tonyk

No steve i meant more about, did he mention there was no warranty terms available or this is a 300bhp wrc spec engine on it.

If he hasnt specified any terms on ians receipt, this should be a simple claim against EA really as Harvey is a professionaly engine builder and his report is gonna be damming by all accounts.

Mike Rainbird

iTrader: (3)

Steve,
Actually, it's his "bitches" that don't know I get on really well with him and we religiously rip the piss out of each other all the time. I phoned him at lunch time to see if he actually really had the hump and as ever, he was as good as gold, although he did call me a coont when I said that he was a drama queen and asked him to call his bitches off . Well funny, as he didn't even know who Crazychris is / was .

He's feeling grouchy because he's put his back out again, but if he tries to make out to peeps that he hurt it bending over lifting an exhaust, don't believe a word of it - the truth is he was bending over for Ben to slip him one .

Stavros

I reckon Steves lulling you into a false sence of security then gonna cuff you one at the next track day

Mike Rainbird

iTrader: (3)

Steve,
Is cuff a term for something I should be worried about ? 'Spose I better ask Ben if he likes it when Steve "cuffs" him .

ESCYSCOTT

iTrader: (1)

I had seen some of the destruction of Ians car when I picked mine up from Harveys........not nice, I would have seriously been very upset and sad to the point of..................BURNING THE FOOKIN PLACE DOWN AFTER THEY HAD DONE THAT TO ME!!!!

PS: a lad from our local group has had his car to Paul Hills for a setup, his car runs a T38, 8 siamese injectors, low comp etc etc..................Paul tried to set the car up knowing it didnt have an 044 fuel pump, it only had a slightly uprated one that was fooked......needless to say the car in question has had so many problems its unbelievable!!!!

Ian M500COS

This thread was started by a member of PassionFord asking about Paul Hills and my car!. I wasn't going to make a fuss until someone today put on here that I was not telling the truth. That has pissed me off beyond belief so I will now give my full answer to this thread.

The following statement is I assure you the entire and whole truth – and I will take a fucking lie detector test to substantiate it. I have written this statement with libel action in mind so have run it by a qualified legal advisor! I swear this statement is as things actually happened! Conversations in commas are the actual dialogue that took place – I have a very good memory!

This will bring a whole new meaning to the term “tucked up” – none of you will have ever been shafted up the bottom by a reputable tuner like I have!

To recap gentlemen – I returned my car to Engine Advantages on 7th April 2004 to have a GT35 fitted which I was to supply, replacing the previous T4 sized unit. Now remember that Paul Hills built and mapped the engine last year at vast cost to me (the vast element could be the subject of a different separate reply!). On the promotional “fliers” he used to send out it said “Engine Advantages guarantee all work” and I believe he has this on a huge notice on his workshop wall? So I did not anticipate any problems.

I was led to believe that this turbo upgrade would only take a few weeks. The GT35 was delivered to Engine Advantages 2 weeks later, sometime in May. As time went on into June, I began to get concerned about how long this work was taking but I bit my tongue as always and not once did I get angry. I was due to go on holiday on Monday 21st June so was a little concerned about whether the car would be ready before then or if I’d have to wait until after I got back. My car would then have been off the road for over 3 months just to have what was effectively a turbo fitted! Remember I use the car as a promotional tool at shows throughout every summer. If only I’d gone to Martin Hadland for this work as Mike Rainbird repeatedly suggested I would not be in this mess – Martin is an expert on external wastegate installation!!

The week leading up to the 1st “big bang”, the car was nearer completion. However, I got a phone call off Paul on Wednesday 16th June and was told that the external Wastegate spring was “too strong” and he couldn’t get the boost down “below” 35psi! Paul said it was “more like a 1000bhp spring”! I rang Vince Osbourne who supplied the turbo and wastegate and when I told him what Paul diagnosed, Vince nearly fell off his chair laughing. I managed to get Paul and Vince talking to each other about it on the phone and again Paul repeated to Vince what he’d told me – that he thought the wastegate spring was too strong! Vince repeatedly told me that he thought Pauls diagnosis was very wrong. Clearly we now know that the real reason Paul could not control the boost was not because of the wastegate spring. It was because of the way Paul had mounted the external wastegate itself. In fact, if he had completely removed the spring, and replaced it with soggy toilet paper, it would still have made what I now know was 3.6 bar!

