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wildegroot

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Posts posted by wildegroot

  6. The Time has come! Revelation

    in Automobili Lamborghini

    Posted

    IMHO, I don't see that Allan "defamed" or "bad mouthed" you in any way. He merely relayed his conversation with you. He actually even added "...he may have been having a bad day", he gave you the benefit of the doubt.

     

    Peerhaps so late in the game it's best to let sleeping dogs lie

     

    OK OK I guess this is my fault for spotting the remark yesterday and feeling defensive. I know Wil works tirelessly and puts 110% into making his work perfect, reliable, beautiful. He's a veteran and maybe because of that service, duty, integrity and respect are drilled into him. He also spends tons of time on the phone, sending photos, giving shop tours, etc etc. The remark felt unfair! I said to Wil 'you have to respond to that!'. My bad. :/ Sorry to be an instigator of internet flak. We would have loved working with you Allan!

     

    The best we could do at this point is offering you a discount off a killer paint job if you decide she needs painting :) We are aching to paint another Lambo....

     

    Congrats! Enjoy. And please drive her!

     

    - Sandy (Wil's wife. I need my own userid..)

  7. The Time has come! Revelation

    in Automobili Lamborghini

    Posted

    Meet the newest member of my family!

     

    Let me tell you something.. Roy and I worked our asses off to get this damn car! I have never met an owner of a car that was soo wishy washy in his every move. 1 minute he will sell it, next minute we are wiring funds and he is deciding not to sell it. It is sentimental to him.. etc etc.. Freaking nightmare.. Right down to this morning where we still werent sure of the car would get loaded on the truck. In the end I couldnt deal with the guy anymore, and had a huge blown out fight with him, and Roy had to smooth things over to get things back on track. Anyways, car is on the truck and on its way to George Evans! Spoke to George and couldnt be happier shipping the car to him to go over. I must ad, that prior I had spoken to Wil De Groot about doing a PPI, and i dont know if he was having an off day or what, but in calling him, all he would give was 1 word responses, and all he would tell me was how much I was going to pay him for it. I was put off to say the least. In speaking to George he seemed excited by the project eager to talk, answer questions etc.

     

    Anyways.. she is on her way.. Pearl White / RED interior... Built for Mario Andretti . An 87 with factory installed sideskirts . Was owned by Mario Andretti and then sold to the previous owner who has had it in his collection for over 20yrs, along with numerous other cars, like an Lm002, Enzo etc..

     

    I am STOKED!

    Alan,

     

    I'm a busy guy and haven't seen the above until today after being told about it but I have to say something here.

     

    If you want to take your car to George Evans or anyone else to have work done, that is your right. You do not have the right to bad-mouth me on a public forum because of some perceived slight. I'm an honest, knowledgeable, sincere and serious technical guy with a passion for making these cars as fast, reliable and beautiful as they can be. I am not, unfortunately perhaps, as back slapping and chummy as some people would like but I am not unfriendly. Unless of course my time is being wasted as some people seem to think they have a license to do. I'm sure George has been less than friendly on occasion. I don't remember having the conversation you refer to but if we spoke and if I offended you in any way I apologize. I find it an odd coincidence though that you apparently had your feathers ruffled by me AND the seller, all on the same deal. Life is short. Please don't waste it defaming me or other people.

  8. Lambo Owners BEWARE!!!!! shoddy clutch repair.

    in Automobili Lamborghini

    Posted

    It also sounds as if there was a miscommunication and if I were Wil, future such repairs using non-factory approved methods would compel me to have this information printed on the repair ticket requiring the owner's signature of consent.

     

    That's my two cents, for whatever it's worth.

     

    That would have eliminated all this BULLSHIT of HE SAID....SHE SAID, wouldn't it?

    Hi Phil, I decided it's worth dredging up this old thread after all rather than letting sleeping dogs lie. I'm glad we've all put this behind us and you brought your latest Diablo in this winter for another clutch job and other service at our new shop. Wil and I are more than doubly glad you were totally satisfied with our work this time.

     

    This incident caused us a lot of grief, too. Some lessons learned here regarding client communications to make sure the customer is always 100% satisfied and understands 100% the scope of all proposed work, particularly if custom or shortcuts are requested (which was the basis of our miscommunication - not to get that started again!).

     

    We do take great pride and near fanatic attention to detail in every aspect of our work and the services we continue to provide after more than 30 years in the Lamborghini repair business. It means a great deal to us to know you value our workmanship and have put the past behind. We hope you continue to depend on us for all your Lambo needs for many years to come and we hope to see you at some shows this summer, possibly the Jul 1. Concorso Ferrari & Friends in West Hartford, CT.

     

    Sandy and Wil

  21. Lambo Owners BEWARE!!!!! shoddy clutch repair.

    in Automobili Lamborghini

    Posted

    So do I. It's called ... in Fort Lauderdale and the guy who does it is named ....

     

    I can't believe you guys are still going on about this! The chassis member I removed was a skinny tube that is basically there to keep the weight of the engine from spreading the two sides of the space frame chassis. It wasn't bolted back in like it was part of a cheap back yard kids' swing-set either. Steel bushings were machined, fitted in precision drilled holes and Heli-arc welded in place in the ends of the tube. Strong, triangulated brackets were neatly fabricated and Heli-arc welded in place. Everything was nicely cleaned up and painted. The bolts were of adequate grade and size for the job and properly torqued. It was a good well thought-out installation.

     

    The crossmember under the transmission is removable from the factory. The much larger crossmember that holds up the end of the engine in a Countach is removable. The entire sub-frame that holds the engine and rear suspension in a Ferrari Testarossa is removable. There are plenty more examples.

