Anyone have any feedback on Golen LT1 shortblocks?
03-15-2009, 08:21 AM
#5
It seems that most customers of Chad are happy, or lucky. I got a grand total of 600 miles before I was the lucky owner a of 2-piece crank. When asked if he had seen that happen before he said, "Yeah, all the time."
He was nice enough to offer a new crank installed for around $1K.
Obviously I passed and sold the engine to someone local. That person took it to be repaired and found the true reason why the crank broke. There wasn't enough oil flow to the front of the crank due to some plug being installed too far, period. Once I emailed Chad w/ the findings, he promised to call me the next day. That was roughly 2 months ago....still waiting by the phone.
I will not reply again to this thread because I can only imagine where that will lead. The question was asked, the facts were stated...have a nice day.
He was nice enough to offer a new crank installed for around $1K. Obviously I passed and sold the engine to someone local. That person took it to be repaired and found the true reason why the crank broke. There wasn't enough oil flow to the front of the crank due to some plug being installed too far, period. Once I emailed Chad w/ the findings, he promised to call me the next day. That was roughly 2 months ago....still waiting by the phone.I will not reply again to this thread because I can only imagine where that will lead. The question was asked, the facts were stated...have a nice day.
03-15-2009, 08:41 AM
#6
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03-15-2009, 01:13 PM
#9
I have a Golen 383 short block, forged bottom end.
Golen is probally the largest builder of LT1 motors in the country. By volume he has more satisfied customers and ones who are not than a shop that may build a few LT1's a year.
The example dwayne posts of a Golen customer (Lance)...well read between the lines (..and I don't mean to bash lance). The motor did not have a windage tray and showed signs of bearing cavitation...DUH. The oil tube came off. It was a press fit that under "normal" conditions should be just fine but Golen, and others, chose to weld it for additional security. the variances of the cast metal and tube do not make it a good candidate for welding and a poor or cold weld job 'could" have failed but the press fit alone should hold the tube in place. as noted in the thread dwayne posts a member points out that detonation was most likely the cause of engine rattle which dislodged the tube...a point I agree on.. One rod bolt cross threaded..OK stuff happens but that had nothing to do with that motors failure. Cracked crank...again the motor was oil starved, most likely had detonation due to tune issues and a cast crank (Eagle) was detected to have a crack. Anyone would be hard pressed as to why it had a crack other than it is a cheaper off shore "cast" piece. Golen offers a choice of cranks...that customer picked cast, not Golen.
I had my cast Eagle crank break on my Golen 383 in 2000 miles. Called Chad with a WTF tone and he said send the whole engine back and he would take care of it (even though I just bought a short block). I had him replace the crank with a forged one and he charged me around $160 (difference in his cost of cast vs forged) and Chad replaced my block (it was damaged as result of broken crank) and reassembled my engine for the cost of shipping. Certainly a excercise I did not want to go through but expect this kind of stuff when you build cars. I echo another Impala forum members comments (BK) that "fact" $50,000 NASCAR motors blow up, sometimes on lap 7. Does that make Hendrick Motorsports a crap shop...no stuff happens.
My crank broke off at the balancer, in hindsight it had nothing to do with Golen but he stood up anyway and fixed it. The cause was my "former" mechanic jacked up my motor from the crank hub (to fix a oil leak thought to be pan gasket) by lowering the car on a lift onto a tranny jack stand...the fing drunk brought the car down to far and almost lifted it off the lift. The front of the car was 2' above the lift....that strain cracked the crank which later failed just driving at 35 MPH a month or so later.
Am I saying Golen is the "best" shop out there..NO. I am saying they make a good product and will stand by their work. Even the Golen customer noted in dwaynes post said Chad would assist even though the motor was out of warrenty...try and get that service from another shop.
When a shop sells a short block they don't know who the F is on the other end. How the motor was final assembled, did the oil drive shaft get put in, was it primed, is the tune off, is cam and timing chain installed right, is windage tray on. I would suggest that the majority of Golen's, and other builders, motor problems are the result of the end user.
What ever builder you chose my $.02 is get a forged rotateing assembly. Any builder, includeing Golen, will put in your choice of parts.
I would also suggest you take comments from people who DIRECTLY have experience (good or bad) with Golen with more regard than someone who sits on the sidelines and constantly bashes them.
