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#31
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The advance deadline and completion date is somewhat strange. It makes you wonder if the car is being worked on right up to the last minute. If it is, how can they give a drop-dead date with any degree of certainty?
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#32
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There is a good chance that the car is or has been ready for awhile & Larry was waiting for just the right moment to release it.
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#33
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Well, the time has come for the car to be delivered. I hope you have good news for us.
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#34
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Quote:
I took my pictures right after my Viper Tech drove it to my house around 5:30 PM, Thusday, Febrary 1, 2007. Larry Macedo called my lawyer and not me and told my lawyer that he is dropping off my Viper and he has 10 minutes to be there and pick it up immediately around 1:20 PM. Larry never told me nor my lawyer what day he was going to drop off my Viper or even where until he called my lawyer and gave him 10 minutes warning. My Viper wouldn't start and had to be pushed off the trailer according to the manager of Voss Parts. It was then put on a trickle charger for 3 hours. I drove it the next day to the self serve car wash - after trying to get it started several times in my garage. It died on me twice in traffic on the way to the car wash, which is less than a mile away. It barely started again when I was done at the car wash. By then it was snowing and no heat at all came out of the vents no matter what setting I had it on. My windshield was freezing up and I couldn't see out of it and I drove it home from a nearby gas station after getting a fill up. There's more, but I'd like to keep that private between Larry and me at this time and give him his third chance at getting my Viper right. |
#35
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Oh boy, I would be pissed. Sorry to hear that it still isnt right, you would think that he really would want to make things right, and to me, that wouldnt include putting it on an open trailer and getting salt and road spray all over it.
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#36
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I'll be buying and installing a new battery and see if that fixes the hard to start and dying in traffic issues.
Next will be the lack of heat no matter where the controls are set. We're up to 9 degrees now, snow is coming, and my garage is cold. |
#37
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Date: Mon, 05 Feb 2007 15:03:46 -0500
Wendy & Larry Macedo , I expect this to be my last Email on this subject. This is to advise that until Ken has the Viper inspected by an "independent" Viper tech* (see below) he will be unable to articulate all remaining issues with the vehicle. Nonetheless, Ken does have the following issues now: 1) The check for $500 as per Larry's 8/10/06 Email was never sent, 8-10-06 That is very odd, Kenny. If I look back to earlier this week you stated the car is much improved since the card changes were made. I discounted the price on the AEM components and you stabbed me in the back. Hell, you only gave me one chance to rectify any problems and told me the car was much better. Now this? I will send you a check for $500, Kenny. Thank you! Best regards, Larry Macedo 2) Ken is uncertain as to the status of the 2 PCMs and it appears that you remain in possession of at least one $420 PCM, 3) The heater does not work, the car may be running hot, 4) Ken and I have several times requested a summary of work performed and parts changed and no such summary has been received, 5) Ken needs instruction service manuals/warranty cards for the AEM-EMS system and for the Jeff Morys striker heads, 6) Padding for the roll bar was never installed (Larry said my roll bar would be like the one used in the SRT which is padded, but it ended up being a different but good design except the bar would hit by anyone's head if the car acellerated rapidly or was in an accident - it's bare painted metal now and the manufacturer of the custom roll bar would be liable for any cracked skulls), and last but not least, 7) Several operational issues remain that will be clarified upon the Viper tech inspection, but relate to the fact that Ken's Viper stalled twice in traffic and has major starting issues. In any event, some of the matters discussed herein are easily resolved and I would suggest you at the very least take care of these. Please direct all further communications directly to Ken and if something urgent should arise you and you would need to speak with me you have my telephone number. Sincerely, Bill James ================================================== ======== I have recieved a small package today from Larry, but it was not anything that was requested above. The package contained something from Snow Performance - probably something to do with my water/methanol injection system - but no explaination for what I need to do with it was included with it. Larry and Wendy Macedo are still contacting my lawyer (Bill James) rather than myself. ================================================== ======== *My Viper Tech also works for Larry, which is why an "independent" Viper Tech or Tuner would do the inspection. It's only a 2 mile drive from where my Viper was dropped off to my house. |
#38
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I finally got to put a few miles on my Viper again to keep the new battery charged and to get all the fluids up to proper temperatures thanks to a few days of above freezing temperatures. It runs tremendously better than when Larry delivered my Viper to me July 1, 2006 - no surging, idle is correct for the cam, and no high idle hang up. Power comes on as gentle as I want it to or as violently fast as I want it to, though I haven't even come close to even half throttle yet (roads have too much salt on them still).
