I know some of you have been waiting for this and I have decided to write it in a form of a story. I think that should make it easier.

It all started about 2 months ago when I was looking for a shop to install my Vortech kit. I called a bunch of different shops around southern California. The shop I decided to go to was Church Automotive because Sean seemed the most confident in tuning the Emanage Ulti which was what I had. So I made an appointment and dropped my car off. They told me that it should be done by the end of the day. I call around 4pm and they tell me that there are some parts missing from the kit (injector clips and crank pulley) one of the installers over at Church happen to have a crank pulley for my kit. I bought it off of him for $300, and the person I purchased the kit from was the nicest guy in the world and refunded me $300 for the missing crank pulley! So far so good...

The guy at Church told me that the crank pulley is at his place in Palm Springs and he wont be going there until the weekend. There was nothing I could do but say ok no problem. So the car stays there over the weekend. (the s2k is my only car) I call on Monday and they say that it’s definitely going to be done tonight. So I have my friend drive me down and drop me off at around 5pm. The car wasnt done then so the guys at Church were kind enough to stay after hours and finish the install. So after they told me that the install was done. Sean already left for the day so he couldnt tune it. So they just threw a map onto the EMU for a vtsc kit at 10 psi and told me not to push it and bring it back the next day. So I brought it back the next day. That day I find out that they didnt install the aftercooler cooling mount (im not sure what its called) so they took about the whole day installing that and wiring up my exhaust cutout.

During this whole install process was being finished. One of the guys convinced me to go with an aem ems and he said that he has one that he would sell me. It was a 1012 but he said that it works perfectly. He told me that he would sell it to me for 700, I say ok and we go from there. After the install is finally complete. Sean church starts the tuning. in the beginning the aem was acting up a little bit so they pulled it out and im not sure what they did I didnt see, and put it back in. After the tuning was complete, I was so happy this was finally done. Sean shows me a few things with the 2step and has me go for a test drive and everything is gravy from that point.

The next day I drive my car and start to hear a small squeaking sound. It only happened a few times so I thought nothing of it. Later in the day it got a little louder. I thought it might be the supercharger unit itself. So the next day I call Church Automotive and tell them what I hear and they say yea it probably is the sc unit. But I wanted to get a second opinion before I ship my unit off to Vortech for 3 weeks and im carless. so I call Autowave and they tell me to come in so they can diagnose the problem. I say ok and the next day I make my drive to Autowave. Half way there the car gets much worse and starts to make that sound much louder and my car just dies in the middle of the freeway. I turn it back on and go for another half mile and it dies again. I call my insurance company and they come to toe the car to Autowave.

I explain to autowave the whole thing that has happened so far and I leave the car with them to see what the problem is. The next day I get a call from autowave and they tell me that its not the sc unit. The Supercharger pulley was so loose that it almost fell off, there were hoses that were not connected to anything just hanging around and one of them was hitting the supercharger pulley and wearing it out, numerous other bolts were loose, and best of all the AEM EMS that they sold me ay Church had water damage. I saw with my own eyes the green mold growing on the plug in part as shown in the photo below



also it has been opened up and tampered with on the inside because the warranty seal has been broken, as shown here



These were things that I was not told when buying the ems.

Now that all this has happened, Autowave told me that I need a new belt and a few hoses which is understandable because the hoses were flying around my engine bay and hitting my belt. I also had to order an aem ems v2 which I might add Autowave gave me a killer deal on.

About 3 days later I pick up the car from Autowave with the kit reinstalled and with the new ems and with a new belt and new hoses and... well... check out my new dyno



I made 14whp more on a dyno that reads a lot lower than churches dyno.
Also Mike made me 2 different maps and installed a switch to change the maps (cutout open, cutout closed), Autowave also mounted the cutout switch for me. (which was just laying on the floor)

Churches dyno below



I have not yet gone to Church Automotive and asked for my money back because I have just been too busy in recent weeks and I feel that I have spent enough time on this already. But I will update this as soon as I confront the guys at Church auto about this and I will let you all know that happens.

My expenditures that Church Auto owes me are as follows:

$700 install (obviously because the install was falling apart)
$300 tune (because I made more power on a lower reading dyno with a different tune and im very dissatisfied with the church tune because of that)
$700 AEM EMS (because the EMS that they sold me has water damage, and has been opened and they did not disclose this to me ever)

"At Church Automotive Testing, our policy is simple - customer satisfaction"
Quoted from there website, that will be put to the test soon.

Edit: As of now please do not draw any conclusions about Church Automotive because it would not be fair to them untill I talk to them about this and report back.
Thank you

 

geez... hope everythign works out

 

wow...heck of a story. I would probably suggest talking to them before posting this thread. From what I understand, Church Automotive is a pretty respected shop and I imagine they would hold customer satisfaction pretty high.

I think you need to give the shop the benefit of the doubt to make things right with you before questioning their reputation.

Good numbers though

 

damn.. if i lived in cali.. i wouldnt want to go there after hearing an experience like that

 

[QUOTE=legendman,Dec 23 2009, 03:47 PM] wow...heck of a story.

 

goodluck man.

 

Church FTL.

 

Wow, I have heard nothing but good things about Church. Also thought that they are especially close with the S2K community. I really hope things work out for you.


I had the exact same experience with a tuner in FL. I drove from Tampa to Norfolk, Va to find out that my auger was snapped and my auber was bent. They had over torqued everything and tuned me on 5psi. they also didnt connect everything (like my speedo) when I went back to have it fixed five minutes later, they fixed it, test drove it and returned without side skirts. Said sorry and I signed a waiver saying any damage was not their fault. Also took over a week after they said it should take two days tops. I had to get back to VA or else the Navy would of been pissed. Not to steal your thunder, but I feel your pain. I spent a grand on a rental while the car was repaired in Va Beach.

 

CHUCH FTL!!!!!!!! i'm glad u finally posted this.

I was at Autowave and i saw your car. It was almost laughable because of how horrible the install was. my 6 year old cousin could have done a better install if he just looked at the instructions.

Pulley's were horribly loose, the hoses that are supposed to be attached to the intake manifold were hanging soo low that they could have dragged on the ground. Another hose was about 1/4 of an inch away from hitting the pulley (wtf is church thinking)

i'm thankful that your motor didn't explode and u didn't get hurt on the drive home. Autowave did an excellent job reinstalling everything and tuning the car. to autowave!!

 

i didn't even know they sold you an engine management with water damage.... WoW