FB Rotary - Owner Frank Biggs

[Copyninja]

Hi All,

Thought I would share a very small and brief account of time and experience at FB Rotary.

Spoke to Frank last year December 2017/Jan 2018 in regards to an engine rebuild and advised he could rebuild and turn the car around in 2 weeks, max 4 weeks.

Dropped the car off the Him in February 2018 and again he assured me 2-4 weeks max to get the engine rebuild sorted, car in car out time frame. I had pointed out to him I had a trackday booked for nurburgring in October so needed the car to be sorted before hand.

Things we agreed on
Rebuild
Wire tuck
Engine bay respray

I completely understand this would extend the time frame and didn't mind waiting another 4 weeks so all in Car in/Car out in 8 weeks..So was expecting it back End of April/Beginning of May.

Called him in April to only find out None of the work had even been started. This should have set alarm bells ringing and I should have pulled the plug. Honestly my fault for being too kind and trusting! Never again will I be soo naive!

Rebuild began in May/July time Already way behind said time frame! Got a photo in July in regards to engine bay work being carried out

All parts were supplied which was 1 rotor and housing. These parts were inspected by frank and provided by a fellow FD Member. Then a few weeks later frank said the housing provided had a hairline crack which he didnt notice and also said he would sort it out as it was his fault and then said he would never buy parts from said FD member!

The Full engine was assembled on 28/07/2019 or at least this is when Frank sent me a complete photo of the fully assembled engine. Considering he had the car since 18th Feb 2018...this was was behind the timeline he assured me!

Then 25/08/2019 he messaged me to say an injector had failed....so I supplied brand new DM ID injectors for that issue to be resolved. Dale from DM motorsports had them dispatched for next day delivery on 28/08/2018 which was sorted the following week.

Then after everything was ready and done...he messaged me on 31/08/2018 to say the turbo is leaking oil....so I had the turbo rebuilt by turbo rebuilds. He told me he had sent it on 6/09/2018

At time point the date was 06/09/2018 and Frank had the car for 200 days or 6 months and 19 days!

Then on 13/09/2018 turbo rebuilds called me to say the turbo has been rebuilt and I had transferred monies to frank and all he had to do was to pay for it and we even talked on the phone for 30mins and he said he will call them same day to make the payment so the turbo can be sent next day delivery. Turbo rebuilds called me the next day to advice the payment hasnt been made. So I called Frank and he straight up lied to me on the phone, then when I advised him turbo rebuilds had already called me and said no payment was made he made an excuse that he didnt want me to worry or I would be disappointed. The issue here is 1. I paid him and spoke to him for 30mins the day before and he knew he had to call em...but for watever reason didnt...and if turbo rebuilds didnt call me up...this would have been delayed further till i reminded him or whenever frank remember to do so.

The newly rebuilt turbo was fitted by frank on 14/09/2018. He alone had worked on my car end to end.

1. Engine Bay still looks amazing IMO.
2. Wire tuck is seemless and looks well hidden but still accesible if i need to toggle any electrical issues.

on 15/09/2019 Frank sent me a video of the Car running.

However there many multiple issues on collection day he could not sort out and had no solution for them.

1. Engine would not start when hot
2. Engine only running 5mins before dying
3. Car was Smoking a lot
4. Coolant light constantly on
5. Abs light constantly on and abs not working. (This was working before car was given to frank)

Took the car to Stu and Jay dee at rotor torque and they solved issues 1,2 and 4. ABS issue was not resolved however this was not a major issue at this point in time.

Stu seemed to think the engine wast built right thus it was still smoking soo much. This tied in with what I had noticed from the day I collected the car it was
1. Smoking excessively
2. Used excessive oil during the 1000mile run in period...like half a litre every 300-400miles.

Discussed this with frank and he didnt really have any solution for me.

Anyways stu and jaydee mapped the car for me...Then literally few days later the turbo which was freshly rebuild by turbo rebuilds and fitted by frank failed and the front nut upon inspection had come off.

So I did all i could
1. bought a brand new turbo
2. all fluids flushed twice, intercooler, radiator, oil etc
3. intake pipes cleaned and nothing found.

installed new turbo...drove almost 300miles to stu at rotor torque....then they had a good look over the car. All was running fine had the car mapped at 1.2 bar to suit the new turbo....got half way home almost 450miles at this point on new turbo.....cruising and tried to get on boost, the car stuttered and ran rough....pulled over and turned car off. This was 19th November 2018.

