PDX-944

Some sellers are not honest, and some are just plain horrible at customer service.

Here I purchased thousands of dollars in work and parts from a seller, which I received, and eventually found was missing part of the balance shaft block-off kit they made. The kit was different than the LR kit, so at first I thought I was missing a few pieces, then I realized I was only missing one. The seller was an *** about it because I didn't immediately know how their home designed kit worked.

Finally they agreed to make the missing part and send it to complete the kit that I had paid for already.

After weeks of receiving nothing, I followed up.
This is the reply. Now I have an incomplete kit which I paid for, and the shady seller won't stand by their business and make it right.

No receipt, no tracking, no luck.

geno

Yikesss

Voith

I bought few rare and special parts from MM and always received top notch service. As far as I'm concerned one of the most stand up guys here with 944 knowledge and history few can match - worldwide.

Check your post office.

PDX-944

He was friendly at first phone call, then partway through seemed to not want to communicate. at all.
he told me to purchase a certain part number head gasket, and I clarified because the measurement didn't match what I thought we were going with, and he proceeded to swear at me, tell me to just order what he said, and not give me a direct answer to my simple question.
It was frankly a stressful and drawn out situation. He had absolutely zero patience - and I am NOT an obnoxious customer. I have dealt with plenty of those. I DO expect customer service. I did not receive it.
I first asked him about the missing part in JULY, and sent him pictures of what I had. The above message was from TODAY.
I got one response saying he was confused, then nothing. Eventually a family member said he had had surgery and that he would get back to me. So I said okay, and was patient. A few weeks later he emailed explaining how it was all to go together, which cleared up some question and verified that I was missing one piece.
Then no reply for quite some time again. Then this.

I don't care if other people received great customer service. My experience was horrible, and people blame me because he is such a well known name. No, I received crap service and now I have a partial balance shaft delete kit that I paid for in full and cannot use.

PDX-944

And I have no useful information to give the post office because MM refuses to be of any help.

951and944S

So what is it exactly that you are missing...?

Can you post a pic of the kit that would explain why it won't work and what you are missing..?

T

PDX-944

The disc that blocks the front of the BS cover. I received one, I need two.
At this point, I welded the BS drains shut and no longer need them, because it was obvious this wasn't going to happen. but I paid for a service and I see this as unacceptable.

951and944S

I remember seeing your stroker thread bumping to the top of the Turbo forum from time to time but I never read it until today because it wasn't something of interest to me.

From the thread though, it seems like you are over your head and don't have the personal experience or knowledge to pull this off yourself and need to pester someone who does to hold your hand along every single step of the way.

From your thread - "I have no idea what this means" - "- Be sure to install oil shields adjacent to each cylinder at the bottom of the cylinders."
This is almost verbatim from the 968 engine manual but you acted as if MM was speaking Navajo
"Hopefully we can decipher it lol"

Then from your own admission, he told you what head gasket to get (evidenced in Humbold's reply) and the you come here second guessing.
From 3/13, you - "Not going to bother Michael with any more questions. "
Same day he responds verifying gasket and adds - "BTW, I'm happy to provide guidance, but lots of phone calls/texts asking questions already answered can be irritating. "
He then points you to the 16V manual which you should have thoroughly read by now and had in your possession.
You respond - 3/15 - "I was not aware of that about the gasket", contradicting what you said two days earlier on 3/13 "I was told to order the p/n for a 106mm cometic gasket, even on a 105 bore? "
Same day 3/15, you are admitting that you knew the man was on vacation but decide to bother him anyway....., "I knew that you were on vacation so I was trying to keep it simple with a text" while you are here in this thread acting as if he is totally unresponsive.
3/20, you - "Found I don't have hardware for the crank girdle, which is pretty essential to make sure things line up and clearances are good"
3/21, MM - "The 12mm and 10mm girdle hardware were sent with the block. You only need to source the 8mm and 6mm bolts which should be easy. "
These fasteners are the only ones you would need to supply to your machinist, but you don't know this.
3/26, five days later - "Still trying to source the girdle hardware."
The remainder of what you needed could be found at a local NAPA.
3/27, next day "Thank you for that! Now I'm just trying to figure out what bolt 24 is, and if I need it ..."
The bolts are identified in the free PET as 6 x 35mm qnty = 5, but you can't seem to pull this off all by yourself.
3/27 - "it looks like in my picture a ways up that little stud is in fact there. and the other studs are included in a baggie Michael sent."
You previously said he didn't send girdle hardware until he corrected you in your thread....., did you have to text him to help you find them in the box....?
Then you are inquiring about the identity of the girdle alignment dowel and,
3/29 "autoatlanta doesn't have them, but im not sure I need it. "
8/01 "I paid MM to do a BS delete amongst everything. I received the block and stuff from him, it stayed in packaged, and went to the machine shop."