Larry's dyno numbers for the 93 octane gas I use: 2000 RPM = 250 rwHP & 650 rwTorque 2500 RPM = 320 rwHP & 720 rwTorque 3000 RPM = 450 rwHP & 780 rwTorque 3500 RPM = 540 rwHP & 820 rwTorque 4000 RPM = 620 rwHP & 820 rwTorque 4500 RPM = 680 rwHP & 800 rwTorque 5000 RPM = 720 rwHP & 760 rwTorque 5500 RPM = 725 rwHP & 700 rwTorque I worked on getting the heat/no heat problem fixed by getting air out of the cooling system. It took a gallon total of a 50-50% mix of distilled water and the Mopar brand anti-freeze that Larry Macedo used so far in getting the system to be right. Isn't a gallon low a pretty big amount to be low? I have also set the clock to the correct time. Again, I would rather hear the engine running than the radio, so I didn't set any stations. |
#39
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Added another quart of distilled water/anti-freeze today.
That's 5 quarts missing from the almost 12.8 quarts total... ...and it still burps air. |
#40
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I took my Viper to 2 seperate DynoJet facilities to verify the power, torque, and air/fuel ratio using as close as possible the same proceedure that was used in Florida. Other than putting in a new battery and adding 5.5 quarts of coolant/distilled water to my radiator to correct problems with my Viper as delivered to me 2-1-07, only 93 octane gasoline was added. My Viper uses an AEM-EMS.
Larry Macedo in Florida got 739 rwHP and 822 rwTorque maximum numbers 1/16 & 17/07. Steve Colletti in Ohio got 629 rwHP and 648 rwTorque maximum numbers 3/2/07. Jeff Wightman in Ohio got 659 rwHP and 733 rwTorque maximum numbers 3/3/07. Why would there be such a huge difference? Colleti's dyno got 30 MORE rwHP than Larry Macedo's dyno before Larry worked on my Viper (11/14/05 - 2/1/07). Wightman's dyno run was the first time I took my Viper to his shop. |
#41
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Altitude & Ambient air temperature will definitely have "some" influence on the output of any engine.
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#42
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An almost 15% drop in power seems a bit much. The most difference you can get in altitude between those two states is about 1500 ft. Unless you were having a really bad smog day in Ohio, the lack of oxygen might have had something to do with it, but that's a long shot....
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#43
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At this point, I don't think you have much hope of getting any help from Mr. Macedo as far as what your engine is producing. Far too much time has been wasted on this project!!!!! Kenny, Go out and enjoy your car...............
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#44
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OH MY GOSH!
I pulled a sparkplug to see how they looked and it was the same reach as the original spark plugs. I heard that the Jeff Morys Striker cylinder heads used hard to find extended reach spark plugs. I called Jeff Morys and found out Larry Macedo had put the wrong spark plugs in my car which is why he couldn't get it tuned right with the VEC2 and has my car not running right after having it back for 5 months to get it to run right. I pulled some more sparkplugs and they were all the wrong kind of sparkplugs! Larry Macedo put in Autolite 3922 sparkplugs and the Striker heads require NGK LFR 7AIX sparkplugs. It also looks like Larry tuned my car with the catalytic converters not on it on January 16 & 17, 2007 to get his impressive dyno numbers and then he finally put my catalytic converters on after that but never tuned my car with them on! |
#45
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The Autolite 3922 does not have enough reach to have the spark be in the combustion chamber!
Yes, they are extremely wrong plugs! |
#46
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That is quite a mistake for a high priced engine expert to make.
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#47
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Who's to say that the correct spark plugs were not used during the dyno pulls Mr. Macedo made?
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#48
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Quote:
Larry also seemed surprised that I did not take off my catalytic converters - Random Tech Metal Substrate - for my local dyno pulls to be like his dyno pulls to get the big numbers. |
#49
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Have you sold the movie rights yet? I can see it now: The Fast and the Furious 3: The Ballad of Kenny's Viper. The story of a guy who keeps getting beat in his poorly tuned Viper by 16 second Honda's, but in the end, Kenny has his car tuned right, gets his revenge, and finds love. Bwaaaah ha ha ha!!!
Sorry, that's mean.... I really don't think removing the cats' represents "real" street horsepower. Larry's wrong on that one, and on his choice of sparkplugs. |
#50
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For anyone wanting to keep abreast of the situation:
http://forums.viperclub.org/showthre...ight=eakmobile |
#51
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A couple of months ago while Larry was working on my Viper on his second chance to make his work on my Viper be right my lawyer tried to call Larry and Scott picked up the phone and said Larry was unavailable to come to the phone. My Lawyer asked Scott about my Viper and Scott said he did not recall my car being there.
