I bought this 408 from a well known and reputable shop after reading lots of good reviews on here, but after about 530 miles and my very first pull to redline I lost almost all oil pressure. At idle it had 5-10 psi and about 25 cruising and it didn't get higher with rpm's, prior to this it had perfect oil pressure, about 45 at idle and 60+ at speed. I got home and cut my oil filter open and it was a sparkly disaster, lots of metal shavings that were copper or brass in color.

So after calling the shop they told me I would have to send it back to them and they'd figure out if it was a warranty issue or not and they asked me to leave the oil pan on it. So after only 2 weeks together I tore it all apart yet again and shipped it off. They received the motor 8 days ago and still haven't evaluated it, last I heard the oil pan was still on it. I would love to hear what happened to it and more importantly is it under warranty? Every time I talk to them they say that they're busy and to be patient but how long is reasonable? I feel as though they should've at least tore it apart and identified the problem, I'm getting more and more frustrated everyday.

Yes they are a vendor here and no i'm not saying the name of the shop, I just want advice at this time.

 

I would just be patient man.. If u rush people .. Sometimes theyre not gonna give a **** and even take longer

 

I know that and I understand the reasoning there, but that's bad customer service IMO. I work on aircraft, if one of my aircraft has problems with something we did that aircraft becomes #1 priority, we don't make it wait for other planes to get done first before we go back to that one. Maybe i'm weird...

 

There was less than 100 miles on this oil.

 

I'll guess insufficient crankshaft end play....too tight thrust clearance started heating up the center crank journal which only causes more interference and bearing shrapnel to enter the oiling system...just a guess though....

 

I was in the same shoes I are in now last year at this same time . It will be exactly one year ago on the 22 of this month . I hope you have better luck then I did. On my motor it spun two mains on my new 383. After they did the tear down they told me it was not covered as they told me the reason it happened was a lack of oil. Now I was on my 3rd oil change at this time. I did one at 100 miles another one at 500 miles and I did this one at 1000 miles. I changed the oil myself and was at 1258mile only 258 mile past the time I did my last oil change. I know it had oil the hole time but how does one prove it . You can see where I am going with this . After 3 months of going back and forth about what could of happen vs proving what really did happen we finally agreed on a price on a new 402 and what I would get refunded for my old 383. They will try and find any way pos. to prove to you how this is not in any way fault of theirs . Its is up to you to go over what they say happened and caused it and you better be on your a game when doing it. Lucky for me the reason I didn't build it myself is not cause I don't know how but a matter of not having the time to do it and I was able to go over what they were trying to blow past me as what caused it . Trust me the clues will be there as to what caused it and if I was you I would want to be there for the tear down of the motor as I was for mine so nothing can be said as to what happened in the time of the tear down that they do and the time when they call you or you go and see for yourself as to what happened " them trying to show you parts that they say came out of your motor". Good Luck man I hope it works out for you . Now that being said a motor is man made and things can happen parts can break. All I am saying is protect yourself cause I can tell you THEY WILL PROTECT THEMSELVES.

 

Looking at those pictures I agree with A.R Sahla.

 

BigE that's exactly what I fear, unfortunately the shop is about 1500 miles away from me so I can't be there when they tear it down. I chose this shop because I didn't trust any local shops, guess I should've just rolled the dice locally. I haven't ever built a motor and didn't want to have my motor be my guinea pig but I am familiar with what's involved in building it, that thought process didn't work out for me.

 

Cross your fingers and hopefully they will cover it, if not then do what BigE said and see if they will build another on a discounted price.

1500 miles apart and a bunch of "he said, she said" is going to be very difficult to come to a proper conclusion..

 

Man I hope everything works out ok

 

All I really want is that motor fixed and back in my car, it felt like it had great potential during break in. I want to drive it!

 

I wonder if they are sending your oil out for analysis? That could be a possibility, to
see if it was a fuel problem, I don't know just a thought.
Google oil analysis they can tell alot about your engine by doing that. Good luck

 

There wasn't any oil in it other than residual, they told me to drain it. I was in the process of tuning when it went, fueling was 11.8 and nothing odd, it was going really well...

 

I'd be furious. I agree with what you said. Someone fucked up and it most likely wasn't you according to what you're saying. So it should be a priority and whoever messed up should stand behind their work and fix it asap. And with the kind of money I can imagine you paid for it I'd be beyond pissed. I hope you get it sorted out. Kind of want to know who it was so I can avoid doing business there and risking issues of my own but I understand you not calling anyone out.

 

Bearings can fail for a lot of reasons, hopefully they give you a fair shake and take care of you.

How much did they actually do? Shortblock? Longblock? Auto trans?

 

I'm hoping for the best in a timely manner. They did the short block including the cam, oil pump, and timing chain with gears.

 

Ok good, I know Thompson motorsports warranties their short blocks if you purchase and have them install an oil pump when you get it built.

So all you did was add the oil pan and heads, so unless you forgot to fill up with oil then they should assume most of the liability I would think.

 

Or forget to check pan to pickup clearance.

 

The pickup tube was mounted in the stock location so it maintained factory specs. I notched out a hole just big enough in the wind age tray to do it. I have pics of that and there's no way in hell that caused this. I was supposed to get a wind age tray for the 408 from them but they forgot to send it, so I notched it.

The shop I went to does have a warranty but they said they need to inspect it to make sure the oil pickup wasn't starved.

 

subscribed.

My fingers are crossed for you that your engine is taken care of properly.