This is basically saying you have NO WARRANTY!

 

JD I am not so worried about how the engine will come out, as I am about the warranty AFTER. I am in the High End Customer Service business. This IS what I do for a living. I know first hand that people are realists and they know that things break or go wrong. MOST people are understanding, but they do expect to be taken care of IF there is a problem. What % and who is at fault should be agreed upon mutually and hands shook, and motors fixed. If my car has smoking issues, who do I call? I cant/wont bring my car to your shop 99% because of the location. I moved further away than I used to live from Joe so now he is far, and you are even further. I used u once for a dyno tune and I was happy with the shop. I need a LOCAL guy to tune and do the little things on a regular basis. I dont have a final gear or tire size. After I break in the motor and run at the track I will need some adjustments. There is no way I am going to drive to the Philly area just for this. I wish that I was closer so I could use you guys and keep EVERYTHING IN HOUSE. Life is not always that easy. I was happy with Joes parts, now that he is under you, WHERE DO I STAND? JD good Luck here on the board. We always need new blood and R&D so dont get a sour taste in your mouth regarding the LS1's. Keep your chin up. Bear

 

I do not think JD is getting a bad taste from the LS1 crowd. I frequent the ford forums as well and those guys are brutal on vendors. I am sure JD is use to responding to our comments and questions. You never know, it might be JD who comes up with a way to fit the roots style blower on a F-body w/out losing the windshield wipers.

 

I will call you once I decide what Im going to do --spend and additional ~$5k on the motor to fix it, or ~$7k-8k to do the upgrade, as discussed, or do something else. You also know where id like to be, near free for fixing and $5k for the upgrade. I have another shop offering to do the entire thing, with 4" lunati crank, block honed to 4.135", forged new pistons, bearings, forged rods, lifters, rings, fully assembled longblock for $4k (thank you very much for the help offered) and others looking into it for me-- Im sure you can do it for $5k with a cheaper crank and make money out of it. I can only see spending more money on this if I am getting something out of it beyond what I initially have already put into it -- this is the only way I can justify spending further money now. I am trying to make the decision as soon as possible.

Someone has a responsilibity to me, whether its you assuming all of JPR's responsibilities (he cant even answer the phone or call someone now?) or JP in civil court as Mr.B points out. If it goes to court you can bet Im going for my $12k and more. I have every email that ever passed between me and jpr, timeslips, videos, receipts, and even people volunterring to witness if I need it.

Well, off to shovel snow, I wish I had spent some of this money on a desperately needing freanking snowblower! My driveway is like 100 yards long and curvy, and I have about 8 inches of snow.

Mr.B, thank for the web address.

 

I wouldnt let them touch my **** again even if cost twice as much to have it done somewhere else.

 

Hrm....

Joe appears to be in a situation where he had more LS1 business than he could get done in the promised time... And now we hear from JD that he is getting into 4.6 R&D?

I understand, Joe, that they dont make F-bodies anymore, and that to some degree the market for the LS1 work might be getting smaller and more competitive each week...

But I am getting the feeling that you are getting out of the LS1 business and into the Mustang side of things. Its reasonable... Its a muuuuch larger market with alot of open territory (I dont drag race my Camaro, I drag race my Mustang).

But that IS the feeling Im getting here...

chris

 

In all fairness, Joe D (from JD's Performance) asked me to call him directly at the shop, which of course I did.

I initially thought Joe D. was arrogant in his posts.. but upon talking with him on the phone, he seems to be a much nicer person one-to-one. We talked about the situation, and I think that he will persuade Joe Prince to make good for at least a portion of what it will take to make things right for EZSS. He also understood that having a thread like this, with 6k views and hundreds of replies, would not do anyone any good.

Again.. I wish nothing but the best for Eric, a clean slate for Joe Prince (with regards to this and other motor builds) and for Joe D. to follow through on what was discussed.

Now I'm off to take my meds and make snow angels..

 

This has nothing to do with cars but will show you what customer service is.

My parents bought a new stove from Sears Outlet. It didnt work so we decided to bring it back. On the highway the stove fell down amd smashed the glass door and bent the handle, due to the fact we didnt tie down the stove. When we got to Sears Outlet the manager said o dont worry about it happens all the time and refunded us in full for the stove,(we bought one somewhere else cause they had nothing we liked)

Will I buy from Sears Outlet in the future, YOUR DAM RIGHT I WILL. Its all how you treat your customers that brings them back and brings new customers.

 

have fun trying to get $12k i'm still waiting for my $4k from JPR

 

I almost feel sorry for JD at this point. He hired JPR and look what happened. JPRs past is haunting him now.

 

Please elaborate.

 

JD called me and he said JP will cover cost of rings, comp r lifters, and block hone. They will retune and dyno the car for free. That should knock $233+$200+$150+$500 (dyno & tune) about $1000-1100 off the bill to get it fixed. I can also do that if I upgrade. So we're at about $4k to fix, and that + crank, rods, and any additional block work for the 427 stroker upgrade, or 2-3 grand more.

