Does anybody know PROTO MOTORSPORTS in Riverside, CA?

[carbully]

Ijust test drove my first SR20DET there and I am now officially in love! I think I will have them build me an S14 with a blacktop. Does anybody know their work? Have anything to say abou the place, good or bad? They seemed real nice!

Thanks!

[adrianfromthecastle]

proto motorsports... now why the hell does that name sound familiar to me??

[carbully]

Being the Newbie, I don't know why. I searched, came up with one negative comment about their website and one guy saying he heard that they were a chop shop. Any truth to that?

I am about to hand them some money for a custom build on an S14, so I hope that if anyone knows anything I should know about them I hope that someone would say something!

[jcquick]

I've been their shop. They put out moderate work. They sell everything, as is. They get around the SMOG by smoging the car w/ the stock engine then swapping the new motor. Its now your problem when its time to smog again.

[carbully]

Yes, I am expecting that. I have been trying to get ahold of hazw8st to find out more about the exemptions he was talking about in the sticky-ed thread about smog, but can't seem to get through. Anyhow, I know that I am probably on my own for smog.

As far as As-Is, Ihave never bought a car any other way. I am an ASE certified technician so that doesn't scare me too much. I have kids and a wife, though and so I don't have time to be ding my own swaps and such.

Ok, I feel better knowing nobody has any real scary stories!

[carbully]

(throwing one bump in there to fish for anyone else. I will let it die if nobody responds)

[homeslicej2]

I would not get to happy go lucky and rush into it. I did that and used a shop that I had never heard anything bad about, heard only good, had seen pretty good work on a couple of their cars and I was horrified when i got my car back (and have starting hearing bad things about them since). I've spent the last few months cleaning up their messes/screw ups (bc they are so far from me and I don't want them touching my car I didn't bring back after the second time and a total of 3 months b/t the 2 times they had it). I told myself I didn't have the time or tools or place either, but if I added up the time I spent fixing their mistakes, I could've done the entire swap several times. Do it yourself, you'll be happier, trust me. If you do go with a shop though, do major research and take your time, don't rush.

[thrashingdeath]

I live a couple of miles away from that shop, and the guys seem to be cool and very friendly. IN fact, i have one friend working there. They have done alot of work, and have been around for a while. They are a little pricey, but their work is good.

[s13coupe805]

as long as you dont e-mail them they probably good. i e-mailed then off and on for about a month and it took like 2 weeks a time to get back to me. call them up and they be like e-mail us is the best way. ya ok

[dino619]

hopefully you dont see this to late. best advice I can give is, DONT GO THERE!!! learn from my mistake. I did all the reasearch you can think of on them (including 3 trips from san diego just to see the shop) I was looking for a shop for a $7K 240sx project. I ordered a sr20, silvia front and a couple other things. I got the car back and it looked like ****. the hood would barely even close, the front end wasnt lined up, the windshield was cracked, the downpipe I ordered was not the same, waterpump wasnt changed after being asked twice! .....I can go on and on about all of the mickey mouse **** they did on the install. like 3hrs after driving it the throttle cable just fell off the bracket! anyways dont waste your time. they are nice guys but seem to care less what happens to the car once they get it out of there. "as is" meaning "it was fine before, you must have broke it" **** PROTO MOTORSPORTS!

[protosucks]

Look at my name and you can see what I think of them. I also heard the chop shop rumors. Not a rumor but fact is they are conartist and not business people. They have been sued many times. I will tell you the truth, you are better off finding another shop.

[rhdsilvia]

a buddy of mine got a car from them and has had nothing but problems with it. they are amatures at most. try shogun style performance in vista ca. they did a car for another buddy of mine and you cant tell that is a swap thats how oe it looks. there web site is http://www.shogunstyleperformance.com.

[BB1LOVIN]

i see their ads all over Craigslist. Not sure if they actually have a shop or not but when i called the guy did seem pretty shady. my.02cents