The Drift Office/AVO
 

I wanted to post this here since I have been modding my car since I bought it new at the end of May this year.

It has been non-stop.

Most of it has been handled by pros - and in some cases shops that should be pros but are actually something different.

There is one thing for sure - there are plenty of people who will take your money. There are plenty of people who will try to sell you stuff that you don't really need. The pack begins to thin immediately when things don't go as planned. Fingers are pointed. You hear things like "I have never seen this before." Or "My car has the same mods and it is fine." etc.

It is customer service and dedication that really makes a shop owner stand out. Especially when things get bumpy - and it almost always will. There are always tweaks.

Bob from the Drift Office is one of those stand-out guys.

Check this out -

I decided early on that I would take my BRZ up there for an AVO kit and a clutch. I had already added suspension and a Nameless 2.5" exhaust system.

My goal is around 300whp until I decide to drop in a new engine in a couple years.

It was a 94 degree day up in Auburn when they started the tuning process after a couple of days installing all my gear. Bob was able to get 273hp out of my BRZ on 92 pump gas. Not bad - but not where we were shooting.

He told me the bottle neck was in the Nameless 2.5 (2.25 actually) setup and that I needed to go 3" to get where I wanted. He also let me know that the tolerance on the Nameless front pipe was really tight and that it would be a good idea to swap that out as well. When I picked up my car - he had a mobile detail guy finishing up an excellent job on my car (Yes - he asked in advance). No charge - it had rained during the day and he wanted it spotless. Customer cars all go inside overnight.

So - off I went and started planning for the upgrade.

I drove to my brothers house which is in that area. During the drive, the clutch started rattling like crazy. This was new to me. He told me they were louder than stock and this was typical of this level of clutch in this price range.

I was convinced it was louder than anything so he had me bring it back unplanned the next day which was a Saturday. He was also running a "dyno day" and it was packed. And hot. His techs listened to it - he listened to it. He agreed to replace it at no charge and threw it on the lift. The new one was slightly less noisy but - it still makes noise. The point here? He could tell I was not convinced so he replaced it.

Then, I started getting something odd going on. My car is pretty stiff with bars, braces etc. I also added a Cusco transmission brace. The car has a competition stage 3 clutch in it as well. It seems that when it's hot, it is really hard to avoid a first gear from a standstill "shudder" the car gets into. It can shudder quite a bit to the point where I can hear something knocking down in the passenger wheel well.

So - I called Bob. Turned out - he was going to be down in PDX at the Subaru Enthusiasts meet. Paul from Avo was with him. (I met Paul at Bob's shop - how cool is it to have the Avo rep onsite when you are installing your kit?)

He was concerned to hear about this. He told me to meet him at the event. Check this out:

He turns up with an overnight bag in case he needs to stay in Portland to look at it Monday at a friends shop (VIP Performance here in Portland). Both he AND Paul rode with me and checked it out. He already knew that the thunking was likely the new Avo stuff against the Nameless overpipe so guess what? Paul brought down a "loan to sell" overpipe/mid pipe for me to get around the thunking. This set of pipes came off Paul's dipped BRZ.

Bob was able to put my mind at ease and I am visiting VIP to get these pipes put in plus a Perrin 3" exhaust I picked up today.

Am I happy that I ran into issues? No - I don't want issues. Am I happy that I chose the Drift Office? You bet. Bob is busy and he stands by his work. He will go the extra mile.

If you are from Portland, please join me in trying to convince him to move down here!

Anyway - I have seen enough dealers/shops now to be able to put him at the top of my list. If you are ever in the area or want someone that you can trust with your vehicle - stop by The Drift Office. We are lucky to have that shop in our neck of the woods out here in the NW.

Thanks to both Bob and Paul for making me proud to be a customer.

:respekt:

Nicely said. I met Bob for the very first time When he held his first 86 night. I Drove from Corvallis, OR to Auburn, WA. Well worth drive. Bob is a great down to Earth guy and had treated me like I was family. Him and I had chatted on FB, I explained my goals. and he gave me suggestions and ideas on how to reach it without being close minded. You can learn a lot from this guy. To me, Bob isn't just a tuner that will just take your money, tune your car, and forget about you. We are just fortunate enough to have him here in the PNW. IDK if he does e-tunes or not. But if he does. I highly him as a tuner. Plus he actually owns an 86. @Drift-Office Keep up the great work.

He even called me after I left the shop for the long drive to Portland that evening to just check in. Basically, "I haven't heard from you so I am guessing everything is alright."

Class act.

Actually - I think he looks at the cars like they are his kids after he gets his hands on them. He has them all numbered and he will tell stories about car #85 etc.

Thats new news to me. I had no idea he had numbered his cars. I just like how he remembers you by a first name basis.

I got to watch a "Dyno Day" that Saturday. It was hilarious to see dudes rolling up with little Hondas etc running stupid amounts of boost and tiny tailpipes. They were all gathered round telling their buddies to "turn it up!". You could tell he was thinking some of them were going to explode hehe

Bob is very helpful with whatever direction you want to go on your build. Thumbs up for Drift Office!

In this case, it goes like this, GT86 #102 with AVO Stage 2 owned by First Name. :P

That said, I don't do E-Tunes... normally. :) Thanks for the kind words, we'll be in touch!

Regards!


Bob @ Drift-Office, LLC

Update - Bob's analysis was correct. Swapping the overpipe got rid of the thunking and even reduced the amount of "shudder". So, I am currently on a catless system terminating in the Perrin resonated 3" exhaust. It sounds sweet. Not too loud.

So - now to enjoy driving the car for a bit and then back to tinkering.

Also- Ryan at VIP in PDX turned out to be a really nice, honest, hard working dude with a tidy shop. 3 lifts and a dyno. He crossed his T's and dotted his I's and got the job done.

It was my first encounter with the AVO turbo kit and I gotta say I love the overall packaging, Ty you have amazing turbo kit, I thought Bob also did a fantastic job on the tune it feels really smooth! and the power is linear and constant as it should be with a turbo. But my favorite part of all is the sound! low speed cruise pears like a kitten, but once the road opens it growls like a tiger!! That Perrin 3in is really amazing:D

I have been honored to meet some really fine folks working in our shops here in the OR/WA area. Thanks for the compliments but all I had to do was pick the right guy and listen to his advice :) When I come back by for a leak check, we need to take it out where we can wind it up a little better. It really comes to life in the upper range.

I love hearing about shops like this in my area. Sounds like that's where I'll be heading when I decide to do some performance upgrades

One thing that I really learned from Bob is that the entire car is a system and that it all interacts. So - he is a great first stop in your planning scheme. It can save you time, money in the long run.

Another subtle but significant difference - he owns his shop/property. Other businesses lease from him. What does this mean? He has no interest in overselling or having you put something in that won't make a difference. As a matter of fact - you will more than likely be trying to talk HIM into installing some part! Which is pretty funny.