What is wrong with AJP?

[honda06si]

but....i thought the 3" exhaust worked on stock cars....i mean ive seen it before

[TRY2HNG]

There are lots of ways it could have been resolved. I took the high road and called them directly but they found every reason or excuse to bail on me after spending 700 bucks... Since I placed the calls there would not be any emails except for the ones they never responded to. As far as the exhaust fitment they make a front pipe that works on stock cars and a optional pipe that only works with the turbo kit. they sent me the wrong pipe which is stainless, bent, flanged, and expensive to duplicate. Im not expecting everyone to agree with my opinion but if anyone wants to debate a bad experience with AJP they should also debate any positive posts to keep things equal.

[BATANG CITY JAIL]

i do remember that you can order or someone orderd a AJP 3" exhasut with a different size of flange/adapter... its not just the turbo fitment which is 3".

[webby]

I've sent a message to FIAT to look at this thread and answer some of the issues mentioned. I obviously have no way of knowing the entire situation, so I've asked him to comment.

[2RotorMotor]

damn this **** it getting outta control...

[firmhonda]

Wow, first time I've read this:
akinaspeedstars1 has a blown head gasket

*the mouse over message for having negative rep*

Anyways, I'm suprised that ajp was so unwilling to work with you man. There was initially a problem with esx005's intercooler when it was being installed.. ajp was called and they promptly said they would send a new intercooler to replace it. From being around him throughout this whole ordeal I would say that IMO they take waaaaaaaaaaaaay too long to ship out parts. To be fair I wasn't the one talking to them though so idk..

[Ep3racer954]

Originally Posted by akinaspeedstars1

question was answered any more immature **** to say

you come in here talking a lot of ***t too.. you make it sound like you are the only one that can voice your opinion... with only 24 posts, your not the president, no one knows you, so stop acting like your completely right and everyone else is wrong. you stated your opinion and thats it. AJP were the pioneers of andytype of successful F/I. When greddy failed, AJP was there with a better quality kit... same with cybernation. why arent you bashing the greddy kit? its mounted in the rear too... i understand your opinion on a sidwinder setup and i agree but seriously, chill out with the AJP bashing. They should be getting mad props for being the first and still are the only ones with a kit that produces over 350+whp without proper tuning... I also agree with you that Full Race is a damn good kit, but you will definately be paying for it. money for money and quality for quality

Money:
AJP>Full Race

Quality:
Full Race>AJP

so basically you get what you pay for... if you want to half ass it and have a shitty kit.. get the greddy kit.. if you want a good kit that is track tested and backed by numbers, get the ajp... if you want to spend mucho denero and do it right the first time, then wait for the Full Race kit.

[Ep3racer954]

i think he wants a turbo mount like this one in the AEM sema civic si...

[firmhonda]

Originally Posted by Ep3racer954

i think he wants a turbo mount like this one in the AEM sema civic si...

I saw somewhere that esx005 pointed this out, and I agree completely... A top mounted turbo on these cars would be insanely hot (temperature). As of right now when he gets back from flogging his car a bit his engine bay is so hot it's crazy, and that's with the back mount. I think that behind the engine is the best place just for the simple fact that there's more room between the engine and firewall than anywhere else under the hood. If you took the stock airbox out you could fit a sidewinder turbo setup under the hood, but if you wanted an intake where would there be a safe place for it? IDK, that's just how I see it..

I've said it before and I'll say it again, with exception of a lack of tunable engine mangement the ajp kit really is a good kit. Is it pretty? No, not at all. But 3 shops in the dfw area alone (that's just that I've spoken with) have said that the welds look solid. I also haven't heard of a single person blowing their motor because of a kit itself, with exception of bad installation and that was a comptech s/c kit. I've heard of no cracked manifolds either.. The only other thing that bothers me about the ajp kit is the fact that it's so fickle with its placement. If everything isn't just right then it will have some sort of problem from what I've read on here. The running so rich at idle that it smokes would be a huge problem to a lot of people, but I would rather run really rich than run lean as hell and see detonation in my near future. :shrugs: Plus, that goes away with some sort of e-manage or k-pro and a good tune. Luckily Jeremy happens to live about 4-5 hours away from st00pidfast so a good shop to have his car tuned at isn't really out of reach.

