Machine Shop Blues

[KasperG]

I drive my mustang everyday. I intend to keep it almost stock with every mild bolt on, known to man kind. When going to the track I like to take my LT-1 Trans am. I have been building this car for almost two years now and the build up is getting quite extensive. Today I went to pick up my block from the machine shop. I payed almost three grand to get splayed caps, bore, h beam rods and other hi-po parts that made the list. Anyways I really wanted "quench" and it was very important to me that the pistons are .005 below the deck. So when i got home I started looking at everything and noticed that the block was never even decked. I looked at my bill sheet and sure enough I got charged for it. I wanted the machince shop to put the short block together that way it would save time and I would have some kind of insurance. Instead, I got a buch of problems. I intend to wake up in the morning and take my ass up there. How would you guys react? I dont know if I should be mean to him or just ask him straight up what the hell happened. now if he has to fix it, he will have to take it all apart. Plus he wont give a **** this time if he never did the first time. I also payed him 185 to get the rotating assembly balanced. I took my flywheel up there so that he could balance it with it on, well today he had a flexplate with my motor. WHat the hell. What should I do? I doubt he will give me my money back. :OT:

 

[SeventyMach1]

That flex plate thing kinda throws things off even more. You sure he even gave you the right engine?

 

[KasperG]

I know, I hope it is the right motor. My block was standard, the crank I gave him was also standard. If i got someguys block that has missmatched bearings and other crap I will really get mad. Plus when he was putting it together I went up there to pick it up. Well, he missplaced one of the rods. How do you loose a brand new rod. So that threw the balance off and then the flywheel. The block just does not look right. You guys know when you get a fresh engine out of a shop it has that fresh paint and brass freeze plugs. Plus it has those sharp machine edges. Well mine looks like some kind of junk yard motor. I asked them to paint it Pontiac blue. Well they painted it after they put it together. So its coming off because of oil on the block and stuff. Danm it, I even made them take out the freeze plugs and give me brand new ones. I will get you guys pics in the morning. Too mad right now.

 

[Methodical]

Did you pay by credit card or with cash? If paid by credit card you have recourse. If paid by cash you will have a fight. Besides, at this point I would not trust them. How did you find out about the shop and does it have a bad rep? My motto is: I use the credit card for just about all of my mod stuff, especially for high dollar items, just in case things are not right I have recourse via the credit card company. Good luck.

Peace

 

[94GTLaserRC]

:Word: on the CC payment.

I use AMEX for all my big stuff, and when my paint flaked off my car 4 years ago and the painter gave me a bunch of I just threatened with stop payment and he re did the work.
RC

 

[KasperG]

Thats just it. The shop has a great reputation around town. THey are responsible for building some pro stock motors and other high output pieces. I just feel like, since i did not pay 30 grand for my motor they slapped it together. I am getting ready right now to go up there. I am thinking about ripping one of the heads off to make sure that its not decked. Plus then I can measure the deack hight. If it does not match what i have on the bill I have a better argument to go up there with. I am never ever going to let a machine shop put my short block together ever again. I truts my own plasti-guage more.:SNSign:

 

[legalize420]

you should always take the calm approach first. if that gets you nowhere, then you get mad.

 

[Green 94 5.0]

you should always take the calm approach first. if that gets you nowhere, then you get mad.

agreed. being pissed of from the start is going to put the shop in defensive mode and get you nowhere. the pissed off approach should be used as a last resort just the same as threatening stop payment. it sounds like they didnt take your build seriously since it wasnt a high dollar order. let us know how everything goes. good luck.

 

[KasperG]

I did not go up there with atitude. I was calm. Even after i pulled one of the heads and discovered that he used a sbc head gasket which will never work in a lt1. The lt1 uses a reverse flow coolant design, where a sbc does not. So if I did put this motor in, it would have been toast within a few minutes because there would be no coolant flow. So that was the first thing. The second was that I was right about the decking. It was never decked. I put a dial indicator with a bridge on the tops of four pistons and found out that most all of them were twenty thousands below. I wanted Five and I even had it writen on the bill. Plus one came out to like 16 thousand so the block should have been decked just to even them out. So I drive up there walk in and ask him how his day is going. He tells me fine, I tell him that its about to get worse. So I spilled it all out. He was upset but he understood. I told him that I was unhappy and I wanted it all to be right. Because he started to tell me how he had lots of work in it that I did not have to pay for. Well I told him that I did not care about the money but rather the quality of the engine. He told me that he would fix it. I took the whole short block apart in his shop and took all my parts back home. Two bolts on the cam gear were finger tight. I found scratches on the brand new bearings from I guess dirt. The whole motor is just dirty. The gally plugs were never taken out, so I am sure that there are metal shavings in the block. I am going to pick it up tommorrow and put it together myself. I want to reclean everything and clean out the gallies. I might even fill my old pan with karosine and run the old oil pump with a drill hoping to clean it out.

 

[Green 94 5.0]

and this was a reputable shop?

 

[bimmertech]

and this was a reputable shop?

:Word:

 

[SeventyMach1]

So is he fixing all this with no extra charge? I would hope so. Only bad thing is ..... he no longer cares (like someone already said, he'll probably care even less this time around).


Yeah, doesn't sound like anythig a "reputable" shop would do.

 

[KasperG]

Well this is the reason I dont want him to put it together. That way I can go over it with a mic, plastiguage, dial indicator etc. Plus I can clean it the way it should be and torque it down properly. The one thing that bothers me is that he is going to deck the block with the cam bearings in. I guess I can clean them up, but its just not right. Maybe he will take them out but I dont think that will happen. What choice do I really have? I got the shaft and I am angry about it. [email protected] happens. Please remember this when you think about letting someone put an engine together for you. Do it yourself and tripple check the machine work.

 

[95cobraguy]

sounds like a nightmare.

 

[95CobraMike]

are you sure you arent on overhaullin' ?

 

[YEAHLOH95]

if you paid him to put it together, i would have him do it, that way if there is a problem, he can't say it was how it was assembled.

 

[Yobi1Kanobi]

thats I would have himgive me my money back. Im getting my block built and if that happened to me. Well [email protected] that .

 

[scarless]

thats I would have himgive me my money back. Im getting my block built and if that happened to me. Well [email protected] that .

Ditto, don't let him touch the block. So far he has done nothing right that he could charge you for. Get a FULL refund and go somewhere else.

 

[Methodical]

I drive my mustang everyday. I intend to keep it almost stock with every mild bolt on, known to man kind. When going to the track I like to take my LT-1 Trans am. I have been building this car for almost two years now and the build up is getting quite extensive. Today I went to pick up my block from the machine shop. I payed almost three grand to get splayed caps, bore, h beam rods and other hi-po parts that made the list. Anyways I really wanted "quench" and it was very important to me that the pistons are .005 below the deck. So when i got home I started looking at everything and noticed that the block was never even decked. I looked at my bill sheet and sure enough I got charged for it. I wanted the machince shop to put the short block together that way it would save time and I would have some kind of insurance. Instead, I got a buch of problems. I intend to wake up in the morning and take my ass up there. How would you guys react? I dont know if I should be mean to him or just ask him straight up what the hell happened. now if he has to fix it, he will have to take it all apart. Plus he wont give a **** this time if he never did the first time. I also payed him 185 to get the rotating assembly balanced. I took my flywheel up there so that he could balance it with it on, well today he had a flexplate with my motor. WHat the hell. What should I do? I doubt he will give me my money back. :OT:

How did you pay for the work?