let's hear horror stories from people who bought assembled engines
05-30-2009, 11:08 PM
#1
On The Tree
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: kingsville, Tx
Posts: 106
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
let's hear horror stories from people who bought assembled engines anyone dropped five or six grand on a new motor and had it break after a few thousand miles?
I wanna hear your stories!
I wanna hear your stories!
05-31-2009, 08:45 AM
#2
Teching In
iTrader: (2)
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: gulfport, ms
Posts: 11
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
i bought a 383 sbc shortblock from rpm machime in tn(bought it off the internet). had a hell of a time getting it to run worth a ****. finally got it running good, was tuning the carb in the driveway and my neighbor came over and said "hey man, you have water leaking out from under the car". you guessed it, 3" long crack in the block !!! the block is sitting on the floor in the garage. turned out to be a blessing, because the bearings were too tight and were starting to f'up the crank journals. had a local machine shop polish the crank and machine me a new block.....it is sitting on an engine stand in the garage waiting to go back into my 91rs camaro.
05-31-2009, 08:53 AM
#3
TECH Fanatic
iTrader: (12)
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: earth
Posts: 1,438
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
i bought a 383 sbc shortblock from rpm machime in tn(bought it off the internet). had a hell of a time getting it to run worth a ****. finally got it running good, was tuning the carb in the driveway and my neighbor came over and said "hey man, you have water leaking out from under the car". you guessed it, 3" long crack in the block !!! the block is sitting on the floor in the garage. turned out to be a blessing, because the bearings were too tight and were starting to f'up the crank journals. had a local machine shop polish the crank and machine me a new block.....it is sitting on an engine stand in the garage waiting to go back into my 91rs camaro.
05-31-2009, 03:09 PM
#5
ive got a nice story about a former sponsor here (WRE) but i dont have the time it would take me to type ALL THE CRAP that was wrong with my motor. one of the things was low oil pressure for a brand new motor (15PSI hot with rotella t 15w-40). they tried to say the the almunium SLP pump would expand soo much, it caused the drop in oil pressure
no, their crappy build caused the low oil pressure cause oil pressure was low even on a cold start (like 40-50psi). if it was the pump expanding, it should have been in the 70s like my current motor now on a cold start and then slowly falling to 15 as the motor got hot. oh, and apparently i added material to the main journals, cause they said the main clearances were tighter than they set them to. and not to mention the half @$$ed repair job of my AFR heads
no, their crappy build caused the low oil pressure cause oil pressure was low even on a cold start (like 40-50psi). if it was the pump expanding, it should have been in the 70s like my current motor now on a cold start and then slowly falling to 15 as the motor got hot. oh, and apparently i added material to the main journals, cause they said the main clearances were tighter than they set them to. and not to mention the half @$$ed repair job of my AFR heads Last edited by 05gto60; 05-31-2009 at 03:37 PM.
06-01-2009, 08:01 AM
#7
TECH Resident
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Roseville, Ca.
Posts: 843
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I bought an MTI (out of business-Texas) forged 347. Had low oil pressure, lots of noise. Pulled it out, sent it back. They said it spun a cam bearing and they fixed it. Put it back in, same ****. Low oil pressure, valvetrain noise. I said "f" it and ran it because I was now broke. It made 383/375 at the wheels for a heads and cam car. I finally had enough and recently pulled it out. The cam bearings were improperly installed. The front one walked back and the lifter actually put a half moon hole in the bearing. everything was oil starved and the only parts reusable in the rebuild were my heads and crank.
Trending Topics
06-01-2009, 12:34 PM
#9
This will make you puke.
A sponsor on this site - but a few years back did this work. They did a h/c long tube bolt on build for me - nearly 10 grand. Part of the build was their special ported new heads. He showed me both heads before the install in a new box. Both were shiney new. I was impressed.
Because of a very noisey valve train even with the Yella Terra's another shop decided to pull the heads at around 2500 miles because the original shop had went of of business.
