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.