Automotive Machine

TRBOBUICK said:
Brought them a pile of parts : block, crank, heads,rods, pistons, cam..ect. I told them to build the engine for 1200hp . Figured if they did all the machining and built it, there wouldn't be any finger pointing. I wanted to put the intake on and the valve covers and bolt it in the car.
Even though the heads were set up from the manufacturer Jack had me pay extra for his shop to set them up. The engine never revved to where i wanted it to. 6000 was all i could get out of it. Greg powrie found the heads were 20 though into coil bind at max lift. It was so bad that it smoked all 12 valve guides. Called Jack and was mad that i had paid extra for them to be assembled wrong . He says " hmmm....that sucks. Not much i can do about it. The engine has been ran. " No offer to make it right or him asking to look at it.
Fixed it with gregs help and put the heads back on. Engine always took 30-40 seconds to get oil pressure, but i just figured it was because of my turbo saver. We get it on the dyno and it made like 530 @12 psi. After the run, greg let off the gas and the oil pressure went to almost zero.
Pulled the dipstick and its all sparkly . We took the engine apart and the bearing were severely worn. The rod bearing were so worn, they wouldn't stay in the big end of the rod.
Took it to another machine shop, and everything was mis machined.
I paid them good money for all the machining, assembly, degreeing the cam, setting the heads up, and now i just finished paying the new machinist the cash to fix the multiple mistakes that Automotive Machine made.
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when was this?
 
I have engines with both Dave Harmon @ Engincraft and Scott Carter @ Racetech right now, both those guys do great work.
 
I've worked there for the last 3 years so problems on your engine were way before me and i don't really want to get into the middle of something.
I've seen jack bend over backwards to try and make a unhappy customer happy, even more then i would do. So I think there is a lot more to be told to the story.

Is this thread about the engine they built for you? http://motownmuscle.com/forums/showthread.php?33657-New-best&highlight=engine

posted about the time you say you had your work done and posted this?
buick.jpg

seems you were happy back then. maybe you happen to hurt it in the last 10 years and want to point the finger. Rod bearing falling out of big ends is a big clue something in the tune was wrong id say.
 
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Jack was the one who built my motor. When I told him what was wrong with it in court he blew it off like it was nothing. I even showed him the paperwork from Livernois and he still didn't believe me. He's lucky the other guy didn't show up or he would have owed me the $3500.
 
loosenut said:
They were contracted by another shop to build the motor for my grand national. After 150 miles of break in time we had to take it apart. I took it to livernois.

Found: 3 bent rods, rods were never resized, it had never been line bored and honed with the girdle installed, the crank was 77 grams out of balance, 2 brand new diamond pistons were replaced due to rods, one because they were improperly pressed on. The hone was so fine that the pistons never seated.

I sued them and the shop I actually hired. The other shop didn't show so I got a judgment against them.

As I said. Stay away!
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this was done before i started to work there but that other shop has allways had their machine work done and they have taken care of assembly. What happens then is beyond the machine shops control and we can only do what he wants to pay for. We have built few if any engines for them.
 
It was not Aggressive that built the motor. I have never had any work done by Bruce.

It was before your time there if you've been there only 3 years.

The engine was machined and assembled at Automotive Machine. Trbobuick can back me up on that. They admitted it in court.
 
I wish Eric Natzke still posted here. I'm sure he would have loved to add to this thread. They did a stellar job on his Buick motor as well.
 
fastredgmc said:
I've worked there for the last 3 years so problems on your engine were way before me and i don't really want to get into the middle of something.
I've seen jack bend over backwards to try and make a unhappy customer happy, even more then i would do. So I think there is a lot more to be told to the story.

Is this thread about the engine they built for you? http://motownmuscle.com/forums/showthread.php?33657-New-best&highlight=engine

posted about the time you say you had your work done and posted this?
View attachment 80491

seems you were happy back then. maybe you happen to hurt it in the last 10 years and want to point the finger. Rod bearing falling out of big ends is a big clue something in the tune was wrong id say.
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Motor had low oil pressure from the start.
Thats not tuning.
Oil pressure going to zero on decel.
Thats not tuning.
When the oil pressure went, we were at 12 psi on C-16.
Pretty sure that's not tuning.
Motor had a total of 200 miles on it.

Line hone was fucked.
Thats not tuning.
Jack seemed to care less when i spoke to him about the heads being set up wrong.
Thats not tuning.
Engine was taken apart and hasn't run since 2008.
Thats no money. lol.

I pointed the finger at him in 2008. The facts are the facts, no matter how old they are.

loosenut said:
It was not Aggressive that built the motor. I have never had any work done by Bruce.

It was before your time there if you've been there only 3 years.

The engine was machined and assembled at Automotive Machine. Trbobuick can back me up on that. They admitted it in court.
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Everyone that i know including myself who had Jack machine and assemble a Buick v6 motor has had nothing but headaches .
Thats not tuning.
 
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On the opposite end, Dave Harmon built mine in around 1999, had never built a Grand National Engine before that, and it ran for the three years I owned it running 20 lbs of boost in a T-51 turbo on pump gas. I bet he is even better at them now!

-Geoff
 
And the low oil pressure thing is pretty common. From what I hear, the 231 likes really tight clearances - like 1.2 to 1.5 on the rods and main. And most builders don't watch the thrust which is crucial too.

-Geoff
 
WhiteHawk said:
And the low oil pressure thing is pretty common. From what I hear, the 231 likes really tight clearances - like 1.2 to 1.5 on the rods and main. And most builders don't watch the thrust which is crucial too.

-Geoff
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One inch, two hundred thousandths MIGHT be a little excessive. Id try .0012-.0015 first lol :hugegrin:
 
Pwraddr said:
Did they close? Went by there the other day and building was empty.
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T & L Machine purchased the building (Formally on Masonic)
Its filled with tooling machinery/ CNC bridgeports/grinders/lathes
I dropped off some transmission parts that needed some precise machining couple days ago.
Very happy with the work they have done for me in the past.
 
TRBOBUICK said:
Nothing FASTREDGMC ? Thats it ?
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no sense arguing about it i wasn't around then and im not going to get in the middle of it.

Maybe there was problems with the work maybe it was something else. Ive seen many things happen and take out bearings, knock the main bores/rods out of round etc.

I just found it interesting how you seemed to be happy and it ran fine to begin with. If all you say is true im surprised it ever even ran.
 
Detroit Gearbox said:
T & L Machine purchased the building (Formally on Masonic)
Its filled with tooling machinery/ CNC bridgeports/grinders/lathes
I dropped off some transmission parts that needed some precise machining couple days ago.
Very happy with the work they have done for me in the past.
Click to expand...

T&L is my step father's shop. I helped setup the new shop.
 
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