sweeet76

Most counties charge a very nominal fee to file in small claims court. If you lose the case, you would only be out a couple of hundred dollars at most. No matter what was promised or said even with nothing in writing, there would be a good possibility a judge would realize an engine with less than 100 miles should still work, even if the worst possible parts were used to build the engine. I would also think the time and money it took to build this engine would show it was not sent to Wal Mart to be rebuilt. Another thought, the so called engine builder with a reputation might not want his name in the court logs. I am not an attorney, but for a small fee, I would try to make life miserable on him and his name, but I would give him a chance to make it right first then tell him what you are going to do.

CA-Legal-Vette

I think that the first thing that you need to do, if you haven't already, is to tell the builder what happened. You need to give him the chance to make it right. If he doesn't, small claims court is an excellent option. The cost is very low and it is essentially a lottery. There are usually limits as to how much you can ask for in small claim court though. Seems unlikely that he'll voluntarily make it right but you might get some money out of it.

Sounds like you're a great candidate for a crate motor. They're a great value for those without the desire to build their own.

texas jim

Makes me want to kill creeps who do this type of thing to honest people. I once had to go back to a guy who said he had rebuilt my carb on a Toyota I had afew years back, was working 60 plus hours and didn't have the time myself. My wife noticed the old gaskets on the carb when she replaced the air-cleaner, could you imagine? I asked him to look closely at the carb and I slammed the hood on his head-it was after work and I wasn't in a good mood, just a muddy and messy day w/ the red-iron crew. He admitted to not doing the carb and I came back two days later f/ my money. I hate to get into that kind of thing, but some people don't understand reasoning. The guy you're dealing w/ needs a good beating. If I were you, and I wasn't going to put my hands on him, I'd atleast expose him and his doings in the local publications, news papers, make up 1,000 flyers and hand them out, etc. in your area and expose him on the Chevy and Vette sites. Don't let him get away scott-free w/ such a terrible out-right crime, as it is really a crime.
If you're anywhere around here, I'd be glad to help you install a new crate engine. I've done many many in the past 35 years w/ no mis-haps, and as many good builds. I'm not asking f/ money, I feel you deserve a hand at this point and f/ something good to happen to you. Sincerely.

Vette5.5

Not a fan of taking legal action on anything myself, as cost/time usually isn't worth it. Small claims can be a waste of time too, as good luck actually getting paid. Crate motors are a safe way to go, but keep in mind, it's an engineered package, for the advertised power ratings. If wanting to go more, somtimes things like head flow design, wont allow much.

billla

If the engine is torn down by anyone other than a shop, the builder will simply claim damage during disassembly regardless of the findings. Good luck finding a shop that will document what they screwed up - birds of a feather and all that. I went through this process with an aircraft carb overhaul.

I'd be 100% confident that the builder's invoice has a huge disclaimer on it and by making payment the OP accepted the disclaimer...which represents a legal contract.

Small claims will look first at the legality and then at the situation. It'll get tossed at the disclaimer, but even if the judge takes the next step the builder will simply claim that the OP installed it incorrectly, used the wrong oil, etc.

Perhaps some of the commercial builders here can share their own warranty - not words, but the actual document

As noted, I would definitely call out the builder in all regards on a broad number of forums, and file with the BBB. The BBB won't do anything to recover, but if they care at all about their reputation they'll make some effort to reconcile...but I have to think this guy is a bit nuts based on your previous posts about him.

Jeff_Keryk

I respectfully disagree with the advice to let the builder off the hook. I would give him the chance to make it right. If that fails, I would pursue a small claims settlement. Courts do try to make things right. Regardless, ignoring the situation is like failing to prosecute criminals because it costs too much. It only supports their actions; tells them it is OK. Just my 2 cents.

billla

They really don't, as much as they'd like to. They sadly can't protect us from ourselves...again, as much as they'd like to.

A scan or OCR of the back of the invoice or the front where there's a signature would probably answer all of these questions...

I agree with formal contact with the builder, i.e. an attorney letter, and seeing what happens - but looking to the courts to solve this will likley prove an expen$ive dry hole. OP's call, of course.