This is what one head looked like. I can only go by what the second shop said - not a new head for sure since I had driven the car less than 2500 miles. I suspect my heads went somewhere else and I got some used heads off of the shop owners car.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/1835930...7602956888623/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/1835930...7602956888623/
We also pulled out a very loose supposedly new Vig 3600 TC. I sent it back to Precision Industries for a restall - their stamped numbers on the TC identified the TC as a 4000 stall with a purchase date far before I had ever made arrangments with the shop to do any work for me.
Because of the shoddy work there is nothing left from this original build except the Comp cam, oil pump, YT rockers, and LS intake. I have had to replace everything else such as heads, pushrods, TC, LongTubes, rebuilt A4 that failed on highway only 7000 miles, and retuning.
Ten grand down the drain plus all of the labor and parts replacing junk from the first build.
A sponsor on this site - but a few years back did this work. They did a h/c long tube bolt on build for me - nearly 10 grand. Part of the build was their special ported new heads. He showed me both heads before the install in a new box. Both were shiney new. I was impressed.
Because of a very noisey valve train even with the Yella Terra's another shop decided to pull the heads at around 2500 miles because the original shop had went of of business.
This is what one head looked like. I can only go by what the second shop said - not a new head for sure since I had driven the car less than 2500 miles. I suspect my heads went somewhere else and I got some used heads off of the shop owners car.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/1835930...7602956888623/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/1835930...7602956888623/
We also pulled out a very loose supposedly new Vig 3600 TC. I sent it back to Precision Industries for a restall - their stamped numbers on the TC identified the TC as a 4000 stall with a purchase date far before I had ever made arrangments with the shop to do any work for me.
Because of the shoddy work there is nothing left from this original build except the Comp cam, oil pump, YT rockers, and LS intake. I have had to replace everything else such as heads, pushrods, TC, LongTubes, rebuilt A4 that failed on highway only 7000 miles, and retuning.
Ten grand down the drain plus all of the labor and parts replacing junk from the first build.
Last edited by dlandsvZ28; 06-01-2009 at 12:40 PM.
06-01-2009, 01:28 PM
#10
TECH Enthusiast
iTrader: (51)
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Billings, Mt
Posts: 616
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
my buddy ordered a tsp l92 427. put it in boke it in and drove it for 6000 miles, and finaly put synthetic oil in it, about 200 miles on synthetic it spund no 6 rod bearing. I and 6 (yes 6) other machinists, inspected the engine, and noticed on the crank, that the oil fillet holes were very shiney. the crank had never been polished so it had high spots, well after those polished them selves down it had way too much clearance. moral of the story dont buy a mass produced engine, they go for quanitity not quality. he lost a litlle over $5000 id say
Last edited by novaflash2002; 06-01-2009 at 01:33 PM.
06-03-2009, 03:41 PM
#12
i bought a "suppose to be running" lq4..got it tore down by the machine shop..block was cracked..and the cank journals worn the hell out! soo needless to say i replaced everything but now something came up so my funds are gone n now i have to sell everything!
06-03-2009, 06:16 PM
#14
i got a dyno tune in savannah georgia and about 3 weeks later spun a damn rod bearring, so i bought a long block, had it rebuilt w/ h/c/forged internals etc..and no issues yet..just needs some dyno time..
i lost out on $500 for the shops dyno time, and $1300 for the longblock..
i lost out on $500 for the shops dyno time, and $1300 for the longblock..
06-04-2009, 02:20 PM
#15
TECH Fanatic
iTrader: (17)
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: dayton ohio
Posts: 1,638
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
This will make you puke.
A sponsor on this site - but a few years back did this work. They did a h/c long tube bolt on build for me - nearly 10 grand. Part of the build was their special ported new heads. He showed me both heads before the install in a new box. Both were shiney new. I was impressed.
Because of a very noisey valve train even with the Yella Terra's another shop decided to pull the heads at around 2500 miles because the original shop had went of of business.
This is what one head looked like. I can only go by what the second shop said - not a new head for sure since I had driven the car less than 2500 miles. I suspect my heads went somewhere else and I got some used heads off of the shop owners car.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/1835930...7602956888623/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/1835930...7602956888623/
We also pulled out a very loose supposedly new Vig 3600 TC. I sent it back to Precision Industries for a restall - their stamped numbers on the TC identified the TC as a 4000 stall with a purchase date far before I had ever made arrangments with the shop to do any work for me.
