ZZP is the worst! Everyone needs to read this before spending any money with them.

    My worst experience dealing with anyone in the performance world.

    THANKS, ZZP




    My wife bought me a turbo kit from ZZP on Black Friday for a Christmas present and I was soon to learn this was the biggest mistake I would ever make dealing with an aftermarket company.


    I had a good friend do the install who is an ASE Master tech and has done all my work for the last 20+ years. He is very detailed and always goes beyond what I would call a clean install. He has built multiple cars for me and my family and has built top fuel dragsters. I’m not saying he is the best mechanic on this planet but he is damn good.



    Holly Hell this thing is fun now!! Can’t really get into it due to it being cold and having an old Nt555R tire on the back. Ordered new rims and tires as soon as I got home from my mechanics' house. A few days later less than 100 miles driving home with my wife cruising in 5th gear smoke starts coming up from her side. Motor is destroyed, gone, can’t use anything even the cams.


    I promised my wife we would be going to Slingshots in the Smokies (when it was still in May) so I called Kyle told him what happened and told him I needed a motor and fast!


    I got a longblock so I could simply swap it in. This was the biggest piece of junk! Upon 1st inspection there is quite a bit of blasting material in the head, I am guessing they didn’t hot tank it afterwards??? Kyle told me it would be fine and just use a shop Vac. I should have returned it at this point if I knew what was coming.

    Motor gets installed and it sounds like a diesel motor and just doesn’t sound right. Going back and forth and being told to swap this part out with this and that I looked for a company that was closer to me. I found DDMWorks. I talked to Dave and towed the Slingshot down. Plugged up the laptop and found the tune was complete garbage, timing was all over the place. Ended up leaving it with DDMWorks and having it retuned.



    About 500 miles in timing chain access plug falls out spitting oil all over the place, got a tow and ordered a replacement.

    Two weeks later the timing chain tensioner almost falls completely out, another tow and its misfiring now. Kyle at this point isn't being much help so I called Dave and he ended up coming to my house on a Sunday to look at it and we both agreed it needed to go back to his shop.



    Having DDMWorks retime the Slingshot I was informed that no GM timing components were used even the lifters, I guess this could be my fault for not looking at the invoice but spending this much on a forged motor I didn’t think to ask. I got the invoice and had my wife pay it to get things moving, never looked at it other than the price. DDMWorks replaced everything with GM parts. We noticed that one of the timing guides was missing a bolt so the oil pan was pulled to look for it. No luck they just didn’t put it in (weight savings I guess). There was crazy slack in my “new timing chain” and nothing was torqued down, this might be why bolts were falling off.



    Picking up my slingshot I was told about having some piston clearance issues and would need to be looked at but I would be able to go to Maggie Valley and enjoy Slingshots in the Smokies. Well while there going downhill in vacuum, I started to make a little white smoke. Shortly after it looked like a 3am forest fire behind me. Turned around and headed back to the fairgrounds. In less than 20 miles I lost a ¼ quart of oil. Kyle asked me to bring it by the tent and when he was looking it over, he noticed my rear ZZP exhaust was just kind of hanging there due to the bolt sheering off, oh yea I had to get this exhaust due to the one that comes with the kit breaking the welds because it’s heavy and doesn’t have any support. It’s a known issue apparently as well would have been nice to know this before sending it off to Jet-Hot to be coated, it did last almost 100 miles though, JUNK!



    So why didn’t I let ZZP fix their mistakes? Well I was told I would have to send it to them at my cost both ways I'm in NC so it would have been expensive. I would have probably done this if so, much stuff wasn’t wrong with this motor I mean why should I pay more money for someone to fix mistakes that are newbie ones. You talk about how big you are but you won't even cover the cost to re time a motor due to an issue cause by unproper assembly.



    I posted what happened on one of the Facebook groups and Zoom (the owner) finally stepped in and tried to downplay me and try and make me look stupid. Starting with DDMWorks touched it then there were major issues, then my mechanic installed it wrong, he installed the boost controller wrong, and so on.



    Zoom even stated if I would have bought a build from them, they would have covered it. Well what the hell is a longblock, clutch, flywheel, turbo kit, and your rear exhaust considered??



    And If you are wondering.

    The clutch sucks, it’s the worst thing I have ever driven, you are going to look like you have never driven a manual. If you are on an incline good luck! Kyle told me it needed to break in and get the air out, but we did bleed the clutch???? I can’t wait to get rid of this thing!!!!!