After numerous 3-way conversations, Vince suggested Paul cut a coil off the spring and Paul agreed to give that a go. The next thing I knew was when I got a text off Paul at 10.40am on Friday 17th June, which simply said “576.6bhp”. I rang Paul back straight away rather pleased thinking all was well and asked when I could pick it up and how much it was. But I was rather taken aback when he said £1820 – remember I had supplied the GT35 and external wastegate – Paul was just going to fit it! I think Paul used the bhp “figure” to justify the huge fitting cost. I now know that it was to keep money coming in while he was having trouble with Stephen Hendy’s WRC car and other cars at that difficult time.

So I turned up at 9.15 the following day (Saturday 19th June) and my car was already parked outside with a warmish engine (?). Even at that time there were a few people there, including Effe who was down to check up progress on his own car. The turbo looked impressive (as GT35’s do) but what worried me and my mate Glyn, was how he had mounted the wastegate – ‘T’ing off the very thin stainless EGR piping as in the pics in this thread!! Also the big shame of it was Vince had supplied me with a really nice “Tial” one, which due to Paul’s mounting method was hidden under the exhaust downpipe and manifold.

So after about 10 minutes of warming up the car and chatting to Glyn, I asked Paul if I could take it for a test drive. Paul said yes and then I asked “how fast can I go?” to which Paul replied “As fast as you want Ian, that’s what it’s built for” – you will remember that Effe, as you were standing right there next to the pair of us when we said those exact words!

So me and Glyn got into the car and went off for a test drive, heading slowly towards the A12. Once the stack dash read 89DegC I put my put down but at 6000rpm – a huge bang! Loads and loads of white smoke from the exhaust and the engine went down onto what sounded like 2 cylinders! Glyn reckoned my 35psi boost gauge had gone so far around it was hitting zero again from underneath! We managed to limp it back to Paul’s and he/Glyn diagnosed the head gasket had lunched big time as the smoke was very white – I was now driving the worlds most expensive kettle!

I felt like driving my boot into the fucking door! Paul said “Don’t worry Ian, I’ll fix it” – so I left the car there almost suicidal and went home to face my holiday with that to think about! I rang Paul twice from Spain to check on progress. He told me it had lunched on number 3. At that point he did not mention anything about any head damage – he said it was “just a headgasket failure”!

I came back from Spain the following Monday 28th June and arranged to pick the car up 3 days later on Thursday evening which I did. Prior to that I rang and politely asked if I owed him anything for the “headgasket” repair – I am always like that, I do not take the piss and expect people to go out of their way for nothing. But shock and horror when he calmly said “six hundred”. We now know why - to be revealed below!

I arrived at Paul’s Thursday teatime with my girlfriend and he could hardly look me in the eye. I only had 300 quid on me as I had already paid him the full £1820 two weeks before when the headgasket blew (as at that time, he’d asked me to leave him some money to pay the fabricator so I just gave him the envelope with the whole £1820 in!). One thing about me – I always pay my way!!

He virtually threw the keys at me and barely spoke as he was visibly clearly annoyed with another customers car – Stephen Hendy’s WRC Escort which was due to go out on a rally on the Saturday two days later. I now understand from several knowledgeable sources that the engine Paul has built/mapped has let go on several rallies and Stephen Hendy (much bigger than me!!) was losing his “patience” with Paul. I understand that Stephen Hendy was very annoyed with Paul indeed!

