# Stay Away from Xtreme Motorsports, Blountstown FL



## Fatbum (Feb 17, 2010)

*Xtreme Motorsports* and *Sports Car Technologies* are both registered by chris harwood, stay away from this man! (thanks randy for the heads up on sct)


This is an epicly long story, and if I can stop one person from ruining their vehicle, being scammed for money and having parts stolen from them, it's worth me putting in the time to share my experience...

There are a lot of individuals who have had issues with this shop (or rather the owner Chris Harwood, who seemingly is the only one who consistently works there) so first off, if you have had issues, save someone else from pain by filing your complaint with:

Bob Buchholz
Investigator II
Division of Consumer Services
Bureau of Investigations
PO Box 6281, Panama City, FL 32404-6281
phone: (850) 528-1909
fax: (850) 410-3839
email: [email protected]

He is the Florida Investigator for consumer affairs and handled my case as well as anothers.


Here ya go...: Starts off way back when in September. This is an excerpt from the affidavit I wrote for the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs investigator.

I took my car to Xtreme for some cam work, intake manifold install and tune.
We ran into issues that were caused by another shop, which although not Chris's fault, would have been observed quicker if Chris hadn't procrastinated on the car. I went up there the first day and Chris said he would meet me at 9am. He didn't show up till 1130ish.
The next 4 times I went to pick up my car, Chris was only there before me 1 time. Because he spent the night "working on my car", although, nothing had changed from when I left the day before. The last time I went to pick up my car, I called and asked if the car was ready to be picked up, because he said it would be done that day, and he said to come at 3, and when I told him that I had to take my 2 week old baby and wife with me because I had no other way, so I wanted to make sure it was really done, he said yup everythings good. I family ended up being there that night till 9pm, when I got there at around 2:30, the car had been barely worked on from the last day I came and it was NO WHERE near completition. Justin (the other guy who works there) was working on it, and all the times I went there, he was the ONLY one working on my car, Chris would touch it for a couple minutes and then literally dissappear for an hour leaving the shop and no one would know where he went. He left to get something to eat one time and came back an hour later and said he had a snickers bar...he would also just sit in the one room with AC for long periods of time just texting and talking to someone on the phone. It puzzled me that he was always on his phone txting people, but never could respond to me when I asked about the status of my car. (Of course, that is perception, and that happened to be mine)

The night I stayed till 9pm the rocker arms starting falling apart when they started the motor. Chris said the rockers just go bad sometimes, even though I made the comment that they were fine before and the same cam is in, the only thing that changed was the valvesprings. He said it just happens so I ordered some trunion upgrades from comp to add to stock rockers. He said the car was ready to be picked up a week and a half or so later so I came with my father in law who had driver down and picked the car up. He said he didnt install the trunion but would have Justin come out and install them as soon as they arrived, but he replaced the stock rockers. The entirety of him having my car, he would never keep me informed on progress.
I drove home and never took the car over 3kish rpm, and parked it, I drove it to work the next day and while on base going 25mph, the car started going clank clank clackity clack. I called Chris, and called a tow truck. This was on a Thurs or Fri I believe.

Chris asked me if I could wait till Monday for them to pick the car up since they had their show in blountstown that weekend. I said yes. Justin came and picked the car up on either Tuesday or Monday, I can't recall. I had taken the liberty of taking off the valve cover to see any clues. I took pictures and posted them on a board with some reknown LS engine builders and they all agreed that the wrong valve seals were used when Chris had a machine shop put the heads together. (He had the machine shop put the heads together because the old ones wouldnt come off because of something a previous shop had done that is unrelated).
Due to the wrong valve seals being used, it caused the valve stem to snap in half and drop in the motor. I asked Chris and asked Justin to MAKE SURE they took pictures of the heads and motor when they took the engine apart at their shop and still to this day do not have pics. The motor blew up Oct 6th. Chris had originally called me and said he would "make me a deal" on a new motor since I was having so many troubles, and then once the valve seals being the wrong ones came to light, he called me immediately and said that he was "going to take care of it". I was relieved at hearing this and said ok.

