Travis Burelle Boost Works in Katy Texas over promised and under delivered! Katy Texas

What about the people's cars you took $ from and haven't finished or returned there cars?

 More pics to support his terrible work

 I continue to find damaged parts from Travis at Boost Works. Today, I found out that Travis had cut my wiring harness. No other shop has touched my car since good ole Travis. I will continue this rebuttal and even shows pics of his handy work. I had my car at fast performance prior to boost works. That is one shop not four as this looser suggested!

Mind you Travis was paid in full yet the customer is wrong? Every upgrade was due to Travis requesting or trying to screw me out of money. Travis was paid 65k and I have nothing to show from this. I had to take the car from him after 10months and 4 failed dyno attempts. I took the car from him and guess what.... It blows up! Now the car is on the path to recovery and I want everyone to know my experience with boost works. Please avoid this performance shop!

Travis you are a bull ****** , you scam everybody from shop to shop take people's cars and never get back to them , you had my car for a while what story you have now?

you block people from calling you , cant leave any messages ?

what do you have to say but you take people's $ to make a business .

There's always two sides to every story.  Luckily, we have documented everything from start to finish, and Boost Works has an excellent reputation to stand behind..

In April of 2015, we were approached by Larry and Sharel Cross, concerning problems with their 2013 Camaro.  They had been through 3 previous shops, and told us that they had been taken advantage of.  They asked us to inspect the vehicle, and to repair it in the current state that it was in at the time.  A close friend of ours asked us to work with Larry and Sharel, as he thought they had nowhere else to go with the car.  It had been sitting in the customer's garage for a few months in a rough-running state.

We were a bit concerned at first, after talking to several of the previous shop owners that the customers had dealt with.  There were alleged incidents where Larry Cross had become verbally abusive, and even attempted to physically assault one of the shop owners after refusing to pay his outstanding bill.  There were also other alleged incidents where the owner(s) flip-flopped on time-tables, schedules, and agreements with previous shops.  (Out of courtesy, we will not name the shops involved, but plan to subpoena them in a pending defamation suit to substantiate a pattern of character issues in general, and lack of stability).   We took all of this into consideration, and decided to try and help to get this car back up and running, anyway.  The customer was told up front that we would pull the car apart and anything found to be faulty would be brought to attention.   Knowing what we know now, we would have steered clear of this customer and his vehicle.   

Upon initial inspection, we found numerous issues and informed the customer.  We documented everything in the form of pictures and notes.  In the end we generated a record of what we had found upon initial inspection.  There was damage throughout the vehicle (cosmetic, mechanical, and electrical).  We were asked to put a quote together to fix the issues, and given the go-ahead after sending an invoice for said repairs/charges. 

A time-table was agreed upon to complete the repairs.  Due to our current workload at the time, and the extent of damage, August to September of 2015 was the the time-table agreed on by all parties supported through email and text documentation. 

In the coming months, we dug deeper in the vehicle and found more issues.  The customer was advised that the supercharger system in place on the vehicle (Procharger F1x on a cog driven belt) was not the best idea or solution for the power goals in mind.  The customer had previous issues with belts coming apart and damaging components because of this issue.  In general, the belt design combined with a manual transmission, and attempts to daily drive the car produced issues that were hard to overcome.  The customer expressed his "hatred" for the system in place through texts and phone calls during the time that we were waiting to start on the vehicle.  As a result, we recommended that he get rid of the supercharger system in place, and go with either a twin screw supercharger on a 12 rib serpentine belt setup, or a  twin turbo system instead.  We told the customer that we would help him to sell his existing parts and worked out a deal on a turbo system.  His F1x system was sold, and we agreed to build a turbo system for the funds generated from that sale.  As such, this was roughly a $4,000.00 discount to the customer for what would otherwise have been a $9,000-$10,000.00 turbo system.  The customer agreed to this, and was excited about the switch to turbos.  Text messages detail this exchange between myself and the customer.

