Well, I did and it has burned me to the tune of almost $6K. My other posts about my engine tear down pretty much document just some of the issues I have found. These items resulted in the destruction of lifters that left schrapnel to do the rest of the damage to the engine. It should be noted that this engine had less than 50 passes since new, valves lashed about every 20 passes, oil about every 25 passes, etc....it was treated well. Of the less than 50 passes, 2 were ring seating, 5 were to the 330' mark working on suspension, 29 were 1/8 mile (car is under geared and only turns 7600 in the lights shifting at 7900) and the remaining 13 passes were full quarter mile. My car has a 4.56 gear and really needs a 5.0 or 5.13 to be in the proper RPM range for this engine......so it has not been abused.

The root cause of the problems were the completely mis-matched valve springs (yes, you can have to much spring) and most importantly the way they were set up. Good engine builders set up relatively close to coil bind, mine were set up with around .210" to coil bind. They were unable to control the mass of the valve train even though it was all titanium components. This allowed it to beat itself to death resulting in the damage.

The heads needed new guides, new intake valves (titanium del west), valve springs, spring locators, ti valve locks, ti retainers, valve job. Since it wiped a lobe on the cam it needed an new one of those also. The block needed honed oversize by .002 and the pistons went out to have the skirts coated to make up the difference. The rods are at GRP and I expect them to tell me today that 4 of the 8 need to be replaced. Also needs a new set of Crane Ultra Pros. I also did a few upgrades while apart, but those are not included in these costs. I'm sure there is several hundred more $$ in bearings and gaskets that I'm not mentioning. Oh and there is the hassle and the hundreds of dollars in shipping costs to send parts all over the country.

All of this because someone who sells themselves as an engine builder wasn't capable (or just didn't care) of taking care of the details required on a racing engine. No, I don't need to get blasted by all of the liberals that think I have done something wrong to cause this. I simply think that someone needs to say something.....since I know I am not the only one he has gotten. There are proven, competent engine builders out there....Shady Dell is not one of them. I have taken very detailed pictures of everything damaged and improperly installed as well as documented the actual measurements and clearances for those skeptical.....these are facts.

Just curious...what cam lift are you running, what heads, and what installed height? Having and "extra" .210 is a huge number. Taking a typical .680 ish lift cam, a 1.950 I/H, that would leave about .020 to coil bind on a typical spring. Increase the I/H to 2.00" and assuming a 1.200 coil bind,that would leave .120 clearnce, STILL .090 away from your .210 . just wondering is all.You may have some weird spring with a very low coil bind number, but that just sounds like a ton.A bigger cam even makes the numbers worse.


Dont know the whole story, but sorry for sure to hear of your troubles. Good luck to you.

Brian, you know where I stand on this issue, and as far as engine builders there are two local to me, and one of which you know, and I do trust their judgment's,,they aren't cheap or fast but they are good.

Brian im torn on this one...Ryan has built 3 outstanding motors for me and 2 of my friends,racing engines have mishaps my buds lasted 4 passes from a premiere engine builder here on long island who used cheap bolts on the rods. i wish you well,but i had to say my part...ps im not a lib.

Should you be able to Yes :::Should you, No.
Unless they are willing to give you a written Warranty. Beyond that I have found you need to check everything...Not fun

I dont trust anyone, that includes me sometimes, as I go back and recheck my-self sometimes

Sorry to hear about this stuff

I've had a hard time finding a machinist that I like. Most of the ones around Dallas just hand you a bill when they are done. I found a guy in Tampa that I like a lot. I had him check my "new" Manley Hemi I-beam rods. He found some galling under the screw heads and some on the threads. I doubt any of the local guys would have seen that or worried about it. We ended up resizing the rods and putting in new ARP2000 rod bolts and the dowel sleeves. The big end now is within .0001" and right on the nominal dimension. The rods also had 6g of variation on the big end, so he shortened some of the bolts as they stuck past the threads in the rod, and made a small chamfer on the big end to make the weights balance out. He also checked my Diamond pistons and pins and found one of the pins to have a gouge in it. I guess I didn't do a good job on my incoming QC as it was obvious. All in all it cost about $1k to get everything right, but he kept me informed on what he was doing and we went back and forth as to the best place to take out the weight. Manley had their suggestions, Robert had his and I had mine from a basic stress analysis I had done in SolidWorks. I felt comfortable on the final approach to the problem. It also taught me a lesson to buy directly from the rod or piston supplier so I can send them back if they have issues like this. A racer west of Ft. Worth was telling me about two sets of Manley rods that had galling in the rod bolts. It seems like they don't use enough lube on the bolts during assembly. I've now got a set of rods that were almost as expensive as a set of Carrillos with CARR bolts ($800/set), but still have the ARP2000 bolts. I can see why my machinist likes to use CARR bolts exclusively after going through all this you might as well pop for the best rod bolts you can afford.

Brian I will assume that the engine was built completely
by him and when you got it, it was ready to run...
did you have him dyno it

WOW! I am sorry for your situation. I would hope some common ground could be achieved? I would never consider going into building business because one major f-up could criple a small company. I noticed you were fair about the chronicling the stiuation thru the rebuild process. And it seems you take pretty good precaution in maintaining your stuff. I know well the situation you are in just wanting to report FACTS and avoid any backlash. I'll let you know when I figure out how to do it. But for certain you are not the only person MANY a famous shop has cost many of us dearly. I guess just keep it factual. Sorry again and I am eager to see your fresh build perform to expectations.

Sorry to hear about the issues. I know you paid good money for the services rendered and it is very unfortunate things were not as you expected. It is to bad things like this happen but perhaps this is an oppourtunity for them to reach out and at least try and make things better.

Should you be able to trust your engine builder?

Noo, Alot of theft and poor machine work....

I lost $6000.00 to a engine rebuilt in Ohio...

Yes Mike, it was run as received. No Dyno pulls, but it was "run in" before delivered.

this is a really interesting question. what does "trust your engine builder" mean?

i assume that he is being paid to build an engine, and also to have the experience and quality of work to not do these types of mistakes.

i know many people have everything machined and then assemble the engine themselves. that is what i'm doing, and i have to trust my machinist, as i don't have the tools required to check the cylinder dimensions for example.

but do you pay a builder to build an engine, then take it home and tear it apart and check everything, and then reassemble it?

i'm just curious about this as i'm not sure what this question really means. when i have plumbing work done, i want to see the shower valve before we button up the wall, but i don't un solder all the joints and take it apart to make sure it was done correctly, (not a perfect analogy, but you get the picture).

To answer the origional question, Yes, like you would trust your wife or family. As for what happened, WOW, just wow. Sorry to hear about that man. I know there are plenty out here who will tell ya to check and double check anyones work, but a complete and assembled engine that went south in 50 passes, thats sub par in so many ways.

Hope Ryan steps up and helps ya out on this one.

Im sure you dont want a complete refund as this is racing and schiat does happen, but I would think something refunded would come about.

Sorry man, that sucks big time!!

If you are paying your hard earned money to an engine builder for a complete ready to go engine I would expect that things are machined and assembled correctly. In this case that is not what happened. Parts failures happen, but errors and damaged parts caused from incorrect machining, or incorrect assembly or lack of attention to detail are unacceptable. I know when we do work for customers if it is not right we make it right, at the agreed cost. Even if that means we do not make any money on the job. Right is right period.