He had to have an insurance adjuster come out and inspect the car. They came on a Wens/thurs and Chris said he would know the next day about the check. He never called me back about when they were getting the check and didnt answer my calls. The next week sometime I finally got a hold of him and said they had gotten the check (one thing that oftened seemed to happen was: I would call Chris and not be answered for days on end trying to find out the status of something and then when i would finally get a hold of him, he would say they had gotten something (a part, check etc) a few days prior, why he wouldn't inform me of this is beyond me).
He had originally told me that he had no idea when the check was coming and that the insurance people were working in, after a week or so I asked him for the name of his insurance company so I could call and inquire about when the check was coming because he had refused to do so. He refused to provide me this information. I wanted to know when the check was coming and Chris wouldn't call. I asked him who he was buying the new motor from and he won't tell me anything other then "a dealer in Atlanta". I am unsure if he ever was even insured.

I asked him if I needed to get a lawyer to make sure my car got fixed and he said "Your car is going to sit for months on end, you know how long court cases take". I asked him if he was going to fix the car or not, and he again said yes. This was after tons of calls, emails and txts that went unanswered.
Finally got the check and motor in Nov. I was told by Chris originally that when they got the motor it should only take a week for the motor to go in.
He told me "the end of Nov first week in December" my car should be done.
November goes by and nothing. Some of this is partially due to Rich Zs car being on the lift, and his time being tied up with that. Chris says the lift is not an issue, I am assuming he used the floor where the dyno is because you can stand below it by removing some panels.
First week in december goes by and Chris says he is working on it. He says he is staying everynight to work on it. The motor is in my car by the 10th or 11th, after the first week of December.
Car won't start at Chris' shop when they go for initial start up. "dealer" gave them a motor with a 58tooth reluctor wheel, (that is for vette LS2s, GTOs have 24tooth except rare 06 models).
Chris said he made sure they had the Vin model etc and I don't blame him for that. I do realize though, that if it hadn't taken him so long to put the motor in to begin with they would have found this out weeks prior.
So Chris says he is having someone take it back up to Atlanta to swap motors.
They got the new (#2) motor back last Tuesday (This was a lie, Chris admitted to never getting the second motor via text message.) I tell Chris that I NEED my car back. I tell him I feel like he is sitting on it and procrastinating. He says he isn't. On Thursday when I ask him what needs to be done, he says that it came as a short block so he has to put the heads and intake manifold on. and the motor is not in the car. It takes a day to put a motor in a car. I have heard this time and time again.
Thursday night the last thing I say is "What is the status of my car". He doesn't respond. He did not respond until Dec 22nd. So over a week went by without so much as a text message. He did not send any pictures of having a motor.

Chris also sent me a check in November for $250 for a "Rent a car" but this check bounced and I did not find out until the middle of January as I do online banking and there is no immediate warning. Chris also was supposed to send me another $350 for a rent a car that I never recieved. I told him he wouldn't have to worry about the rent a car money if nothing was wrong with my car, and unfortunately I am still missing parts.

I contacted the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs (DOACA) at the end of December who notified me that Xtreme Motorsports was not licensed. Chris had specifically told me he was, and if I recall correctly even had "Licensed and Insured" on their website, although it is no longer stated there. I am 100% confident that his employee Justin did in fact tell me they were licensed and insured as well.

In my complaint to the DOACA and my letter to Chris I stated that a completion date of January 7th, 2010 was required. Chris said he would meet that day. However, he did not, and I told him I would be showing up at his shop on the 8th with a trailer to take my car back. He did not have a motor for my vehicle as he had previously stated in the beginning of December and finally admitted to it because I was physically going to "not" see it. On the 8th of January Chris did however purchase a new motor, which I viewed the invoice for. He stated he wanted to avoid legal action or anything criminal for his families sake.

On the 25th of January the new motor arrived at the shop.Some parts I was waiting on arrived on the 2nd of February 2010, so Chris could finish the motor. The water pump went bad from sitting so long and chris replaced it. The radiator seals went bad and I purchased a Ron Davis to replace it and had it sent to Chris, although its highly probably that it wouldnt have gone bad if it hadnt sat for so long.