    The rear section exhaust, oh boy! So, I think it sounds good and it looks pretty cool. It all stops there. A 315 is all you're going to put on the rear so If you had plans for a 345, sorry. You have to dent the hell out of your lower water pipe to get it in and it's going to rest on it, I'm sure this heats thing up some. It's actually hotter in the slingshot compared to the front exhaust, you can definitely feel the heat in the trans tunnel and I have the DEI heat management kit as well as extra heat management material all in my slingshot. The rear does bottom out, I was told this wouldn’t be an issue



    So, in the end after spending over 10k with ZZP they won't do anything for me, told me to pack sand. I even told them I'd sign an NDA if they would help me, they didn’t care. Blocked me from social media and wouldn’t even pay part of a bill to retime my slingshot. Tried to belittle me on Facebook and downplay everything. Last but not least, Zoom acted like bolts randomly falling off a motor they put together was my fault.



    This January I am having all their parts removed and replaced, and I do mean every part. My engine will be pulled and built correctly by DDMWorks. I can’t say enough about DDMWorks and how they stepped up and helped me with someone else's setup. Dave and his team have been awesome!



    And since I know ZZP is going to comment on how I could have spent the money to ship my slingshot to them and pay to have it shipped back for the same or possibly less money. You guys had your chance, this motor never should have left your shop!



    So, if you spent over 10K with these guys and you have issues due to their negligence know that for them to fix it you might need to spend another $1,500-1,800 for them to fix it.



    ZZP Go Fast Not Broke is total BS


    "ZZP Go Broke Fast"





    I saw you post this on Facebook and it seems you aren't the only one who has has issues. My best friend has a zzp kit and has not had any issues out of his, but the obvious concern is consistency. Im sorry you had to go through this and we discussed customer service and the importance of this in our latest podcast issue, Billy and Bobby Slingshot Shit Show. Hopefully DDM will get you squared away and you can get back to riding soon!

    Quote from EricRedSL

    If ddmworks was so close to you why the hell didn't you go there in the first place? If I were you I'd bite the bullet and have ddmworks put one of their engines in it along with turbo or supercharger and never look back.

    At the time I didn't know they were that close, and my wife surprised me with the turbo. In January everything is being pulled off, replaced and fixed.

    Few more picsslingshotinfo.com/wcf/index.php?attachment/111043/slingshotinfo.com/wcf/index.php?attachment/111043/

    First off I feel everyone should know how it was handled. Second I suggest you go back and re read the Facebook post. I never said it blew the first 100 miles because of a bad tune, to be honest I am not sure how or why it blew. I do know that when the new motor was put in with the same ECU it ran like garbage then it went to DDMWORKS and Dave hooked it up on the laptop right in front of me and timing was jumping all around and needed to be retuned. Well your going to call me out, so tell me what was up with the tune???? I mean they don't use lower compression pistons so it didn't change.


    And here lately there seem to be a few people blowing motors with a ZZP kit, I hear of one that made it 5.2 miles?


    I'm glad you get to beat on your ZZP Slingshot I really am. You don't know me very well or my installer so stop fishing. The 1st motor literally got floored once and it broke loose close to 70mph after that we just rode around without getting on it as I stated it was cold and my tire was pretty much shot. I hear bad gas is blamed a lot when It comes to motors blowing with their kits.


    But lets take all that off the table and go back to how the customer experience has been. I mean hell DDMWORKS has me up and running right now with a little white smoke due to my piston clearance issues, but I am taking all the ZZP stuff off. the turbo, motor, exhaust, and the clutch. They wont stand by their product so why the hell should I pop my hood and show ZZP? Someone might end up in the same place as me.


    And just so we are clear and you think I'm talking out my ass. My appointment with DDMWORKS is January 15th

    The purpose of this post is let others know of his experience with a vendor. I have no facebook(and do not care to ever have one). So this is my first time hearing it and I am guessing I am not the only one. The vendor is free to state his side of the story. What bothers me more than anything is the stuff falling off a brand new engine. You should have gotten a parts breakdown of everything that was in this new forged motor. Not every sale to a customer is going to be 100% perfect but it is how these vendors respond to these situations determine how good a business they are. Would love to hear the other side.


    I will ask, does anyone make something to log the slingshot for boosted applications?

    Something like a Nguage with wideband o2?

    On my current boosted truck (2019 f150 4wd whippled, e85) I never made any wide open runs until I logged idle and short pulls to make sure I had plenty of fuel and there was no detonation.

    It was my mistake assuming GM timing components would be used and lifters. I never would have thought they wouldn’t be used when buying a forged motor. I mean there can’t be that much of a price difference and I would have gladly paid it. To put this motor together they used a lot of random parts they had laying around. I had some LSJ parts on the motor. My cams have scoring marks but we’re supposed to be new. Just a lot of Bs done on this motor.