So before I left that Thursday evening I again asked Paul “how fast can I go?” to which Paul bluntly replied “As fast as you want Ian, that’s what it’s built for – it’s all ok now”. Hmm, where have I heard this before?? I decided to just get the car home and drove it the 175miles back like it was my driving test! I next drove the car 3 days later on Sunday 4th July to a cruise in Gloucester. Remembering the way Paul had mounted the wastegate I drove the car with a self imposed 25psi boost limit – this was very hard as these turbo’s comes on boost very quickly indeed once the revs are up. I didn’t want to go beyond that because I just had a bad feeling that the boost was uncontrolled! I was reluctant to drive the car hard – I didn’t trust it!

The next evening, I was due to take a potential customer out for a demonstration. He turned up and I wasn’t going to take him out as I’d had a new windscreen fitted earlier that afternoon, but he persisted. Anyway, I thought I’d just run him down the local industrial estate and give it a quick “blip” on the throttle. Unfortunately I missed the 25psi mark on the boost gauge but honestly didn’t go beyond 6000rpm (but it was a “race” engine anyway so should have been able to withstand it!). However, there was an almighty bang and then the sound of lots of “metal” chunks whizzing underneath the car. I now know that those “bits” were parts of my block, rods and sump as one of my WRC conrods had gone through both sides of the block and one side of the sump. The engine was completely destroyed – there was nothing left that was usable! So I had driven my car 3 times since April and it blew up on 2 out of 3 of those occasions. And on the middle occasion I was going that slow home on the M40 I was driving like Mr Bean and had fucking lorries overtaking me!

So after my girlfriend had come down to pick up and return the very unimpressed customer back to his car at my house, whilst waiting for the recovery vehicle, I rang Paul at 10.00pm from the side of the road and told him what had happened. I was completely calm and didn’t lose my temper once – not at all. In fact the following day (6th July) I was even due down Paul’s as previously arranged with my mate Glyn to have his car mapped. There, I calmly discussed my engine failure a little but agreed to talk about it at a different time! During the chat in his office upstairs Paul’s wife looked upset and told me that they had been having some bad luck with customers cars recently – Paul gave her a dirty look when she said that – as if to shut her up!!

A few days later, following numerous discussions with Paul, I realised that his “offer” to put it right was not what I quite had in mind! In fact with the damage being what I now know it was, it would have mounted to a five grand or more bill! So enough was enough and I decided to call it a day. Following loads of calls to Vince (top bloke!!) he arranged for Harvey and Ahmed to have the car, and when it arrived there I was amazed what I was beginning to be told.

Oh yes, one important thing, when Paul found out my car was on it’s way to Harvey’s he asked if I could send him back my ECU so he could erase all of the data on it – I now know why as there was some pretty damning evidence on it! When he realised I was not going to do that, he then rang back a day later and suggested I get my car collected from Harvey’s and said he’d fix the car at a “slightly reduced rate” – all parts at cost and just £500 labour to pay the lad Tom who worked for him. With the wrecked block, head, sump, crank, conrods, pistons and baffled sump etc that would have still been a massive bill so I declined the offer and decided to leave the car with Harvey. Why should I pay Paul anything? Paul had supposedly rolling roaded my car at nearly 580bhp on the Friday morning and the day after that, the 1st time I drive it, it goes bang ½ a mile down the A12. The next time I drive it properly it goes bang again and wrecks the engine! Why the hell should I pay any more? For those of you that know me, I drive the car like a big girl and never take it beyond 6000 rpm!! You all tell me I drive it like a big ponce – Glyn, Dave, Joe at Bluesprint and even Paul acknowledged once I was not a hard driver of the car!

Another reason why Paul wanted me to send him back my ECU. The datalogger on it would reveal lots and lots and lots of very interesting evidence!! Oh the wonders of T6-2000 chaps! – it datalogs every driving “session” going back ages. It tells you the time the car was started, rpm through the session, how long you drove it for and more importantly – boost at specific times and peaks!! And from this datalogging, I now know that at that precise point the headgasket blew at 9.59am that Saturday morning, it ran a peak of 3.6 bar of boost – that’s 4.6 bar absolute! Due to the lack of wastegate control no doubt. It also ran the same level of boost just before exploding the 2nd time as well.

