Wow...its always encouraging to hear of upstanding people/shops with honesty and integrity and not just the criminal element all the time. Thank you Gus, I only wish you were here in Norcal.

BR only got me for ~$500. sorry to hear of others losses.

As long as we're bashing...

BR sold me a 2.7 six, when I got it it was missing .7 liters...

Hell, I'm impressed when someone makes good on their own mistake but to make good on someone else's mistake is, well, incredible! I'm very impressed and will add your name to my list of "great business' " to deal with.

I have this uncomfortable feeling that a car part BR gave me was on Gus's dime. I am working on rectifying that...

For those that say No Point in Details, what about the Guys that have come in since the Split and have no idea who he is? We certainly do enough Bashing on AA to Newbies!

I count Brad as a friend/acquaintance, but I have never had any Business dealings with him.

I was thinking about that myself. The bad apples count on short memories and naive buyers.

I'm also too far away but thanks to Gus for being such a good guy, I rarely read many of the "non-tech" posts as I'm a newbie trying to get knowledge but so glad this had a happy ending, I'm only new to 914's, not cars and for sure not business, Gus's actions are that of a man that will do well in business, ETHICS ARE EVERYTHING!!!

Thank you Gus, you just earned my business. .....

First I heard of Gus was from Corey and Gus did helped fixed or tuned Corey's 73 1.7. Rebuilt the weber and adjusted the valve in a very good price. Then I recommend Gus to Bob (who bought my 71 1.7 megasquirt) to rebuild Bob's 2.0 engine to a 2056 set up with dual carb for his 74 car. Currently Gus is in the process of installing the engine to the car and hope this coming week Bob will have his car.

Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment

Welcome Gus! You have some nice work pictured!

This will be a recount of my personal encounter, and close friends encounter with Gus.
I found gus' shop by seeing a picture of his 914 with "socal euro werks" plastered on the front of it and coincidentally I was in need of a valve adjustment and carb cleaning/syncing. So, I give Gus a call and Mike answered the phone. Gave me a great quote to get the work done so I dropped off the car quick enough where he wouldn't change his mind. They get the work done and the car is running great..... for a couple weeks. As we all know that's the usual time frame until the next problem pops up on our cars. But this wasn't a next problem, this was a current problem that Gus chose to ignore and not tell me about while working on my car.

Upon first glance of removing my valve cover I quickly noticed that my #4 exhaust valve rocker arms geometry was off and that my adjuster foot was worn down flat and adjusted about 3-4 threads more then all the other visible adjusters. Now let me remind you, I've never adjusted my own valves on the 914 and it took me all of 30 seconds to spot this while laying on my back under the car. That was strike 1.

Strike two came when I looked into the engine bay after the car was sitting for a month while i was trying to figure out my next step. I peeked into the engine bay and noticed that gas had been leaking from the carbs onto the intake runners. Fresh after the carb rebuild with all new gaskets purchased from pelican.

Strike 3 was when my friend took his 996 over to have the motor swapped out. Gus told him it would be 1500 to R/R the engine. Once they got to getting the motor pulled they realized that the engine wasn't core worthy since there was a fresh inspection hole punched out by the rod. My friend had to decline any further work since he was banking on the core to bring costs down. Gus didnt take this too well, he told my friend that his bill is 1500$. Now Remove/Replace for 1500 means you take out the motor and put it the other motor... when you only do half of the work that should equate to 750. but I'm no mathematician, correct me if I'm wrong.

Gus and my friend got into it about the price. Then Gus berates my friend for "going behind [his] back to purchase a motor" when all the while gus told him he could get a better deal by paying cash direct to Vision motors. Gus threatens to throw his shit outside and further berates him for not being able to do the work himself. My friend had to remind Gus that he was infact disabled and not capable of doing the work.

I referred a couple of you board members to SoCal Euro Werks and I hope you receive better treatment then myself or my friend. But I will not be returning.
/Rant

Interesting. I heard Gus' side of the story when you got your car back. IIRC, he could have slipped you the Big One and did not. And you thought he was an OK guy. All that I can say of that event and your behavior is that it is a little different than the version you posted. I don't have a dog in this hunt as I do all my own work. And in the end time will prove that either Gus is a Bad Mechanic or your just a PITA customer. I'm looking at your list and regarding your complaints I have to ask. Was strike one a result of some work he did and you were charged for or did he mis-diagnose something and you discovered it was the worn adjuster foot. Was strike 2 about some carb overhauls he performed and began to leak. If so, did he get the chance to make it good. As far as strike 3 goes I call . Your friend was providing the "parts". It's his baby. Gus was quoting you to R&R an engine. You want him to include a free inspection service for a penny pinching customer. Good luck with that one.
I look forward to Gus weighing in on this latest comment with his side of the story.

I'll break down the list for you,
Strike one was a result of my #4 valve exhaust valve going out of adjustment in less then 500 miles. Like I said, when I opened up the valve cover to take a peek at what lay inside I found a adjuster foot on said valve that was threaded down to the end of its adjustment. Now since you do all of your own work, would you say this is something out of the norm? Or something you'd just adjust and close the lid and call it good?
Strike two, I did not give him the chance nor bring it up to him. I already had the motor out and took care of it myself at that point.
Strike 3 is regarding my friends 996, call it what you will. But if I got quoted to have my motor removed and replaced and left the building with a car and motor separated from each other. That's half the deal right there in a R/R

Who's the penny pinching customer you're referring to? And what free inspection are you talking about?