Because of the shoddy work there is nothing left from this original build except the Comp cam, oil pump, YT rockers, and LS intake. I have had to replace everything else such as heads, pushrods, TC, LongTubes, rebuilt A4 that failed on highway only 7000 miles, and retuning.
Ten grand down the drain plus all of the labor and parts replacing junk from the first build.
A sponsor on this site - but a few years back did this work. They did a h/c long tube bolt on build for me - nearly 10 grand. Part of the build was their special ported new heads. He showed me both heads before the install in a new box. Both were shiney new. I was impressed.
Because of a very noisey valve train even with the Yella Terra's another shop decided to pull the heads at around 2500 miles because the original shop had went of of business.
This is what one head looked like. I can only go by what the second shop said - not a new head for sure since I had driven the car less than 2500 miles. I suspect my heads went somewhere else and I got some used heads off of the shop owners car.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/1835930...7602956888623/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/1835930...7602956888623/
We also pulled out a very loose supposedly new Vig 3600 TC. I sent it back to Precision Industries for a restall - their stamped numbers on the TC identified the TC as a 4000 stall with a purchase date far before I had ever made arrangments with the shop to do any work for me.
Because of the shoddy work there is nothing left from this original build except the Comp cam, oil pump, YT rockers, and LS intake. I have had to replace everything else such as heads, pushrods, TC, LongTubes, rebuilt A4 that failed on highway only 7000 miles, and retuning.
Ten grand down the drain plus all of the labor and parts replacing junk from the first build.
06-05-2009, 12:04 AM
#17
TECH Enthusiast
iTrader: (22)
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Millersville, MD
Posts: 746
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
This will make you puke.
A sponsor on this site - but a few years back did this work. They did a h/c long tube bolt on build for me - nearly 10 grand. Part of the build was their special ported new heads. He showed me both heads before the install in a new box. Both were shiney new. I was impressed.
Because of a very noisey valve train even with the Yella Terra's another shop decided to pull the heads at around 2500 miles because the original shop had went of of business.
This is what one head looked like. I can only go by what the second shop said - not a new head for sure since I had driven the car less than 2500 miles. I suspect my heads went somewhere else and I got some used heads off of the shop owners car.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/1835930...7602956888623/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/1835930...7602956888623/
We also pulled out a very loose supposedly new Vig 3600 TC. I sent it back to Precision Industries for a restall - their stamped numbers on the TC identified the TC as a 4000 stall with a purchase date far before I had ever made arrangments with the shop to do any work for me.
Because of the shoddy work there is nothing left from this original build except the Comp cam, oil pump, YT rockers, and LS intake. I have had to replace everything else such as heads, pushrods, TC, LongTubes, rebuilt A4 that failed on highway only 7000 miles, and retuning.
Ten grand down the drain plus all of the labor and parts replacing junk from the first build.
A sponsor on this site - but a few years back did this work. They did a h/c long tube bolt on build for me - nearly 10 grand. Part of the build was their special ported new heads. He showed me both heads before the install in a new box. Both were shiney new. I was impressed.
Because of a very noisey valve train even with the Yella Terra's another shop decided to pull the heads at around 2500 miles because the original shop had went of of business.
This is what one head looked like. I can only go by what the second shop said - not a new head for sure since I had driven the car less than 2500 miles. I suspect my heads went somewhere else and I got some used heads off of the shop owners car.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/1835930...7602956888623/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/1835930...7602956888623/
We also pulled out a very loose supposedly new Vig 3600 TC. I sent it back to Precision Industries for a restall - their stamped numbers on the TC identified the TC as a 4000 stall with a purchase date far before I had ever made arrangments with the shop to do any work for me.
Because of the shoddy work there is nothing left from this original build except the Comp cam, oil pump, YT rockers, and LS intake. I have had to replace everything else such as heads, pushrods, TC, LongTubes, rebuilt A4 that failed on highway only 7000 miles, and retuning.
Ten grand down the drain plus all of the labor and parts replacing junk from the first build.