Golen is probally the largest builder of LT1 motors in the country. By volume he has more satisfied customers and ones who are not than a shop that may build a few LT1's a year.
The example dwayne posts of a Golen customer (Lance)...well read between the lines (..and I don't mean to bash lance). The motor did not have a windage tray and showed signs of bearing cavitation...DUH. The oil tube came off. It was a press fit that under "normal" conditions should be just fine but Golen, and others, chose to weld it for additional security. the variances of the cast metal and tube do not make it a good candidate for welding and a poor or cold weld job 'could" have failed but the press fit alone should hold the tube in place. as noted in the thread dwayne posts a member points out that detonation was most likely the cause of engine rattle which dislodged the tube...a point I agree on.. One rod bolt cross threaded..OK stuff happens but that had nothing to do with that motors failure. Cracked crank...again the motor was oil starved, most likely had detonation due to tune issues and a cast crank (Eagle) was detected to have a crack. Anyone would be hard pressed as to why it had a crack other than it is a cheaper off shore "cast" piece. Golen offers a choice of cranks...that customer picked cast, not Golen.
I had my cast Eagle crank break on my Golen 383 in 2000 miles. Called Chad with a WTF tone and he said send the whole engine back and he would take care of it (even though I just bought a short block). I had him replace the crank with a forged one and he charged me around $160 (difference in his cost of cast vs forged) and Chad replaced my block (it was damaged as result of broken crank) and reassembled my engine for the cost of shipping. Certainly a excercise I did not want to go through but expect this kind of stuff when you build cars. I echo another Impala forum members comments (BK) that "fact" $50,000 NASCAR motors blow up, sometimes on lap 7. Does that make Hendrick Motorsports a crap shop...no stuff happens.
My crank broke off at the balancer, in hindsight it had nothing to do with Golen but he stood up anyway and fixed it. The cause was my "former" mechanic jacked up my motor from the crank hub (to fix a oil leak thought to be pan gasket) by lowering the car on a lift onto a tranny jack stand...the fing drunk brought the car down to far and almost lifted it off the lift. The front of the car was 2' above the lift....that strain cracked the crank which later failed just driving at 35 MPH a month or so later.
Am I saying Golen is the "best" shop out there..NO. I am saying they make a good product and will stand by their work. Even the Golen customer noted in dwaynes post said Chad would assist even though the motor was out of warrenty...try and get that service from another shop.
When a shop sells a short block they don't know who the F is on the other end. How the motor was final assembled, did the oil drive shaft get put in, was it primed, is the tune off, is cam and timing chain installed right, is windage tray on. I would suggest that the majority of Golen's, and other builders, motor problems are the result of the end user.
What ever builder you chose my $.02 is get a forged rotateing assembly. Any builder, includeing Golen, will put in your choice of parts.
I would also suggest you take comments from people who DIRECTLY have experience (good or bad) with Golen with more regard than someone who sits on the sidelines and constantly bashes them.
03-15-2009, 01:25 PM
#10
It seems that most customers of Chad are happy, or lucky. I got a grand total of 600 miles before I was the lucky owner a of 2-piece crank. When asked if he had seen that happen before he said, "Yeah, all the time." He was nice enough to offer a new crank installed for around $1K. Obviously I passed and sold the engine to someone local. That person took it to be repaired and found the true reason why the crank broke. There wasn't enough oil flow to the front of the crank due to some plug being installed too far, period. Once I emailed Chad w/ the findings, he promised to call me the next day. That was roughly 2 months ago....still waiting by the phone.
I will not reply again to this thread because I can only imagine where that will lead. The question was asked, the facts were stated...have a nice day.
He was nice enough to offer a new crank installed for around $1K. Obviously I passed and sold the engine to someone local. That person took it to be repaired and found the true reason why the crank broke. There wasn't enough oil flow to the front of the crank due to some plug being installed too far, period. Once I emailed Chad w/ the findings, he promised to call me the next day. That was roughly 2 months ago....still waiting by the phone.I will not reply again to this thread because I can only imagine where that will lead. The question was asked, the facts were stated...have a nice day.
I have since repaired and replaced everything in the block, with zero assistance from Chad at Golen and plenty of assistance from Matt.
03-15-2009, 01:35 PM
#12
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I have a Golen 383 short block, forged bottom end.
Golen is probally the largest builder of LT1 motors in the country. By volume he has more satisfied customers and ones who are not than a shop that may build a few LT1's a year.
