Any one had any experience with Popola Performance in Sonoma?

Do you mean Papola Performance in Santa Rosa?

Fine I guess. They are out to make a buck just like any business, of course. Not real personable, though.

what happend to their green flatty buggy? that rear axle was all the rage last year. any clue on where they disappeared to? do the still compete?

I agree with 82FB... and they're not very Toyota oriented (or friendly).

Needless to say, after one visit, they don't see any of my money.

too bad 'cause I offered them lots of opportunity with regards to our Toyota oriented club and events.

sillyneck:i saw the buggie @ the Comp in JV in Feb. It was yellow then, they were not competing though, that rig is bitchen, how did they fab up that rear end, was it born as an independent????
or is it all machineing and custom work?

They are a good place to get parts because they normaly have what you need in stock. The son of the owner is kind of an ass, I just get the felling he dosen't care what you are saying. All he does is go YEEEAHHH like the guy from the movie office space.
the 2 guys that work the front desk are cool. I don't have them work on my rig, because for one I don't like to pay $80 an hr for labor when I can do it my self. And another reasion that I will not say, but I hear that they do some good work. They still have the flatty but I don't know if they use it much any more.

They'll never see any more of my money. Pretty pricey and a bit arrogant. Friendly enough but I didn't get a good feeling from dealing with them. Too busy answering the phone and talking to parts people to help me at the counter. Made me wait at least 15 minutes before even acknowledging that I was in their shop.

The one time I DID have them work on my truck, I was not happy with the work they performed for the price.

If you need any accessories like lights, Optima bats., winch cable, etc. They usually have it in stock.

That's all I know about them.

John

Originally posted by peeJ
sillyneck:i saw the buggie @ the Comp in JV in Feb. It was yellow then, they were not competing though, that rig is bitchen, how did they fab up that rear end, was it born as an independent????
or is it all machineing and custom work?

it's a 60 centersection w/ yokes right off the ends. then it runs a driveline to the stub shaft in 60 outer I believe. then he built an aluminum housing and made a killer two ram hyro steer.

Do you have any suggestions for a shop in N Cal?

Actually that flatfender was sold a while ago to Steve Williams. The flatfender was painted yellow but still ahs all teh cool trick stuff still on it. As for the rear end, they did not build it. A guyn from URJB that is on this board, his name is Eric built it for them.

Dimitri

As for a shop in Nor Cal, there are plenty of them, depending on what you want done.

Originally posted by lowrider
Do you have any suggestions for a shop in N Cal?

:D:D

Do you have any suggestions for a shop in N Cal?

What kind of work are you looking for?

sillyneck: do you now a guy named BOB? he ownes a 4 wheel drive shop in CHICO

Whatever you do, stay the hell away from SillyFab! That guy ain't nothin' but a a poe, pedophiliac, drizzunken, fraternizin', metal meltin', neeeegaro!! :laughing::laughing::laughing: :flipoff2:

Originally posted by peeJ
sillyneck: do you now a guy named BOB? he ownes a 4 wheel drive shop in CHICO

what shop? Payless4x4? cuogh hehe :D no that's bill.
hmmm bob? no clue. what's the shop called there's so damn many of them.


JKA- short for jackass :flipoff2: can't a black man get a fowdee up in hera? I wanna get my swerve awn. :D

I am new to the area and looking for a shop with a good rep, and I dont like dealing with 4WP, I would rather leave my money with a local shop- but one thats not run by a bunch of smoose.

BILL! thats it, my Uncle and him go Snow mobl'in, just wonder'in if you were him, thanx any way:smokin:

what are you looking to get? parts or fab work. where are you located. if close to lincoln I'd leave my money w/ tony @ rock equip. he's a really cool guy and knows everything about everything. Tony K on here.

if close to chico get your stuff from Mike Ladd @ bent and twisted and say I sent ya. he'll always hook you up and he gets his stuff mostly from Tony and some from 4wpw. but he deals w/ them for you which is nice.

Originally posted by peeJ
BILL! thats it, my Uncle and him go Snow mobl'in, just wonder'in if you were him, thanx any way:smokin:

naw...I'm a little 21 y/o bastid w/ a super secret shop :D pyless is mostly a repair shop now. they do some fab but mostly bolt on stuff.

Originally posted by Flatty
Actually that flatfender was sold a while ago to Steve Williams. The flatfender was painted yellow but still ahs all teh cool trick stuff still on it. As for the rear end, they did not build it. A guyn from URJB that is on this board, his name is Eric built it for them.