    Quote from MACAWS

    I think AEM Boost / AFR has a Logger

    I have the Inovate Gauge and it does not

    I have the Innovate SCG-1 AFR/Boost gauge with the solenoid boost controller, bu I am not aware of anyone who has ever gotten the boost controller feature to work properly on a Slingshot. I have seen posts where blame has been reported to lie with the Slingshot's ECU program not being very compatible with the Innovate SCG-1's boost control setup. I emailed Innovate and they basically recommended saving my money and going with the cheaper PSB-1 AFR/Boost gauge if I don't plan on using the Boost Control feature. The SCG-1 can connect to the PL-1 Data Logger to record AFR, Boost and RPM. The PL-1 comes with a 2 GB SD card that can log over 500 hours of data, no computer required). I've seen claims that the AEM 30-4900 Wideband AFR/Boost gauge can record over 3 hrs of data w/o any additional equipment, but the manual seems to show around 2.5 hrs of data.

    Unfortunately, my SCG-1 occasionally loses the AFR display and even less frequently loses both AFR & Boost display capability. I thought the problem might lie with my O2 Sensor thinking there might be a short in the connector coming out of the sensor, but the problem continued after I replaced the Bosch LSU4.9 sensor. I'm now wondering if I may have a power problem, but since the gauge still displays the Boost pressure when the AFR display drops, I don't really think that's the problem.

    Ok. I havent weighed in on this topic. And i am not... i dont have a dog in this race....


    Remember i just provide chalk and chalkboard. Same as they do at a Home Depot or your local grocery store. Same as Facebook also.


    I just tell people to stick to the facts. Factual information is crutial to any review.


    I have my own demons to deal with day to day.... I dont get involved with anyone elses issues. The original poster can remove or edit as they see fit. I would hope they get together and work something out if that is a viable option. If not, they both have the ability to post their side here if they want to.

    Kyle D ?


    I won't make a judgement without knowing both sides.

    Cage Free - 2016 Pearl Red SL

    DDM Short Shifter, Sway Bar Mounts Coolant tank Master Cylinder Brace & CAI

    Twist Dynamics Sway Bar, JRI GT Coilovers, Assault Hood Vent

    OEM Double Bubble windshields & various other goodies

    Owner of ZZP here. I'll make this quick as I'm sure I"ll have to come back and address more.


    -The OP replaced the boost controller with a unit he bought that we don't sell and had someone else install it. When that happens, stock engines blow in our experience. This cannot be blamed on the turbo kit. Had the kit been installed as shipped, the sling would be alive and well as are so many other customers.


    -I never told the OP to pound sand. I wouldn't do that. We begged the OP to send the sling to us because he was sending us conflicting information about several problems. I wanted the vehicle here and told him we'd take care of everything even tho we didn't do the install. We'd replace all the parts, do the labor, tune on the dyno, all at no charge. When he said he wanted to have another shop work on it and us pay I told him that if he did that, he most likely would be out the money, still have problems, still blame us. I told him this NEVER goes well. He did it anyway and exactly what I said would happen did.

    He asked us for a check and said he'd sign an NDA. I told him we don't do that, we're a full disclosure shop. I told him I wanted him to share his experience with anyone and any forum he chose. I say this because it's important for potential customers to know what to do and what not to do. It's important for people to know that they are taking responsibility for the build when they hire someone else to do the install and use parts we don't sell.

    Quote from zooomer

    Owner of ZZP here. I'll make this quick as I'm sure I"ll have to come back and address more.


    -The OP replaced the boost controller with a unit he bought that we don't sell and had someone else install it. When that happens, stock engines blow in our experience. This cannot be blamed on the turbo kit. Had the kit been installed as shipped, the sling would be alive and well as are so many other customers.


    -I never told the OP to pound sand. I wouldn't do that. We begged the OP to send the sling to us because he was sending us conflicting information about several problems. I wanted the vehicle here and told him we'd take care of everything even tho we didn't do the install. We'd replace all the parts, do the labor, tune on the dyno, all at no charge. When he said he wanted to have another shop work on it and us pay I told him that if he did that, he most likely would be out the money, still have problems, still blame us. I told him this NEVER goes well. He did it anyway and exactly what I said would happen did.

    He asked us for a check and said he'd sign an NDA. I told him we don't do that, we're a full disclosure shop. I told him I wanted him to share his experience with anyone and any forum he chose. I say this because it's important for potential customers to know what to do and what not to do. It's important for people to know that they are taking responsibility for the build when they hire someone else to do the install and use parts we don't sell.

    Zooomer,


    Thank you for providing this post. My best friend and I run a Slingshot podcast and I think this may be a topic of interest to our listeners. Id like to ask for clarification on one of the things you just said, you said "It's important for people to know that they are taking responsibility for the build when they hire someone else to do the install and use parts we don't sell." and I agree they should, but my question is this, can you reasonably expect people who live thousands of miles from your shop to travel to you to have the install done? Furthermore, isn't it also reasonable to believe that nearly all of our customers will have a reputable mechanic install this kit? I truly believe you offer great customer service, but in all honesty there has been some concerns in the SS community with this product, whether its caused by something they did or a defect in your product, one can never be really sure. I for one, thank you for standing up and responding to this post in a professional manner.