Bolt on turbo kit (1 Viewer)

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I don’t see that happening. I’m heavily HEAVILY leaning towards sun setting this.

Joey, please don't let your creation disappear. With a lot of us here we have been waiting for the right time financially to purchase your kit as 2020 has sucked for a lot of us.

I wish you and your family a great 2021!
 
Just bought @Tedward 's kit and would love to get a jump on preparing for install - can anyone send me the instructions electronically? PM me and will send an email address.

Thanks!
 
I Pm'd you instructions
 
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I will be sending this to all folks with orders via email but figured I would post here first:

Ok, this is going to get way more personal than I wanted to but I’m writing this because there seems to be this massive disconnect.

At the end of Aug I rushed my wife to the E.R. after a phone call from her doctor. She was bleeding out internally. She was anemic and she was dying. We didn’t know. We just thought she was tired and was losing weight, a lot of weight and quickly. She got six units of transfused blood and was made stable three days later. That day we were told she had a blood disorder, specifically Stage 4 Lymphoma. Doctors wanted to attack it immediately. 


Since that first week in September we have been in the E.R./hospital now a total of eight times spanning now almost 32 days. Our latest ended this past Friday after nearly seven days for an infection and low blood oxygen. If you understand cancer and chemo, you understand that infections can be a death sentence because you have no immunity. To top it off the medication that is typically used to boost your immunity in these instances, my wife had a negative response to and can’t use it. Watching your wife nearly die a FEW times over a very short period of time is something that I never ever ever hope any of you ever have to go thru.

Two days before Thanksgiving I got a call from a doctor back in Los Angeles. It was my aunt and she had suffered a massive stroke and I was listed as her emergency contact since I was the only other California family she had. We had no idea what her “plan” was/is or if she had a DNR or really anything. Because of COVID we were told either she can pass away at the hospital or be sent to hospice. My sister is a hospice nurse back in North Carolina so I flew her out to CA and we set up my aunt’s home as her hospice center. We were told she likely wouldn’t make the next two weeks and to prepare ourselves. So we did. As of today she’s still with us but she cannot communication, cannot eat, and only barely moves but her vision and hearing were severely affected. So I have been back and forth between my aunt and my wife since this all happened. In fact I was on my way home last week from my aunt’s when I got the word that my wife was going back to the E.R.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because not everyone knew what was going on. Unless you follow me on Instagram or Facebook then you would likely never have known. I am writing this because of only one reason: THIS IS WHY MY COMMUNICATION SUCKS RIGHT NOW! I have been open that my communications sucks. My last newsletter spelled out that my communication sucks. Anyone trying to get a hold of me already knows my communication sucks. But I’m not making any apologies for it because my wife and family comes before everything and everyone. My communication won’t improve until she is totally out of the woods. That time has not come yet.

“What the hell does this have to do with my freaking turbo order!??!!?” <— actual response from a customer.

Not a damn thing! Why? Because my wife’s situation and YOUR turbo have ZERO to do with each other than the fact that I’m not answering emails, text messages and emails. Do you understand what it’s like to get a text message that says, “You ****ing suck where is my god damn turbo?!” literally two minutes after talking to my wife’s doctor about what is next to expect for my wife’s internal bleeding and what they hope to find when they drop an endoscope into her stomach hoping to find the source of the bleeding. It makes me want to throw the phone into traffic.

I am writing all of this to say that LITERALLY nothing that I just wrote has LITERALLY anything to do to why turbo orders have not been shipped. The two are utterly unrelated. You know what had everything to do with why they haven’t shipped? There is what many of you think is a hoax going around called COVID, and it’s been kicking my ass and I’m sure some of you understand what that means.

On Oct.1 I sent out emails to 11 of you that within a couple of weeks your kits would be shipped out. Why did I bother telling you folks that? Simple, that was the information I was given. I was told by the hydraulic shop that the hoses were being done. I was told by the pipe shop that the pipes were nearing completion and would be shipping soon. I was told all sorts of things by various vendors. THAT is the info that I have and that is the info I give out. Garbage in garbage out.