Dimitri



Beat me to it, I was going to say go look at the mag it appeared in when it was first done and tell me what you see on it :flipoff2:
Remember how much the mag article ripped it apart? now what does everyone want? high clearance and rear steer :rolleyes:

This Flatty
http://www.respite.org/images/cj66dean/papola3.jpg
And this rear
http://www.respite.org/images/cj66dean/papola1.jpg

Mike sold it last year as stated

Give us an idea of what you are looking to have done and what area you live in and that would help us out on who to mention.

Originally posted by lowrider
I am new to the area and looking for a shop with a good rep, and I dont like dealing with 4WP, I would rather leave my money with a local shop- but one thats not run by a bunch of smoose.

If you are looking for fab work a good shop is fabworks on south dutten in santa rosa. A shop that does good work on installing stuff would be TD's off pinor rd. santa rosa

I second TD's for fab work. Their old shop was a bit disorganized but they have really nice people. I haven't seen their new shop yet. Prices are better than Papola's.

John

so TD is the place to go- I'll check them out. Thanks!

PFffftttt what? Papola's sucks and Td's is awesome? WTF TD's is a piece of shit shop. Tim will tell you what you *want* to hear just to get the work. Then it'll take him 10 times longer to do it and if you’re lucky it’ll be close to what you want! Drunk guy you should know better, ask Kyle about TD’s. Ask Brandon my brother. I know atleast a dozen people who’ve worked there or had stuff done and everyone of them thought TD’s was good at first then realized what a half assed crock of shit the place is. Then I laugh and say “I told you so”. Go and ask how long the kids working there have been there and that outta tell ya right there that Td’s fucking blows period. Hell Tim don’t even wheel. I guess if you want an over lifted pavement pounding mall crawling poseur rig go to TD’s.

Mike Papola may have sold the flat fender buggy but they’re still out competing with another flatty that used to be BEAUTIFULL. The only thing I’ve ever seen TD’s do was show up with piece of shit Scout at ONE(1) tuff truck competition. :rolleyes: Atleast Papola's will give you a realistic estimate of time and money. Yeah maybe they aren’t that personable at first, so what. I thought that too, but I got to know them and they’re good guys, they do good work and maybe they’re just shy. They have found themselves a very good niche in the 4wheeling market with customers who pay well. Those customers are their main business and you can not blame them for not wanting to screw that up. If you want to talk about toyota’s with Papola’s go in and ask for John.

I know both shops, I know people who’ve worked or are working at either one. I work on my own junk, but I would choose Papola’s hands down if I wanted something done.

#2

Oh and one other thing. I thought Eric (URJB) would pipe in about this but I guess he hasn’t caught it. The rear axle under the Papola buggy was all Mike Papola’s idea, Eric was the one who figured out how to make it. If you go to papola’s for anything really custom Guess who is the guy doing it? Yeah that’s right Eric (URJB) and his work is kick ass.

http://www.respite.org/images/cj66dean/papola1.jpg

Dude, I would check out Papola's shop, but I try to keep the work to myself. I was driving to Clear Lake last weekend and I saw the scout from TD's off road. I was not too impressed driving by. I really took the time to check out Papola's old ride, adn I gotta say t was pimp. I was able to wheel with Steve up in the con last year in my flatty,and the guy was super cool. The rig was built to GET IT, and it does.

I will be calling eric for some machine work soon here. Got some ideas on some random things that could work super fly.

Dimitri

Ed's talking about selling the flatty that Danger Ranger posted, give him a call if your interested. I've had work done there before, no problems. They have always stood behind their work, sometimes chiatt happens and you have to build it bigger and better. Maybe not the cheapest shop in town but they will be there next week.

Who is Ed? Mike owns it, so I don't know what happened with Ed.

Dimitri

I have know the Papolas for a few years now and they are solid people who have stuck it out there for me and my family time and time again.

Their shop is definitely focused on Jeeps, but only because thats what they have wheeled for years, and thats what most of their customers wheel. When I was new to Santa Rosa, Mike helped with my IH when I had one, and the worked on some of the toy stuff in my zuk so I wouldn't say they are "jeep only" folks at all.

They work on wheelers for a living, and compete for fun as a family...does it get any more real than that? All of the counter guys and dudes in back wheel too. Yeah they arent cheap, but they have been in motorsports for years and know what cutting corners is not the solution, they do it up, or don't do it at all.

