Clearwater St. Pete area PPI recomendations
12-20-2005, 08:35 PM
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Clearwater St. Pete area PPI recomendations
Looking at a 96 911 near Clearwater and St Petersburg Florida. Any recommendations on a good independent shop to perform a PPI in that area.
12-20-2005, 11:58 PM
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Call Joe Vatter at GermanTech in Largo ... he's the best and he knows his stuff. He's the TechArt importer, as well. http://www.germantech.com
There is also Eibell Performance in Clearwater, he's good, too, but Joe would be my first choice.
There is also Eibell Performance in Clearwater, he's good, too, but Joe would be my first choice.
12-21-2005, 02:04 AM
#5
EIBELL PERFORMANCE!!! Go in there and talk to Frank Eibell, he's extremely knowledgable, and even though he's a little on the expensive side, his work is done right the first time. I've taken my cars there since my first Porsche 944, and I've never had any complaints. He's also a great guy.
12-21-2005, 02:05 AM
#6
EIBELL PERFORMANCE!!! Go in there and talk to Frank Eibell, he's extremely knowledgable, and even though he's a little on the expensive side, his work is done right the first time. I've taken my cars there since my first Porsche 944, and I've never had any complaints. He's also a great guy.
Eibell Performance
727.573.0911 Office
727.573.0930 Shop
Eibell Performance
727.573.0911 Office
727.573.0930 Shop
12-21-2005, 08:17 AM
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I'll tell you a little story about Joe ... I lived in Tampa Bay for 7 years and took my various 911s to Eibell. He does a good job, and he is a standup guy. But I bought an 88 3.2 Carrera with very low miles and the thing was running sluggishly. I took it to Eibell, we tried removing and cleaning the injectors, replaced one injector with a questionable spray pattern, did a Seafoam treatment and a few other things ... after spending close to $1,000, the car was still sluggish. I took the car to Reeves Porsche and $300 later they told me I needed a $5,000 top end overhaul because the valves guides were shot. I took the car to Dave White Autosports, they didn't have a clue what was wrong with it, they suggested replacing the DME computer, which was about $1,000. Didn't try that experiment.
Someone on Rennlist -- it was actually Porschefans at the time, I'm dating myself -- suggested taking it to Joe Vatter at GermanTech. I took the car there, and he said, "It's not running right. Leave it with me." So, I did.
He took it on very methodically ... adjusted the valves, changed the fuel filter, cleaned the injectors again, changed the plugs, changed the plug wires, did a leakdown and compression, removed and cleaned the fuel rails, cleaned out the gas tank, swapped various parts with another 3.2 Carrera (fuel distributor, DME computer, ignition) ... he worked on that car for an entire week. I got a call from him and he said, in his German accent, "Come and get your car, you will like it much better now."
Now, I'm thinking, he's worked on the car for an entire week, I don't even want to KNOW what this bill is going to cost me. I fire up the car, it's running flawlessly, excellent power, everything's fine. It's like a new car.
Then he hands me the bill ... and he charged me two hours of labor -- $150. Ultimately, the fuel rails were the culprit, as I recall.
I said, "Joe, you worked on this car for a whole week and did everything in the world to it. How can you charge me just two hours of labor?"
And he said, "Why should you pay while we learn?"
I never forgot that, and I never took my car anywhere else until I moved out of Florida. In fact, when I lived in Kansas and had a 1987 911 Turbo, it needed a clutch. The Porsche dealer in Wichita wanted $2,750. I drove that car to Florida, dropped it off with Joe, and he replaced the clutch for $950. It's damn hard to find people like that out there. When you do, give them your business.
Someone on Rennlist -- it was actually Porschefans at the time, I'm dating myself -- suggested taking it to Joe Vatter at GermanTech. I took the car there, and he said, "It's not running right. Leave it with me." So, I did.
He took it on very methodically ... adjusted the valves, changed the fuel filter, cleaned the injectors again, changed the plugs, changed the plug wires, did a leakdown and compression, removed and cleaned the fuel rails, cleaned out the gas tank, swapped various parts with another 3.2 Carrera (fuel distributor, DME computer, ignition) ... he worked on that car for an entire week. I got a call from him and he said, in his German accent, "Come and get your car, you will like it much better now."
Now, I'm thinking, he's worked on the car for an entire week, I don't even want to KNOW what this bill is going to cost me. I fire up the car, it's running flawlessly, excellent power, everything's fine. It's like a new car.
Then he hands me the bill ... and he charged me two hours of labor -- $150. Ultimately, the fuel rails were the culprit, as I recall.
I said, "Joe, you worked on this car for a whole week and did everything in the world to it. How can you charge me just two hours of labor?"
And he said, "Why should you pay while we learn?"
