My harrowing adventure with FA20Club...

[PineappleFriedRice]

The quick rundown...

Good
-Top mounted turbo with UEL Manifold option
-Quality of the each individual parts was good, no bad welds etc.
-Option of a more affordable turbo(journal bearing over a ball bearing) at the time of purchase.

Bad:
-Was told that it will be shipped at so and so date and I was assured that I will receive it at said date and I was safe to use up leave(vacation days). Did not receive kit till 2 months after said date and 2 weeks worth of leave down the drain.
-Things that I ordered isn't what I recieved, i.e. powder coated compressor housing($50), custom cat back($850) and front pipe/overpipe($600), map sensor($10?)Tial BOV($??).
-Difficult to get a hold of
-Will tell me an item has been shipped when it hasn't


My story:


I started shopping around for an FI kit sometime March last year. I spent hours and hours reading post after post of all the FI options I was considering. Long story short, I narrowed it down to the Full Blown, Vortech, Innovative, and FA20club. I began exchanging PM's with the vendors on specific details of the kits, pricing, installation difficulty, upgradability, and lead times. LJ, Juarrian of @ModBargains.com, Brian, Visconti, and Toni were all very responsive and informative in answering all my questions and I even got install guides for all the kits with the exception of the Innovative kit since it was still unreleased. I ultimately decide I want to go with the FA20club kit due to the option of going the more affordable journal bearing route and overall price being less. I asked Toni if I can put a deposit down (so he can start building the kit since I wasn't be able to do the install till October due to me being deployed) and was told it only takes 2-3 weekends before they can get a kit out depending on workload.

Its the end of August and I finally purchase the kit. The month before, I also ordered a "custom" 3" catback and 3" front pipe/overpipe combo and I told him to hold off shipping till I buy the turbo kit. I have about 4-5 weeks before I am home and my kit(and exhaust) should make it home before me. A week before I fly home, I get concerned because I still have no tracking info available. PM's aren't being responded to and other forum members apparently were having the same problem so I made a google voice account and called Toni via my laptop to ask about my purchases. I get a hold of Toni and ask him when he expects to be done with the kit. He tells me that it is already done and is just waiting to ship it out. So I let him know that I will be home in a week and he gives me a specific date of when he will ship the boxes. I ask him if he's "absolutely sure" that the boxes will get shipped so I can take leave the following week to do the install and I stress to him that these are day's off I will never get back and he assures me by saying he will overnight the boxes if he has to.

A week goes by and I am finally back in Cali. I didn't get any tracking info from Toni but I gave him the benefit of the doubt and assumed he just forgot to email me the tracking numbers. Another week goes by. I am already eating into my leave days. The kit was supposed to arrive the week before. Still nothing. No tracking, no email, no package. I get worried so I decide to give him a call. Apparently there was some event he was preparing for/going to and did not get to ship my kit out and assured me that he was going to ship it out and get me tracking info asap. I finally get tracking info from fedex saying a 40lb package was set to arrive the following week. So I took more leave a couple more days after the package was supposed to arrive and decided not to make a fuss over the vacation time I already lost.

Sunday, 20something of October. A box from Antonio Brown shows up from fedex. I open the box and realize over half the kit is missing, I got a black turbosmart BOV instead of a red Tial(which I apparently [had to]paid extra for) AND the turbo compressor was not powdercoated(which I had paid an extra fee for) so I call Toni. He tells me that its a 2 part package and that the next box should show up soon. He also offers to overnight me another turbo with a powdercoated compressor cover but we ended up agreeing on a refund of the fee instead. So believing that the rest of the kit should show up anytime soon, I set my car up on jack stands, pull the front bumper off and mount the intercooler.

Days goes by. No packages ever show up. At this point I'am starting to get a little irritated but I rationalize the delays and misinformation and try to be understanding to how "swamped" he probably got(considering a few of us fa20club turbo kit owners ordered weeks apart from each other). I give him another call and he tells me that Fedex probably lost my package and that he will send me a tracking number when he gets on his email. I decide to create a fedex account so that I can get notifications from fedex if I get anything heading to my address. I get a notification saying I have a package on the way from Boca Raton, FL and thought that maybe the package got returned to sender because I was not home to sign for it or something and that Toni is reshipping the rest of my kit+exhaust.