They do the best job in the North Bay by an order of magnitude. If you want people that that wheel with the big boys and race dirt track to fab something for you go to Papolas...if you want a scabby z-link cross over there are other shops.

papola's and td's are equally sucky :barf: :barf: :barf: :flipoff2:

I have stopped in at papolas on several occasions to get items and each time I was unhappy with the service there..so now I don't go there anymore...

personally I wouldn't pay papola's or TD's to work on my stuff but I buy little crap that I need right now at papola's. They are always busy but once they get to know you they change quite a bit. not necesarily a good way to get customers but whatever. I know guys who had work done at TD's and none are happy. one guy paid $800 for a body lift and the other guy had his parts "stolen" from the shop. I've never been impressed by their work. try fabworks if you need something built. I hear theyve done some really cool stuff. probably big $$$ though.

Danger Ranger, Thanks... Now my head is so fat I gotta rework my cage.

I gotta stay out of this 'cause I'm biased im many ways, but just to be clear, I'm not workin' in Papola's shop now. I went back to my real job in Rohnert Park.

Eric

P.S. The silver flatty has one of my housings too.

urjb.

i have seen you rear axle in that rig and asked the new owner how much it weighed but he did not know. do you have any #'s?

how well has it held up? last time i saw it at the hammers he was loading it on the trailer with a broken rear joint. is that a on going issue? any info on your rear axle would be helpfull. btw....cool piece of hardware.

Just put CTM's in it...

Eric, do you ever plan on going back to work there? WHo is doing there Fab work? What about there other services?

Originally posted by 1988YJ
Ed's talking about selling the flatty that Danger Ranger posted, give him a call if your interested. I've had work done there before, no problems. They have always stood behind their work, sometimes chiatt happens and you have to build it bigger and better. Maybe not the cheapest shop in town but they will be there next week.

Like is said before it is a good place to get parts. The only thing that I have had them do on my jeep was cut the rear output shaft of my TC and put on a SYE. When I got it back I was fighting vibration issues, they told me to adjust the pinion so I did every way I could and still it didn't work. Then I took off the drive line and found that the shaft was bent. I went back to them and told them about it and they told me that there was no way that they could have done that. I ended up haveing to buy a new shaft cut it myself and take apart my TC to put it in, so now I am out the money that I payed them and also out the money that I had to pay for the new shaft, plus the time it took me to put the new one in. That was the first and last experence that I have had with thier labor:mad: I have herd good things about the labor there also but not from myself.

Originally posted by camo
urjb.

i have seen you rear axle in that rig and asked the new owner how much it weighed but he did not know. do you have any #'s?

how well has it held up? last time i saw it at the hammers he was loading it on the trailer with a broken rear joint. is that a on going issue? any info on your rear axle would be helpfull. btw....cool piece of hardware.

300# more than the 60 front. 1100# with the tires and wheels. Someone here said it was an aluminum housing, WRONG. that baby is all 1/2" A-36 steel plate.

the main prob has been the yoke on the INNER stub shaft. this needs to be a billet cro-mo piece.

I was just filling in at Papolas to help them out when my other job was slow. Ed (owner) and Mike (his son) would be doing fab work at this time.

The most asked question about that housing was "when ya gonna build one for your rig?". I'm not gonna.... I'm a keep it simple kinda guy (I don't even like Revolver shackles). Gimme a Summers (or Cone) 40 spline floater any day. and thats what I use.

I also made the the Hummer wheels Mike was running on the buggy. Way Heavy, could hardly lift 'em. Mike had a theory about wieght. It's all good if it's down low. I offered to fill 'em with concrete for him ;)

:flipoff2: them I tried to do business with them and everytime I talked to them I got attitude. That whole if your not us you don't know shit role. I go to specialtyparts.com in Cordelia they don't kiss my ass but I don't get an attitude either. Popola's prices are the highest I've ever seen too Specialty was way more reasonable:beer:

Originally posted by Drunk Guy


If you are looking for fab work a good shop is fabworks on south dutten in santa rosa. A shop that does good work on installing stuff would be TD's off pinor rd. santa rosa

TD'S PAVEMENT POUNDERS!?!?! fuck them theyre worse than Popalos, drive to chico have phil do it.

I buy my junk from central4wd.com and specialtyparts.com
talk about hook ups!!