Not my fault the motor blew! Machine shop messed up!

My friend owns and operates a machine shop, he could tell you lots of stories.

 

This is why I am completely involved with the ENTIRE build of my motor. From the disassembling, to the machine work, to the assembly. I am all up in that business.....My machine shop Loves me....

 

I almost had something to say....then I checked the price! $2000 bucks for a NEW 350......not a bad price at all. I can rebuild a stocker for not much less than that. and DAMN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it's all new!

 

I'm not all that keen on crate motors neither. Had a Friend go through 7 yes 7 Goodwrench Crate motors 350-290 hp all of which were installed and screwed up. He finally had a local shop build him a motor with no problems. Most of them had no oil pressure or little after he got it going. One was in for a month before it pretty much locked up.

Michael

 

I know you are looking for a shop to tell a story about how the customer did something wrong but I am like the majority responding.I always check everything I get back and a good deal of it is not as it should be.cranks turned with .0015 -.002 taper, blocks cleaned checked and bored that had a 4" long freeze crack in the cyl. rod bushing not straight, pistons pressed on the rods backwards .ect. etc. etc. its always something

 

Just bought a ZZ4 to put in my buddies Pick up. $5500! Thats a little too rich for a po boy like me. It sure is pretty though......

 

That's one thing my dad told me to do, too. If it runs on gas, he can disassemble and rebuild it with his eyes closed. Fortunately for me, once it comes time to rebuild, he just sits there and tells me what to do (partially because of arthritis)... It's the only way I'll learn and I'm thankful for it every day!

 

Hey Rocky, if you don't mind me asking who do you use for a machinist? somebody in town? I usually use Bill's Machine off of 30th but could always use another option for customers..

I've put two of those ZZ4's in Customer cars.. a '38 Chevy, and a '69 Camaro... mean little engines..

 

I had been getting a little bag with the block plugs for the water jacket. Ask my machinist whats up. They have a in house engine dyno. Well customer picks up a race engine, leaves it in the back of his truck over nite in 10deg. air. Yep cracked block. So now no motor leaves with the plugs in.

 

While working in a machine shop I had a guy tell us his buddy worked for John Deere and he was going to assemble his engine, He did ask if I would write down all the torque specs for him . I put everything on the back of the shop ticket ,head bolts were torque turn as was some other. He returned with the head gaskets leaking real bad and cyls full of water. When ask if they torqued the heads to specs he said sure.He said he had a tough time getting it hot enough in the garage. I said What? Well I had written down 40 lbs plus 90 degrees ,he thought that meant 40 lbs in a 90 degree garage.

 

Had a machine shop build a 1970 340 Mopar for me, was a longblock, got it built ready to install with heads on.

Installed it, buttoned it up and when it was fired up it was rattling like crazy.

Turns out the pistons they used were not a properly matched set of forged 10.5 compression pistons.

The pistons that were the wrong ones ( 3 out of 8) had valve clearance cutouts that were too small for the 2.02 valves of the 340 heads.

So as a result the pistons hit the valves and made a mess of the pistons and the heads.

An expensive repair that I had to get done elsewhere as the engine builder refused to take responsibility for their shoddy work.

That was quite a few years ago and the builder was Golden West Engine Rebuilders in Edmonton.

And yes, they did the machine work and the assembly too and when I picked the engine up it was a totally assembled long block.

So the screw up was totally theirs.

 

My machine guy doesn't have a dyno but has a run in stand, he will also show up at your shop to do the initial start up. He wants to make sure it's done right.

He showed up for one motor and IIRR the story goes it failed after running for 5 minutes, he checked into the motor right there and then and found even though it had oil pressure it had no oiling.

Long story short, the guys remote filter lines were plugged up with June bugs.....there were bug guts all through the filters and motor.....

That kinda voided the warranty

 

Customer brought his hot rod in to the shop because it had a knock and weak compression on #4. The engine had less than 1000 miles on it...rebuilt unit from Super Shops. Tore it down and found that #4 connecting rod had a 010 under rod bearing, all the rest were 020. Super Shops would not honor the warranty because they were not the ones who tore the engine down. I left it up to him to fight it out with the builder...

 

bug guts...wow, that's crazy. Trannyman...can you change your default to a pic of a transmission or something, everytime you post i have to wonder if that's you in the pic.

 

I had a local shop build a 6.9 diesel turnkey and I instlled it only to have it go 365 miles and drop a valve. I found where they didnt seat the keeper right but they wouldnt stand behind it. And I have several more friends with simular stories on this shop and headwork. No names but they used to be in Plainview Tx.

 

bought a truck 49 gmc from a guy who had the engine rebuilt 10 years before drove it home and on the way the valves started clacking no oil to the rockers. he was so discouraged he just parked it. i got the motor free started it both the rocker shaft was upside down and the line going into the head was full of crap. runs great to this day

 

i just picked up an engine that took me a couple years to get done.... im now terrified....

 

Ha,ha,ha. Now that is funny. I love the HAMB.

 

Beer and Engines rebuilding don't mix. I bought several engines over the years, cheap, that had some unbelievable goofs. 1) a big block chev with main caps on backwards, 2) a BB chev with one bank of domed pistons put in upside down- it locked up at the first turn of the starter, 3) a BB chev with timing chain one tooth off (broke head off one valve) 4) a SB chev with all the rings on upside down-boy did it smoke-the guy even told me he was drunk when he put it together.

 

There is a big difference between a machine shop and an engine builder. There are very few who can do both well. Most of my problems back when I was getting started in this madness was because I used a really good machine shop that had a lot of experience assembling diesels and stock replacement engines but very little experience with performance applications. I still use the same machine shop but now I have a reputable engine builder do the shortblock assembly. Both shops are happy and so am I.

