Before I worked at TA I was
only involved in one engine build and that was a nightmare. I had a shop
in California build a short block 350 for me. They were supposed to do the
bottom end and put in the cam. I was supposed to put it back together from
lifters up. Well the very first thing I find is the lifters don't go in. So I
call TA to see if I got the wrong size, of course not. Mike tells me they
probably shot peened the block and never deburred the lifter bores. (In the 4-1/2
years I've worked at TA I have never gotten a tech call like that, so it was definitely
negligence on the shops part) So I de-bur the bores and put it
together. Get the engine together and it's F*** up. Call TA again with a
possible rod knock problem, again Mike tells me how to check. I pull the pan and
there is "stuff" in it. I am extremely naive and intimidated about
engine stuff at this time in my life. I'm doing all this work at the Pt. Mugu
Naval Airstation hobby shop. I take the pan with the
stuff in it to the guy who works there, a real fruit cake, he tells me he
doesn't know what it is and it must be bearing material. So I clean it out real
good. I check the rods and two of them beat out the bearings. I pull it out and
take it back, they tear it down and they tell me it is due to lack of oil and
they have this little chart that shows different damage on bearings and their
cause. They told me my adjustable oil pressure regulator was the cause. I told
them it had plenty of oil pressure the whole time. They would not cover it
because they say they never saw an adjustable regulator before. Of course not
because a CHEVY doesn't have them. Being that I was under the impression the
stuff in the pan was bearing material I never pursued it further. Later talking
to other people and showing Mike at TA the bearings, we found the true identity
of the stuff: Shot peen!!! The worst thing about this is, you know they had to
find traces of shot in the engine when they took it back apart. Boy was my ass
sore when I got done with those guys. If I knew then what I know now!!!!!!!
Ok, I vowed to black list the shop till the day I die.
They are called Faines Auto Parts in the Ventura, CA area.
Dave
__________________
Dave
TA Performance
`73 LeSabre Custom455 2dr hdtp
`65 Electra Coupe
`69 Riv's x2
2000 Z-28
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