I finally received my car in the middle of March, approximately the 12th. The car was very rough at idle and need of maintence to the tune to continue to run. I noticed I was missing my MSD plug wires, my SLP underdrive pulley is not on the car, it has some rusted silver pulley on it, my valve covers are covered in some coating and are not my valve covers they are clearly from a truck, my $150 Trunion upgraded rocker arms are not on the car.Before I noticed all of these motor parts missing Chris's employee told me I had to sign a paper stating they had fulfilled their duty to replace the motor or I couldn't take the car back. I signed it only after I made them add a clause about negligence in the statement.

I called the Blountstown Police after Chris lied to me about sending me parts that were mine. He told the Police that he sent them, and I did recieve 2 parts a few days later, but not all of the parts he told the police he was sending and I have proof of the parts he said he was sending in a text message, which most were missing. I only recieved my Underdrive Pulley and MSD wires, which the wires were ruined. He indeed lied to the Police officer on the phone.

I am still missing to this day my:

Stock Fuel Rails
Stock Fuel Injectors
JP Double Roller Timing Chain
Trunion Upgraded Rocker Arms
Valve Covers
Oil Filler extension
FAST LS2 adapters

I have not been able to verify if the internal parts of my motor are indeed mine due to not having the money to spend on another mechanic.

I paid Chris Harwood $1400 to "degree in my cam", tune my car, add upgraded rockers and a double spring kit.

Chris has, before and after my car being dropped off, stated that he would return my stock parts as he agreed upon originally. After not delivering them as he said he did, even after calling the police, Chris has stated that he is keeping them, unlawfully so.

I have had my car dyno tested to see if the work and tune Chris did on the car would support the claimed output my car made by Chris, which was 440rwhp/412lbtq. At an independent dyno measuring tool I had the car tested and it made 399rwhp/386lbtq at its highest peak. The numbers that Chris gave me are virtually impossible to achieve as the amount of variance in dyno's would not be around 40rwhp by any means and the dyno graphs themselves have completely different curves.

On saturday April 24th, 2010, Just another update:

I have gotten another dyno at another independent shop showing results with 5 of the dyno I got last week, still way off from Chris' numbers. In fact, the curves of the graph would allude to the fact that Chris' sheet was fake. My car must be retuned due to the quality of his tuning, which will run me $400 to fix.

I had an IAT relocation kit on my car, approximately $80, that is not on my car. It should have never come off in the first place, as it stays attached to the normal IAT sensor even if you remove it from the CAI. This is just more BS. I originally thought he relocated it further towards the air inlet, but nope, we discovered this when my IATs were around 130 degrees at idle....

The ported throttle body that was on my car (the one I ported) is no longer present either. Chris stole that too. I txted him about this and he said Justin would be dropping my parts off on Monday or Tuesday. Frankly I don't believe him. (This didn't happen either)

Also, the fuel rails he put on my car are leaking because Chris used tape that deteriorates at high temps. Unsure of why he used tape on AN fittings...but what can I expect. I also realized none of my AC stuff was capped off, which in a sandy environment can be quite the bad thing...


On April 24th, 2010 Chris Harwood specifically told me in a text message that he would have his worker Justin return all of my parts to my house on Monday or Tuesday, the 26th and 27th respectfully. They did not show up and he never responded to my text messages. I told him that I would be turning in this affidavit reflecting that and he asked to have till May 5th. As of 1:46pm May 5th, 2010, he has not returned any of those parts and niether has sent any pictures of the parts that he took from my car that I asked for to verify that they were in his position and not sold to someone else.