So you sent the box with everything in it and the front cover for the delete could have very well been in the box and your machine shop possibly lost it.
You don't know, but yet here you are,
Sh!tting on an upstanding contributor by divulging private messaging and making out like he sold you a bunch of parts from the get go and just left you out in the cold where it's obvious that he was basically holding your hand through the whole ordeal.
He said he shipped the missing cover in a text reply, that could have easily been lost in transit to; or while at your machine shop and you basically called him a liar.

I was in business for 25 years and had customers like you.
They pay me to overhaul an automatic transmission and to save money want to install themselves but they call me 20 times during a two hour process about every nut , bolt, fluid type, how much should I buy, etc., etc., etc., to the point where I could have installed it for them for free by then.

You close with these gems -
"I don't care if other people received great customer service."
"No, I received crap service " (while it's evident that you are a pest, above your abilities, expecting someone to to do work for you that you didn't pay for)

You made the biggest mistake you could have made as a person with your limited knowledge of this engine.
You just burned a bridge with the person who could have helped you troubleshoot problems after you got it running, before you got it running.

Now you're on your own.

Good luck to you.

T

PDX-944

I am a racer not a builder.
I have built a few stock motors in my time, nothing like this.
I researched for a long time to figure out the parts I needed, but even looking in a manual isn't always clear, hands on is the only way to learn.
I tried hard to not ask Michael questions when I didn't need to, and instead use rennlist and PP for answers.

Should I have better inspected what was sent to me when it arrived? Yes. That was my mistake. I relied on the machine shop/person building the short block to tell me what was missing.

I only messaged MM for a few things. I was asking the local knowledge in the thread for help in some cases - that was half the point in the thread, as many make threads to do. MM found the thread and chimed in on his own.

I have the message record with MM, I know what I messaged him for.

over the course of about 6 months:
I asked him for the specs on the head he built, for a cam company to get me a quote from.
I asked for the head gasket information because he had mentioned a month before that he would send it after he was done with the head, and he hadn't yet. he replied that he was on vacation, and he didn't know the p/n, but to use a certain thickness from cometic, which I found to be listed for a certain bore size. I asked if that was correct, because he had preferred a different bore size than I had originally contacted him about, and I didn't want to order the wrong part. rather than in a simple sentence telling me what I have found isn't 100 percent common knowledge - that they all use the same HG bore size - he said I was driving him ****ing crazy and to order what he told me.
so at that point I didn't have my question answered as to which bore size he had decided to go with, just blind trust - which I accepted because I know he knows his ****, but I still wanted to know why the discrepancy, so I found the answer elsewhere.
that was basically the first thing I messaged him after he was done, and already he didn't want to help me out at all. so, I turned to the thread to get any more answers, which is where he jumped in.

the hardware that I needed to source, I was told by the assembler of the short block was missing - but not clearly which hardware it was that was missing. I did not message him about that, I only posted in the thread.

he told me where to source the oil shields, which unless you work on 3.0 motors you don't necessarily know exist - not to mention when I called the person he referred to, and LR, and Lart, I was told not to run them. conflicting information, but I bought some anyways to follow what MM said. didn't text him about any of that.

the dowel I wasn't sure if he had sent with the motor, and I didn't have the motor to check, so I asked in a single message, so I would know if I needed to buy it. he wasn't sure. so I posted trying to find a source, in case I needed it. which I did. so that was that.

we discussed head studs - arp vs factory, that was a fine conversation.

