So let me preface this with the fact that I dropped off a running engine to them a couple months ago. Engine ran 9.79 just a couple weeks beforeI I took it out. I havent really had much time on my hands lately and chose to have Kammer's freshen up my bullet with some new parts. I dropped the engine off and left them a new BPE 4 inch crank (thanks Moparts for the info and Mr. Bloomer for being such a joy to work with), new set of 6.125 rods and the new Wiseco stroker pistons (thanks to Ryan J's post about these last year). Told them the heads were probably worn out and just fix whatever needs to be fixed so I can beat the crap out of it. The rockers were a set that I got from Harland Sharp and only had about 60 passes on them. Keep that in mind as we go forward here. Kammer completely assembled the engine and found lots of worn out stuff as I expected. Those who know me know that I run the nuts off my car. Sometimes literally! So heads were done, new springs, new guides, locks, one of the springs was nearing the point of eating a retainer, and they replaced my pushrods as they didnt like my geometry. I had alot of the stud sticking out of the rockers. Got a very fair bill from them and I am happy and ready to go racing.
Fast forward to last weekend. Take the car out and make the first pass with the car and I am really surprised to see a 6.136 on the timeslip. I have only been quicker than that 3 passes and that was in a mineshaft last year and the air was not that good Saturday. Come back and check everything out and all looks good. Valve lash was spot on. I knew something was about to happen when I came back and there was no fluids dripping from my car . Nevertheless I go back up and make another pass and the car feels really good and then as I let off the throttle I feel something funny. Turn on the return road and give it some throttle and... Yep I am down a cylinder so I click it and coast back to the time card shack. Get to my pits pull the valve covers and find two mushroomed pushrods with the heads knocked off. Really puzzled with this I just decided to yank the engine back out and take it back up to Kammer's in case I got a valve bent or something. So I roll in unannounced on Monday morning at about 9:30 am Eastern. Yeah I left at 4 am my time. Bob sees me walk in and instantly knows why I am there. I hand him the heads of the two pushrods and he instantly puts three guys on me to get the engine out of the truck and find out what happened. Long story short, after some investigating they find the culprit. Two of my rockers did not have oil holes drilled to oil the pushrod. Only the roller side had a hole. Now keep in mind that if they were new rockers I would say that they should have been checked out a lil better(That idiot would be me last year when I put them on) but I dropped off an engine that had 60+ passes on these rockers and was running good. So during the rebuild they checked them for cracks and cleaned them and reinstalled. Nevertheless they corrected the issue with my rockers, yanked the intake and checked everything there, made me two new pushrods, and reassembled everything. They had three guys dedicated to a guy that showed up unannounced and had me out the door in under three hours and I got home by dinner. But wait... Didn't charge me a dime other than some gaskets that I bought
Two years ago I hurt the cam in the engine and dropped it off on the way back through from Quaker City and they had my engine completely apart and rebuilt in less than a week so I wouldnt miss a Chrysler Classic race the following weekend. And about 10 years ago I was running a cast crank that windowed the oil pan and I was leading the points. They fixed all my stuff and had me back up and going without missing a single race. Just cant say enough about these guys. When guys ask me why I drive 4.5 hours to go Kammer's; this is exactly why. You just dont find service like that in this day and age!!

The only thing we can come with is that they lengthened the pushrods and it was now close enough to the rocker that perhaps the rocker was shrouding whatever splashing of oil that was keeping them lubricated last year.

So... I am assuming that they did not pre-lube the engine and check the valvetrain oiling prior to delivering it to you?

Engine was primed before I picked it up. I would think that they check to see that there is oil coming down to the rockers and springs which would in this case have been happening. The Torco or whatever they used was obviously what kept it from burning up until the second pass.

It seems kinda funny how people are surprised that everything wasn't 100% right out of the gate... To the OP, i understand how things get missed, i don't think that the shop did anything bad or wrong, yes it would have been nice to catch it before it caused any issues, but the fact that they fixed it like that is absolutely amazing! I know of a few shops around here who have done builds, and when stuff goes bang and comes flying apart the shops have always pointed the finger at the racer, saying " you must have done something wrong, my engines don't break"

Wish I could find a shop lie that here........

Where I work, there are very talented guys, who turn out ALOT of work. Every once in a while, they make mistakes. Apparently, they correct things, just like we do.

Eric,
How did the crank work out for you?

Rod

I realize that anybody can make a mistake pro or not, and in my mind that's what separates the men from the boys- how they look after the customer. It is nice to hear of shops like the original posters- when mistakes or problems are found, they're dealt with and not off loaded on to the customer.
That being said-Thanks to all the stand up businesses out there! they make being a consumer a LOT less stressful!
)

Rod, all was good with the crank. But I promise I will put it to the test this year!

ooh...gotta run out the door, time for dinner, I'll read the rest of the thread later...but I'm a loyal Kammer's customer as well. I take all my machine work to them.

Top quality work, down to earth guys who are eager to show you what cool projects they have going on, fair prices, and top quality work.

Last time I was in there, they did a valve job for me while I waited! didn't even call ahead to "schedule" it either. walked in, the guy recognized me and said he'd get right on it. I asked if that meant right now and should I wait or if that meant come back tomorrow, he said "na, go ahead and wait, I'll knock this out for you"

Bunch of good dudes at Kammer and Kammer

Where are they located? Might have to give them a shot next time I need some machine work done.

Kammer & Kammer is located in Huber Heights, OH, which is just North of Dayton, OH...

I consider it to be Dayton. they're south of I-70 on Brandt. their address is actually Nebraska ave. but you head south off I-70 on Brandt to get there.

Bob Kammer has built some sweet Dakota engines to run in one of the stock classes of drag racing, they have a really nice black road runner with a 6.4L EFI Hemi in it that sits in the shop.

http://www.enginebuildermag.com/Article/81907/classic_muscle_kammer__kammer_make_mopar_magic.aspx

From 2010 but still good.

Kammers does really good work. They did all the work on the engine that was in my dart and that engine ran amazing for what it was.

Jeff the Performance Shop is just around the corner from you and does great work too.

Sure wish we had some shops like that here in Texas.

The few Mopar specific shops I know of are too Class Specific. IE: NHRA type builds.

Talked to Kammer and Kammer years ago about Dakota performance and tricks and they gave me a lot of insight into what they did for the Stock Eliminator trucks at the time.