First week of November. Second package from FA20club finally shows up and I get a sinking feeling that I still don't have my kit since there was no way an exhaust manifold was going to fit in the box that showed up. I figured that it was my catback and front pipe+overpipe so I get excited at that and tear the box open. What was in it was a Perrin 3" catback and no frontpipe/overpipe. A long string of expletives spewed forth from my mouth as I was dialing the number to FA20Club and when Toni picked up, I politely let him know that what I got was NOT a custom 3" exhaust(which is what I was told I was getting) and no front pipe and overpipe at all. Instead of possibly waiting on weeks(or maybe months) more for the front pipe/overpipe, I decided to just get a refund for that too in addition to the fee I paid for the (un)powdercoated compressor housing. Thanksgiving was coming and I needed my FRS to drive to LA from Sacramento since my 88 civic was not going to make that trip. I took the intercooler off, replaced the bumper, installed the exhaust and ate In & Out while I seethed with anger at the amout of time and effort lost because of all the misinformation I was receiving. A few days before or after thanksgiving, I finally get a notification from PayPal that I received money from Antonio Brown for the amount that I paid for the frontpipe/overpipe($600). Since the transaction was over so many days old, he wasn't able to do a refund and instead "paid" me instead of sending me the money and I ended up getting less than what I paid for originally AND no refund for the powdercoat fee. Also around that time frame, I was notified that I am needed to deploy again in January. I was also was in the middle of moving out of my current spot, which meant I had about 5 weeks to receive and install the rest of my kit, move out of my place and do all the things associated with deploying like insurance, cell phone bill, girlfriend management, etc.

I let Toni know ASAP of my situation in hopes that he finally gets his shit together and gets me the rest of my turbo kit. He assures me(yet again) that he has found the second box with the rest of my turbo kit and will send it out right away. It is the first couple days of December, I recieve the next box'o'parts from Toni just to find out (yet again) that stuff was missing and wrong. I ordered a 4bar map sensor and got a 3. I did not have the UEL manifold and the 1150cc injectors or fuel pump. The intake I ordered was the CAI version, not the "sit behind the left headlight" version(which is what I got). I was very, very, VERY, mad. The way I saw it was I dumped almost 7k into his bank account and done f***ed up all my other orders from before, the least he can do is get the rest of my order(s) right. I paced my garage up and down my garage grabbed my phone and called Toni. When I finally got a hold of him, I (politely) let him know that I was still missing my turbo manifold and fuel system upgrades. He told me that the kit is 3 box total and was shipped out already and will email me a tracking number when he gets on his computer(dejavu?). I got off the phone with him and came to the realization that I will not be able to finish the install even if I get all the parts in before I deploy because of all the crap I had to do. I had previously contacted a local tuner shop, let them know all the labor involved with the turbo kit install and got quoted around 1k for the install and out of desperation, decided that if I get all my parts in, to have them install the kit for me just so I get to drive it before I leave.

A day or two after Toni said he was going to get me tracking info, I check my email to find no email from him. He was getting harder and harder to get a hold of via phone. PM's and emails seemed to go to some sort of FA20club black hole which would never reach him. He seemed very responsive on the FI forums so I figure I'd contact him there(see pg 41 of FA20club owners topic). Right after our exchange of posts, I finally get a tracking number of the supposedly shipped box which is barely being picked up from wherever he has it. According to the tracking info, it was being overnighted, which I found odd that it wasn't already at my doorstep considering it was shipped out weeks ago. A few days later, I finally get the manifold and fuel pump(injectors came a few days after) and drop the car off at NSR performance so they can do the install while I press on with my move. They get done with the install in a few days. They told me the install went smooth with the exception of missing vaccum lines and fittings for the bov and wastegate which is really not a big deal and something I expected after all the crap from before.

I contact Toni in regards to the loaner Ecutek and basemap so I can at least get the car running. I recieve the ecutek stuff only to find out that there was no flashes available and I get worried that I didn't follow the instructions correctly. A quick search on the forums and I find out this is an update problem on Toni's side so I let him know. Christmas eve, I finally get an email saying I should be good to go. We exchange apologies(me for blowing up his phone) and greet each other merry christmas. This was the last time I expected to communitcate with him. I drive to 40 min away to NSR, flash my car and start it up. Started right up with no issues. Drove around gingerly and and watched my AFR's which was running a bit lean. 15.xx-ish. So I went to a Shell and topped up my tank. Went to go start my car, hear it crank aaaand die. Turn key, hear the click, no go. Now I'm internally freaking out and pop the hood which smelled like gasoline. I went back to the car and played withthe gas and clutch and tried to start again. It would try to crank, then nothing again. I called and emailed Toni, waited 20 min and never got a reply. Tried to start it again and miraculously it starts up! It bogged and sounded like it was going to die again so I fed it some gas and kept the idle high. After a couple minutes, it was able to stay alive without me idling it high. On my way home, the car died on me while I was decelerating and got a P0300 Random/Multiple Cylinder Misfire code. It would not start back up. I was in the middle of traffic, stuck. Out of desperation, I pumped the gas pedal a few times and turned the key. It finally started back up so I peeled off, cleared the P0300 code while I was driving and it never came back up agian. When I got home, I killed the engine and tried starting it up again with no luck until I pumped the gas pedal a few times. I relayed this info to Toni and still no response to this day.