I never forgot that, and I never took my car anywhere else until I moved out of Florida. In fact, when I lived in Kansas and had a 1987 911 Turbo, it needed a clutch. The Porsche dealer in Wichita wanted $2,750. I drove that car to Florida, dropped it off with Joe, and he replaced the clutch for $950. It's damn hard to find people like that out there. When you do, give them your business.
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12-21-2005, 03:18 PM
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I had a similar experience with Joe. My first 964 had started running REALLY rough, to the point where I could barely get it to his shop. Anyway, I dropped it off on a Monday and he told me that he had never seen a 964 with the problem that mine had. On and off all week I call him to ask for a status and he tells me in his German drawl, "you've brought me a verrrry challenging problem." To me, that meant big $$$ and I was anticipating a huge bill. Towards the end of the week he calls me and tells me it's fixed! With great trepidation I looked at the bill and was pleasantly surprised. (I don't recall the exact fix but I think it was a bad coil) I asked him about the amount of hours he spent on it and he told me something along the same lines. He said that I shouldn't pay for work they performed that did not fix the car. If I still lived in St Pete I'd still be taking my 996 to him!
12-22-2005, 12:49 AM
#10
Originally Posted by vjd3
I'll tell you a little story about Joe ... I lived in Tampa Bay for 7 years and took my various 911s to Eibell. He does a good job, and he is a standup guy. But I bought an 88 3.2 Carrera with very low miles and the thing was running sluggishly. I took it to Eibell, we tried removing and cleaning the injectors, replaced one injector with a questionable spray pattern, did a Seafoam treatment and a few other things ... after spending close to $1,000, the car was still sluggish. I took the car to Reeves Porsche and $300 later they told me I needed a $5,000 top end overhaul because the valves guides were shot. I took the car to Dave White Autosports, they didn't have a clue what was wrong with it, they suggested replacing the DME computer, which was about $1,000. Didn't try that experiment.
Someone on Rennlist -- it was actually Porschefans at the time, I'm dating myself -- suggested taking it to Joe Vatter at GermanTech. I took the car there, and he said, "It's not running right. Leave it with me." So, I did.
He took it on very methodically ... adjusted the valves, changed the fuel filter, cleaned the injectors again, changed the plugs, changed the plug wires, did a leakdown and compression, removed and cleaned the fuel rails, cleaned out the gas tank, swapped various parts with another 3.2 Carrera (fuel distributor, DME computer, ignition) ... he worked on that car for an entire week. I got a call from him and he said, in his German accent, "Come and get your car, you will like it much better now."
Now, I'm thinking, he's worked on the car for an entire week, I don't even want to KNOW what this bill is going to cost me. I fire up the car, it's running flawlessly, excellent power, everything's fine. It's like a new car.
Then he hands me the bill ... and he charged me two hours of labor -- $150. Ultimately, the fuel rails were the culprit, as I recall.
I said, "Joe, you worked on this car for a whole week and did everything in the world to it. How can you charge me just two hours of labor?"
And he said, "Why should you pay while we learn?"
I never forgot that, and I never took my car anywhere else until I moved out of Florida. In fact, when I lived in Kansas and had a 1987 911 Turbo, it needed a clutch. The Porsche dealer in Wichita wanted $2,750. I drove that car to Florida, dropped it off with Joe, and he replaced the clutch for $950. It's damn hard to find people like that out there. When you do, give them your business.
Someone on Rennlist -- it was actually Porschefans at the time, I'm dating myself -- suggested taking it to Joe Vatter at GermanTech. I took the car there, and he said, "It's not running right. Leave it with me." So, I did.
He took it on very methodically ... adjusted the valves, changed the fuel filter, cleaned the injectors again, changed the plugs, changed the plug wires, did a leakdown and compression, removed and cleaned the fuel rails, cleaned out the gas tank, swapped various parts with another 3.2 Carrera (fuel distributor, DME computer, ignition) ... he worked on that car for an entire week. I got a call from him and he said, in his German accent, "Come and get your car, you will like it much better now."
Now, I'm thinking, he's worked on the car for an entire week, I don't even want to KNOW what this bill is going to cost me. I fire up the car, it's running flawlessly, excellent power, everything's fine. It's like a new car.
Then he hands me the bill ... and he charged me two hours of labor -- $150. Ultimately, the fuel rails were the culprit, as I recall.
I said, "Joe, you worked on this car for a whole week and did everything in the world to it. How can you charge me just two hours of labor?"
And he said, "Why should you pay while we learn?"
I never forgot that, and I never took my car anywhere else until I moved out of Florida. In fact, when I lived in Kansas and had a 1987 911 Turbo, it needed a clutch. The Porsche dealer in Wichita wanted $2,750. I drove that car to Florida, dropped it off with Joe, and he replaced the clutch for $950. It's damn hard to find people like that out there. When you do, give them your business.