Even more annoying, from Harvey's analysis of my T6-2000, Paul was working on my car up very late on the Friday evening (18th June) – I ask you why as if we recall he’d texted me 12 hours earlier with a supposedly 576.6bhp figure – so why would he still be working on my car later in the day running boost – surely it would have all been finished that morning and ready to collect! Also the following day (Saturday 19th June) when I was due to 1st pick the car up, he started the car very early that morning – I think it was at 6.26am !! Clearly I believe he was trying to get the car running on 4 cylinders from what I now reckon was several head/gasket failures that week as we now know there had been several repairs done to my previously undamaged and mint ported head! The car could not have been road tested properly at all. Remember a T6-2000 tells you everything!

So I think Paul knew this failure was going to happen again and he just wanted to say that it was fine when he tested it. He chose that route rather than admit he had made a mistake with the wastegate mounting method and he’d do it a different way! I also believe that the graph for 576bhp done on the 18th June was “not genuine” – how could it be? Both times I had driven it hard the fucking thing blew up! Why oh why would he be working on the car at late if it was all mapped and finished 12 hours earlier. I even think it was possible Paul had major problems with the engine earlier that week. I mean the head was knackered!

Also Paul only “confessed” to me when he’d heard my car was up at Harvey’s that when my headgasket had 1st blown it had damaged the head as well. Why didn’t he tell me this before? He clearly wanted to keep it from me! But he knew Harvey would spot it in a second. In fact upon stripping for inspection, Harvey informed me the head was so badly damaged and botched from the previous uninformed repair that he did not want to use it on my new engine!

From this T6-2000 we also now know that the maps contained more ignition on 8:6.1 than other well known very high powered engines ran at a much lower compression! In fact the maps were more or less perfect copies of 300bhp 34mm restricted WRC engines – not fit for a huge bhp engine with an enormous turbo.

Basic Facts:

The engine had done no more than 3000miles – never did a track day and was rarely driven hard – I’d just run it up to 6000rpm and then change gear every time. I'd never hold it there.

My instructions were to fit my supplied GT35 and external wastegate assembly retaining the WRC tubular exhaust manifold if possible. Any competent race engineer would have welded a big pipe to the manifold and attached the wastegate to that – just as you do with a 2WD manifold. I did not instruct Paul to use the EGR pipes as method of mounting.

I even asked him before the car went there if he could fit the GT35 using the WRC manifold to which he replied “yes, shouldn’t be a problem” !!

Clearly the engine ran uncontrolled limitless boost as a result of the wastegate not opening at all – The EGR pipes were too small to flow enough exhaust gas required to open the wastegate and control the boost. It was a suicide mission from the very start.

His diagnosis of the wastegate spring being too strong was fatally flawed and totally incorrect.

The engine failed on its 1st customer test drive. Not even a mile had been travelled

Considering his “we guarantee all work” statement I was asked to pay for the headgasket repair

It failed again the next time I drove it hard

Considering his “we guarantee all work” statement, he again asked me to pay for the repair if he'd had it back again (it would have been a new engine!).

I considered it non ecomomical to take the car back there!

It would have only blown up a 3rd time.

And I had run out of money!!!

So gentlemen – there you have it, the full statement of facts. Anything different you have been told by someone else is incorrect.

Someone else started this thread asking about Paul Hills - I have never started a thread on here but when someone is covering up and calling me a fucking liar on his behalf, well I won't stand for that!! Remember I have facts, witnesses and hard visible evidence proving beyond doubt about what I have stated. Facts!!! The ECU doesn't lie!

This whole saga has made nearly me ill and has wrecked my year. Put yourselves in my shoes!!

PF Ben

iTrader: (1)

Mike... I think should stop now mate
Cheers,
Ben

CraigN

get your money back mate

stress and money can turn a good man to the darkside i know i frequently see lewis (B19TRB) sucking cocks for rocks

Rs Gus

iTrader: (2)

fooking hell what a shame ian all that money down the drain
i am sure you have taken it to the correct place now harvey will do a good job m8
do u mind how much was the bill????????????????? i do feel for u u have been well and truely done up like a kipper

Gadget

Fuck me!
No wonder you felt i'll Ian, i would be on his door making serious issues off this!!
Can't believe someone can think they are so good but does so much wrong!!!

