Vic'89

holy cow , 7 years later !

Vic

Eike

Yes, not as projected the engine was stored a few years. Of course very well protected.

In the meantime I met a girl which my brain decided to fall in love with. So we moved together, got married, had other ongoing projects, started to refurbish her '85 C4 ... how time flies ... this year I decided to give the engine of my '91 to her so I had to install the Golen 383 at my car. And suddenly 7 years are past ...

383vett

Sounds like your life is on track. Too bad the motor is a dud. Sounds like Golen did you wrong.

Wheel Stander

Waiting until 7 years after the fact to take issue strikes me as somewhat of a unreasonable position. Golen has a fairly good reputation, so if you hadn't waited so long to conclude you had a problem with their product chances are there might have been a satisfactory resolution. You might want to lay all the blame at their feet, but I think you need to take some personal accountability. You can't wait forever before deciding someone else's work is the root cause of your current dilemma. Just my personal opinion.

tombrammer

Wow, what a bummer! You spend your hard earned money, exercise great patience and then get ripped off by lack of attention to details, I really hope you get them to make this right. Lot's of people watch this forum. Sonic testing a used block before you sell it to someone is ABC of machine work. I guess the studs being off like there were and the charge for the splayed mains was a sign something was really wrong from the start. At least they should ship you another block, just my opinion.

Eike

In fact I spent hard earned 6k on this engine. On an engine which did run at idle to 2k rpm at the workshop for less than an hour and got a cracked cylinder.

I even installed a wideband O2 to make sure it gets the right AFR at first startup.

Of course I took care of each detail when I assembled the remaining parts. I know how to work on a Gen 1 Small Block as I did various mods on my old engine and some other cars. Mainly intake swap, head gaskets, exhauts, oil cooling stuff and drivetrain. But I do not have all the special tools and experience on building a 383 based on a used 350 block and new parts.

I told the shop to disassemble the engine. Currently we hope that the rotating assembly was not damaged. If so and if there is no rust at the bearings we go for a new block and get all the parts in. At least The AFR heads do look as good as new.

I don't think Golen will feel responsible for the damage at this time. Maybe if verifiable flub will be detected. I understand that because they are not able to relate to everything what happened between 2007 and today. That I did not install the engine in 2007 as I wanted to do was my fault. I learned the hard way not to do so and of course I regret but nobody can turn back time. But you are right, it started a little strange ... with rust, wrong caps and the studs. I did not receive any documentation, btw. Just an envelope containing 3 stickers, 2 business cards and a standard "Fuel Injected Chevy Setup Guide".

Unfortunately I am not local to NH. Otherwise I would never write this story to the forum before I made a visit. I will visit the USA two times next year but unfortunately 3k and more miles to Golen so I can not visit them. I purchased the short block from Golen on mutual trust as they had a good reputation and pre-sales discussion was all right.

And you are absolutely right on sonic testing. I even would perform a magnetic crack detection before I sell a block.


After my apprenticeship to material tester I studied material science specialized on steel. My employer is well appointed with testing equipment so I will cut cylinder 1 out of the block, perform a magnaflux test and will perform metallographic inspection across the cracks. I even can use a scanning electron microscope at no cost if needed but I don't think so.

I will keep you informed about that. Will start at Jan or Feb. Have to get to my parents-in-law for Christmas ... go fishing and clear my mind ...

cardo0

Sorry to read your loss. It seems like the overseas purchases are common for bad engines and disguised faulty parts - pretty much fraud. Belgium vett on the C3 forum got a roached 400 block from what he thought was a reputable shop (somewhere in the Carolinas). Golan still has a good rep here in the states and im surprised to read your frauded purchase. But i have read Golan used some cheap cast cranks for their strokers. Did u use a third party in the purchase by any chance? Well u should still contact Golan and see what they can do. I would be interested in what they have to say if u can post it. At least they should swap u blocks.

Have u considered sleeving the block? That used be a common repair here in the states and used to cost something like $200 a cyl - probably more $$ now. Before u cut out the cyl maybe shop around for a resleeve.

tunedport85inject

a lesson i learned from this thread is to have a skilled friend in USA that can handle the business for you.Contact the builder,plan the engine build with you, then discuss about parts and specs with the builder.Even have the engine shipped at friend door,and THEN, after his professional inspection,let the engine come overseas.obviously you pay this skilled guy ,but if something goes wrong, he can complain directly for you and you can solve it locally.Probably if i ever would order a crate engine in USA,i would open a thread asking for assistance from some reputable forum guru.Lot of friendly guys here.

5abivt

This really sucks to hear. My thoughts from the beginning werent positive thats for sure. I, Like you have an engine build about 7 years long and its still not in my car. Hopefully this year. I got married, bought a house.. 2 kids... If anything Im interested in hearing his reply. I find it funny how people will see the op at fault for taking his time and side with golen after his earlier replies as being stand up. Im sorry, but if he was stand up he would NEVER HAVE SHIPPED A BLOCK WITH ALL THE WRONG PARTS the customer asked for in the first place. Total BS. Its my personal opinion that **** like this is commonplace. it was probably a leftover build or a bunch of spare parts he had lying around and he threw it together and shipped it out knowing it wouldnt come back. If you lived in the same town Im sure he would have sent an email to discuss the parts selection changes.

OP I feel your pain my first motor exploded and I learned the hard way what kind of bs happens in this world.

If its an consolation, Now you have some experience. Try and get it done right this time around.

mtwoolford

Granted, I'm not there, haven't seen the engine, but WHY would Golen (or anybody) attempt to repair a Gen One block when there's ton's of perfectly "used but good" one's laying around; okay it's a four bolt, but still....even a good two bolt main with a stud kit would be far better than what you Golen sold you, even if the repairs had been successful.

Your best bet? just speculating, reuse your crank, rods, pistons, etc and find either a good used block, even a two bolt if finances are tight and have it bored / honed to fit your pistons, or an aftermarket block and reassemble.

Also, when every things apart, have the lower end, including flywheel / flex plate balanced.

You won't be disappointed. good luck

dizwiz24

Another reason why i just stayed with the stock bottom end for my 12psi boost build.