The example dwayne posts of a Golen customer (Lance)...well read between the lines (..and I don't mean to bash lance). The motor did not have a windage tray and showed signs of bearing cavitation...DUH. The oil tube came off. It was a press fit that under "normal" conditions should be just fine but Golen, and others, chose to weld it for additional security. the variances of the cast metal and tube do not make it a good candidate for welding and a poor or cold weld job 'could" have failed but the press fit alone should hold the tube in place. as noted in the thread dwayne posts a member points out that detonation was most likely the cause of engine rattle which dislodged the tube...a point I agree on.. One rod bolt cross threaded..OK stuff happens but that had nothing to do with that motors failure. Cracked crank...again the motor was oil starved, most likely had detonation due to tune issues and a cast crank (Eagle) was detected to have a crack. Anyone would be hard pressed as to why it had a crack other than it is a cheaper off shore "cast" piece. Golen offers a choice of cranks...that customer picked cast, not Golen.
I had my cast Eagle crank break on my Golen 383 in 2000 miles. Called Chad with a WTF tone and he said send the whole engine back and he would take care of it (even though I just bought a short block). I had him replace the crank with a forged one and he charged me around $160 (difference in his cost of cast vs forged) and Chad replaced my block (it was damaged as result of broken crank) and reassembled my engine for the cost of shipping. Certainly a excercise I did not want to go through but expect this kind of stuff when you build cars. I echo another Impala forum members comments (BK) that "fact" $50,000 NASCAR motors blow up, sometimes on lap 7. Does that make Hendrick Motorsports a crap shop...no stuff happens.
My crank broke off at the balancer, in hindsight it had nothing to do with Golen but he stood up anyway and fixed it. The cause was my "former" mechanic jacked up my motor from the crank hub (to fix a oil leak thought to be pan gasket) by lowering the car on a lift onto a tranny jack stand...the fing drunk brought the car down to far and almost lifted it off the lift. The front of the car was 2' above the lift....that strain cracked the crank which later failed just driving at 35 MPH a month or so later.
Am I saying Golen is the "best" shop out there..NO. I am saying they make a good product and will stand by their work. Even the Golen customer noted in dwaynes post said Chad would assist even though the motor was out of warrenty...try and get that service from another shop.
When a shop sells a short block they don't know who the F is on the other end. How the motor was final assembled, did the oil drive shaft get put in, was it primed, is the tune off, is cam and timing chain installed right, is windage tray on. I would suggest that the majority of Golen's, and other builders, motor problems are the result of the end user.
What ever builder you chose my $.02 is get a forged rotateing assembly. Any builder, includeing Golen, will put in your choice of parts.
I would also suggest you take comments from people who DIRECTLY have experience (good or bad) with Golen with more regard than someone who sits on the sidelines and constantly bashes them.
Golen is probally the largest builder of LT1 motors in the country. By volume he has more satisfied customers and ones who are not than a shop that may build a few LT1's a year.
The example dwayne posts of a Golen customer (Lance)...well read between the lines (..and I don't mean to bash lance). The motor did not have a windage tray and showed signs of bearing cavitation...DUH. The oil tube came off. It was a press fit that under "normal" conditions should be just fine but Golen, and others, chose to weld it for additional security. the variances of the cast metal and tube do not make it a good candidate for welding and a poor or cold weld job 'could" have failed but the press fit alone should hold the tube in place. as noted in the thread dwayne posts a member points out that detonation was most likely the cause of engine rattle which dislodged the tube...a point I agree on.. One rod bolt cross threaded..OK stuff happens but that had nothing to do with that motors failure. Cracked crank...again the motor was oil starved, most likely had detonation due to tune issues and a cast crank (Eagle) was detected to have a crack. Anyone would be hard pressed as to why it had a crack other than it is a cheaper off shore "cast" piece. Golen offers a choice of cranks...that customer picked cast, not Golen.
I had my cast Eagle crank break on my Golen 383 in 2000 miles. Called Chad with a WTF tone and he said send the whole engine back and he would take care of it (even though I just bought a short block). I had him replace the crank with a forged one and he charged me around $160 (difference in his cost of cast vs forged) and Chad replaced my block (it was damaged as result of broken crank) and reassembled my engine for the cost of shipping. Certainly a excercise I did not want to go through but expect this kind of stuff when you build cars. I echo another Impala forum members comments (BK) that "fact" $50,000 NASCAR motors blow up, sometimes on lap 7. Does that make Hendrick Motorsports a crap shop...no stuff happens.