Rs Craig

ian you should paul(rodney)hills i would

Jim Galbally

i REALLY hope the guy's got public liability insurance

IF what you say it true (ps not calling you a liar, just dont wanna jump to conclusions) then i think you have a VERY strong case to get every penny you've been put out of pocket by... i assume you're taking legal action?

just hope he's insured for this sort of thing tho, they dont legally have to be insured for liability, and if they aint it means getting money after you win may be an issue (i mean its not like tuners are minted is it!)

tonyk

Ian should you take this to a court you will stand to recover all your costs involved, if harvey/vince will agree to give and engineers report or indeed be a witness then this is pretty open and shut. Also get hold of one of those flyers if you can. Depending on the amount u wish to pursue will set the level of the court you attend. If you are below £5000 it will be a small claims court.

Disabled Account

Ian, that is shocking - sorry to hear all of that

Mike Rainbird

iTrader: (3)

Sorry, forgot your sense of humour failure .

RWD_cossie_wil

iTrader: (9)

I think Ians response sums up the problems Ian take him to the foookin cleaners his attitude towards you is fucking awful
Oh and Ian, post up your bills, it will make good reading

ImaRacing 700

One thing puzzles me...you saw the EGR pipes being used and obviously so did many people by the sounds...but you never thought fook i aint running that even though you claimed to say they wernt right???

So cause of failure was massive boost and fooking hell at that boost pressure from a GT35 it must have been phenominal!

So to me from a competance point of view Paul should not have been doin the GT35 conversion as it clearly was his first attempt....BUT i am sure if youd taken it back to him youd hardly had to pay anything IMO and i am sure he would have done things differently.So you have obviously ended up paying SCS shit loads when you didnt have too.As for ignition map dont take too much notice of people saying it was too advanced as you know that rival tuners will always stick more boot than is nessecary...remember you said you are a 6000rpm man so i dont beleive it was a dangerous map in your case whatever it was!!!

As said i like you both so thats just my opinion......

PF Ben

iTrader: (1)

I've got a sense of humour mike, but i'm not the only one whose patience you're wearing thin (regardless of what you think / have been reassured of)... that's all i'll say mate. Get back on topic
Ben

rs_daz

Ian,
Thats crazy ,I hope you get every penny bk,

Good luck.

Look forward to seing it bk on the road soon

Ian M500COS

If he or any of his representatives come on here calling me a liar regarding my statement even once then i will take the matter further the next working day. It's people questioning my honesty that bothers me more than any amount of money.

ImaRacing 700

@ Ben being wound up by Rainbird.....how the fook could he EVER do that When Mike tries to use his sarky comments on me i just think of his very small man hood and that i am his Jens substitute boyfriend when she needs sex.

Stavros

IIRC Harvey actually told Ian soon as the facts came out (datalogging ) that he should sue.

I really want to stress this isnt some shit stirring two sides to every story type thing that people often post, Ian hasnt said the same will happen to everyone, he hasnt even called anyone names, and if was ME id be going absolutley mental, but what happened to him thanks to the wonders of datalogging is just fact.

Just to show proof if ever any way needed, what about this...

Mike Rainbird

iTrader: (3)

Ben,
Well I'm sure Steve will tell me to my face, it's not as if he'd be scared too . And if he / you / anyone can't take a bit of harmless banter (yet feel able to give it out), then it's a sad state of affairs . As the saying goes; "If you can't take the heat - stay out of the kitchen" .

So, how was it Steve got his bad back again?