[sickyute]

on the 3" exhaust ordeal ...
i have no idea what was said or done ...

but what i usually tell people is ...
before u buy anything do the research urself .... u can't expect a 3" exhaust to simply bolt up to the stock piping because it's not the same diameter ...

it's kinda obvious that some sought of modification would have to be made ...

the majority of the people on here i've seen have either asked for a smaller flange but even that won't be enough as u'd need some sought of reducer to reduce the diameter before the flange can be used ...

now some probably don't know that and would just to buy the exhaust ... then u get it and u stuck and find out u have to do the modifications ...

some companies will help u out ... and some won't ... i guess AJP left u on ur own to deal with it ... which imo is not good ...

yes they should let u know it won't bolt on to the stock cat side ... but the question is did u even inquire before buying ... if u did and they said it would and it didn't then that's a whole different ball game .... but if u didn't and bought the thing without knowing anything then ur lack of knowledge hurt you ...

either way IMO they should have tried to help ... but either way u'd have to pay the money to get the extra parts u needed and to have the work done...

from all the pics i've seen of that exhaust it seems as if the piping is longer so u cut accordingly and it doesn't come with a flange at the cat site ... i may be wrong though.

[blue1]

Communication also seems to be a problem. I sent my orignial downpipe to them for a core and paid them to build a new downpipe. Here are the specifications that I provided to Ben moving from the turbine housing to where the downpipe connects to the midpipe (3" piping from end to end):

First part:
1) V-band flange for the turbine housing to downpipe connection.
2) After the 90 degree bend on the downpipe, I wanted a flex joint to be welded somewhere inline along with an bung for the stock O2 sensor.
3) V-band flange to connect to the second part.

Second Part:
1) V-band flange to connect to the first part.
2) 3" Random Technologies cat.
3) V-band flange to connect to the third part.

Third part:
1) V-band flange to connect to the second part.
2) Bung in for the other stock O2 sensor.
3) Three bolt flange to connect to the midpipe.

For the second part, I also said that I wanted a test pipe of the same size (so I could easily remove the cat when at the track). I also asked for another O2 bung to be welded somewhere so that I could connect my wideband O2 sensor.

Ben communicated this information to Toni and he went to work.

I had no further communications with them until the part arrived. I opened the box and the part was not built to the specification that I had requested and paid for. Here were the problems:

1) The first part in the above list did not have the flex joint incorporated.
2) The second part in the above list was fine.
3) The third part in the above list was fine however, they added the bung for the wideband O2 sensor. I don't know why this location was chosen since the wideband O2 sensor should be connected before the cat.

As you can see from the above list, there is one part still missing (i.e., the flex joint). It turns out that the flex joint was welded into the test pipe that was made. So what this means is if I want to use the cat, the assembly will not have a flex joint. If I want to use the flex joint, then I cannot use the cat.

I called and spoke to Toni about the problem and described the way that I wanted the part configured as in the first list in this post. His response was, "Ben did not tell me that was how you wanted the part made." I said that I was clear about what I wanted when I spoke to Ben and if there were any questions, they should have called or sent me an email to ask (for example, if I used the downpipe with the cat, I would not have the flex joint...When the part was being built, that should have raised a flag of concern). I then asked what they were going to do in order to correct the error since it was a miscommunication between Ben and Toni. Toni's response was that he would have to get back to me as to how much more it would cost to build the part as requested. At that point, I said that the error was not my fault and I should not be the one having to pay for the mistake. He held his position, I eventually just hung up and have not spoken to them since.

[sickyute]

^^^^^^^^
agree with u ..... 105%

but ... like i've told some people on here ...
if u can ... speak to Tony and only Tony about whatever problem/problems you may have ...
toni = FIAT on here
i've been seeing a lot of "I spoke to Ben" ... and what i gather is "I spoke to Ben" = some **** is not done/not right/no help ... etc ...

i know Tony is a busy busy guy in the shop ... but if one can have patience and see to it that they speak with him only... a lot of stuff can be avoided ... cuz he makes and knows about all the stuff... he's the one guy i'd always talk to.

[blue1]

Originally Posted by sickyute

^^^^^^^^
agree with u ..... 105%

but ... like i've told some people on here ...
if u can ... speak to Tony and only Tony about whatever problem/problems you may have ...
toni = FIAT on here
i've been seeing a lot of "I spoke to Ben" ... and what i gather is "I spoke to Ben" = some **** is not done/not right/no help ... etc ...

i know Tony is a busy busy guy in the shop ... but if one can have patience and see to it that they speak with him only... a lot of stuff can be avoided ... cuz he makes and knows about all the stuff... he's the one guy i'd always talk to.

Three key words come to mind...Responsibility, accountability, and authority. One cannot be held accountable if they do not have responsibility and authority.

It is not my responsibility as a customer to know who I should or should not speak with at the company when placing an order. If someone calls AJP to place an order, it is the responsibility of the worker that answered the phone to get it right since they are a representative of the company. If the representative screws up, management should correct the issue so that the company as a whole does not look bad. If Toni is the only person that can do it right, then he should be the only one answering the phone.

