Originally Posted by v8killer

Thanks to all that have replied to this thread in support of Driven Concepts and in support of separating fact from fiction. First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to clear Driven Concepts' and Ian's name.

I am the person to blame for John Ortiz's experience. Driven Concepts and Ian have NOTHING to do with this scenario. It is unfortunate that John Ortiz decided to slander Driven Concepts on Tampa Racing when he should have slandered me. Half of John's post would have been sufficient and based on fact. That is, LHT Performance does great work and they satisfied a customer's needs.

While I completely agree that John Ortiz was disappointed, I must point out that what he states as fact is, in fact, a skewed version of reality. Of course, John failed to mention anything negative that he contributed to the situation. For example, John owns a Mazda MX-3 with a 1.8L 4-cylinder, FWD. The manifold that he brought to me was designed to mount a T3/T4, top mount style, on a Mazda Miata, RWD.

"Somebody" hacked the runners off from the head flange, flipped the manifold over, and rewelded the runners to the flange. The stainless steel runners were MIG welded, using mild steel filler rod, to the stainless steel head flange.

Secondly, the TiAL 38mm wastegate flange was welded onto only runner #4. John originally asked me to cut the wastegate flange off and weld on a 90 degree elbow, retaining the flange on runner #4. I suggested to John that the wastegate flange be mounted or fed from the collector...the way it is supposed to be.

I proceeded to cut a 1 5/8" hole in the collector and TIG welded short section of straight 1.66" O.D. tubing. The manifold was ready for the 1 1/4" schedule 40 stainless steel weld el to be welded on, with a new wastegate flange, of course.

Anyhow, the point is that this customer, John Ortiz, did not have a poor experience with Driven Concepts or Ian. John Ortiz had an agreement with me, Jacob Whitely, not with Driven Concepts. He was my customer and the work was to be done at my shop using my TIG welder. In order to legitimately work on the manifold at Driven Concepts during business hours, I had a work order created for the job. Up to that point, Ian was not aware of John Ortiz's existence. When John stopped by Driven Concepts to abort the transaction, Ian, in his first ever contact with John Ortiz, attempted to retain him as a customer and he successfully resolved the matter.

Ian has done absolutely nothing wrong. He is a 100% stand up businessman and I am honored to know him. I am deeply sorry and I feel awful to see Ian's name dragged into this when he knew nothing about it.

In conclusion, Driven Concepts is an awesome shop and the place to go for straight up clean work, excellent prices, and personal, one-on-one customer service. Driven Concepts has the most talented employees I have ever worked with.

So, PLEASE, if anyone has formed a negative opinion of Ian or Driven Concepts as a result of this post, don't hesitate to do business with him. If anyone is to blame for not satisfying a customer, it is me. I failed John Ortiz and I sincerely apologize for not meeting his needs in sufficient time.

From, this point on, this matter is closed. I hope that John Ortiz can find it in his heart to forgive me. I am glad to see that his project is progressing and I wish him the best and Godspeed.