The last 4 years (which was never the intention) has been up and down. So many adversities and highlights. Usually I have a plan A, B and C in place. I was unfortunately, too loyal to these initial people/companies and wanted to make it work so I can have a great story. My original narrative of having the original builders and companies that help build Project Leopard, changed.
Throughout these exchanges, I kept everything transparent and paid everyone when asked. I would also be doing a lot of driving from SF to LA and coming down often.
- Marco/SR20 store wasted 2.5 years of my time.
- Never verified Phase2 parts to work.
- Syko Performance went quiet when asking them about modifiying the elbow for a Tomei Internal wastegate.
During that time, I had Greg Sheen/Sakura Garage wanting to paint the car as a friend.
- Had the car for 17 months.
- Still couldn’t do a proper paint job (rushed)
- Brought back to LA incomplete (missing hood, aero and many other parts I had to get again such as hood hinges and driveshaft
When the car came back to LA:
- Marco/SR20 Store was slacking on the motor
- He also didn’t want to get my car to his shop, so my car was always at someone’s house
When Marco gave me the run around again, I decided I had to come up with a plan b.
- I had to get the RB25det together at Rival Auto Works/Apex’i shop.
- Hung finished up a lot of the car’s loose ends and kept the car at his place for a bit.
- Had 95% of the custom piping done (come to find out later, it still needed stuff done)
- Also installed the coolant insert with RVT (instead of welding)
Since Greg owed me money and promised to fix the paint. He got the car as Hung needed it out of his place.
- 2 months later, I arrive to pick up the car as planned and it was incompleted.
- Flew into AZ and rented a truck/autotransport to take to LA.
- At least this time, I got everything out of Sakura garage’s lazy hands.
Now the car is back in LA
- While paint wasn’t good and aero was unpainted, at least it’s here.
- Hung finished the wiring again.
Bucky was going to do a street tune and finish up some the dash wiring…
- Then he went MIA with my fuel pressure regular (so I had to get another one.)
- My 02 sensor system was missing, so couldn’t start up the car (eventually found out Bucky had it)
- Greddy coolant pipe that was installed with RVT, started leaking (need to take off the intake manifold and redo)
- Hung said a bung and barb needs to be put in the cold side intercooler piping (why wasn’t it done before?)
- Had to pay someone to take off the intercooler piping and intake manifold to do the rework (obviously paid for both issues)
- Had to buy another intake manifold gasket, a couple other gaskets and a few more pieces for the engine.
As of right now. I have everything to get the car started. It is sitting at the shop in LA with monthly payment for storage, which as been happening since it arrived from Arizona. I just need to go down there and put everything back together.
I plan to finish the car this year. Maybe in April or May. I just need a break to reset my mind. Project Leopard was my priority since January 2020. The time, money and emotion invested into this car is something I have never experienced. It’s great though, I didn’t lose out too much besides time. While it seems like a lost, during that time, I connected with soo many great people that have made the journey amazing. That is the true winning of this situation. Karma is something though… the people that did waste my time are all going through something due to their shotty work ethic and transpires beyond me.
The shadiness and immoral ways of taking advantage of someone’s trust, really showed me that no matter how professoinal and straightforward I was with the original people, this was their pattern of customer service. Before me, there are/were others. Obviously I trusted PAST relationships be that guide, rather than listen or research the more CURRENT work ethics they had.
What people don’t understand about me, is that I’m an extremist. If I set my mind on something, I will take it to the that point. Of course everything has to be reasonable.. but when I’m dedicated, I want to see whatever it is to the end and I will make it happen.
Little setbacks won’t make me give up. I’ve come this far and I want to finish it.