Had my 914 towed there for a no start issue, never saw Gus. Worked with Mike who was very 914 knowledgable. Mike called me back in less then a hour to tell me my car was fixed. Last person who did the tune up did not put that little dab of lube on my distributor shaft.

Charged me 60 bucks. They could have taken me to the cleaners with all the no start issues a 914 can have. I also told him to go through my car and replace items as needed. Only thing he found was a broken heater control box which he replaced with one he had laying around his shop for labor only. When I picked up my car I gave Mike a 50 dollar gift card to Applebee's as I appreciated his honesty.

Customer for life.

hey I saw BR at UMC..x miller motorsports, 2 weekends ago...I said Hi Brad..

The Brad Roberts story is an interesting one. Someone needs write a book about this guy. I'd buy it.

I do not like to get my name to be trashed around by ungrateful people but some of this accusations do get to me so here is my side of the story.

For the guy claiming that his valve adjustment went out in 500 miles that is not true... you brought the car in after sitting around or quite some time... we rebuilt the carburetors, bled the brakes and tuned your car plus the valve adjustments... we charged you $250 dollars when our regular rate would have had the invoice at least $450 dollars, you called me and contacted me about the noise and all I asked you to do was to bring the car back to check the valves and re adjust them at no charge... I'm still waiting for you to come around.

Your friend Saxon called me about his 996 with a blown motor, I quoted him $1500 to swap motors, he had quotes from other shops ranging from $2500 to $4000.
I picked up the car for Him from his house because he had a broken leg and wanted to help him out so the car was pick up for FREE!!!!!!

Upon arrival we inspected the car and told him he had a rod bearing laying inside the case and that the engine was NOT GOOD AS A CORE REPLACEMENT so he will have to pay the price for the new engine plus the core charge, I gave him multiple choices of prices on the engines and core charges but he decided to GO AROUND ME AND BUY AN ENGINE FROM MY SUPPLIER AT MY COST but wanted me to install it.... once it was al said and done the ENGINE SUPPLIER contacts me and tells me that he is sending a long block only not a full engine replacement so Saxon was notified of that and also notified of the extra charge for removing all the engine intake manifolds, wiring, sensors and affiliated hardware from the damaged engine and install them on the new long block with new gaskets and related parts.... he Agreed to it but could not afford the price of the long block plus the core charge so the new engine never arrived.

At that time his engine and transmission were removed from the car and damaged engine was stripped down to a long block awaiting for replacement unit to be delivered as promised by Saxon that the engine was arriving.

So your friend paid only for the work performed on his car not a penny more, it is not my foul that he can not afford to fix his car.

So please next time you want to talk crap about some one please get your facts straight and correct and also realize that your college student budget does not allow you to play with PORSCHES so do not ask or call about problems with your car and right away shot the poor student line.

No good deed goes unpunished.

Aint that the truth.

Well big4, or is it BIG Whiner, read Tavomans reply below. He has confirmed exactly what I suspected. I've been in business for over 40 years and can smell a Rat a bock away. Go away. Would you mind taking the Troll with you on the way out.

Lets start the he said she said bullshit then. You must have bumped your head because youre right the car did sit for 10 years... but once it came into your shop it had been well on the road for almost 2 years. If you bled the brakes you did it out of the kindness of your heart because you didn't inform me of it nor did i ask for it. I texted you to inform you of what was happening, you jumped straight to drop valve seat and said it would be 10 hours to drop the motor and inspect the heads. NO where in those text messages did you say come drop it by to have it re done at no charge.



You offered to pick up his car, no no, you insisted you pick up his car and were upset that he couldn't help you push it onto the trailer. Either yourself or mike informed him to talk to vision and get a price. Also, the engine wasn't a good core because of the newly added inspection hole added by the failed rod, not the rod bearing sitting in the pan.


Not a penny more, but it should've been a few pennies less. I'm sorry, when a customer of mine gets quoted for me to come out and perform the repair work on 2 units it's X amount. If I only remove the old and don't install a new it becomes X-Y=Z (Y being the work I didn't perform and Z being the new adjusted price.)


Call it what you will, this was my review of what I experienced in your shop. My college student budget allows me to play with grandpas car, its lasted 43 years in my family and I want to make sure it lasts another 43+. So with that being said, i didnt come to your shop because you were the cheapest. I didnt come to your shop because you looked like someone I could get along with, nor did i come to your shop because it was geographically convenient. I came to your shop because I saw your love for the 914 on the race down to cabo and figured you were the guy I could use for my next service and more to come.

No, It's bigFour. I read and replied. I already know its not going to change your view of the situation since you and Gus seem to be friends. So please keep the comments from the peanut gallery down.

This thread is EXACTLY why we do not talk about Brad Roberts!
Can we have a moderator close this thread or throw it in the Sandbox now please?

He's getting fat!

okay, so am I and the f'ker still has more hair! hahaha

I do not need friends to come over and help, they are costumers and 914 lovers alike that are grown up and do not go online to talk crap about other people or businesses.