WARNING ABOUT LARRY GARCIA/NSX MODIFIED
This is a warning to anyone thinking of dealing with Larry Garcia or having their car serviced at NSX Modified in Long Beach, CA. Since October 22nd, I have been involved with Larry in an almost unbelievable story of outright fraud, inexcusably shoddy workmanship, virtually pathological lying and an appalling degree of inconsideration.
This sad saga begins back in early October when Bradley Scott Swisher (The Swish on NSX Prime) advertised his used Comptech supercharger for sale on NSX Prime. I agreed to buy it and requested that it be sent to Comptech to be checked out. He balked and thought it was ridiculous that I would ask him to have the SC out of his possession (even to Comptech) before he had received payment. Finally, he suggested we use Larry Garcia of NSX Modified as our intermediary. I talked with Larry on the phone. He seemed very knowledgeable and friendly. I also did a search on NSX Prime and Larry was mentioned a number of times. Larry agreed to perform the SC inspection and assembly for me.
So Brad or Scott (I should have known not to trust someone who goes by two different names and also has two NSX Prime identities) dropped the SC off at Larry’s. Larry tells me all the internals look great, turn freely etc and that everything is as you would expect for a 13-month-old unit. He also tells me he was even going to test it on one of his engines to verify that everything functioned properly at speed. (Not until I saw the unit being installed on my car did I realize what a ludicrous statement this was due to the absolutely prohibitive amount of work which would have been involved).
So Brad or Scott receives his wire for $5,500 the next day (October 22nd) as promised. Well, I find out, after the fact, that the SC assembly is not quite complete. Somehow forgotten was the special alternator that goes with the Comptech SC and a little item known as the FMU (fuel management unit) which happens to be quite expensive. Larry assures me Scott or Brad will be dropping these off. I also find out, again after the fact, that Larry claims he got Brad or Scott to kick another $100 to pay for fuel lines that were a mess. (It turns out Brad or Scott had promised Larry some work on his turbo NSX which is what, I suspect, led to the glowing report I received on the SC despite its deficiencies).
At any rate, after many delays, the SC finally arrives at my house November 6th, or, at least most of it. Missing are the fuel regulator bracket and carbon fiber fuel rail covers. But far worse, is the shoddy workmanship by Larry on the SC which was to arrive assembled with new fuel injectors and ready to bolt on the car. We found the rubber washers in the fuel lines to be in terrible condition (remember the E Bay ad for the burned NSX supercharger-wonder if the guy dealt with Larry? . But the worst was that which was not apparent.
After installing the SC on the car, we start it up. Within 15 seconds we hear a loud clunk which sounded like it came from the SC. We can find no sign of a problem. On the next start, the SC seizes entirely. We take it off the car and call Larry. We catch him on his cell as he’s going to the shop, tell him the SC is seized and he says he’ll call in 5 minutes when he arrives there. Well, here I am waiting with the guy I’m paying to work on my car and Larry calls back six hours later. (As a side note, through this entire saga, both Larry’s cell phone and work phones go unanswered with mail boxes unable to accept any more messages for days on end. Larry promises to call at specific times when my mechanic and I arrange to be available. But we don’t hear from Larry).
And while were waiting for the call back, we discover that an aluminum washer at least 20 mm had jammed inside the supercharger, damaging every blade on the rotors as well as the housing. (This washer could not possibly have come from my garage where the work is being done but where cars have not been worked on previously. It is also far larger than any washers one encounters in the engine compartment while doing the SC installation. Further, an aluminum washer of this size would be rather unusual, and one might expect, pretty scarce outside of NSX shops. And finally, we didn’t remove the tape covering the openings until the unit was ready to go on the car.) To give Larry credit, he didn’t try to deny responsibility for the washer. Actually, the problem is that he is so friendly and accommodating, but then does nothing he promises which just caused this to drag on for weeks, despite the fact that Larry knew this car was my daily driver.
After taking the SC off I checked down in the manifold for washer fragments. I found a few of those, but more disturbing, reaching down inside (where it wasn’t readily visible) the inside of the manifold was covered with a gritty, sand texture oil coating. (The manifold had come with the assembled supercharger). The oily grit couldn't have come from my car and Larry told me they had dipped the manifold in a solvent tank to clean it. I would hate to see what that solvent tank looked like.
My mechanic worked extensively on the SC to try to get it to spin properly and we finally gave up. When I told Larry, he said he would send me an extra unit he had for his race car. For the next full week, I can’t get in touch no matter how many times I try. When I finally get through on a Friday night, he tells me he is preparing the unit for shipment and also working on finding a tracking number for a Split Second map sensor and boost gauge I purchased from Larry. Over the prior two weeks he had twice promised me a tracking number for this shipment. I catch him at the shop again the next Saturday morning and he tells me he is rushing to get both the SC out by an 11:00 shipping deadline and track down that elusive package which should have arrived two weeks before. He will call me with the tracking numbers.
And that’s where it ends. No phone call with tracking numbers and next time I speak with him, its clear he is doing nothing. So for my dealings with Larry, I have a broken supercharger, no map sensor, no boost gauge, no fuel regulator bracket and no fuel rail covers. He had obviously not been working on getting anything out the door. He had obviously never mailed even items I purchased directly from Larry. I told Larry I would be posting this story on the NSX websites but he appears to not care about his reputation any more than he does about his work, honesty and integrity. And even when I left messages that accepting payment for items not delivered constituted fraud and that the motor vehicle repair licensing authorities would be contacted unless he remedied things immediately, there was no response.
As a side note, our friend Scott or Brad Swisher experienced an immediate cell phone problem when he heard my name and did not respond to messages at both numbers indicating I was having a problem with Larry. (Brad or Scott lived close enough to stop by and help find out the real story with the guy he had recommended). According to Larry, Brad also owed him for things and was not returning Larry’s calls either.
Mark Basch now has the SC unit to attempt repair, but I’m not optimistic. So after being strung along for so long by Larry by false promises of remedy, things are at least moving forward. If anyone knows of just a SC unit alone for sale, I’d be interested.