Spoke with stu the next day, did a chuff test and it looks like the front rotor has no compression. Time for another rebuild!

So where are things with Frank and FB Rotary?

From what i believe he has shut down shop and done a runner as he owes many fellow Fd members for various different things and some of us he owes an engine as Mine never ran right from the get go.He also owes me a turbo as when he installed the turbo there was loads of silicone around the turbo oil inlet and when turbo rebuilds inspected it....the found silicone which blocked the oil lines which made the turbo overheat.

So bottom line

The engine and turbo frank built for me in good faith both blew up within 1 month of run in! Obviously my warranty is not worth anything as he's shut down shop and done a runner!
I've messaged him a few times recently and he's read the messages but has chose to Ignore them. I missed my Nurburgring Track day because the car just never ran right since frank worked on it.

Thats my experience with Frank and FB Rotary!

 

[ascari]

What a cunt. I'm sorry to hear that man. Thanks for the detailed warning. I don't know whether this type of BS is worse in the FD world, but I would definitely be knocking his front door. Hope you continue the RX7 dream... fuck Frank.

 

[Spendyrx]

Hi All,

Thought I would share a very small and brief account of time and experience at FB Rotary.

Spoke to Frank last year December 2017/Jan 2018 in regards to an engine rebuild and advised he could rebuild and turn the car around in 2 weeks, max 4 weeks.

Dropped the car off the Him in February 2018 and again he assured me 2-4 weeks max to get the engine rebuild sorted, car in car out time frame. I had pointed out to him I had a trackday booked for nurburgring in October so needed the car to be sorted before hand.

Things we agreed on
Rebuild
Wire tuck
Engine bay respray

I completely understand this would extend the time frame and didn't mind waiting another 4 weeks so all in Car in/Car out in 8 weeks..So was expecting it back End of April/Beginning of May.

Called him in April to only find out None of the work had even been started. This should have set alarm bells ringing and I should have pulled the plug. Honestly my fault for being too kind and trusting! Never again will I be soo naive!

Rebuild began in May/July time Already way behind said time frame! Got a photo in July in regards to engine bay work being carried out

View attachment 13949

All parts were supplied which was 1 rotor and housing. These parts were inspected by frank and provided by a fellow FD Member. Then a few weeks later frank said the housing provided had a hairline crack which he didnt notice and also said he would sort it out as it was his fault and then said he would never buy parts from said FD member!

View attachment 13950

The Full engine was assembled on 28/07/2019 or at least this is when Frank sent me a complete photo of the fully assembled engine. Considering he had the car since 18th Feb 2018...this was was behind the timeline he assured me!

View attachment 13951

Then 25/08/2019 he messaged me to say an injector had failed....so I supplied brand new DM ID injectors for that issue to be resolved. Dale from DM motorsports had them dispatched for next day delivery on 28/08/2018 which was sorted the following week.

Then after everything was ready and done...he messaged me on 31/08/2018 to say the turbo is leaking oil....so I had the turbo rebuilt by turbo rebuilds. He told me he had sent it on 6/09/2018

At time point the date was 06/09/2018 and Frank had the car for 200 days or 6 months and 19 days!

Then on 13/09/2018 turbo rebuilds called me to say the turbo has been rebuilt and I had transferred monies to frank and all he had to do was to pay for it and we even talked on the phone for 30mins and he said he will call them same day to make the payment so the turbo can be sent next day delivery. Turbo rebuilds called me the next day to advice the payment hasnt been made. So I called Frank and he straight up lied to me on the phone, then when I advised him turbo rebuilds had already called me and said no payment was made he made an excuse that he didnt want me to worry or I would be disappointed. The issue here is 1. I paid him and spoke to him for 30mins the day before and he knew he had to call em...but for watever reason didnt...and if turbo rebuilds didnt call me up...this would have been delayed further till i reminded him or whenever frank remember to do so.

View attachment 13952



The newly rebuilt turbo was fitted by frank on 14/09/2018. He alone had worked on my car end to end.

1. Engine Bay still looks amazing IMO.
2. Wire tuck is seemless and looks well hidden but still accesible if i need to toggle any electrical issues.

on 15/09/2019 Frank sent me a video of the Car running.