After the idea to switch over, Larry asked us what it would take to make around 12-1300whp (horsepower generated at the rear wheels) reliably and consistently.  We informed him that the stock engine block and heads (LS3 block and heads) were not a good idea at that level, simply because of head gasket issues over the long term.  We informed him that a GM LSX iron block (with more head studs) was a good idea, as well as switch to a 6 bolt cylinder head.  Also, we recommended billet I-beam connecting rods, aftermarket Callies crankshaft, Wiseco forged pistons, along with a host of other upgrades that we thought necessary to hold such power.  The original parts that we ordered to fix the car had to be returned, and new parts ordered.  This took up a few weeks of time, and put us past our original deadline.  However, everyone was still on the same page. 

Larry also requested that we upgrade the clutch, look at the transmission (was already upgraded, but had been damaged at a previous shop, according to Larry), and we suggested a rear end swap to something more robust.  In the end, a RPS Carbon Triple clutch was agreed upon, as well as a DriveshaftShop/Hendrix Engineering 2000hp capable rear end upgrade with carbon fiber drive shaft.  Also, custom valved/sprung KW coil-overs were ordered for the car.  (The customer states that he thinks we overcharged him for these, but they are not shelf-stock parts and were valve/sprung specifically for the weight and horsepower goals of this vehicle).

Larry also requested an expedited set of True Forged custom 3 piece Concave wheels.  These were ordered with the customer present, while speaking with the owner of True Forged Wheels.  The customer also asked us for the appropriate tire selection for his given power goals and plans for the car.  We informed him that Hoosier R7 rear and Pirelli (103Y) rated front tires were acceptable.  He agreed and we ordered them.

We suggested at this point that the customer switch from the factory PCM tuning strategy, to ProEFI's Pro128 system, which would given much better control of the engine, and employ a proper traction control strategy for the power levels being attempted.  Larry agreed to this, and we ordered the system.

The car came together, and once on the dyno, the car was making over 1000hp on low/moderate boost.  Everything was working fine.  During the tuning session, there was a turbo scavenge pump failure., causing the seals in both turbos to blow out.  We talked to Comp Turbo, who agreed to take care of the issue at no charge, since the turbochargers were under warranty.  We informed Larry that this was no common place, and we would not charge him to fix the issue.  In the subsequent days, we had a few discussions and Larry expressed concern about longevity with the pump.  We informed him that Comp Turbo had a triple ball-bearing oil-less turbo cartridge upgrade that would eliminate the oil pump, lines, etc.  We worked out an arrangement to have the CHRA's built at our cost, and expedited by Comp Turbo.  The customer agreed to this suggestion.  It was NOT a requirement, but an UPGRADE.  Going from journal bearing turbos to ball-bearing oil-less turbos is an UPGRADE.  Again, at no charge, we replaced/fixed this issue, with the customer paying ONLY for the upgraded parts.  We have texts, invoicing, and documentation to substantiate this.

Once back on the dyno, the car experienced head gasket sealing issues at around 1200whp.  We informed the customer and agreed to tear it down to inspect the issue at no charge.  We pulled both cylinder heads, and found that both head gaskets showed signs of scouring between cylinders, and into the cooling passages.  The pistons showed minor signs of detonation, as did the combustion chambers.  Two issues were found.  The first being that the customer supplied Injector Dynamics ID2000 fuel injectors were corroded and not flowing what they were supposed to flow, as tested by Kozmik Motorsports in Houston, TX on their flow-bench.  Also, the head gaskets sent by our supplier were Cometic MLS parts instead of the requested Cometic MLX pieces.  We were invoiced for MLX gaskets, as per the supplier's invoice to us, but sent MLS gaskets.  In general, this would not have caused a failure at this power level by itself.  There are plenty of 6 bolt MLS cars making far more power without gasket issues.  However, we were sent the wrong gaskets, and we wanted the MLX gaskets for added piece of mind.  The vendor agreed that this was their mistake, and we were expedited a set of MLX gaskets.  We did not charge Larry anything for this repair, and put the car back together within 2 weeks of finding the issue.  We have emails, texts, and invoicing to back this up.  We also recommended that the customer replace his injectors with new units because of the questionable ID2000's that were shown to be corroded from sitting in his garage with E85 in them.  He agreed to upgrade to the ID1700's, which are made specifically for E85 fuel.