Frankenvette

I bought a foreclosed house years ago. After I moved in I got a property tax bill for the house for the years before I even lived there. Got screwed by everyone, so I hired an attorney to send a letter to the title insurance company stating that if they did not settle I would take them to small claims court. Wanting to avoid court, the title insurance company paid about 2/3s of the back taxes. I paid the attorney $500.00 for her time. May be worth it to file in small claims court. The engine builder may want to avoid court and/or having his business name listed as a defendant in a civil filing... not usually good for business.

Jeff_Keryk

I had a talented carpenter do substantial work on my house. He burned me for more than $50K. I called the police and told them the truth. He did not have a contractor's license and I paid him under the table. Ultimately he was arrested and we went to court. He was also charged with elder abuse, because he had done worse to seniors. I admitted in open court my mistakes; some were illegal. There were no contracts. I probably did things that required permits. The charge relating to me was grand theft. He was sent to prison for his actions, and ordered to pay restitution. I will probably never see a dime, but hopefully he will not hurt anyone else. As a community, we cannot allow dishonesty or we will get more of the same. That's my point. Good luck to the OP.

BLOCKMAN

Really have to find out more facts on the build as who supplied what parts and what parts were used if even they were the correct parts that were ordered or supplied.

Was this even built buy a reliable shop or some wacko working out of his 2 bay garage claiming to be an engine builder as I see to many of those guys around.

Really need more facts here

MotorHead

What Blockman said is correct, once an engine lets go 99% of the shops out there will blame it on you, they will even take it apart for you and show you what "you" did wrong *(once they F'ed the part up overnight when your not there) and there's more things that you did wrong than parts in the motor

ex9850

I want to thank everyone for the input and offers to help. Let me be perfectly clear the builder provided every part (at very high prices) and did all the work. Yes the final invoice said no warranty. I am retired some physical limitations keep me from doing most of the work on a car anymore.

I reached the builder this morning. Surprisingly, he apologized for the trouble and said he would open the engine (labor free) and see what happened (he towed the car to his shop). He is going to call me and tell me what he finds and what needs to be done to repair it including costs. I am weary of his offer to do it labor cost free. If he is only talking about opening the motor up that is not much of a deal. I need to find another shop that does performance work on old American muscle in Tulsa.

billla

Did you get "labor free" in writing? Get the "repair" estimate in writing as well...as well as the reason for the repairs.

I would be real, real careful about this situation - he can claim this is a "good faith effort" and then "customer refused repair" when he hands you a $5K bill. No phone calls with committments or promises.

BLOCKMAN

Were you dealing with a real performance machine shop or a mom and pops type operation????

You should get pics of all the pieces and make sure they are what you paid for and not some look alike chinese parts.

Some times its best to dyno a new engine as it would surley find the weak parts if any!!!!

Good luck

scottyp99

My GranDad used to say "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." If it were me, I would do business with someone else, and make it a little side hobby to make his life as miserable as I could for awhile, until I felt satisfied. But that's me, I'm a stubborn, hard-headed Irishman. Sometimes I envy people who can just let things go, because I just can't do it.


Keep the shiny side up!
Scott

Belgian1979vette

Reminds me of my engine with 20 minutes of startup time to discover that they had not plate honed the damn thing.

I have my new bowtie in 2 weeks ago. This time I'm going over every last inch of it. I'm even getting myself an inside mic to check the size of the lfiter bores and piston pin bores.

I would be present if they disassemble it and take millions of pictures...

Indiancreek

I'd be there to see what it looks like, with a camera. I'd want to see what let go before I got to carried away. There Have been bad parts made in the past. If some part failed and it caused the engine to let go, We may be blaming the guy just a little to soon.
Once you have the facts them proper blame may be placed.
Just make sure you're there and I'd take someone experienced in engines with me. I'd only introduce the friend as just that. Not as an engine expert, who may be testifying for you in court. Make it someone who can qualify himself as having built engines in the past for x amount of time professionally, (was paid to do so).

63mako

More Facts!
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...e-builder.html

Indiancreek

After reading that, I suspect there will be a mess when the engine gets opened up. It will be really interesting to see what parts were in it. I can imagine the workmanship.

81pilot

Call the drag strip and ask for builders names. If you don't mind a little 1.5 hour drive there is an awesome builder here in Enid, Dunsworth.