Ported Throttle Body - $300 (stolen)
A brand new LS2 Throttle Body (a stock one for my car, this does NOT include the porting work which cost around $100. I did the work myself)
throttle body, gto
05-06 MSRP: $550.94 SALE: $358.11
Fuel system - Fuel induction - Throttle body
GM Parts | GM Accessories | GM Parts House


Vector IAT relocate - $80 (stolen)
Order Date: 12. September 2008
Total: $104.79 Order Status: Shipped
Order Number: 00001582
Vector Motorsports - Home


MSD Wires - $60-80 (the ones that he took from me and then returned when I called the police to me were ruined by having been covered in oil.)
MSD Super Conductor Spark Plug Wires (Red) - GM LSx Applications (Set of 8) [MSD-32819] - $74.95$61.20 : MarylandSpeed.com- Your First Stop on the Way to Performance!
Order #16869 (Shipped via UPS)
Order Date: Friday 26 December, 2008
$61.20 without tax.


Fuel Rails w/injectors - $250 (stolen)
RAIL 05-06 MSRP:$249.50 SALE:$162.18
Fuel system - Fuel induction - Fuel injection - Fuel rail
GM Parts | GM Accessories | GM Parts House

Chris agreed to, and has repeatedly told me before, and after me recieving my car back that he would return these parts and never has. He told the Blountstown Police Deptartment that he included these in a box (that had my underdrive pulley and MSD wires in it) along with the rocker arm upgrade, but it did NOT include these items.



Rocker Arm Trunion Upgrade - $150 I paid as part of the original $1400. (I payed for these and never recieved, Chris Harwood and lied and told me he put them on my vehicle.)
COMP Cams 13702-KIT - COMP Cams GM LS Series Retrofit Trunnion Kits - Overview - SummitRacing.com
COMP Cams 13702-KIT - COMP Cams GM LS Series Retrofit Trunnion Kit
$134.75




This list does not include anything that I have not been able to have a mechanic verify due to not having funds to take my car apart and I could visually verify these parts as not being there.


I have attached the text messages between me and Chris.

Update:

The "Upgraded" fuel injectors put on my car were not only the wrong size, but they were not 42# injectors like he said, they were stock flex fuel injectors. He told me he purchased them from FuelInjectorConnection.com which was a lie as I contacted the owner who not only said Chris did not buy those from him, but that he didn't even sell those type of injectors. Chris also stole my Fuel Injector extensions which WOULD have made the injectors he put on my car the right size, but still not upgraded.

The Fuel Rails he put on my car were leaking and needed to be replaced. He also used teflon tape that seaped fuel and came apart in my fuel rails. I have had to purchase all new fuel rails and injectors.

I also purchased new MSD plug wires since mine were soaked in oil, and he had put 7 AC delco wires and 1 unknown on my car that barely reached. 

He locked my ECU of my car to a point where I needed to buy a new one for someone to tune it. Even though he agreed to not lock it, just another lie. I drove all the way to Tampa for a tune and couldn't get one because he had locked it. It sucked.


I talked to the investigator and they have submitted their findings to some review board, who will impose fines on him. I guess I have to take him to civil court if I want the charges to turn into criminal findings against him.

My vehicle is running much better after replacing virtually everything except the heads/motor itself that he touched/stole. There are a lot of guys out there not filing complaints who totally should/can, *please* help stop another person from getting screwed by voicing your story if you have one. It takes a little effort, but it's worth watching out for each other. That is why these communities are here.


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## 05GTO (Oct 6, 2004)

FYI, he is also operating under Sports Car Technologies;



> Registrant:
> Sports Car Technologies
> 
> 16119 Hwy 71 S.
> ...


His old URL redirects to a new under construction web site,

Here is his Xtreme Motorsports whois;


> Registrant:
> Sports Car Technologies
> 
> 16119 Hwy 71 S.
> ...


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## Fatbum (Feb 17, 2010)

Wow thanks Randy i had no idea.

Love the gto Family you have there too btw.


According to the investigator because he was previously unlicensed it actually protected him some, but now since he was forced to register he has to abide by the state regulations with no ability to be like "i didnt know any better".


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## 05GTO (Oct 6, 2004)

At one time he was also Xtreme Corvettes, according to the FL Secretary of State he never Incorporated any of his businesses which means he has no corporate shield protecting him personally from lawsuits. Not a smart business decision!