Once the vehicle was running again, we asked the customer to drive it for the weekend to put some miles on the clutch and engine, since the car had a good base-line tune in place.  He was advised NOT to beat on the car, but to drive it normally to put miles on the new setup.  While driving the car, he stated that the engine started to backfire.  We came out and picked the vehicle up from his home, free of charge, and went to work trying to figure out the issue.  After putting the car back on the dyno, and looking through wiring, electronics, tune, etc,, we determined that the billet reluctor wheel had advanced about 20 degrees on the back of the crankshaft, and re-stuck itself.  Again, we pulled the engine apart, and determined that the Callies billet trigger wheel was faulty.  The crankshaft was sent back to the vendor for repair.  We had a discussion with the customer, and agreed that there should be some labor cost for this repair, as we had only charged them $3,000.00 in labor up to this point.. far less than a job like this should have been billed out at.  We negotiated and agreed on a number, as substantiated through texts and invoicing with Larry.  As a note, the customer was unhappy with bill, and asked us to reduce it to a lower figure.  We agreed to do this, and were not required to.  The customer said that this would make him happy.  Everyone was in agreement. 

Our vendor repaired the reluctor wheel issue, and the crankshaft was sent back to us for re-assembly.  Upon assembly, I suggested that we use a Clevite standard size bearing with a very thin protective coating on the bearing face.  This coating would help to reduce wear, and hold oil on the bearing surface.  It was considered an upgrade, but was not substantial in terms of cost difference between it and the regular bearing.  We wanted the best parts in the engine, given the issues thus far.  Again, at a greatly reduced rate, we fixed the engine, put it back in the car, and put it back on the dyno.

During dyno testing, everything appeared fine.  The car made decent power, and things were going well.  During cool-downs, we changed the break-in oil, and cut the filter open (standard practice) to check for any abnormalities.  We found metallic shavings in the oil, and decided to stop testing.  We told the customer that we would investigate the issue.  The customer was upset at this point, and wanted to take the car from our shop.  I went to their residence on November 26th and had a long discussion with Larry and Sharel.  I told them that this stuff happens sometimes, and that we were committed to making it work.  They both told me that they had no ill will or hard feelings, and that they simply wanted another set of eyes to look at it.  I practically begged them to let us fix the car and finish it.  They agreed, and we tore the car down again.

Once we tore the engine down, we found that number 2 and number 1 main bearings had substantial wear, indicative or a bent crankshaft.  Number 3, 4, and 5 main bearings looked perfectly normal, outside of FOD embedment from the other damaged bearings.  We contacted Callies, and were told that it was a race part, and not warrantied.  This is standard practice with ANY high performance engine/part.  After a discussion with the owner, the crankshaft was brought to Pete's Crankshaft Repair in north Houston.  He is considered to be one of the best in the business at diagnosing and repairing crankshafts.  Pete told us that the crankshaft may not be repairable, and that he would look at it after coming back from vacation in 2 weeks.  In the meantime, we spoke to our vendor, and arranged to have a new crankshaft on hand once he returned.  We told the customer that we would need another crankshaft as the other one was damaged.  Pete's Crankshaft Repair determined that there was excessive runout, indicating that the crankshaft was slightly bent from the number 3 journal, going forward to the snout.  This was the determined cause of the failure at the time. 

The customer requested that we bring the engine to a third party vendor who specializes in LS engine builds, and have them inspect/assemble it.  We agreed to do so, and also agreed to cover half of the expense for them to assemble the engine.  We also agreed to cover half of the cost of the crankshaft replacement. 