However there many multiple issues on collection day he could not sort out and had no solution for them.

1. Engine would not start when hot
2. Engine only running 5mins before dying
3. Car was Smoking a lot
4. Coolant light constantly on
5. Abs light constantly on and abs not working. (This was working before car was given to frank)

Took the car to Stu and Jay dee at rotor torque and they solved issues 1,2 and 4. ABS issue was not resolved however this was not a major issue at this point in time.

Stu seemed to think the engine wast built right thus it was still smoking soo much. This tied in with what I had noticed from the day I collected the car it was
1. Smoking excessively
2. Used excessive oil during the 1000mile run in period...like half a litre every 300-400miles.

Discussed this with frank and he didnt really have any solution for me.

Anyways stu and jaydee mapped the car for me...Then literally few days later the turbo which was freshly rebuild by turbo rebuilds and fitted by frank failed and the front nut upon inspection had come off.

So I did all i could
1. bought a brand new turbo
2. all fluids flushed twice, intercooler, radiator, oil etc
3. intake pipes cleaned and nothing found.

installed new turbo...drove almost 300miles to stu at rotor torque....then they had a good look over the car. All was running fine had the car mapped at 1.2 bar to suit the new turbo....got half way home almost 450miles at this point on new turbo.....cruising and tried to get on boost, the car stuttered and ran rough....pulled over and turned car off. This was 19th November 2018.

Spoke with stu the next day, did a chuff test and it looks like the front rotor has no compression. Time for another rebuild!

So where are things with Frank and FB Rotary?

From what i believe he has shut down shop and done a runner as he owes many fellow Fd members for various different things and some of us he owes an engine as Mine never ran right from the get go.He also owes me a turbo as when he installed the turbo there was loads of silicone around the turbo oil inlet and when turbo rebuilds inspected it....the found silicone which blocked the oil lines which made the turbo overheat.

View attachment 13953

So bottom line

The engine and turbo frank built for me in good faith both blew up within 1 month of run in! Obviously my warranty is not worth anything as he's shut down shop and done a runner!
I've messaged him a few times recently and he's read the messages but has chose to Ignore them. I missed my Nurburgring Track day because the car just never ran right since frank worked on it.

Thats my experience with Frank and FB Rotary!

Shame he didn't shut down before you had the chance to deal with him pat!
Hearing nothing but good things about stu and Jay atm though!

 

[Stu Rotortorque]

I would like to add that the first time we tuned this car so you was able to return home and get mot and tax after fixing issues like no map sensor connected on the car and then just run up the road to us so you could drive it you then returned the following week of which we then tuned to 7k with 1.2 bar boost you then ran the car for over 800 miles then you had the front nut come away from turbo and pretty much mangle the front wheel you replaced turbo then return after over 500 mile of which we only changed more so boost end of map as it was a bigger scale to4r and the whole time this car was smoking after a few minutes on idle time was clean o a run and did smoke on run down after boost which was told to u on every time you arrived the oil was check to find that oil was very low after 400 odd mile trip to us
I did say that really you need to talk to Frank and resolve the oil issue before tuning but with your trip book the time scale was small
It seem now the car to have slowly got worse as more miles done

 

[Dbautos]

I have had exactly the same problem with him, spent two years doing my car and it never ran properly and ended up breaking down and never restarting, he then has gone off the radar after taking my money and having the car returned to me by a recovery driver that didn’t know a thing. Car doesn’t start, and when he first took the car it was a clean Rx7, my pride and joy. When I got it back it looked like it had been left in a field for a year to rot.

 

[Dbautos]

If anyone also wants to find him please give me a msg or email sgtperformance@hotmail.co.uk

 

[Dbautos]

Hi All,

Thought I would share a very small and brief account of time and experience at FB Rotary.

Spoke to Frank last year December 2017/Jan 2018 in regards to an engine rebuild and advised he could rebuild and turn the car around in 2 weeks, max 4 weeks.

Dropped the car off the Him in February 2018 and again he assured me 2-4 weeks max to get the engine rebuild sorted, car in car out time frame. I had pointed out to him I had a trackday booked for nurburgring in October so needed the car to be sorted before hand.