Since I left last summer from my last deployment, I have driven my car 2 weeks and I will not be able to drive it again till I get back this summer. I ordered my exhaust in July, turbo kit in August, finally received everything minus loaner ecutek by the first 10 days of December. Got shorted a on the refund for the front pipe and overpipe, and no refund at all for all the other crap I paid for and did not get.

Ultimately it was the price along with @lexusb3's updates that swayed me to go FA20club. Just the turbo kit minus the exhaust cost me $5400 for the kit + $1000 for the install. If I knew what I had to go through, I would have definitely went with Fullblown instead; especially since I ended up paying to get the kit installed anyway(yes I know I could've been patient and didn't have to get it installed).

I know this maybe a little late but I figure I'd just let the community know of my experience with FA20club so that anyone considering them knows what they might go through. I wanted to wait until I had the car up and running to write a full review, but regardless of how great the turbo kit runs, I think I would come to the same conclusion that the crap I had to go through was not worth the kit.

[King Tut]

Originally Posted by PineappleFriedRice

The quick rundown...

Good
-Option of a more affordable turbo(journal bearing over a ball bearing) at the time of purchase.

My story:

I started shopping around for an FI kit sometime March last year. I spent hours and hours reading post after post of all the FI options I was considering. Long story short, I narrowed it down to the Full Blown, Vortech, Innovative, and FA20club. I began exchanging PM's with the vendors on specific details of the kits, pricing, installation difficulty, upgradability, and lead times. LJ, Juarrian of @ModBargains.com, Brian, Visconti, and Toni were all very responsive and informative in answering all my questions and I even got install guides for all the kits with the exception of the Innovative kit since it was still unreleased. I ultimately decide I want to go with the FA20club kit due to the option of going the more affordable journal bearing route and overall price being less. I asked Toni if I can put a deposit down (so he can start building the kit since I wasn't be able to do the install till October due to me being deployed) and was told it only takes 2-3 weekends before they can get a kit out depending on workload.

Its the end of August and I finally purchase the kit. The month before, I also ordered a "custom" 3" catback and 3" front pipe/overpipe combo and I told him to hold off shipping till I buy the turbo kit. I have about 4-5 weeks before I am home and my kit(and exhaust) should make it home before me.

I contact Toni in regards to the loaner Ecutek and basemap so I can at least get the car running. I recieve the ecutek stuff only to find out that there was no flashes available and I get worried that I didn't follow the instructions correctly. A quick search on the forums and I find out this is an update problem on Toni's side so I let him know. Christmas eve, I finally get an email saying I should be good to go. We exchange apologies(me for blowing up his phone) and greet each other merry christmas. This was the last time I expected to communitcate with him. I drive to 40 min away to NSR, flash my car and start it up. Started right up with no issues. Drove around gingerly and and watched my AFR's which was running a bit lean. 15.xx-ish. So I went to a Shell and topped up my tank. Went to go start my car, hear it crank aaaand die. Turn key, hear the click, no go. Now I'm internally freaking out and pop the hood which smelled like gasoline. I went back to the car and played withthe gas and clutch and tried to start again. It would try to crank, then nothing again. I called and emailed Toni, waited 20 min and never got a reply. Tried to start it again and miraculously it starts up! It bogged and sounded like it was going to die again so I fed it some gas and kept the idle high. After a couple minutes, it was able to stay alive without me idling it high. On my way home, the car died on me while I was decelerating and got a P0300 Random/Multiple Cylinder Misfire code. It would not start back up. I was in the middle of traffic, stuck. Out of desperation, I pumped the gas pedal a few times and turned the key. It finally started back up so I peeled off, cleared the P0300 code while I was driving and it never came back up agian. When I got home, I killed the engine and tried starting it up again with no luck until I pumped the gas pedal a few times. I relayed this info to Toni and still no response to this day.