Upon inspection at the third party vendor, it was determined that the engine block had sustained damage due to the heat generated when the bearings in number 1 and 2 mains got hot.  We informed the customer, and told them that a new block would be required, as the old one was repairable, but it was not advisable to do so in this situation.  The third party vendor stipulated that they would not assemble the engine with a repaired block.  We did not charge anything for bringing he engine up to the third party vendor in person. 

Upon inspection after Pete returned from his vacation, it was determined that the crankshaft could be machined and fixed, once the third party vendor had given the specs for the mains journal sizes.  The customer took it upon himself to show up at Pete's Crankshaft and demand that the crankshaft be finished that same day.  We had no idea that he had done this, and before we could figure out what course of action was taken, the customer had already picked up the repaired crankshaft.  The customer was upset with us because he did not receive a new crankshaft.  Despite everyone telling him that the crankshaft was repaired and perfectly fine, he was very irate with me.  The understanding on our end was that IF the crankshaft needed to be replaced, that it WOULD be replaced, just as the block was replaced out of necessity.  We were not obligated to provide a new crankshaft, and in the end, the old one was repaired without any concern.  In the beginning, we did not think that it WAS repairable, but Larry going around us without our knowledge didn't afford us the opportunity to see what the final outcome was at Pete's Crankshaft Repair.  We apologized for the misunderstanding.

The customer then drove to the third party vendor assembling the engine, and talked with them.  The third party vendor stated that they thought the coated bearings may have caused the failure.  The customer called me and demanded that we fix the engine free of charge, and accused us of lying to him and to his wife about the cause of the failure.   At this point, both customers were irate, and we reluctantly agreed to cover over $5,200.00 in costs, plus another $2,500.00 in labor.  We did this in an attempt to keep the customer happy, and prevent any negative impact on our company.  We did NOT agree with the third party vendor on the cause of the failure, and all of the evidence that we have here backs up our reasoning.  Even still, we agreed to pay for this at great expense to our company.  The customer still had the outstanding bill from November, which we had discounted at his request, and he had agreed to pay.  This had nothing to do with the damage and repair work for the crankshaft issue. 

Within 4 days of getting the assembled engine back from the third party supplier, we installed and he it running.  The car was driven around 50 miles by me, personally, and video was taken.  The car ran perfectly fine, but needed to be final tuned using ProEFI.  Once we reminded the customer that he needed to pay his old bill, he became irate.  He told us that he didn't want to pay the bill, but provided no reason as to why.  We informed him that he had agreed to pay it, and we had given him several months to do so.  It would need to be paid before the vehicle was taken in finished state.  The customer stated that he would come and pay his bill, and that we was taking his car out of the shop, unfinished.  We informed him that this was not a good idea, and even drew up documentation for him to sign, stating that he was taking it in an unfinished state.  I also have texts to substantiate these claims.  We NEVER told the customer that he had to take his car out of our shop.  The car was finished, and needed to be tuned.  Tuning was scheduled for the following day at D3 Performance.  They are regarded as one of the best ProEFI tuning facilities in the country.  The customer showed up, paid his bill, and took off spinning the tires from our facility.  There is video and datalog documentation to show that the car ran fine while I drove it, and when it left our facility.  The customer has even stated via text and conversation that his car was running fine when he left here.

The customer brought the vehicle to another shop that same day.  On the way there, the shop owner claims that Larry admitted to making 5 wide open throttle highway pulls back to back.  On the 5th highway pull the engine backfired and started to misfire.  Keep in mind, the car was not in a state tune-wise to make wide open throttle pulls.  We made this VERY clear via documentation, verbally, and through text.  The customer claims that he did not do this, and that the shop owner must have blown his car up.  Two days later, the customer text me and asked me to take the car back.  He apologized for losing his cool, said that he had made a mistake in taking the car to the other shop, and asked me to handle it.  I came in on a Sunday, and took the car back in.  It was delivered on a trailer.  When we started the vehicle to back it off of the trailer, it would not stay running, and sounded like it had a mechanical issue.  We immediately pulled the spark plugs to perform a leak down and compression test.  Number 4 cylinder's spark plug was damaged, and the pistons showed signs of detonation.  We discovered this by using a bore scope to inspect the cylinder(s).  The damage to the plug and rest of the engine was a clear indication that someone had driven the car hard without the proper tuning in place.