Some problems I have encountered or been involved with. (Not specific to the shop I mentioned)

Crank bearings installed with the tops down and bottoms on top. No clearance. Discovered this before any damage was done

Broken rocker stud. Shop sent it back crooked. Turns out they just drilled a hole and hammered a new one in. Even ruptured a water passage doing this.

Did an overbore without using a torque plate. I ended up with a mismatch and at least one oval cylinder.

Wiped out a cam on break-in. They forgot to swap out the roller cam springs for the set of solid lifter compatible. Nothing like 225+ on a virgin solid cam.

Oil pump fell off the mount during break in. Saved this one with minimal damage.

 

This wasn't my personal experience, but I ended up with the engine. My friend had a local machine shop build a 383 Chevy for his truck. It ran good for about a week, but not long after it developed some problems. He pulled the engine and tore it down and gave me the block. Turns out the machine shop had resleeved one of the cylinders, but instead of putting it in straight, they put it in at an angle. Then instead of admitting they fucked up, they machined the top of the sleeve flush with the block to hide it, then sent it out. I only noticed this because when I was examining the block, I found that the sleeve was starting to seperate as well. Took it down to the machine shop I trust and he confirmed that is what had happened.

Also, they had replaced all the cam plugs in the block. Every one looked like they had been attacked by an air hammer. It blew me away that any shop would release work this shitty.

 

I had a tranmission shop trash a motor for me. I was about 23- Had a suzuki swift GTI with an Auto tranny. When I got it it needed the tranny rebuilt and had low compression on one cylinder. I rebuilt the engine and took the tranny to a shop a friend recommended. Got the tranny back, put it in and as soon as I would start the put it in gear it would kill the motor. Took it back out and took it back to him- He claims I put the torque converter in wrong (I am cetain I did not). he fixes it, I paid, and I tell him I have the motor in my truck and Im going to install it together so he can "Verify" I have it together right. He agreed and off I went. Install everything and when I drive the thing makes "ZIIIIINNNNG" sound when changing to 3rd gear. Long story short I take the entire car back 2 more times. After the last time I take the car home and it sounds okay. Driving to lunch it starts acting up again. So I am mad and going to go back after work. On the way back from lunch its starts tapping abit.. then faster then I can react to it, it knocks loud a few times and then the sound of parts coming out of it. Tow it home and take a look- rod through the block. Thats the end of it- not putting any more money into that.

So about 2 weeks later Im gonna tear it down to see what happened.... Missing bolts in the oil pan...hmmmm. Then I notice the oil sensor wire disconnected.... Hmmm. Then with the pan off it seems the rod nuts backed off. I checked the torque on all of the rods and main caps like 4 times. No way I missed that and for certain I didnt leave any oil pan bolts out.

I pulled the trans and was going to take to the shop for one more repair anyway.... Whaddaya know- Out of business and everythign gone from the building.

 

i have to say my first rebuild in high school rop was totally my fault. no boring, no machining and no measuring. 350 with std rings, std bearings will only last about a month .

 

I just had a new motor built for the Rambler. Just a mild AMC 360. Had all the machine work done at the one place. Was going to assemble myself but have too much money in it and not enough time on my hands, so I took it to a guy who used to race speedway with AMCs.

We'll see in the next week or so whether it was worth the extra cost!!!

 

Any machine shop that still has the word rebabbiting in their name, and is still around is likely a good place to start!

 

Borrowed a friend's Tunnel-Port Ford to run in my Wickens flatbottom. Engine had just been rebuilt by racing/machine shop in No CA. They had replaced valve springs w/ some shorter ones for some reason, never checked for spring-bind. Engine sounded fine for about ten minutes, then really went off-song.. HA!! Never seen a lifter that was rounded inside like those---cam lobes rounded off the same way.

EXPENSIVE!!

 

I agreed to a do a cyl head & cam swap for a friend of a friend once on a `89? 5.0 Mustang. That turned ino a thrash to swap the motor too. The kid previously had a new short-block built for the car,and paid a shop to install it,ever since there was always a tick in the motor he attributed to the heads. When we pulled the stock E7TE cylinder heads off the motor,we found E6ZE flat top pistons. You can`t run E7 heads on an `86 short block,no valve reliefs in the pistons. The ticking,was the valves hitting the pistons,which made their own valve reliefs!!!!

Turns out the shop he paid to swap the short-block switched a stock `86 short-block with his built 87-93 short-block.

 

Friend of mine had a '56 Chevy wagon, with a hot small-block built by a local "expert". Said expert once owned and ran an automotive machine shop, and has supposedly been building engines for literally decades.

However, the engine ran poorly right out of the box; smoked, drank oil, rattled. Owner said "You must've done something wrong". Builder said, of course, "I built it right. I'm an expert. You must've screwed it up somehow."

I was in the shop when the guy drove the car in and started tearing down the still-warm engine. I used to have photos online, but now I can't find them; The pistons were not only undersized (either stock-bore slugs in a .030-over bore, or .030 pistons in a .060-over bore) but also in backwards. The arrow that said "FRONT" was pointing towards the back.

The only reason he didn't have head damage to go with it was the pistons had the four 'eyebrow' cutouts. If not... well, if not, maybe the builder would have noticed he was putting them in upside down, but also it'd have bent all the valves.

In one of the photos, I had a machinists' rule slipped between the bore and the piston, actually touching the top ring. The rule was .022" thick and had room to spare.

Worse, when confronted with the clear and undeniable evidence, the builder first denied it, then eventually agreed to fix it... but insisted he'd charge for the "extra" parts and labor.

Needless to say, none of us use that builder anymore.

Doc.