Ultimately it was the price along with @lexusb3's updates that swayed me to go FA20club. Just the turbo kit minus the exhaust cost me $5400 for the kit + $1000 for the install. If I knew what I had to go through, I would have definitely went with Fullblown instead; especially since I ended up paying to get the kit installed anyway(yes I know I could've been patient and didn't have to get it installed).

I know this maybe a little late but I figure I'd just let the community know of my experience with FA20club so that anyone considering them knows what they might go through. I wanted to wait until I had the car up and running to write a full review, but regardless of how great the turbo kit runs, I think I would come to the same conclusion that the crap I had to go through was not worth the kit.

I had to give you a rare Thanks for writing out that long and detailed post. I will address some of the things you mentioned. I really wish that LJ @FullBlown had offered the cheaper non GT/GTX Garrett turbocharger as an option earlier when he first released his kit. I think more owners would have gravitated towards a more affordable kit. Ultimately the price point of the FA20Club kit is what sold it, and you like many fell victim to that.

My first advice would have been NEVER give a shop a deadline in the future where they think they can put you at the bottom of the list. Regardless of when you will be able to install your kit, make them think you need it ASAP. Unfortunetly you and many others including @Frs300 have fallen into this issue with FA20Club. The customer shouldn't have to make excuses for why a company is not delivering parts in a timely manner as you attempted to do for FA20Club.

The issues you were having with the car stalling out and not being able to refire it is a 100% tune related issue having to do with the larger injectors. Both myself and @Sportsguy83 had issues with our cars doing the same thing after getting our cars dyno tuned by FA20Club.

I hope in the end the turbo kit works great for you and you get to experience a forced induction BRZ/FR-S in all its glory. In the end, I hope you will say it was all worth it, but that doesn't mean you should have had to go through what you did.

[Sportsguy83]

Originally Posted by King Tut

The issues you were having with the car stalling out and not being able to refire it is a 100% tune related issue having to do with the larger injectors. Both myself and @Sportsguy83 had issues with our cars doing the same thing after getting our cars dyno tuned by FA20Club.

I'll add to this that the problem with this was the inability to understand simple concepts of tuning Or laziness on working on the solution (finally figured out after a few months). Also, I had the "great" experience to actually sell my injectors to buy ones FA20Club swore and assured me he knew exactly how to tune them and would start up everytime. got those injectors, installed them, got a new tune file with the supposed calibration for their well known injectors...

What happened next.... The car did not start and had the same issues as with the previous injectors.... $300 spent gone down the drain for nothing.

[PineappleFriedRice]

Originally Posted by King Tut

I had to give you a rare Thanks for writing out that long and detailed post. I will address some of the things you mentioned. I really wish that LJ @FullBlown had offered the cheaper non GT/GTX Garrett turbocharger as an option earlier when he first released his kit. I think more owners would have gravitated towards a more affordable kit. Ultimately the price point of the FA20Club kit is what sold it, and you like many fell victim to that.

My first advice would have been NEVER give a shop a deadline in the future where they think they can put you at the bottom of the list. Regardless of when you will be able to install your kit, make them think you need it ASAP. Unfortunetly you and many others including @Frs300 have fallen into this issue with FA20Club. The customer shouldn't have to make excuses for why a company is not delivering parts in a timely manner as you attempted to do for FA20Club.

Thank you for the input, advice, and support(and the rare 'Thanks' lol).
I have a feeling that in this case, even if I hadn't given them a deadline to ship out my kit, the outcome still would have been the same.

Originally Posted by Sportsguy83

I'll add to this that the problem with this was the inability to understand simple concepts of tuning Or laziness on working on the solution (finally figured out after a few months). Also, I had the "great" experience to actually sell my injectors to buy ones FA20Club swore and assured me he knew exactly how to tune them and would start up everytime. got those injectors, installed them, got a new tune file with the supposed calibration for their well known injectors...

What happened next.... The car did not start and had the same issues as with the previous injectors.... $300 spent gone down the drain for nothing.

Originally Posted by King Tut

The issues you were having with the car stalling out and not being able to refire it is a 100% tune related issue having to do with the larger injectors. Both myself and @Sportsguy83 had issues with our cars doing the same thing after getting our cars dyno tuned by FA20Club.

