DRD Racing Heads - [email protected]

[Split 1]

I have bought parts from DRD and because of the good service a friend bought an engine kit from him.
All arrived down under on time and in perfect condition.
I am now thinking of one of his motors
Dave

[-Alex77-]

[-Alex77-]

[Ghia Nut]

I had been looking at heads for a while after determining that my FI heads were junk and that Superclean will actually eat aluminum heads.

I now have a full time job to get my car on the road and friday started shopping for said new heads. I looked at what people were offering and DRD seemed to have the best bang for the buck, not the top of the line, but not some over priced mexican VW casting that cip1 does, so I bit the bullet and ordered a set of Oem 40X35.5mm heads, pair, 12mm plug 3/4 reach, dual
spring, 85.5mm bore, ss valves etc.
Hoping they go nicely with a 1641.

Placed order friday evening and just got several conformation emails and the final one at 10:30 central time. Should be getting shipping conformation soon.
So far so good

In the mean time time to paint and fix my idiot mistakes before they get here.
_________________
'59 typ1 rajay turbo
'72 Ghia rajay 1641 dual 36DRLAs, 1 3/8" SS merged header and fat boy
78" GL Vert with ej22t swap
This will likely change tomorrow to something else.

[Ghia Nut]

just recieved shipping confirmation from FedEx... should be here friday
_________________
'59 typ1 rajay turbo
'72 Ghia rajay 1641 dual 36DRLAs, 1 3/8" SS merged header and fat boy
78" GL Vert with ej22t swap
This will likely change tomorrow to something else.

[gonzoo1]

Hi!

Does anyone know if Darren is working in august? As I'm sending him Emails and get no answers...

I'm Felipe from Spain, las year (November 2011) I ordered an engine and I think it's taking way too long last time I got an answer from him was begining of this year... What do you guys think?

[bugninva]

felipe, it does seem a bit excessive, especially if there is no attempt by them to communicate why there is such a delay
_________________

[gonzoo1]

I was "tranquilo" until now...now I'm getting a bit nervous and upset...

[gonzoo1]

I finallt y got some news, he is taking too long but at least he answers let's see what will happen!

Thanks EverttB!

[Ghia Nut]

received cylinder heads today
were very well packaged

Castings look pretty decent, has some light marks here and there but should clean up nicely. Exhaust ports could use some light sanding as there are casting marks and imperfections but for a slightly better than base head they arent bad. The fins around the ports seem to be MUCH cleaner than the mexi heads I had. Cant tell where these castings came from (probably china, I dont know for sure though.

These heads were a decent price and had the SS valves I wanted, the right size, and had dual springs (I will be removing the center smaller spring, dont need it but nice to have).

No bent fins. Gave it a quick once over but Ill go over it again.
_________________
'59 typ1 rajay turbo
'72 Ghia rajay 1641 dual 36DRLAs, 1 3/8" SS merged header and fat boy
78" GL Vert with ej22t swap
This will likely change tomorrow to something else.

[busdriverT1]

I also bought a set of L5 heads from Daren, Heads in the add look great just what i was lookin for and for a fair price.
Got a quick reaction on my mail when i wanted to order. Asked some questions and good a quick and solid answer.
He said there was some leadtime on the heads, but that was not o problem for me so i ordered and payed with PP al went well.

Than a week later i wanted a update n the shipment, no reply,,,
an other 4/5 days later i send him an e-mail and again no reply,,,,,,

So for now im keeping my fingers crossed and hope for the best.

Regards
Andre

[julianobug]

[busdriverT1]

well he said he had some lead time on the heads for production, but the least he can do is answer the e-mails we send.....

[gonzoo1]

Hello busdriver,

Let us know when you get some news...

A year has past since I asked him to build an engine for my bug (of course I paid what he asked) at first E´mails were going very fast, once I sent him the money I got no answers until las august! Let's see...

Good luck!

[julianobug]

[busdriverT1]

Same here, i just got the heads in today,
There was a problem with emails which didn´t come tru, thats why he did not answer. tryed with a other email and got a straight answer with all shipping info
Got them in today and were in great shape, properly packaged, no damage what so ever.
Heads themselves look great good job on that.

Must say, despite of communication problem, that he has delivered as promissed, and within a normal timeframe!
I would recomend him to others, great heads for a fair price

Thanks again Darren

[TerryLipford]

I had the same kind of issue with Darren, I spoke with him several times in April 2012, and made it as clear as possible that I needed the engine delivered to my home in late August 2012. This would give me time to get my Vintage Speedster kit assembled to where it would be ready to have the engine installed. I told Darren further, that since I have back issues, that the delivery had to be to my house.
I made the initial 50% deposit, Darren tells me the engine is on their build schedule, and I proceed with my kit car.
Late August goes by, so does September, and then October 2012. I send Darren weekly emails asking for status, and sometimes he responds, and sometimes he doesn't. Since I made the final 50% payment in late August, by mid-October I am starting to get seriously antsy about all the money I have paid and nothing to show for it.
So in late October, I tell Darren that it is time to get my engine done, or we are going to have a legal problem. So this time, Darren tells me that the engine is done, and that it will be shipped "next week".
Again, this turns out to be incorrect, and I finally talk to Darren's shipping company (Stevens Global Transport) and they tell me that the engine hasn't even been picked up yet - but that it will arrive in Tampa,FL the next week.
On Tuesday 11/6/2012, a Tampa,FL shipping agent calls me and says that my engine is ready for me to pickup. I tell him that I paid for delivery to Sarasota, and so he says ok, we will deliver it on Friday 11/9/2012.
Friday rolls by, I call the Tampa shipping agent, who keeps telling me that their truck is "an hour away" and finally at 5PM, they stop answering the phone.
I call Stevens Global Transport, who tells me that Darren has INSISTED that my engine remain in Tampa, FL for customer pickup. Now I am completely disgusted, so I make 10+ phone calls to DRD whose phone is constantly busy. So I send Darren an email, and ask him why my engine is sitting in Tampa instead of Sarasota. Darren responds, and says that this is "normal" and that I have to deal with it, or pay the Tampa company to deliver it.
None of this method was ever explained to me by Darren, and in fact, I had repeatedly told Darren that I needed the delivery to be made to my house in Sarasota. Darren's "defense" was that my invoice stated "delivery to LOCAL customer loading dock". Note the use of the word "LOCAL" ? Tampa is 100+ miles from my house in Sarasota, so LOCAL really doesn't apply.
Yes, obviously Darren may turn out great engine work, but anyone reading about DRD in this forum, should be able to see for themselves that Darren doesn't always do what he has said he is going to do.
I paid Darren 100% of my engine costs before I was able to obtain delivery, and that obviously left me with the possibility of getting less than I thought I paid for.

[TerryLipford]

Good luck with Darren actually doing what he said he would do, he pulled a similar kind of thing with my engine, and then he sent my engine to a location over 100 miles away and tells me that this is their normal delivery technique ?

[busdriverT1]

[Zander]

Ordered a set of entry level turbo heads from Darren at drd on 10-27-12 and they were on my doorstep 9 business days later. Heads look great. Can't wait to get them installed. Sorry about you guys bad experiences but mine was great!