     

    As far as asking the factory about this: Of course they would never endorse ANY modifications to their cars. The factory, on the other hand, has made plenty of design mistakes on their cars and have published service manuals with serious mistakes and misinformation. I have also had to weld tube joints on Diablo chassis that were incompletely welded by the factory. In some cases the weldor only welded two sides of a rectangular (4 sided) tube joint, hardly Kosher.

     

    We are creative and have come up with many thoughtful solutions to Lamborghini design short-comings (not just Lamborghini, all manufacturers make design mistakes to some degree). You won't find a better shop in the North East for Lamborghini repair and restoration. If you're tired of paying $120.00/hour dealer or metropolitan independent shop rates, our labor rate ($85 - 90/hour) is an added bonus. We can do the work so it's "stone stock" when we're done or we can make intelligent upgrades that can often save the Lamborghini owner money. For anything other than an oil change, the cost of sending your car to Exoticars USA by enclosed trailer (which we can provide or arrange) is negligible compared to the savings in labor expense compared to dealership service or other independent shops in the area.

     

    Hopefully everyone will excuse a little spamming here, but it seems to be in order after being very publicly accused of being some skulky inept 'chop shop'.

     

    Wil de Groot

  22. Lambo Owners BEWARE!!!!! shoddy clutch repair.

    in Automobili Lamborghini

    Posted

    Phil,

     

    Before you get so hot and bothered suddenly and start broadcasting invective on the web, don't you think you could have talked to me about the clutch job on your car (three years ago) and given me a chance to explain a few things?

     

    You were given the choice between removing the entire engine/transmission unit to service the clutch or to remove just the transmission to service the clutch. If you read your invoice you will see the transmission was removed and not the engine. Read on and you will also be reminded about how many other services were performed that were on the same invoice. The total bill for all the different services was $12,203.00 (not $15,000). The charge for the clutch service alone was $4,783.45 and it included a new pressure plate ( the old pressure plate was junk and could not be reliably rebuilt), new release bearing and new pilot bearing.

     

    While we service most Diablo clutches by removing the engine/transmission as a unit, I figured out a less costly way to service the clutch on a Diablo without removing the engine and passed the savings on to the customer. I regularly have customers begging me to find ways to save them some money when it comes time to make repairs on their Lamborghinis. We've installed lower priced after-market shocks, front air-lift systems, Jaguar oil filters and Jaguar distributor caps, after-market exhaust systems, we've done low cost lower timing chain replacements (which don't require disassembling the whole engine), timing chain tensioner modifications, oil pump re-machining (so you don't have to replace the entire engine block) we have clutches rebuilt (with Kevlar lining) instead of replacing them, etc,etc. None of this is kept secret from the owners of the cars and the costs reflect the time and high priced components saved. Anyone requesting genuine Lamborghini parts and service procedures will get them.

     

    I've been welding for 40 years and can weld as well as (or better than) the weldors at the Lamborghini factory. I went to a lot of effort to design special brackets so the single, skinny brace under the transmission would be at least as strong as original and remain removable (bolted in place) so that the next clutch service would be even easier. (The gentleman who posted about the 2.5 hour clutch service on a Diablo race car should realize that car was probably modified in a similar manner to ease the job) . I also didn't cut the floor and the transmission came out through the bottom, not through the cabin. I made a few discreet access holes in the transmission tunnel and covered them with aluminum panels which were glued and riveted in place with aerospace insulation on the back side. Why don't we both stick to what we're good at. I won't try my hand at pawn brokering and you leave the mechanical stuff to people like me.

     

    The reason you are upset (still) is because I was honest with a potential buyer for your car and told him how the clutch was changed. I never hid the fact from you or anyone else. I did a great job and I'm proud of it. It was not a "chop shop" job! The potential buyer of your car, who apparently was just as knowledgeable about Lamborghini mechanicals as you, panicked, told you he was no longer interested in the car (which is the real reason for your anger) and apparently started making noise about it on the web. If I could have spoken to him again I would have given him an explanation too. At that point I decided it wasn't worth sticking my neck out to save a few people some money on the clutch removal and from then on have done the clutch service only by removing the engine. We still have clutches rebuilt though, which is much cheaper than installing all new replacement parts, and we've had great luck with them. We also offer a push type heavier duty clutch conversion for Countach owners which includes a new aluminum racing master cylinder and racing annular slave cylinder/release bearing. It's far superior to the factory set-up, pedal feel is about the same as (new) stock and none of it comes from Lamborghini.

     

    You also apparently forgot about the free pick-up in Mystic Connecticut which isn't exactly next door.

     

    I invite anyone who has technical questions about Lamborghini clutch replacement or any other mechanical concern to contact me by phone or email.

     

    I'd like to thank the people who seemed unwilling to immediately jump on the band wagon with you and... thank you to a particular Lambo Power member for alerting me to this very slanderous post of yours.

     

    Wil de Groot

    (908)996-4889

    Exoticars USA

    Frenchtown, NJ

     

  24. Looking for a LM002

    in Classifieds

    Posted

    There are two (2) Lm002 for sale: Red Lm in California (if you need contact info pm) and dark blue being sold by Al Burtoni.

     

    The third (3rd) LM002 on Ebay (black) seems to have a lot of wear and tear, engine looks real dirty with rust.

     

    Good Luck.

     

    Taz

    roy has one on his site... also a white one on e bay

     

     

    Thanks! We're now involved in a PPI in CA. Thanks for helping out here,

     

    Sandy

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