Avoid Dr.Z nation z in westminster in california

[300zxtt4life]

So my experience started with dr.z aka samuel when i first bought my first "twin turbo" 300z. I was in the market for a z and was checking craigslist daily searching for the right one. Finally around april i found one in the inland empire that was selling for 6 thousand. Pearl white, front mount intercooler, blow off valves, rims, seemed like the perfect car. I contacted the seller and we meet up. The moment i saw the car i fell in love and when i drove it i was sold. But i did notice the car had been repainted and the engine bay looked kinda different from the other pictures that i had seen but i ignored them and bought the car anyways.

The following days i noticed that the car would blow alotta smoke, smelled like gas and my mpg was worse than the 6.0L v8 in my sierra. I always thought i needed a tune but also noticed that i was only boosting at 7psi through an aftermarket psi gauge. At the time i didnt notice all the qualities that made this car a swap, ie front bumper, the vin on the engine bay didnt have dett, no hicas, psi gauge on the instrument panel. I was spending 20 bucks a day on gas thats how bad it was and needed to get a tune asap. But little did i know i was from from just a tune from fixing my horrible mpg and low boost. I started contacting specialty z and other z shops regarding tuning but at the time i was still halfway through the semester and was really busy so i needed to find someone closer to home instead of driving to LA.

I went back on craigslist and noticed someone from my area claiming to be a specialist in 300z's. I went along and called him to see how much he charged for tuning. He said 450 and would fix my boost leak and also "tune it". So my friend and i go to his shop and i was expecting to see a dyno because he said he was going to tune it but all i saw was dirty z's and parts everywhere. That right there should have been a dead give away but naive and wanting to fix my mpg/boost problems i gave him a try. The shop owner is samuel, the asian guy the runs the show and owner, then has two or three mexican "assistants who do all the work but dont really know what they are doing but samuel pays them about 80 a day for their services. They noticed how poorly of a job the swap was but didnt recognize the car since i had changed the front na bumper with a jspec bumper but later found out they were the ones who had done the swap.

What they did was remove the plenum, and there was a gasket there, major leak and laughed. Next the injectors the guy who sold me claimed to had been 555cc purple top injectors but they were just stock injectors. 2 injectors were okay and the rest were shot. On top of that the knock sensor was missing, i asked if that was important and they said no. Those two things were causing my bad mpg and made the engine to go into safety boost aka 7psi. Voila i found out the main problems but didnt realize it till months have passed and still they claimed to have found the problem. They did the egr delete, replaced the left turbo that went out, and little stuff that would go out. I trusted them and payed them cash all the time without getting no receipts.

About 3 months of owning the car i was driving my car to school and it was raining. I was racing an integra but as i was taking a turn i spun out and hit a guard rail. Bent the sub frame, lower and upper arms, cv axle, strut, rim/tire, quarter panel, pretty much everything on the back driver side. The car was taken to the body shop of a friend of mine so that was the end of dr z,.... or so i thought. I got a nice bonus at work so i figured why not get another z. So back again i went to craigslist to find another z this time a real twin turbo. I found a silver z, built long block by stillen, jwt 500 turbos, coilovers, rims, black interior and i went to check it out. When i got there i could tell the pictures were different from the actual car. And i was about to leave, he offered me to test drive it (showed have refused because it was an automatic and probably worse decision of my life but i went for it). As soon as i got in and hit the main street i gunned it. I never felt so much rush and forces pushing me back and also the tail kicked out and i was hooked on just like the white z. I had to buy the car even though it was an automatic and bought it.

The receipts from maintance and stillen were in a binder about an inch in width so i knew the car was really taken car of and the driving showed that. I was happy for the week that i had my car till i blew the motor. It was on a Sunday on PCH and remember it like it was yesturday. My friend had a 04' mach 1 with bolt ons and had just left my uncles home in newport coast and was heading north on pch towards newport. My friend and i were doing a couple pulls and noticed that when i would gun it, it would take about 2 seconds for the car to down shift plus the time the turbos to spool and by that time my friends car pulled hard. Plus his was a 5 speed so he was at the right gear and powerband. So i decided to stick it in 2 gear manually in auto and when we took off we were even and when i went to shift into drive i over shifted and it over reved to redline and past that. I saw smoke coming out and decided to pull over and as i was pulling over the car started to overheat. I popped the hood and saw the belts had been ripped off and i thought that was just gonna be the problem.