Things we agreed on
Rebuild
Wire tuck
Engine bay respray

I completely understand this would extend the time frame and didn't mind waiting another 4 weeks so all in Car in/Car out in 8 weeks..So was expecting it back End of April/Beginning of May.

Called him in April to only find out None of the work had even been started. This should have set alarm bells ringing and I should have pulled the plug. Honestly my fault for being too kind and trusting! Never again will I be soo naive!

Rebuild began in May/July time Already way behind said time frame! Got a photo in July in regards to engine bay work being carried out

View attachment 13949

All parts were supplied which was 1 rotor and housing. These parts were inspected by frank and provided by a fellow FD Member. Then a few weeks later frank said the housing provided had a hairline crack which he didnt notice and also said he would sort it out as it was his fault and then said he would never buy parts from said FD member!

View attachment 13950

The Full engine was assembled on 28/07/2019 or at least this is when Frank sent me a complete photo of the fully assembled engine. Considering he had the car since 18th Feb 2018...this was was behind the timeline he assured me!

View attachment 13951

Then 25/08/2019 he messaged me to say an injector had failed....so I supplied brand new DM ID injectors for that issue to be resolved. Dale from DM motorsports had them dispatched for next day delivery on 28/08/2018 which was sorted the following week.

Then after everything was ready and done...he messaged me on 31/08/2018 to say the turbo is leaking oil....so I had the turbo rebuilt by turbo rebuilds. He told me he had sent it on 6/09/2018

At time point the date was 06/09/2018 and Frank had the car for 200 days or 6 months and 19 days!

Then on 13/09/2018 turbo rebuilds called me to say the turbo has been rebuilt and I had transferred monies to frank and all he had to do was to pay for it and we even talked on the phone for 30mins and he said he will call them same day to make the payment so the turbo can be sent next day delivery. Turbo rebuilds called me the next day to advice the payment hasnt been made. So I called Frank and he straight up lied to me on the phone, then when I advised him turbo rebuilds had already called me and said no payment was made he made an excuse that he didnt want me to worry or I would be disappointed. The issue here is 1. I paid him and spoke to him for 30mins the day before and he knew he had to call em...but for watever reason didnt...and if turbo rebuilds didnt call me up...this would have been delayed further till i reminded him or whenever frank remember to do so.

View attachment 13952



The newly rebuilt turbo was fitted by frank on 14/09/2018. He alone had worked on my car end to end.

1. Engine Bay still looks amazing IMO.
2. Wire tuck is seemless and looks well hidden but still accesible if i need to toggle any electrical issues.

on 15/09/2019 Frank sent me a video of the Car running.

However there many multiple issues on collection day he could not sort out and had no solution for them.

1. Engine would not start when hot
2. Engine only running 5mins before dying
3. Car was Smoking a lot
4. Coolant light constantly on
5. Abs light constantly on and abs not working. (This was working before car was given to frank)

Took the car to Stu and Jay dee at rotor torque and they solved issues 1,2 and 4. ABS issue was not resolved however this was not a major issue at this point in time.

Stu seemed to think the engine wast built right thus it was still smoking soo much. This tied in with what I had noticed from the day I collected the car it was
1. Smoking excessively
2. Used excessive oil during the 1000mile run in period...like half a litre every 300-400miles.

Discussed this with frank and he didnt really have any solution for me.

Anyways stu and jaydee mapped the car for me...Then literally few days later the turbo which was freshly rebuild by turbo rebuilds and fitted by frank failed and the front nut upon inspection had come off.

So I did all i could
1. bought a brand new turbo
2. all fluids flushed twice, intercooler, radiator, oil etc
3. intake pipes cleaned and nothing found.

installed new turbo...drove almost 300miles to stu at rotor torque....then they had a good look over the car. All was running fine had the car mapped at 1.2 bar to suit the new turbo....got half way home almost 450miles at this point on new turbo.....cruising and tried to get on boost, the car stuttered and ran rough....pulled over and turned car off. This was 19th November 2018.

Spoke with stu the next day, did a chuff test and it looks like the front rotor has no compression. Time for another rebuild!

So where are things with Frank and FB Rotary?

From what i believe he has shut down shop and done a runner as he owes many fellow Fd members for various different things and some of us he owes an engine as Mine never ran right from the get go.He also owes me a turbo as when he installed the turbo there was loads of silicone around the turbo oil inlet and when turbo rebuilds inspected it....the found silicone which blocked the oil lines which made the turbo overheat.

