BlackScreaminMachine

iTrader: (17)

This post belongs in Sponsor Feedback. So it can allow proper Mediation.

triche

iTrader: (4)

1.) Stop sending funds
2.) Pull the car out of the shop
3.) Do your homework
4.) Get some friends that are mechanically inclined or find a shop you can trust (ask around)

Personally, I would get a crate engine. Hell, ask around maybe someone is doing an engine swap and you can get theres for a good deal. Then if your friend is not mechanically inclined, throw on a blower. Easy enough.

Sorry things went to crap.

thechef

iTrader: (13)

correct, as i just saw this it gets the , the OWNER of the car can make a post in the sponsor feedback section, where he and CARTEK can post their sides of the story without the bandwagon crews on here..

CARTEK if you would like to respond in this thread PM me and i will reopen it for you to respond

Max@Cartek

I appreciate the concern for your friend, but this is like a game of "telephone". Something gets said and by the time it gets a few people down the line the message is all messed up.

You friend did come in with a beautiful 2007 Corvette. The fact that he never abused it is why some of these problems didn't manifest themselves till the car was making an extra 100+ rwhp.

Did your friend tell you that when we first tore down the motor for the initial install we found a broken lifter from GM that scored up the lifter bore? We call him before we did anything else and got him a set of new lifters to replace them all. The lifter bore was scratched from the lifter coming apart and there was debris in the upper portion of the motor. We cleaned up the mess that was there and kept on going with the job as planned. This did slow us down due to the extra labor involved and having to notify the owner of the situation.

The car goes up on the dyno and the tuning begins. Everything looks fine. The first real dyno pull starts and right away the clutch lets go. It spins up like the car was in neutral. How is this our fault? We didn't install the clutch. This is a know combination and the clutch has held on countless cars for us before. I would say go to the track with the stock clutch and dump the clutch at 5k rpm, but for dyno pulls and for getting around on street tires it is more than fine. We notify the owner again and let him know what is going on. This is Saturday night. We trying to get the car done to then deliver the car. The owner stops by on Monday with his friends (3 if I remember correctly) to look over the car. Everyone there seemed to be on the same page and in agreement with what was going on. Not to mention a couple of phone calls from two other people who seem to have experience with modding cars asking questions on his behalf. We have answered all the questions and hid nothing. We have nothing to hide, this is just an unfortunate event for all involved.

Upon replacement of the clutch the clutch looked fine. The problem was a hydraulic failure, it looks like the slave hung up. When we replaced the clutch we also replaced the slave and added a remote bleeder. We went with a new SPEC 3+ clutch and flywheel. So he is good to go. The price you quoted is also with labor.



All pricing you quoted is with labor and tax (turn key). The engine price you quoted is also with the replacement of the engine oil cooler lines, and replacing the radiator since it has a built in oil cooler. The coolers have to be replaced along with the lines because when the you have debris go through the motor it ends up in the coolers and lines. When the problem occurs typically the components are hot and the metal/debris in-beds itself in the aluminum (which by the way has lots of twists and turns int he cooler) so when you try cleaning the pieces at room temperature the pieces do not want to come clean and it is impossible to visually inspect. I for one would not trust components like that in a new build for myself. The only way to begin on starting to clean the parts is with sonic cleaning and at that point it starts approaching the price of just replacing the parts and being 100% sure that it's right.

The situation is unfortunate and we are working on pricing with the owner only because we feel bad for him, but not because we did anything wrong.

The reason the owner decided to go with a 402 was because it was a low cost upgrade considering he needed rods and the crank needed to be cut as well as rebalanced for the new rods and pistons. Debris went through the motor and the bearings most importantly. The motor has been in this condition for some time. The fact the owner didn't really beat the car is the only reason it didn't let go sooner. Once 100+ rwhp was added that put the whole situation over the edge. Driven for some time longer (this summer) he would have been with the same problem.

Max@Cartek

When we went to dyno the car the first pull with the new clutch everything went extremely well. First numbers with the A:F being fat and the timing being conservative we saw in the mid 400's to the wheel. So with the appropriate timing and fuel we were sure to hit 460's to 470's to the wheel. Very respectable for the setup. The next pull we saw the power increase with the changes in fuel and timing, but the power seemed to fall off in the upper rpm range. We knew what we saw the lifter and debris before, but figured to go through basics first. So we checked a few things and did an additional pull with no tuning changes and the power fell off sooner and by a greater amount. At this point we know what is up and called it quits till we did some investigating. We pulled the filter and cut it open and didn't like what we saw. Pulled the pan and didn't like what we saw...

Once the engine was apart it was apparent what was going on and had happened. Does anyone think that every engine/car that rolls off GM's assembly line is perfect?

We have done many and by many I mean "countless" setups and you never hear anything going wrong. Every so often you you get one car that just isn't right from the get go. So when you modify it the issue becomes magnified.

I have seen on stock cars:
- lobes break off the camshaft
- lifter failures
- timing chain bolts come out and the cam stops spinning and PTV clearance goes away.

The list goes on and on...

This is all on stock untouched cars that came in on flat beds.

To the original poster, if you like you are more than welcome to call just like anyone else.

The owner doesn't have a problem with our work or level of service. We have done everything we can and will continue to do so for him. You don't see him posting here.

Right now this is just a distraction and is keeping us from getting back to your buddy's car so we can get it out of here and back to him.


Nice for your 3rd post.

This is bull and you know it. Many posts have been made in response to this. The person you mention is on his 2nd shop since us. And the motor he got from the tuner after us he already blew too. LOL. So who is the problem?


I hope this hasn't been too lengthy, but we felt we needed to post since the "haters" were having their fun.

Happy New Year to all!

Max