Little did i know my troubles were about to began. The following day i had my car towed to dr.z to replace the auto transmission from my white z and put new belts on. In 2 days it was complete but when the car started something seemed weird. I ignored it and my friend and i headed to irwindale to run a couple 1/8's. On the 405 the car seemed to run and spool nicely and wasnt really pushing too hard. About 15 minutes into the drive on the freeway, smoke all the sudden from the engine bay started coming out and i pulled over. We noticed that the dipstick was gone and oil had squirted from their onto the left turbo and everything around it. I drove it back to dr z and showed him. I also told him i wasnt boosting 14psi as it use to and he said to boost jet it. Then when i did i drove off and was still boosting around 10psi and wasnt smoking as much but still didnt seem right. It got to the point when all of the sudden it just made a real loud sound, a lot of white smoke came from the engine and it turned off. I pulled over on the side of the freeway until the tow truck came. I towed it back to dr z and he said turn it on. He unscrews my oil cap and says i blew my motor. So that night they drop the motor and sure enough i had blown a piston. He said just pay him 200 a day and i can help out and stuff so i was okay. He said the most it was going to take was a week. After a month and a half of replacing motors because timing wasnt bad or oil kept squirting out, and didnt sound right he was like just give me 800 more and come back in a week and it was gonna be done. That was after the 200 a day for the month and half plus i ended up giving him the white z for a swap he was doing at the time and about 1300 dollars i had already given him for the transmission swap. So tired of not having my car i said fine and when he didnt call me in a week i went to see how my car was. I see my car outside parked in the street and get happy because im happy thinking my car is done. I go inside and there are other customers and ask the workers if my car is done and they said there is a small leak in one of the power steering hoses and makes a bad idle but dr z still has to tune it. I finally get to see dr z and he hands me the keys and says to test drive it. When i turn it on its idling really bad and making weird noises. And because the power steering isnt working i couldnt get it out of the parking spot so i just turn it off and go to talk to dr z.

When i get a chance to speak with him in private, he says i need to pay more for him to work on my car because its not working right. And my left jwt500 turbo had shaft play so he put a stock turbo and my built stillen block with pistons was replaced with a NA block and internals. Thats when i lost it and cussed him out and stormed off to get my friend so that i can borrow his trailer to get my car out of there. All my friends would tell me that he was taking advantage of me but until then i had not realized it. When i came back with my friends and the trailer, the had my car jacked up trying to fix the leak on the power steering hose like if that was going to fix the white smoke that comes out of the exhaust because of the blown headgaskets and mis idle. I cussed him out again and told him to get his workers away from my car and that i was taking my car elsewhere. Then samuel gets the nerve to ask me if i wanted to sell my car to him and i seriously was about to get the gun from the my truck and blast him right there but i stopped myself and told him it wasnt for sale. When we finally left and took it to my friends shop we saw all the shady stuff they had done at his "shop". We dropped the motor and yea it was an na block with dome na pistons, na heads, stock flywheel and clutch, no knock sensor, head gasket blown and all this was suppose to have been repaired. So i contact BAR, Business Automotive Repair, the next day and file a claim against him and his shop. He denies everything but i have pictures to prove it and now just waiting to take him to small claims. Please avoid this guy and his "Shop" in westminster. He is now called z nation i think hes changed hes name like 3 times not surprising. And also on craigslist he post of pictures of nice looking 300z's that he uses the pictures from google and when you go check out the car its completely different. And that my story with my encounter with dr z and all the thousands of dollars i wasted.

[addicted4life]

And another owner falls victim. Heard stories like this before about him. Too bad it's happened to you. Best if luck fixing the z buddy!

[300ZXttZMAN]

Well first welcome to NICO.

I see that you made lots of mistakes.. So many mistakes that I honestly don't even feel like pointing each one out. I just hope that you learned your lesson(s).

I'm sorry you had to deal with so much BS I really wished you would have researched it. There has been countless posts just like the one you posted about the same exact shop.

Anyway good luck on getting her fixed. Let us know if we can help.

[Vendetta]

I met Samuel aka "Dr.Z" once in a Fry's Electronics parking in Fountain Valley. I saw a pretty good looking black Z32 in the parking lot (His personal car I bet), so in a gesture of brotherhood among Z owners I parked my Z next his. I spoke with him as he was leaving the store, but all I got outta him was him telling me to take my car to his shop. I swear he sounded like a commercial, like he'd rehearsed this spiel many times. I got a weird dishonest vibe from him. Thankfully, I have my own mechanic who knows what he is doing and have never had the displeasure of visting "Dr.Z's" shop.