ImaRacing 700

Steve it blew cause on the 3.5bar boost surely?

markk

iTrader: (2)

hmmmm im not one to argue with someone over a bad job , as we all know that sometimes things can and do go wrong not ness the fault of the person doing the job , but the money we are talking here , from what i can see , i would have no choice in my actions , and i dont think you have enough money ian (?) to write off a bill so huge as that .

good luck

mark

Stavros

It PROBABLY blew cause it hit 3.5bar, but the point with the maps is it would have blew anyhow regardless of boost as it was running a 300bhp WRC map on a engine with the potential for 600+

And its more often than not det that makes HGs blow n rods snap, not boost pressure itself...

GARETH T

really do feel sorry for you ian
im sure scc will sort it out for you mate,, get me to order more parts from you and youll have you cash back in no time

Mike Rainbird

iTrader: (3)

Gareth,
SCC will struggle to sort it when it is sat at SCS .

RWD_cossie_wil

iTrader: (9)

it is very very lucky for EA that Ian is such a mellow chap , most people would have been fookin livid. As I have always said, mistakes are not the problem, its peoples attitude and customer service that matter neither of which have been forthcoming in this case

ImaRacing 700

I would refuse to beleive that paul would do that steve.....he isnt that bad a mapper if he was,everything he did would blow as that is so far out.

Can we see the map as it does belong to Ian?????

PF Ben

iTrader: (1)

Mike - I never give 'banter' mate, even when there are some truly campalicious pictures of you posted up!
I can take it aimed at me but don't appreciate it when it's aimed at a very good professional / close mate relationship I have with someone / anyone. That's all.
Not wound up just don't appreciate it
Cheers,
Ben

GARETH T

TWAT

Stavros

Phil- read the post, there is no way in hell he could have live mapped the car, the boost was totaly unlimited, the would have been a previously made map.

So your saying Harvey and the other well known experts whos seen the map are lying?

Ive never seen it, no idea about if Ian has it himself, ask him. Far as i can see facts are facts unless you really belive there some wild conspiricay involving loads of big tuners in the UK against paul

Andreas

Really gutted for you Ian.

Even makes me feel angry as it reminds me of when I got conned, that was just a smaller amount but I was young and trusted everyone.

Hope it gets sorted the best way possible.

Smit

iTrader: (5)

That's some Story Ian

Hope thing work out.

ImaRacing 700

Steve you spastic...tuners obviously talk about other tuners as they are rivals..its pretty obvious

We know the boost was unlimited cause of his method of installation..that is what blew the car up...NOT the map....Ian has deffo grounds for sueing but its flawed as paul offered to fix it but he declined he did all he could...BUT i dont blame ian as it would make anyone disheartened!..In hindsight he should have threatened legal action and insisted on repair...once done THEN trailor it away to be checked and mapped.

CraigN

paul did not offer to fix it

fix it in my opinon is admit the mistake and rectify it for free

ian would have had to spend mega £ on a new engine

Ian M500COS

I agree Phil but after two failures I saw no point in going back - it would keep blowing up and he'd keep charging me. Only if he had offered to fix it completely at his cost would I have gone back. And he only started to be more flexible when he knew the car was on it's way to Harvey's.

Stavros

IMA

What you wittering on about you no nothing goon

Put it this way...

Imagine if the car was NEVER driven, but 2 indipendant experts checked the engine and checked the map, so see if there was ANY ways it would blow up when driven hard...

They would find TWO.

1)- There is no way of regulating the boost, so even if the map was perfect, it would blow up.

2)- The map is TOTALY wrong for the car, its for a restericted 300bhp WRC engine, not a 600bhp GT Turbo thing, it would blow up even if the wastegate did work perfectly.

Unfortunatley those things were only found out after the car exploded.

Even with your expert mapping knowlege you must realise that is incredibly unsafe.

Harvey seen the map, another big name tuning/mapping person (who im not naming as i dont know if im allowed) has seen the map (hence what i quoted earlier), and im pretty sure others have too, are they lying or somthing?

Jesus mate, everyone understands but you, you do it on purpose...

ImaRacing 700

Its not even your car and yet you feel the need to insult When in actual fact you know absolutely nothing about mapping and are going on here say I am certainly not saying Ian is lieing but maybe his tuner is exagerating slightly???

You remind me of a leech i once had on my Arse