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## Fatbum (Feb 17, 2010)

05GTO said:


> At one time he was also Xtreme Corvettes, according to the FL Secretary of State he never Incorporated any of his businesses which means he has no corporate shield protecting him personally from lawsuits. Not a smart business decision!


Yea, I have known about the Xtreme Corvettes thing for a while, this has been a very long story/battle.

Apparently him not being a licensed facility actually kind of protects him from being shut down as swiftly as it would if he was unlicensed, because the state just fines him for not being registered in a "sorry I didnt know any better manner" and then he has to be on his best behavior after that. However, his qualifications were outright fraudulent and I have statements from his previous employer that refute statements he made about things he has worked on and his qualifications as a tuner/installer.


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## 05GTO (Oct 6, 2004)

I believe he was with MTI in Marietta, Georgia, is that true?


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## HP11 (Apr 11, 2009)

So he says at The ALL Florida Online Corvette Club:


xtrememotorsports said:


> My name is Chris Harwood I am the owner of Xtreme Motorsports in Blountstown Fl,I am glad to see a site dedicated to one of my true loves "corvettes".I am 29 I have been in the GM performance industry since 1999 when I joined MTI Racing in Atlanta where I worked in the shop.Then in 2001 I became the crew chief on the 2001 C5R driven by the owner of MTI,in 2004 I was chosen to head up the build of one of the 20 C5R covette kit cars.In the begining of 2006 with the support of my family I started Xtreme Motorsports.I have been in vette magazine in the dietary horsepower article done at mti racing and the C5R I built was the cover story in Mays issue of gague magazine in 2006.If you would like to know more about me or my buisness feel free to call or write or add me as a friend.
> 
> Check out my web site at Home Page


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## Fatbum (Feb 17, 2010)

05GTO said:


> I believe he was with MTI in Marietta, Georgia, is that true?



Here is MTIs responses to Chris' claims.

""joined MTI Racing in Atlanta where I worked in the shop." - TRUE

"became the crew chief on the 2001 C5R driven by the owner of MTI,in 2004 I was chosen to head up the build of one of the 20 C5R covette
kit cars" - DON'T THINK SO.

"was hired on to personally build and oversee the C5R" - NO. ALL DIRECTION AND SUPERVISION WAS DIRECTED BY REESE COX, OWNER, RACER AND BUILDER OF MTI RACING.

'clarify if he did any actual tuning" - ALL TUNING IS DONE BY REESE COX.
- Show quoted text -"


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## DynoDave (Jun 29, 2011)

*Another Vette Nightmare*

I too got burned by this individual, Chris Harwood. My 1999 Corvette was at his shop for at least 2 years during several repeat visits due to negligence at his shop. I had parts that I paid for that were never installed, even parts that were on my car when it entered his shop were stolen. I could write many pages of horror stories about this company. One of the instances of negligence was when he took a completely rebuilt 4L60E tranny from the trans shop in Tallahassee to his so called shop in Blountstown to install it and shorted it by 2 quarts of trans fluid. Once the car was put back together he blew out all the 3/4 clutches in the input drum on his first test ride. Then he blamed the motor saying it had too much torque. I saw the complete disassembly of the transmission and when we measured the amount of fluid, it was short by 2 quarts. Boost a pump was paid for but never installed, tuning made things much worse, never hooked up vacuum line to fuel pressure regulator, every time he brought the car back "fixed" it would only end up at his "shop" the next day or two, "sending unit" was paid for but never installed, etc. On my car's last visit to his shop of horrors, he kept my car for one year and gave me all the excuses in the book as to why it was taking that long. My car is now at a shop that has spent many hours going through the car and fixing the horrible mess that Chris Harwood has caused. I think he even drove my Vette off into a field, as the radiator was completely covered with cow manure. It was a complete mess to get all that crap out. One thing I can say for sure is, "Stay away from this individual and his "company"." He is definitely not qualified to work on Corvettes. All of us guys that have gotten burned by this company should file for a class action lawsuit. Would definitely be justified. If there is anyone out there with a similar experience with Xtreme Motorsports, please post.


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