Also, sorry to hear about all your car-related problems. Z's are tricky cars to work on and there are many crooked mechanics who are out there just to make a buck. If you want I can refer you to a real mechanic in Socal (Orange to be percise) or you can take your car to Specialty Z (They're great. I've met Greg and Seb and spent some time at their shop. they are legit as legit gets.)

[EZX_YUNG]

I RECENTLY BOUGHT A CAR FROM SAM AKA DR Z HE HAD MADE ME A PROMISE WHEN I BOUGHT IT HE WOULD TAKE CARE OF ANY PROBLEMS IN THE CAR SO I TOOK IT HOME IT HAD A PROBLEM WITH THE INJECTORS HE FIXED IT WELL MY CAR CAUGHT FIRE FROM THE ENGINE RECENTLY AFTER LEAKING GAS LINE I WAS FURIOUS BUT I MADE A CALL TO SAM TOLD HIM WHAT HAPPENED AND HE WAS A MAN OF HIS WORD AND HE HAD IT TOWED TO HIS SHOP FROM PERRIS AT HIS EXPENSE TO HIS SHOP WHERE HE WAS BUILDING ME A NEW CAR TO REPLACE THAT CAR THAT SAME NIGHT HE GAVE ME A NEWER 300ZX W/ BODY KIT AND SICK EXHAUST AND HE DID IT AS A STRAIGHT ACROSS TRADE I SEE SO MANY BAD REVIEWS BUT HE JUST HAD A BAD REP BEFORE LIKE ALL OTHER BUSINESSES STARTING OUT HE HAS BEEN AN HONEST GUY AND IS A GREAT PERSON TO HAVE FIX YOUR 300ZX I GOT A 1991 NISSAN 300ZX AND I TRUST IT IS IN GOOD HANDS WITH DR Z TUNING

*Disclaimer: I am a bot troll n00b who googled Dr Z and made a "review" of a "transaction"... I am also a compensated endorser

[NolimitZ32]

I must be crossing a bridge cause. . . . . . . I smell a CAPS using TROLL!

[addicted4life]

Hahahahaha that's actually laughable. 1st post? I would say somebody googled himself and found a bad review. Can't outrun a bad rep man, I'm in Canada and even I know about you!

[300ZXttZMAN]

I RECENTLY BOUGHT A CAR FROM SAM AKA DR Z HE HAD MADE ME A PROMISE WHEN I BOUGHT IT HE WOULD TAKE CARE OF ANY PROBLEMS IN THE CAR SO I TOOK IT HOME IT HAD A PROBLEM WITH THE INJECTORS HE FIXED IT WELL MY CAR CAUGHT FIRE FROM THE ENGINE RECENTLY AFTER LEAKING GAS LINE I WAS FURIOUS BUT I MADE A CALL TO SAM TOLD HIM WHAT HAPPENED AND HE WAS A MAN OF HIS WORD AND HE HAD IT TOWED TO HIS SHOP FROM PERRIS AT HIS EXPENSE TO HIS SHOP WHERE HE WAS BUILDING ME A NEW CAR TO REPLACE THAT CAR THAT SAME NIGHT HE GAVE ME A NEWER 300ZX W/ BODY KIT AND SICK EXHAUST AND HE DID IT AS A STRAIGHT ACROSS TRADE I SEE SO MANY BAD REVIEWS BUT HE JUST HAD A BAD REP BEFORE LIKE ALL OTHER BUSINESSES STARTING OUT HE HAS BEEN AN HONEST GUY AND IS A GREAT PERSON TO HAVE FIX YOUR 300ZX I GOT A 1991 NISSAN 300ZX AND I TRUST IT IS IN GOOD HANDS WITH DR Z TUNING

*Disclaimer: I am a bot troll n00b who googled Dr Z and made a "review" of a "transaction"... I am also a compensated endorser

You are ridiculous. Consider this your warning, 1 more time and you are gone...

[DCaff300ZX]

What's most laughable is that someone could think that anyone would think something positive of a seller of a car that A) had bad injectors, B) the seller "fixing" them causes a car fire!, and C) then the HIGHLY doubtful act of seller "building" a "newer" car for that person seems safe considering the first two items, not to mention a smart move (get your money and RUN!!!) considering all of the above???
People can be so funny sometimes...

[Ace2cool]

10 days, no reply? Fake. Dr. Z is trying to play damage control, most likely. Thread locked.