As it turns out those items didn’t ship. Did they lie to me? No. Instead they were hit HARD by COVID. My pipe shop on Oct. 7th had 80% of their business pulled because their contract was pulled due to COVID. On Oct. 9th they had to shut down for 15 days because one of their workers contracted COVID and brought it to work. Eight of his workers were sent to the hospital, four in the ICU and his foreman, the man I have been working with DIRECTLY for two years now putting all of this kit together, died on Thanksgiving day from COVID.

My next batch of turbo parts, for the orders after the next 11, are being put together as I write this and waiting for pieces coming from my metal shop also back in Los Angeles. I’ve been waiting for stuff but it wasn’t front and center since I had components for the eleven going out. They were shut down for COVID months ago and they were back up a few weeks later. But on Nov. 2 they had a sick worker show up for work. He thought it was just a cold. It was COVID and he infected everyone. On Dec. 5th, my birthday, the owner of the metal shop (and the person I had become friends with previous to my move to Oregon) passed away from COVID and the metal shop closed pending decisions to be made by the family and remaining employees.

Since COVID reared its ugly head in March and started shutting down the country, I have received 11 refund requests for turbo orders. The reasons given ranges from:”I lost my job and need the money”, “I have a medical emergency and need the money” to, “I’m worried about money and I don’t think I need a turbo right now”. All of these are totally valid reasons. 


But what I think gets forgotten about is I have ALREADY paid for the pieces of your turbo. That money is spent and those pieces are sitting on my shelf, in a box or waiting to be delivered. When a refund request comes in I not only loose the funds for that one turbo kit, but I lose the funds I paid to get those components in. I lose twice. Why am I losing twice? Because since COVID hit only three turbos sold. Where does the money come from to make up that difference? Directly from my business.

So this is where I go into discussing how the sausage is made…

Because I was getting so many requests to cancel turbo orders because of COVID I knew it would be physically impossible to refund everyone. So I took out a loan to help make sure Wits’ End would exist long enough to make sure COVID doesn’t shut me down. I took out just enough to last, what I THOUGHT, was only going to be a three month problem. Boy was I, and the country, wrong. That loan is a sales based loan. Meaning 30% of GROSS sales goes RIGHT back to paying that loan. Ugh. Then I learned another harsh reality, PayPal does NOT refund their fee when a refund is given. I eat that fee but other folks are made whole. So tired of losing because of a problem I DID NOT CREATE, none of us reading this now created the problem. It was out of our hands. As I write this there are THREE folks still waiting for their refund that I need to make whole. I am working on it but its just going much slower than expected. 


So please, before you send me another pissed off message about the importance of your turbo and your need to have it RIGHT NOW, please, lets take a step back and realize that we are all in the crap together and that I am doing everything, and I mean EVERYTHING in my power to get these things out of my shop so that I can NEVER look at them again because my own experience with these has ruined me emotionally.
 
I sat here after reading this for a moment or two. Without words. I am not a wordsmith, I can't relate only because I have not been through what you are dealing with. Practically no one has. All I can say is that my prayers are with you and your family.
 
All the best moving forward @NLXTACY. Taking care of your family first as COVID/circumstance kick the living daylights out of you personally and professionally is without question the right decision. You've put together the only turbo kit for a 1FZFE I would consider purchasing.
 
I placed an order last week, got in 4 days later and 2500 miles away. I know exactly how bad it feels man but the community still supports you, the real community that is, not those facebook idiots.
 
There’s just nothing that I or any of us can say that will make this any better or any easier. It just sucks so much. As long as you’re in business, you have my business. I will continue to pray for you, your wife and your business. Dig deep and keep pushing ahead. I has to get better. I just has to.
 