I became upset since they were reluctant to do the right thing. Now I am going to have to pay someone else to fix what they should have gotten right the first time.

[honda06si]

eric- what do you think will happen if you tried to call them back and tell them you want it corrected? maybe talk to the owner?

[sickyute]

ron's back in town...
see if u can talk to him ...
but again i agree with you .... someone should be held accountable ....

[blue1]

Originally Posted by honda06si

eric- what do you think will happen if you tried to call them back and tell them you want it corrected? maybe talk to the owner?

I already spoke to them about correcting the problem and they were not interested in resolving unless I paid them more money to fix it.

After I received the part, I called and spoke to Ben briefly. He then transferred me to Toni where we spoke for about five minutes. Toni was not willing to change his postion at all. So in the end, if I wanted the part fixed I would have one of two choices:

1) Pay AJP to fix it as well as shipping charges; or
2) Take it to my local shop where I won't have to pay them until the work is completed and I can verify that it is correct.

[blue1]

Originally Posted by sickyute

ron's back in town...
see if u can talk to him ...
but again i agree with you .... someone should be held accountable ....

Ron seems like a cool guy, but I won't waste any more of my time haggling with AJP. At this point, they would need to do a little more than just fixing the part to win me back as a customer.

[sickyute]

well ...
just trying to help ...
but word of advice is always talk to tony ... don't depend on anyone to get the message to him or whatever ... most of the time he's usally pissed that he messed up on something because somebody didn't relay the correct info. to him ... atleast that's what i've seen sometimes when i'm there...
just my 2c.

[blue1]

Originally Posted by sickyute

well ...
just trying to help ...
but word of advice is always talk to tony ... don't depend on anyone to get the message to him or whatever ... most of the time he's usally pissed that he messed up on something because somebody didn't relay the correct info. to him ... atleast that's what i've seen sometimes when i'm there...
just my 2c.

Thanks and I understand...The reason why I even mentioned it was to share my experience that was similar to the one TRY2HNG posted (i.e., it's not the customer's fault).

[civicsi1217]

Originally Posted by sickyute

before the manifold talk starts in another thread ... let me say this ...

u can't do a top mount cuz u can't remove that metal piece ... it's the only thing that stops water from getting into ur engine bay!!!

if u remove it an replace it with a plastic piece u'll have issues with heat ... then u'll say well use heat shield ... so on and so forth ... why do all that when u can just do a bottom mount or a sidewinder ...

the next thing is how does CN come in with AJP?

the person doing the AJP mani never worked for cybernation ...
ajp never did their own ems like CN ... hondata did it ... if u want to criticize hondata then go ahead ...
no kits have caught on fire, broke or anything like CN kits do ... i've seen CN kit break after 2 months of use ... i had this kit on my car for well over that long without any issue with the kit's hardware.

AJP = overprice but go Full Race ..... this is the most ridiculous thing i have ever heard ...

AJP = overprice .... then Full Race = grossly overpriced = Greddy = Greedy
what people don't realize is ...

Full Race will not give u nearly as much hardware as AJP and neither will Greddy ...
1.the price adds up as u add up all the other lil things that the AJP kit will come with ... fact ...

2.Full Race price = AJP price for less than what u get with the ajp kit ... fact again.

3.full race power = ajp power but u'll have to spend more money to get the other lil things u'll need to run a full race kit ... like gauges, bov, etc etc ... fact.

4.full race has staged kits that will be near 700+ power etc etc ... but all that is with changes in the turbo + WG etc .... You can do the same thing with an AJP kit ...

so where does this ajp = overprice go full race come from .... everyone wants to go full race but it's supposedly the next best thing but half of u won't pay the price ...

even on clubrsx people have gotten sick about everyone saying "go full race" cuz there are other options that do the same thing without he high cost ...

and to address the welds .... NO WELDS WILL COMPARE TO THAT OF FULL RACE!!!! why? cuz full race's welds are ROBOTIC TIG WELDED!!! u cannot compare a hand weld to a robotic weld ... BUT THAT IS NOT ENOUGH TO SAY THAT A HAND WELD WILL CRACK BECAUSE IT DOESN'T LOOK AS GOOD!

when an EMS comes out ... get the full race, add up the dollars for the other parts u'll need .. put it all together then go find urself one of the guys with an AJP kit or some other kit with comparable numbers then report back ...

at this point u can't compare the 2 apart from price ...

yea keep the manifold outta this.... ive seen too much posts on this MANIFOLD.... anybody else save it for another thread...