilrod]

What a bunch of thieving pricks!! There's a special place in hell for people like them. Then again if we had some more details on the wagon and your parts they used some one is bound to see it down here.....

[eKay]

What a bunch of thieving pricks!! There's a special place in hell for people like them. Then again if we had some more details on the wagon and your parts they used some one is bound to see it down here.....

Yeah, hopefully karma exists and what goes around. I've got nothing that will individually identify the wagon, it was primer grey and all I can tell you was the guy was named Shannon, real skinny dude, he would have to be about 23 years old by now. If he used my wheels they were 5 spoke chrome jobs 15 x 8 and 15 x7. I once posted a pic on the forum of my EK about 8 (ish) odd years ago, with those wheels on it. I'm not much of a forum guru, but I will see if that pic still exists. The rest is pretty much standard gear, would be hard pressed to identify anything except the rear seat, which I don't think would be usable to him as it was sedan seat with tub cut outs.

[eKay]

What a bunch of thieving pricks!! There's a special place in hell for people like them. Then again if we had some more details on the wagon and your parts they used some one is bound to see it down here.....

Yeah, hopefully karma exists and what goes around. I've got nothing that will individually identify the wagon, it was primer grey and all I can tell you was the guy was named Shannon, real skinny dude, he would have to be about 23 years old by now. If he used my wheels they were 5 spoke chrome jobs 15 x 8 and 15 x7. I once posted a pic on the forum of my EK about 8 (ish) odd years ago, with those wheels on it. I'm not much of a forum guru, but I will see if that pic still exists. The rest is pretty much standard gear, would be hard pressed to identify anything except the rear seat, which I don't think would be usable to him as it was sedan seat with tub cut outs.

I can't figure out how to bring the photo over here, but if you see "all my posts" I posted a bizarre topic "Am I breaking the rules" in 2007 about mixing FB and EK trim etc, but if you scroll down to the bottom of 1st page is a photo of mine before it was stripped down. When I look at it, I wish I wish I had just left it alone, it WAS a nice colour. Anyway those are the wheels, I think they are actually Cheviot brand, it's been too long now to remember.

Cheers

[Trev]