View attachment 13953

So bottom line

The engine and turbo frank built for me in good faith both blew up within 1 month of run in! Obviously my warranty is not worth anything as he's shut down shop and done a runner!
I've messaged him a few times recently and he's read the messages but has chose to Ignore them. I missed my Nurburgring Track day because the car just never ran right since frank worked on it.

Thats my experience with Frank and FB Rotary!

I just thought I’d also say, when I complained to him, he said he had so many happy customers and my car was a one off. He even showed me pictures of your car and told me how happy you were with it.

 

[Copyninja]

I just thought I’d also say, when I complained to him, he said he had so many happy customers and my car was a one off. He even showed me pictures of your car and told me how happy you were with it.

Hey thats soo bad and I totally understand. Hes better off stacking shelves in tescos than messing people about like this. Just wondering what youre doing with your fd now?

He owes me a turbo and an engine rebuild. He also didnt return my 5L aem wmi Bottle. Hasnt responded to any of my messages since.

 

[Spendyrx]

Haha what a cheeky fucker! Fair play....fucked engine and turbos yet still a happy customer

 

[Dbautos]

Hey thats soo bad and I totally understand. Hes better off stacking shelves in tescos than messing people about like this. Just wondering what youre doing with your fd now?

He owes me a turbo and an engine rebuild. He also didnt return my 5L aem wmi Bottle. Hasnt responded to any of my messages since.

I’m now doing it myself as I should have done in the first place. The reason the car went to him in was I was busy running my own garage, and barely got any time to do my own stuff, after speaking to him and meeting him he seemed like such a nice guy, so the work went his way.

 

[Dbautos]

I’ll be compression testing it this week and going from there, what happened to your car in the end?

 

[Copyninja]

I’ll be compression testing it this week and going from there, what happened to your car in the end?

Ahh ive put it into storage. Enjoying a E92 M3 atm...taking some time away from the rotary scene.

Ive got 2 options

1. Stay rotary
2. V10 swap

currently just maintaining detailing cleaning and storing the car so its all in top condition until I decide which engine goes in.

 

[Spendyrx]

Ah that's shit mate! But at least your keeping it monty blue is for winners

 

[BenLewisMAV]

Ok I'll bite - what V10?

 

[rxkid]

Funnily enough I run into some online commentary on Frankie Biggs aka FB Rotary.

So I met Frank a few years ago and he did a lot of work for me on our cars. We had all sorts of issues with Frank and his work which ended up becoming very frustrating, time consuming, much time wasted and instances of wasted money. We ended up falling out.

The reality is that Frank is a young guy, with good intentions but lacks experience, has no formal training, lacks professionalism, is very disorganised and isn't able to manage a business or keep to deadlines and affairs in order. Whilst we can fairly say Frank did a good job on a few things for us, it was only through having to oversee his work and push him on regular updates. We finally got to the point where on some weekends I would go and work with him to make sure he was doing things properly and taking appropriate care. This came after we picked up one of our cars and he hadn't bolted the gearbox in properly and we almost lost it back into London on the highway and had to limp the car back in London and then get it trailered back out to him the following weekend and then go back the weekend after to pick up it. Complete waste of time for us and could have been all saved if Frank did his job properly. We still paid him.

We also had an instance where Frank's time and cost estimates were all wrong and he ended up charging us double of his estimate. When we went to pick up the car he refused to release the car until funds were paid. Total sum was circa £7k of work (Franks final bill). Even after the large bill the car never ran right and we had to take it to another workshop to get resolved. The irony was that Frank tried to tell me the car was running fine even though it clearly wasn't. Running on one rotor isn't 'fine'.

Our relationship ended after it took him 10 months to complete a task that he promised to have back in 2w delivered.

I'm a very patient and tolerant person. We were completely considerate to the fact that Frank was a new father and needed money to support his family, but at the same time I'm glad our relationship ended.

I'm not surprised to read any of the stories above and have no doubt there are many more customers who share the same sentiments.

Frank - I hope you read this commentary. I fully appreciate that you had good intentions however your actions continually proved otherwise and you were too naive to listen to advice and sort your affairs out. It's disappointing that you couldn't lift your game and that things ended. I wanted to bring more work to you.

