I wouldn't mind working full time for a local shop. If anyone knows of (or works at) one please let me know!

 

What kind of work do you want to do at one?

I work up at Rockville Speed, and know probably most of the owners of the shops in the DC metro area (well, at least the ones that have anything to do with “musclecars,” not all that familiar with the local import deal). Not that it will help much since it’s been kind of a slow year for most of them and they’re still in their slowest season…

 

Installation or fabrication type stuff, or anything I can learn really. I don't have any professional experience other than taking a year of Auto Service Technology at Vo-Tech a while back but I've done a bit with my cars and helped with others over the years.

I didn't think about slow times, heh. Sounds like it isn't a very booming industry at the moment. Well I thought I'd put it out there anyway.
Do you know if there are any DSM specific shops around?

 

The “industry” is weird around here… it’s kind of a long story.

DSM shops… yea. There’s a larger one somewhere here in the Baltimore/Washington corridor, at least it started as a DSM shop, but I know that they were trying hard to drum up late model GM business a few years back, maybe 2002/03 (the owner and a few others were at Capitol raceway every weekend running a 2000 or so SS and passing out business cards to every f-body guy they saw). Their claim to fame at the time was their inhouse dyno and wanted to setup a dyno day for the 4th gen f-body guys, but for the life of me I can’t remember their name or what happened to them (if you come up with a name I would recognize it). Actually, wait a minute, these are the guys:
http://www.extrememotorsports.com/home.php

Altered ( http://www.alteredatmosphere.com/ ) advertises themselves as being a DSM shop but as far as I can tell they’re mostly an import shop, contrary to their website they seem like mostly ***** Honda and Toyotas rather then some of the more serious stuff that they show on the site, I could be wrong (never actually been down there or talked to anyone from over there but judging from the business that comes our way mentioning them I’d be surprised if I was.

There’s also what has to be a tiny shop up north of Rockville, somewhere in the mt airy/Frederic area, I know that they race up at Hagerstown and claim to have a 9 second eclipse. I say small since I see them every so often up at the shop looking for small bullshit parts like AN fittings and stuff, that I can’t imagine any size shop needing to go to another shop to get.

Actually, I’ll have to talk to a friend of mine that lives down in college park (into the mirages, has one or 2 ripped apart and I’ve helped him swap a 2.0 turbo motor into a little colt which was a real little sleeper). If you’ve cruised around college park you’ll know exactly the house, it kind of stands out, it’s where University is split into multiple ramps around rt 1 where there’s a house painted (literally) silver. He’d know better then me.

 

Not to bash other shops, but both Extreme Motorsports and Altered Atmosphere are two places to stay away from at all costs.

Crossfire is right, the industry is weird around here. Lots of shops but not many reputable ones. Makes it real hard when you need something done.

I work at an engine shop, we do mostly DSM's and built the engine for the worlds first 8 second DSM (for Extreme, which is why I know about them). We're a small shop though so no new hires. I also help a friend run a fabrication shop where we do mostly 4th gen f-body work(see my signature) but if we brought someone on they would have to be experienced. Not a lot of beginner type work there.

 

Ahh, Extreme. I haven't thought about them in a while. I just remember that way back in the day I used to lust over thier over-priced parts before I knew better, hehe. I didn't know they were in the area.
I've heard about Altered Atmosphere but don't know too much about them. I'm not interested in imports in general, pretty much just DSM's (and maybe even the new EVO XXIIIXV23's or something like that).
If your friend mentions anything about any good DSM shops that need help (sounds like it's a longshot) then I'm open to the suggestion. Otherwise I may just try to stay in the electronics field until I get my degree. :/

Thanks for the tips guys.

 

Heh, I’m kind of curious what makes you say that… not that I disagree but I will tell you from my end it is mostly impressions.

For example, my issue with Extreme, was when they were really hitting (advertising) the track hard, they were making a lot of noise but seemed mostly clueless. I kind of gave them some time since I wondered if they could end up something good for the local f-body guys, but the more I talked with them (_a lot_ of people know me up at the track, moreso a few years ago, so they quickly singled me out as someone to talk to) the more I got the impression that they really just intended to take whatever money they could get and not do anything. They definitely didn’t have a clue and didn’t offer anything usefull.

Altered… well, like I said, don’t know much past their reputation. We see customers coming our way from there, import guys coming from an import shop to one that mostly deals in muscle cars…. Take that as you will, any shop with a decent distributor network can get import parts, just like they can get musclecar parts, but I’m sure that they ‘d feel more comfortable in a shop full of ***** stuff just like we’d feel more comfortable in a shop full of musclecar stuff. We take damned good care of them, but not being import guys ourselves that sometimes involves some research when you get in past the basics.

Heh, we’re the longest open speed shop on the east coast…, if we can’t get it/do it, we usually can refer you to someone that can if they exist locally.

Which shop do you work at? Always good to know someone…

What fab shop (no signature to look in)?

FWIW, I’ve been doing some blower installs and custom fab work on and off, I even have had a few things that I’ve built get some magazine coverage…

 

I work at Jackson Auto Machine part time for the past 5 years, used to work at F-Body Central back in the day before they went down hill (which is why I had to leave) then I worked at Anderson Performance until I was offered a full time position at the machine shop 2 years ago.

As to why to stay away from Exteme, I don't want to get into details. Most of what happened doesn't need to be aired publicly. We built their engines and did a lot of the R&D for them several years ago. The car ran good and made a name for Extreme. It went to his head and he ended up screwing a LOT of people. To this day we still have people coming through the door needing work done that he screwed up. If I meet you at the track again I can tell you some real stories.

As far as him trying to get into the LS1 market? HA! When I was back at FBC we would use his dyno facilities from time to time. He saw that we were doing a ton of work while the DSM community wasn't at the time. He took several of our ideas, slapped his name on them and sold them as his own. He never made it in the LS1 market becuase he knew absolutely nothing about them.

As for altered, I had a couple Buick GN's come to me after they'd been there. Just poor work. Poor installation, sloppy wiring and poor choice of parts.

The fab shop I referred to was Performance Auto Fabrication. Mostly LS1 and diesel work. Roll cages, 4-links, back halves, custom turbo setups, swaps and stuff like that. I also work with KBRC in Pasadena.

 

psi (fbody genious...a bit arogant though), jpc, anderson motorsports, wms(lightnings and such). altered has a rep of blowing **** up, flowers is done and gone, fbc...well...theyre crap... they also like blowing **** up. theres a few others that i cant think of

 

PSI is owned by Jeff who used to work at FBC.

What do you know about FBC?

 

how long u got?

 

lol, shoot me a PM. How long ago did you have experiences there?