I'm a little relieved that I wasn't the only one that had the problem of stalling out and the car not starting immediately after. I was dreading having to come back and troubleshoot a possible fuel issue and not being able to drive my FRS again. I won't count out that maybe the install of the injectors/pump may be the issue, but at least I know that it is more likely than not the tune(though in FA20club's defense, I am ony running his base map and he has never had the opportunity to etune my car).

Originally Posted by King Tut

I hope in the end the turbo kit works great for you and you get to experience a forced induction BRZ/FR-S in all its glory. In the end, I hope you will say it was all worth it, but that doesn't mean you should have had to go through what you did.

I'm sure that in the end when I finally get the car up and running and hiccup free that I will be compelled to say it was all worth it. But at that point in time, I will have done about 3 weeks worth of driving in least 12 months(I'm sure @Frs300 can back me up on how much that sucks considering his ordeal with fa20club is much longer and still ongoing). At least now, I can breathe easier now that my business with Toni has been concluded. No more endless waiting, no more anticipation of incorrect orders, and no more chronic misinformation.

[Ny Brz]

Yes I think most of us fell victim to that time frame where all was good in the FA20club review world, where it was all positive. I went with kit because a I wanted a uel kit with options for turbo size, I did like the Avo kit but wanted something a bit bigger. If I were to create a review it would look similar to yours, except with the tuning issues. Hope you get you car to it true potential.

[Frs300]

Originally Posted by Ny Brz

If I were to create a review it would look similar to yours, except with the tuning issues. Hope you get you car to it true potential.

Why not do a review? As well as a complaint

[Ny Brz]

Originally Posted by Frs300

Why not do a review? As well as a complaint

Ohhhhh man the time I would have to sit down and write the review would take a great deal of time, I do plan on doing one though last two months have been crazy due to projects I had to finish and a new studio we are opening up. I have basically been coming home to sleep and get up for work again, bless my wife for putting up with me. I feel like I missed a lot going on in here but glad to here you finally got her back. If I did have to file a complaint against him it's that the shipments did no reach me in the agreed timeframe I did receive everything I was supposed to, there are other members that have things missing which is totally unexceptable.

[jamesm]

If your tuner tells you that you need to buy certain injectors for it to be right, you need a new tuner. That just means they're too lazy to dial in whatever ones you have, and likely won't work to optimize the 'recommended' ones once they're in there, leading to issues like those described above.

[kcam86]

Originally Posted by jamesm

If your tuner tells you that you need to buy certain injectors for it to be right, you need a new tuner. That just means they're too lazy to dial in whatever ones you have, and likely won't work to optimize the 'recommended' ones once they're in there, leading to issues like those described above.

Oft are you for hire as far as tuning goes?
back to topic when do you feel it is necessary to get upgraded injectors/fuel pump? I'm trying to achieve the mythical 300whp lol. I have a greddy turbo kit if that helps any haha.

[Frs300]

Originally Posted by kcam86

Oft are you for hire as far as tuning goes?
back to topic when do you feel it is necessary to get upgraded injectors/fuel pump? I'm trying to achieve the mythical 300whp lol. I have a greddy turbo kit if that helps any haha.

could do that on stock injectors

[jamesm]

Originally Posted by kcam86

Oft are you for hire as far as tuning goes?
back to topic when do you feel it is necessary to get upgraded injectors/fuel pump? I'm trying to achieve the mythical 300whp lol. I have a greddy turbo kit if that helps any haha.

Not for hire as I only tune for free, for now . If I were aiming for 300whp I'd get injectors for a margin of safety. It may be done on the stockers but that requires leaning on the di heavier than I like to, and possibly raising di fuel pressure targets which has unknown long term effects.

[kcam86]

Originally Posted by jamesm

Not for hire as I only tune for free, for now . If I were aiming for 300whp I'd get injectors for a margin of safety. It may be done on the stockers but that requires leaning on the di heavier than I like to, and possibly raising di fuel pressure targets which has unknown long term effects.

Ok would you" barter" then haha. You seem to be one of a small handful of tuners near me and you seem to be a reputable one at that.

Also ty fr300 ive read your post before saying you saw 400hp on stockers.

[lexusb3]

400 on stock injectors is that even safe lol

[jamesm]

Originally Posted by kcam86

Ok would you" barter" then haha. You seem to be one of a small handful of tuners near me and you seem to be a reputable one at that.

Also ty fr300 ive read your post before saying you saw 400hp on stockers.

Pm me and we can schedule some time.


400 isn't possible on stock injectors that I'm aware of.