these things are rarely anything less than ugly. i have no affiliation with, nor do i know either of those involved so i take no position on this particular situation.

what i can say without question is that i personally know of a couple engines one of which i ended up working on that had such major unacceptable workmanship it's hard to describe.

both of these engines came from large nationally recognized shops (racing at professional levels) that just about anyone involved in drag racing would know of. one of the engines (not the one i worked on) ended up grenading.

having seen the two engines i did coming from the shops i mentioned left me horrified.

competition engine building can be a real risky business for both the builder and customer. often customers do or want to supply some or all of the components which in itself can lead to problems.

then the builder has no control over how the engine is handled after it leaves their shop. not a blanket statement nor directed to this situation but if a person doesn't have the ability to build their own engine (sans machine work) how can one know if they're even qualified to run and maintain it?

i've had many people approach me over the years about building engines and i've only done a handful. it's really bothered me to say no but the fear of these types of situations dissuades me from doing them.

the builder can never be certain or have control of what the customer does with the engine when it leaves their shop and the customer is at the mercy that the builder will deliver a properly assembled engine.

to make matters worse everyone makes mistakes and parts do fail. the builder can make a mistakes on assembly and/or the customer can make mistakes with their operation of the engine.

as much as i've always wanted to get into this business it's a tough crowd.