 

Thats good news..

 

Honestly for JD to step in a offer to help is great. Of course we have no idea what the legal arrangement with JPR is, but this is good news.

two natural questions;

1. does that include the labor (ie you drop off the car, and get a car back with those things performed)?

2. I still dont think the car needs 42s. :shrug: My 388 makes more power with SVO 30s and has room left int he duty cycle.

chris

 

I just joined to give my opinion here. I have been around racing for 35 years and have also worked in the automotive business for 35 years. I met JD in 1986. I've seen a lot of techs come and go in my 35 years of business. JD is by far the BEST I've ever seen. He has been doing all the work on my Mustangs since 1986. I've never had a problem with him. I can't even remember ever having to go back to him with a problem. The car was always retuned 100%. I have spent thousands of dollars with him. He had a 408 stroker engine built for me 4 years ago and have never had any problems with it. It is a shame that he is getting bad press over this. I have met Joe Prince at JD's shop a couple of times. I really don't have an opinion of him except I've heard he is an excellent head porter.
JD is a stand up guy that has been in business since 1996. I used him when he worked at other shop too. JD's has business coming out his a$$ because of HIS reputation. I'm sure that something will be worked out here. JD's is not to blame for this problem. He didn't build the motor.
After 35 years racing I've never seen a rod problem that wasn't cause by over reving. When you miss a gear at 7k, I don't care how good you are, the engine is going to 8k. It's free wheeling and takes no time to do this. This problem in my opinion is caused by the driver. The same goes for the lifters. This engine might have gone to 8500 or even 9k.
The problem with the cylinders was caused by an improper tune. Some of this blame has to be accepted by the owner.
This is racing and Sh$t happens. I, like everyone else here doesn't know ALL the facts from both sides. It doesn't make sense that you would futher modify an engine that had blow by.
Hopefully they will come to a mutual agreement on this.
I'm sorry to see this might hurt JD's rep. when he really had nothing to do with it and he is and excellent tech and a stand up guy. JD's has thousands of satified customers from all over the US. People come from all over for his quality repairs and modifications. I will continue to use JD as I always have. In fact my car is going to him next week to have a new possi unit installed. I broke it at the track, but like I said, sh$t happens.
I would hope you will give JD's a second chance since it would be a crime to see such a reputable shop get a bad name over this.
JD hired Joe Prince to port heads for 4.6 Ford engines. He is in the process of having cams developed for these engines too. JD, is doing this to help the 4.6 guys beat you LS1 guys, LOL.
Please don't judge JD's by this one instance. He really had nothing to do with it. JD's also has customers waiting to get into his shop without LS1's, so I don't think this will have a huge impact on his business. JD being the kind of guy he is will still try to resolve this since he doesn't want one person bad mouthing him. As far as warranty goes, I can't see how someone can warranty race engines unless you can prove it was a defect. Please feel free to e-mail me
r.jermyn@northeastlincoln.com. Sorry for the long rant. Thanx RAY

 

I the LS1 world, some shops DO warrantee engines built to be used at the strip.

chris

 

LOL!!! Oom Foo Foo just rec'd a bone. Didn't you pay for tuning already? The rest of the stuff you are paying for is stuff that seems to me to be related to a bad initial build. What about WARRANTY? Now all of what I am saying is mute if Erik is saying he is more at fault for all his engine problems than the other parties involved and Erik believes he should have to pay the LION'S share of the rebuild. If this is true then JD/JPR just gave you some good news. If deep down inside Erik does not feel 80 percent at fault I think Erik needs to go back to the bargaining table and ask for the other parties involved to pay more. As of now I see the other parties involved getting over. What they have offered you is nothing more but part of their profit they are going to make off of you anyway. This is JMO. No offense to the other parties involved, but after reading this entire thread and having personal dealings with the other parties involved via a friends car I have some insight into moods and attitudes towards Eriks situation. JD came into this after the 388ci build and was only involved in facilitating dyno time and some verbal advice via JPR. If I were JD I would not get involved in this build at all. The responsibility to make this right is JPR's. I am going to tell it like I see it. As of now it seems JD is trying to benefit off of Eriks misfortune. JPR knows Mike and I were there that entire weekend when Erik was calling complaining about his car. That's all.

 

All is well

Good to hear that people can work things out, I hate to hear it when good people get a bad rep just because they are too busy.

Oh and BTW that 4.6 thing is a good idea. I have never seen a better, more simple, and reliable, thing to make big power in my life than with a FI 4.6 DOHC motor. People talk about LSx heads being good.....It is not uncommon to see flow numbers in the 340CFM range with ported 4.6 DOHC heads .

 

MTI does on their stroker packages, assuming no FI or nitrous use.

 

Every vendor I have spoken with warranties their stuff if no power adders are used. I must add this is if the engine breaks do to a failed part. Smoke is a sure sign there could be a major problem and I would think the vendor would quickly try to resolve something that could be costly for them later.