Raptor
04-05-2005, 03:20 PM
Well with the couple questions recently on where to get a flywheel machined and peoples experience with Kath Auto Parts on Rice in St Paul, I figured this would be pretty good info. We have had several flywheels turned by them and all were decent and at the .610 step we requested until recently. They missed considerably, by .017" to be exact. I won't go into detail the great amount of money this wasted for me but suffice it to say the overnight shipping on the clutch was a waste as well as a lot of late night labor. At any rate, what really pisses me off about the whole thing is the way they handled it after the fact. I go back up there to express my extreme dissatisfaction and maybe get an apology, possibly a credit for the work etc, what I get are a bunch of rediculous excuses. The manager wasn't around so I ended up talking to the guy who did the work, right away he sees me and says "610 step right?" because he knows how much emphasis I put on it every time I have come in there. So I tell him how far off it is and he looks at it and immediately starts denying it could be off by that much. guesses it to be 605 and takes it into a back room obviously to check it. He then comes out without saying what it was and heads for the flywheel grinder telling me that it really shouldn't matter if they are off by .010 to .015 on a step flywheel etc etc and I obviously am telling him he is wrong and why. He then starts telling me there is no way they can accurately cut the step height on their equipment because it is old etc and not very accurate. I at this point am getting really mad and he keeps making excuses. I tell him that the first three I got from him were right on and how did he manage it then etc. Also I told him if he had questions about being able to do it to the spec I asked for, he should have told me then so I could take it somewhere else. He said we should take them somewhere else because his equipment wasn't accurate. Nice of him to wait till after he screws up our stuff to tell me that. Then to really infuriate me further, he checks it with a caliper and tells me to grab the flywheel and starts heading up front. He has just been cutting on this flywheel for a few minutes and has done enough of them to obviously know they are way to hot to touch after cutting but doesn't warn me or otherwise. So in my angry haste I grab the thing and start walking up front, meanwhile I probably have no more fingerprints and my fingers are on fire. I tell him he should have warned me about the heat and he chuckles and then sais oh yea and offers me a glove. I asked the guy at the front counter if he thought he would want to touch it and of course he says no way, too hot. (I was nice enought to warn him) I have never ground a flywheel so I really didn't know to expect that much heat. At any rate it was still too hot for Kyle to touch a half hour later when I got back to the shop. On another note, I havn't talked to the manager yet, I expect something out of this, we will see how he handles it. The other fun thing is that we have a 1G here that got a flywheel cut from them recently and it is also having engagment issues. Bet I know whats wrong there now, we were thinking bent clutch fork since everyone of the first 3 or 4 flywheels they cut were perfect at 610. So if you go there, you might want to consider their equipment etc as their machine shop guy put it, they can't be sure even how much he was taking off. That ispires confidence.