My crank broke off at the balancer, in hindsight it had nothing to do with Golen but he stood up anyway and fixed it. The cause was my "former" mechanic jacked up my motor from the crank hub (to fix a oil leak thought to be pan gasket) by lowering the car on a lift onto a tranny jack stand...the fing drunk brought the car down to far and almost lifted it off the lift. The front of the car was 2' above the lift....that strain cracked the crank which later failed just driving at 35 MPH a month or so later.
Am I saying Golen is the "best" shop out there..NO. I am saying they make a good product and will stand by their work. Even the Golen customer noted in dwaynes post said Chad would assist even though the motor was out of warrenty...try and get that service from another shop.
When a shop sells a short block they don't know who the F is on the other end. How the motor was final assembled, did the oil drive shaft get put in, was it primed, is the tune off, is cam and timing chain installed right, is windage tray on. I would suggest that the majority of Golen's, and other builders, motor problems are the result of the end user.
What ever builder you chose my $.02 is get a forged rotateing assembly. Any builder, includeing Golen, will put in your choice of parts.
I would also suggest you take comments from people who DIRECTLY have experience (good or bad) with Golen with more regard than someone who sits on the sidelines and constantly bashes them.
03-15-2009, 02:16 PM
#13
do the author of this thread a favor and STFU. No one on this thread is defending any "mistake", none to defend. Simply responding the the treads ? with DIRECT experience, good or bad.
stick to what you are qualified to comment about...stock bottom end AI head/cam combo.
03-15-2009, 02:37 PM
#15
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another "the world according to dwayne" comment..
do the author of this thread a favor and STFU. No one on this thread is defending any "mistake", none to defend. Simply responding the the treads ? with DIRECT experience, good or bad.
stick to what you are qualified to comment about...stock bottom end AI head/cam combo.
do the author of this thread a favor and STFU. No one on this thread is defending any "mistake", none to defend. Simply responding the the treads ? with DIRECT experience, good or bad.
stick to what you are qualified to comment about...stock bottom end AI head/cam combo.
I was going to say it, thanks. Now I don't have to LOL
03-15-2009, 03:08 PM
#16
another "the world according to dwayne" comment..
do the author of this thread a favor and STFU. No one on this thread is defending any "mistake", none to defend. Simply responding the the treads ? with DIRECT experience, good or bad.
stick to what you are qualified to comment about...stock bottom end AI head/cam combo.
do the author of this thread a favor and STFU. No one on this thread is defending any "mistake", none to defend. Simply responding the the treads ? with DIRECT experience, good or bad.
stick to what you are qualified to comment about...stock bottom end AI head/cam combo.
Your car is weak and slow and instead of letting others learn to do better you choose to try and hold everyone back to your level.
For those not familiar Roger there has a 13 second stroker. You really want performance advise from someone like that???
03-15-2009, 03:20 PM
#17
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Built LT1 asked for feedback on Golen LT1 shortblocks. How is your Golen motor working out for you? I don't want advise from someone like you that alway says, This is what I have, and if you don't run what I have you are stupid.
03-15-2009, 03:24 PM
#18
for the sake of keeping this thread on topic to it's ? stop pissing on every Golen, stroker, non AI thread on every forum you post ***** on.
03-15-2009, 04:48 PM
#19
Your car is weak and slow, and I would use it as a daily driver, even in the Buffalo winters here. Caprices suck in case you didn't know. Roger might not have the fastest car around (I honestly have no clue what it runs), but maybe it pulls 1g in a corner. Maybe it's a show car, an autocross car, who knows. Maybe money was short and he had to make do with what he had to get it running and out on the street, so what.
You seem to throw out a lot of advice on here and your car is a ******* 12.20 car. 12.30 in the humidity. That's lame.
I know lots of people who build solid motors and don't even own a performance car of their own, or they own one but it's been an ongoing project for years and years. Does that make them less qualified to comment on a build? No.
03-15-2009, 05:09 PM
#20
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it is beyond me why someone wanting to build an engine won't go with someone locally. i could not imagine having to spend the time i did face to face with my builder if the phone was the only means of communication.