The shop owner who dropped off the vehicle stated that Larry had become irate with him after only 2 days with the vehicle. He refused to work on the car any longer. He also stated that the customer admitted to him that he had beat on the car on the drive over from our shop. There is video and audio evidence of this from the shop owner's camera system in the shop. I immediately contacted the customer within 2 hours of the vehicle being dropped off by trailer.  I informed him of the damage, and what the shop owner had told me.  He blamed the shop owner, and told me that it wasn't my fault for the failure.  I had no way (at the time) to substantiate his claims, or the other shop owners claims.  I sympathized with his situation, and asked if we could help to fix it.  I stated that we were not liable for the damage, as it had occurred outside of our shop, and was clearly due to negligence.  He agreed and stated again that it was not our fault.  He wanted to put the car in his garage and wait until he had the funds to repair it.  He stated that he was out of money, and couldn't fix it.  I told him that we would help him when the time came.  I agreed to deliver the car to his residence, free of charge via trailer the next day.

The next day, Sharel Cross text me in the morning, and demanded that I bring the car.  When I told her that I would bring it later in the day, she became irate.  She had a wrecker service pick up the vehicle from our shop a few hours later.  The wrecker driver just so happened to be the same one that took his car from the last shop, where Larry chased and attempted to physically assault the owner.  The driver stated that he witnessed the incident, and that Larry was "out of line".  He was not happy about having to deal with them again. 

Over the last few days, Larry has threatened to sue our company, and has attempted to blackmail us into paying for his repairs due to his apparent gross negligence.  We have refused to meet his demands, as we feel that we have been MORE than fair throughout this entire ordeal.  Half of the issues with the car were uncovered as we worked on it, and we incurred many delays because of damage from previous shops.  Again, this is all documented, with invoices, receipts, texts, pictures, emails, and witness testimony. 

Also, it must be said that this entire job was performed for a total of $5,000.00 in labor.   This job should have been billed out at around 2 1/2 to 3 times that rate, given the scope of the work and time involved.  We gave Larry and Sharel as much of a break as we could financially, because we felt sorry for them and what they claimed they had been through.  We have been accused of some very serious things here, and they are completely false.  We have what we need to back this up in court, and we are prepared to file a defamation/libel lawsuit against the customer for any public mention of anything outside of the facts in this incident.  We feel as though the customer is out of money, and is now attempting to pressure us into paying for their negligence after the fact.  We would be more than happy to provide any documentation that the BBB would need to substantiate our claim and back up our position. 

Also of note.. Both customers have been borderline combative, and derogatory in the way that they have spoken to us.  They have acted in an unprofessional manner, and the language used has been nothing short of shocking.  It is my belief that Larry has not communicated with his spouse in regards to charges and other info pertaining to this entire process/build.  Unfortunately, we cannot counsel them in regards to their relationship and/or communication skills.  I only mention this because it has been a clear issue for a while now.  There is a lack of communication, and as such, assumptions have been made by both Larry and Sharel.   Sometimes far off in left field.

It's also worth noting that most of the large/reputable shops in Houston will not work with Larry and Sharel Cross because of the alleged reputation reported by multiple shop owners.  Unfortunately, we're forced to agree with that assessment as well after our experience.

In the end, NO shop wants a vehicle taken.  No one wants this kind of attention.  But, at some point, you have to draw a line and say "no more".  We will defend our position with factual documentation, evidence, and witness testimony regardless of the cost, time, or inconvenience.  And, we will pursue the customer relentlessly if they publically post falsehoods about our company. 

Thank you for your time, and let me know if you would like to see documentation of any type.

Thanks,

Travis