 

[Rotortip]

Hasn't Frank re opened? I thought he was 'Turbo Charmer' now? 4B, Chase Farm Units, North Weald Bassett, Harlow CM16 6AL
I went to see him regularly for different bits...again seemed like a really nice guy...great intentions.....but as pointed out he struggled with time keeping, knowledge and accurate costs..
I took an engine there (because he is local to me) to be 'refreshed'. He had it for a few months (no big deal as it was my spare engine) and I wanted to learn how to rebuild a rotary. Alarm bells went off when he said he 'aims' for 10:1 compression on fresh builds...think new cars had about 8.5-8.7:1 from Mazda factory. I went there at the date we had organised for him to show me how to put it together and there was no one there. Called him 15 times while I wait in the car for 2 hours....he came and said he was closing.....I'm glad I persisted and got my engine back....or so I thought.
He had sold(or kept) my good irons and gave me a mixed set which Era noticed later upon inspection had been filled with metal putty because someone had ported it to far and had gone into the water jacket. He didn't know where my parts were, he gave me the different irons, housings...they where usable and a box of bits......took them to Era (I didn't know about Stu & Jay back then) and the first thing he said was 'Wheres the rest of it?'
Lesson learnt....

 

[jdmr_neil]

Unfortunate that all you guys have had such terrible experiences with this guy. Im really pleased you have all took your time to post these experiences as it helps any other, possibly less knowledgeable owners avoid such issues.

 

[Copyninja]

I’ll be compression testing it this week and going from there, what happened to your car in the end?

Sorry haven't kept up with this thread. I got my rx7 rebuilt by Tim from RX Motors. Still a rotary and went for a large street port. Got the car back 3 days ago...doing a 500 mile run in period before it goes to JD and Stu for a mapping session.

 

[Copyninja]

Ok I'll bite - what V10?

it was gonna be an s85 bmw V10 potentially but still rotary atm.

 

[Copyninja]

Funnily enough I run into some online commentary on Frankie Biggs aka FB Rotary.

So I met Frank a few years ago and he did a lot of work for me on our cars. We had all sorts of issues with Frank and his work which ended up becoming very frustrating, time consuming, much time wasted and instances of wasted money. We ended up falling out.

The reality is that Frank is a young guy, with good intentions but lacks experience, has no formal training, lacks professionalism, is very disorganised and isn't able to manage a business or keep to deadlines and affairs in order. Whilst we can fairly say Frank did a good job on a few things for us, it was only through having to oversee his work and push him on regular updates. We finally got to the point where on some weekends I would go and work with him to make sure he was doing things properly and taking appropriate care. This came after we picked up one of our cars and he hadn't bolted the gearbox in properly and we almost lost it back into London on the highway and had to limp the car back in London and then get it trailered back out to him the following weekend and then go back the weekend after to pick up it. Complete waste of time for us and could have been all saved if Frank did his job properly. We still paid him.

We also had an instance where Frank's time and cost estimates were all wrong and he ended up charging us double of his estimate. When we went to pick up the car he refused to release the car until funds were paid. Total sum was circa £7k of work (Franks final bill). Even after the large bill the car never ran right and we had to take it to another workshop to get resolved. The irony was that Frank tried to tell me the car was running fine even though it clearly wasn't. Running on one rotor isn't 'fine'.

Our relationship ended after it took him 10 months to complete a task that he promised to have back in 2w delivered.

I'm a very patient and tolerant person. We were completely considerate to the fact that Frank was a new father and needed money to support his family, but at the same time I'm glad our relationship ended.

I'm not surprised to read any of the stories above and have no doubt there are many more customers who share the same sentiments.

Frank - I hope you read this commentary. I fully appreciate that you had good intentions however your actions continually proved otherwise and you were too naive to listen to advice and sort your affairs out. It's disappointing that you couldn't lift your game and that things ended. I wanted to bring more work to you.

Mate I completely understand. There's nothing more I can say on this topic except stay away from the guy. He's just a cowboy. He owes me an engine and turbo. While I completely understand his personal situation...he should not be offering any services as he doesn't have the knowledge or expertise to resolve problems like a professional should be able to. Almost every person who's had a build with him had to go to another shop to resolve as his build never run as they should!

Some of us in worse positions have had engines and turbos fail post rebuild!