Engines Limited Experience
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Engines Limited Experience
Let me say first: Randy is a very personable guy and friendly and available; that's good. Second, the block I bought is std bore with no cracks and the threaded holes were all good as advertised; this is also good. Third, he does not bill until shipment--good.
Some things I didn't like:
1) Early in the process I asked for a formal quote to document what he was selling and what I was buying and was told yea yea I'll get that to you--he never did, so I had to summarize everything the block was claimed to be in an email and get him to respond in the affirmative that my summary was correct so that I had some record of the representation of the block.
2) The deck was sanded, not machined. My engine builder confirmed.
3) I asked for photos of all 8 bores and got 6.
4) The deck was stated to be 9.785"--it was, in one corner. The other corners were out by varying amounts and/or in the other direction so it would have been out of square about 0.024" which would have led to varied compressions in the cylinders. Because of this, my engine builder must re-deck the block to correct the situation, which means I will pay for that and lose the stamp I paid for so I am out the stamping and re-decking money (I am going to leave the pad blank now). It seems strange that all applicable photos and measurements didn't exist since every person who calls for a part like this will ask--I had to ask for everything piecemeal and often multiple times. To be fair, it is possible the block was new inventory and he had not measured it yet.
5) The block was $4888 total and my credit card was billed $5000. When I called to remind him of the agreed upon and documented price of $4888, he said, "oh, is that how much it was?" So I was due a $112 credit but somehow it became another $100 charge. He wanted to issue a credit via PayPal; I declined. (Finally a $212 credit showed up and we are square)
6) The shipping date changed 3 times.
7) There was no receipt with the shipment.
I understand things get busy and a business will have many concurrent projects (he kept saying he has about 40 projects and his desk is a mess) but there were many elements of this transaction that were sloppy. If he has what you need--that's great; he had what I needed and this was my experience.
Some things I didn't like:
1) Early in the process I asked for a formal quote to document what he was selling and what I was buying and was told yea yea I'll get that to you--he never did, so I had to summarize everything the block was claimed to be in an email and get him to respond in the affirmative that my summary was correct so that I had some record of the representation of the block.
2) The deck was sanded, not machined. My engine builder confirmed.
3) I asked for photos of all 8 bores and got 6.
4) The deck was stated to be 9.785"--it was, in one corner. The other corners were out by varying amounts and/or in the other direction so it would have been out of square about 0.024" which would have led to varied compressions in the cylinders. Because of this, my engine builder must re-deck the block to correct the situation, which means I will pay for that and lose the stamp I paid for so I am out the stamping and re-decking money (I am going to leave the pad blank now). It seems strange that all applicable photos and measurements didn't exist since every person who calls for a part like this will ask--I had to ask for everything piecemeal and often multiple times. To be fair, it is possible the block was new inventory and he had not measured it yet.
5) The block was $4888 total and my credit card was billed $5000. When I called to remind him of the agreed upon and documented price of $4888, he said, "oh, is that how much it was?" So I was due a $112 credit but somehow it became another $100 charge. He wanted to issue a credit via PayPal; I declined. (Finally a $212 credit showed up and we are square)
6) The shipping date changed 3 times.
7) There was no receipt with the shipment.
I understand things get busy and a business will have many concurrent projects (he kept saying he has about 40 projects and his desk is a mess) but there were many elements of this transaction that were sloppy. If he has what you need--that's great; he had what I needed and this was my experience.