I am really sorry to hear this Joey. I am not a rich man and I don’t really need any parts for my truck since I haven’t driven it since COVID started. Fortunately I have had steady work. I would certainly be happy to make a donation (that isn’t sales based) to help you get through this s***ty time. We don’t have many LC specific vendors and it’s very short sighted to think if we don’t support the ones that are passionate about the hobby that there will be others that fill their shoes.

Maybe you could setup a PayPal or something?

I will be sending this to all folks with orders via email but figured I would post here first:

Ok, this is going to get way more personal than I wanted to but I’m writing this because there seems to be this massive disconnect.

At the end of Aug I rushed my wife to the E.R. after a phone call from her doctor. She was bleeding out internally. She was anemic and she was dying. We didn’t know. We just thought she was tired and was losing weight, a lot of weight and quickly. She got six units of transfused blood and was made stable three days later. That day we were told she had a blood disorder, specifically Stage 4 Lymphoma. Doctors wanted to attack it immediately. 


Since that first week in September we have been in the E.R./hospital now a total of eight times spanning now almost 32 days. Our latest ended this past Friday after nearly seven days for an infection and low blood oxygen. If you understand cancer and chemo, you understand that infections can be a death sentence because you have no immunity. To top it off the medication that is typically used to boost your immunity in these instances, my wife had a negative response to and can’t use it. Watching your wife nearly die a FEW times over a very short period of time is something that I never ever ever hope any of you ever have to go thru.

Two days before Thanksgiving I got a call from a doctor back in Los Angeles. It was my aunt and she had suffered a massive stroke and I was listed as her emergency contact since I was the only other California family she had. We had no idea what her “plan” was/is or if she had a DNR or really anything. Because of COVID we were told either she can pass away at the hospital or be sent to hospice. My sister is a hospice nurse back in North Carolina so I flew her out to CA and we set up my aunt’s home as her hospice center. We were told she likely wouldn’t make the next two weeks and to prepare ourselves. So we did. As of today she’s still with us but she cannot communication, cannot eat, and only barely moves but her vision and hearing were severely affected. So I have been back and forth between my aunt and my wife since this all happened. In fact I was on my way home last week from my aunt’s when I got the word that my wife was going back to the E.R.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because not everyone knew what was going on. Unless you follow me on Instagram or Facebook then you would likely never have known. I am writing this because of only one reason: THIS IS WHY MY COMMUNICATION SUCKS RIGHT NOW! I have been open that my communications sucks. My last newsletter spelled out that my communication sucks. Anyone trying to get a hold of me already knows my communication sucks. But I’m not making any apologies for it because my wife and family comes before everything and everyone. My communication won’t improve until she is totally out of the woods. That time has not come yet.

“What the hell does this have to do with my freaking turbo order!??!!?” <— actual response from a customer.

Not a damn thing! Why? Because my wife’s situation and YOUR turbo have ZERO to do with each other than the fact that I’m not answering emails, text messages and emails. Do you understand what it’s like to get a text message that says, “You f***ing suck where is my god damn turbo?!” literally two minutes after talking to my wife’s doctor about what is next to expect for my wife’s internal bleeding and what they hope to find when they drop an endoscope into her stomach hoping to find the source of the bleeding. It makes me want to throw the phone into traffic.

I am writing all of this to say that LITERALLY nothing that I just wrote has LITERALLY anything to do to why turbo orders have not been shipped. The two are utterly unrelated. You know what had everything to do with why they haven’t shipped? There is what many of you think is a hoax going around called COVID, and it’s been kicking my ass and I’m sure some of you understand what that means.

On Oct.1 I sent out emails to 11 of you that within a couple of weeks your kits would be shipped out. Why did I bother telling you folks that? Simple, that was the information I was given. I was told by the hydraulic shop that the hoses were being done. I was told by the pipe shop that the pipes were nearing completion and would be shipping soon. I was told all sorts of things by various vendors. THAT is the info that I have and that is the info I give out. Garbage in garbage out.