Looky-see below for photos of Scott working on my Viper and notice what he is holding in his hands. |
#52
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Okay.... How'd you get those pics?
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#53
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I won't be posting anything more on this until my Viper has been thoroughly inspected and the results are known.
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#54
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My Viper has been returned to me by Larry Macedo and what was found - 2 dyno tests by independent shops verifying the car Larry delivered to me is around 100 LESS rear wheel horsepower that his numbers and also runs excessively rich and not anywhere close to Larry's perfect air/fuel numbers on his optimistic dyno test - has been also verified by a 3rd independent dyno test at Underground Racing. UGR also even put in the right reach spark plugs and found slightly more power, but nowhere close to what Larry claimed my car has.
My engine was completed by Macedo April 6, 2006 - which is long before I posted anything negative about his work. Below is a very minor example of what Underground found during their inspection. |
#55
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there is some guy around here that got a vett got 500 hp on his plate i would love for you to meet him
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#56
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Ken,
I can see the pic you posted, but what flaw did you mean to point out to us? BB |
#57
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Holy Shift!
If someone hosed me over that bad GRRR!!!!! You are a much better person than I am sir. What a joke, the sad thing is I see another red viper in the background. I think the pics were showing you the guy was proud of the wires yet they had no clue they needed certain plugs. I'd be seriously p!ssed. By the way you car kicks so much @ss. If your ever in Northern MI/WI and need a place to crash/hang for a bit (or just wanna cruise) look me up. I'll be moving to AZ in a few months so look me upo there if need be. |
#58
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I've had 2 other vehicle bad experiences -
1.) Got a tank of bad premium gasoline in my Ram because the tank truck driver made a mistake in filling the underground tank at the gas station. My Ram quit running 2 1/2 blocks away. The owner of the gas station reimbursed me for the tow and repaired my fuel system and refilled my tank with good premium gasoline. He even offered me a free rental car while my Ram was being repaired. 2.) My Viper Tech lost control of my Viper and the rear end came around and the rear wheel scraped the curb, causing serious road rash. The time was early morning when the air is cool and the streets are not real grippy and the Viper makes more power. My Viper Tech had my wheel repaired at his expense. Both instances had the person involved stepping up to the plate and showing integrity in getting the situation fixed as soon as possible without any hassles or excuses. My 3rd vehicle bad experience is, of course, Larry Macedo. He has yet to step up to the plate and show integrity in getting the situation fixed as soon as possible, but I'm hopeful that he will do the right thing and pay for the repairs to my car. I don't know how much he was involved with the horribly bad job done on my car - I have photos of Scott Casey working on my Viper - but as owner of Macedo Motorsports Larry Macedo himself is ultimately responsible for what is delivered to his customers. I don't want to sue him. I'd like to think he is intelligent enough to do the right thing and I will give him a bill for everything it takes to correct the mess that came out of his shop and give him a chance to. If he does the right thing and reimburses me, I will certainly let the Viper community know that Larry is a man of honor and has integrity to take care of things and make them right. |
#59
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I personally don't see Mr. Macedo sending you any funds to pay for repairs/alterations to your car, but that's just an opinion based on what I've read here & on the VCA board. I sincerely hope that whomever(Underground?) is fixing/working on you car now gets everything in order. Also, could you point out what is wrong in the pic you had posted?
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#60
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I'm starting to document the findings of my new tuner as my Viper is being brought up to the performance level I originally expected and paid for. My purpose here is not to bash anyone, only present the truth and let each member of the Viper community draw their own conclusion regarding the quality of the build I received for my 28K.
If you have a problem with this subject, feel free to avoid the thread and use the tuner of your choice. I'm not here to argue, the pictures speak largely for themselves. *************************************** The first 2 photos show parts of my $3,500 Fuel System Upgrade. The first photo shows the fuel pump bolted to the frame of my car inches away from the driveshaft and the fuel line running inches away parallel to the driveshaft that did not have any safety loops around it. The second photo shows silver duct tape holding the fuel lines together. The connection was easily found because the duct tape was not even trimmed. The 3rd photo shows the incorrect reach spark plug my former tuner put in my $6,500 Jeff Morys Striker heads compared to the spark plugs that came with the heads and Jeff Morys told my former tuner to use with the heads. |
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