I really didn't ask that much of him. I tried to keep it simple and short, and ask rennlist things when I could, because he was rude with me from the get-go.

I didn't and don't expect any ongoing help from him on this. ill have a machine shop make the missing part, and be done with it.

951and944S

So at 8:56am this morning you decide this....

Originally giving you the benefit of the doubt and I came with the first post in an effort to help you.
I was doing a similar BS delete 15 years ago.

Then I read your other thread.

In hindsight, I think even you are in agreement...., that you could have lost the missing piece en route to machinist, or it could have been lost by the machine shop.

I think it is in your interest and the interest of the forum to delete (or ask mods) this thread.

T

PDX-944

I discussed it with the machine shop plenty before asking MM anything at all about it.
The box top was opened, and nothing removed before the machine shop took it.
he guaranteed it showed up with one disc in it. I was basically the last motor in his shop before a move, so there wasn't much there.
and even then I didn't accuse MM of anything when I did finally ask about it, because I couldn't 100% guarantee it, and then neither could MM. I simply asked to verify what parts were supposed to be with the delete. turns out one of the parts for the upper was moved to the lower, which took care of that, but the front disc was indeed missing. he never swore he sent it, and said he would send it again, then I never received anything.

this is simplifying what happened, because it was over the course of several months trying to figure out if it was indeed a part that he had laying on a counter maybe and forgot in the first place, etc. it was a simple thing that didn't need to be this difficult and drawn out. responses were so far an in between, no one would tolerate that from a company. and then to end with "I sent it, too bad, go away" and not even willing to check the receipt or verify anything, that's not customer service.

Voith

​​​If you knew what is and what isn't a match for your application, why did you ask him in the first place?

PDX-944

Now you're just stretching for faults.
The gasket says 106 bore which is not what we did. He said .035" which they don't have, only .036". So I wanted to double check.

Wow, you guys can't just accept that I had a crap experience with someone that you all worship. I get what he has done and accomplished and I respect that, but I don't appreciate how I was treated. If you all don't want honesty here, then that's your prerogative, but I'm not the only one to have a bad experience with someone.

951and944S

One last message before I bow out of this one (reserve the possibility of addressing anything directed specifically at me)
1) again, this is your lack of knowledge that caused your uncertainty and the need to unnecessarily bother the person who already told you what gasket to get. .001" difference between the two gaskets..?
2) I don't "worship" anybody, I AM the go to guy in my field. I repair automatic transmission problems that no dealer within 500 miles of me can resolve. By comparison to complicated modern electronics and hydraulic circuitry of an automatic transmission, engines bore me. Short of my machinist's involvement in carrying out the tasks that I plan and configure, nobody has a hand in any race engine that I ever have built, which leads me to the last point,
3) As stated in 2, I was well on my way to planning and completing my latest version, 230 bhp 2.5L 16V engine for my son to move up a class, all on my own, when I got an unsolicited email.
It was Michael Mount.
He stated that he reads and follows my progress on the cars I build and the success of my son Eon's racing ability and he offered his years of experience to help me configure my cylinder head and camshafts within the PCA SP3 class rules to help me achieve my goal of power to give my son an equal chance of winning against larger displacement and turbocharged engines.
I agreed to accept his help.

So this boils down to one issue, as you posted in the (shady) personal text messages, Michael Mount states -

"I've provided everything promised and more"

Is this true or false....?

T

V2Rocket

i think your project has been interesting to follow.
however details like this are fairly trivial to someone who is familiar with assembling engines - the HG bore HAS to be larger than the cylinder bore, to shield the HG slightly from combustion and also to make 1 HG fit multiple bore sizes.
the stock 944 100mm bore block uses a 102mm gasket...

and 0.001" is not going to make any difference whatsoever for that HG thickness.

that's why 951/944S is saying you might be over your head, and why questions like that were bothersome to MM.