As it turns out those items didn’t ship. Did they lie to me? No. Instead they were hit HARD by COVID. My pipe shop on Oct. 7th had 80% of their business pulled because their contract was pulled due to COVID. On Oct. 9th they had to shut down for 15 days because one of their workers contracted COVID and brought it to work. Eight of his workers were sent to the hospital, four in the ICU and his foreman, the man I have been working with DIRECTLY for two years now putting all of this kit together, died on Thanksgiving day from COVID.

My next batch of turbo parts, for the orders after the next 11, are being put together as I write this and waiting for pieces coming from my metal shop also back in Los Angeles. I’ve been waiting for stuff but it wasn’t front and center since I had components for the eleven going out. They were shut down for COVID months ago and they were back up a few weeks later. But on Nov. 2 they had a sick worker show up for work. He thought it was just a cold. It was COVID and he infected everyone. On Dec. 5th, my birthday, the owner of the metal shop (and the person I had become friends with previous to my move to Oregon) passed away from COVID and the metal shop closed pending decisions to be made by the family and remaining employees.

Since COVID reared its ugly head in March and started shutting down the country, I have received 11 refund requests for turbo orders. The reasons given ranges from:”I lost my job and need the money”, “I have a medical emergency and need the money” to, “I’m worried about money and I don’t think I need a turbo right now”. All of these are totally valid reasons. 


But what I think gets forgotten about is I have ALREADY paid for the pieces of your turbo. That money is spent and those pieces are sitting on my shelf, in a box or waiting to be delivered. When a refund request comes in I not only loose the funds for that one turbo kit, but I lose the funds I paid to get those components in. I lose twice. Why am I losing twice? Because since COVID hit only three turbos sold. Where does the money come from to make up that difference? Directly from my business.

So this is where I go into discussing how the sausage is made…

Because I was getting so many requests to cancel turbo orders because of COVID I knew it would be physically impossible to refund everyone. So I took out a loan to help make sure Wits’ End would exist long enough to make sure COVID doesn’t shut me down. I took out just enough to last, what I THOUGHT, was only going to be a three month problem. Boy was I, and the country, wrong. That loan is a sales based loan. Meaning 30% of GROSS sales goes RIGHT back to paying that loan. Ugh. Then I learned another harsh reality, PayPal does NOT refund their fee when a refund is given. I eat that fee but other folks are made whole. So tired of losing because of a problem I DID NOT CREATE, none of us reading this now created the problem. It was out of our hands. As I write this there are THREE folks still waiting for their refund that I need to make whole. I am working on it but its just going much slower than expected. 


So please, before you send me another pissed off message about the importance of your turbo and your need to have it RIGHT NOW, please, lets take a step back and realize that we are all in the crap together and that I am doing everything, and I mean EVERYTHING in my power to get these things out of my shop so that I can NEVER look at them again because my own experience with these has ruined me emotionally.
 
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I have only talked to @NLXTACY once over the phone and countless times over text....and with no other way of putting it, he talked to me like I was a friend of his since childhood. We live in different time zones! We live different lives! But we share an obsession over something so ridiculous as these trucks ; that we are able to be act like best friends who have know each other for decades. No one has customer service like that! I too will know that he will be thoroughly upset by any and all donations to his business, but I can say this, I would be screwed without his work and company. Its Christmas and the holiday season after all, I cannot not help a friend!! Its the land cruiser addiction! Its the 80 series family!
 
@NLXTACY your wife, you and your business have been in my prayers since I heard about her illness a few months back. I can't believe someone would be so "materialistic" to say the things you mentioned above but I guess there are all kinds of people. We are all here to support you guys and I would be happy to help. If you guys need anything (go fund me, more / less orders, etc) let us know!
 
I just sent 100 bucks as a gift to the business PayPal last night. I am sure he is going to rage at me for doing it but I feel the same way. Need to support the vendors that actually care.
What's Joey's business PayPal? I'd like to send funds too. Maybe we should start a separate thread also?
 

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