This is the best damned automotive fabrication and tuning shop in VA, as far as I'm concerned. They are located in Sterling, VA, which is almost 3 hours from me, so they've got to be good :-). They built the rollbar and seat mounts, and installed the harnesses on my 240sx and the quality of the work was amazing. Sooo, I knew exactly who I was going to when the time came for the 240z to see the same upgrades. It's great that they do quality work and have the ability to do damn near anything that you could want, but the thing that I like most about Piper is the exceptional customer service they provide.

I could honestly say that the shop service rate is higher than I'd like to pay, but these guys are professionals and they can probably do a better job in a shorter period of time than other shops with a lower service rate. In the long run, once you factor in the quality of work that you're getting, any monetary savings would be marginal in my opinion. And, I have to go back to the customer service.

Robbie, the point man for clients, has a fantastic working knowledge of how the shop operates and all of the details of projects that they take on. More importantly though, he takes the time to show the customer that he cares about the projects and explains what they are going to do. Considering that I was running late due to traffic on the day that I dropped off the Z, I was incredibly impressed that he stayed at work late to go through the details and discuss the work being done on the car. It is truly unusual in this day and age, especially in the automotive business, that a shop actually DOES put the customer first, and Piper is one of them. Robbie has been in contact on several occasions to iron out details, is jovial and extremely easy to work with, and is always a pleasure to work with. If he is a model of the rest of the crew at Piper, then there is no wonder why they have been successful.

 

More updates to come when I pick up the car and I'll be sure to take pictures and show off some
of the craftsmanship that can be seen coming from their shop on a daily basis!

March 11
Dropped car off at Piper this afternoon. Robbie and I did a thorough walkaround on the car to discuss each project in detail to make sure that our ideas were in sync. I am thoroughly pleased with the amount of depth he was willing to discuss and his attention to detail was incredible.

March 16
Robbie and I talked about the variety of jobs and ironed out a few additional details. The seat mounts are well on the way to completion and he also let me know that it would actually be cheaper to put sliders on the pass side too, so we decided to go that route. He also let me know that the original body shop he was hoping to use for the floor pans is backed up, so he is going to get in touch with a couple others to see what they can do. Later today, he sent me a revised estimate to account for all of the jobs and adjustments he has made accordingly. I paid for the fuel cell today as well, which should be in by early next week.

March 17
Work is starting on the rollbar now, so Robbie called to determine if I wanted to use 1.5x0.120 or 1.75x0.095 pipe. I looked on both the NASA and SCCA pages and determined that they both require 1.5x0.095 for a car my size/weight, so we decided to go with the 1.5x0.12 b/c it will give the ability to compete in virtually any sanctioned group while also probably being the lighter of the two.

March 23
Robbie called me today to let me know that they are finishing up this afternoon and that I can come by to pick up the car any time. He is still working with the body shop in regards to replacing the floor pans and expects and estimate tomorrow. As soon as he has that we should be able to move forward on tying up that project.

March 24
Sent me a teaser pic (below) of the car as it sits today. Essentially the car is finished at this point, however Robbie is continually pursuing the body shop he likes to use to see if they can fit me in to do the floor pans before I pick it up on Monday. Man, that would be nice...

March 26
Robbie called and let me know that the body shop would not be able to fit my car in to get it finished before I pick it up. This means I'll have to find a body shop of my own to replace the floor pans and weld up the frame rails. Aside from that, the car is waiting for me.

March 30
I picked the car up this afternoon; man, what an excellent job. We reviewed all of the tasks performed to ensure that everything was done and to make sure that I was familiar everything. They did a phenomenal job on each task and I cannot say how happy I am with the job they performed. As stated above, I would highly recommend Piper for any work you need done on any car. Below are links to pages with more depth on the various enhancements and some pictures of the various jobs Piper performed.
Roll Bar
Sway Bar Reinforcement
Seats & Harnesses
Fuel Cell