Thread: performance shop will not admitt they messed up

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they used the wrong lube on the cam ( royal purple rearend oil)and set the rocker arms wrong.

killed the cam....killed the engine in 1.5 hours total run time.

spun bearings, siezed piston pins, siezed oil pump, scored pistons, cylinder walls, 3 lobes and lifters wore really bad like 80% gone bad on one.

The shop says I didn't prime the engine long enough. 10+ minutes with drill @1500rpm. untill oil was coming out all pushrods. THE SHOP says it takes at least 30 minutes to prime a SB chevy.

whoa, what kind of reputation does this shop have normally. if you ask me they are full of piss and wind. my first SB chevy i rebuilt i didnt even pre lube it with a drill, i just fired it up and the oil pressure came almost immediatly after, that was about 100,000 miles ago. this may be a case for legal action if you have diehard proof against them. just reading your post makes me sick

"The shop says I didn't prime the engine long enough. 10+ minutes with drill @1500rpm. untill oil was coming out all pushrods. THE SHOP says it takes at least 30 minutes to prime a SB chevy."

HUH??? Somebody's confusing priming time with camshaft break-in time. All you need is to prime the motor until the drill motor revs pull down from the load of pumping the oil and that doesn't take but a few seconds. They may be talking about the run-in time, which requires revving the motor to...oh...maybe 2,500 rpm's (so the lobes get a good splash lube) for about 20 minutes with a good load of molybdenum disulfide in the engine oil. If you didn't do that, then that explains the cam failure.

Ok teckinspector;
Where do you get molybdenum disulfide, and what exactly is it.
I've always used a good cam lube and clevite77 bearing guard assembly lube, and a good oil. Should I be using this too,
I've never had any problems with any of the damage he talked about. And for a couple more dollers, to protect my thousands of dollers invested, I'll get some. Who sell's it.



~ Vegas ~

The first 20 minutes or so of run time is critical for the cam lobes/lifter faces. Coat the lobes and lifter faces with black moly which is usually supplied with the cam when you buy it. It's a thick extreme-pressure lube used to break-in the cam. Any cam grinder can supply it if it wasn't in the box with the cam. I also add a bottle of GM Engine Oil Supplement to the oil before firing initially. It contains moly and can be found at any GM dealer at the parts counter. After the 20 minute break-in, dump the oil and change the filter. Add fresh oil and include another bottle of GM supplement. Run that load of oil for about 300 miles, then change oil and filter again. You can continue to add the supplement to the oil changes after that or you don't have to if using a good quality oil. That's how I do it and I've had good luck with cams over the years.

Quote: 'spun bearings, siezed piston pins, siezed oil pump, scored pistons, cylinder walls, 3 lobes and lifters wore really bad like 80% gone bad on one."

Did thiis thing have ANY oil in it? Even if you didnt prime it a lick, all this stuff wouldnt happen......did the engine shop assemble the engine? Seized piston pins and seized oil pump are kinda serious......if they did the assembly, you may have some claim against them. Good luck.

file a claim on them in a small claims court... most shops are ready to fix your problem right away the second they're threatened with court time, mechanics dont have the time to spend in court, and most the time they lose any ways

POWER2BURN if you really feel that you have been ripped off and the shop will not make it right a small claims court may be the way to go.

"............... file a claim on them in a small claims court... most shops are ready to fix your problem right away the second they're threatened with court time, mechanics dont have the time to spend in court, and most the time they lose any ways........."


Boy do I take exception with this.

Yes there are good shops and bad shops out there, just like there are good and bad customers. The good shops will not fold when servered with papers. When I ran my shop I had to go to court once and yes I won When its a matter of the shops reputation you make the time to go. You also request all court costs and filing fees so the loser pays picks up that tab.

Even with a complete tear down and inspection you may not be able to determine exactly what went wrong. It's impossible to tell just reading one side on an internet forum. I am not throwing stones at anyone but when the first rebuilt engine lasted less than 30,000 miles it does make me wonder how the vehicle is being driven and how the engine was being broken in.

" had a rebuilt 355SB chevy
it lasted 42,000km
Got another rebuilt 355SB
it lasted 62km.
I still have not had a powerful engine."

I have a funny feeling theres more to this storey than we know. Thats the bad part about being a engine machinist..or builder.. you hand the finished product to the customer, & you have no idea if they are going to handle it properly or not. If not..& something happens, its your fault of course. Not saying thats the case here, just sayin. is all

If that engine ran with no load for 1and 1/2 hours someone should have been watching the oil pressure and listening for unhappy moving parts. BEFORE it was too late.

when all else fails ammonium nitrate and diesel fuel will do the trick everytime

It sure sounds like you had an oiling system failer more than improper cam lube. I could see you flatting a cam shaft but everything else that siezed leads me to believe something else failed. did you ever have an oil pressure reading? was the oil pump siezed, or broken. was the oil pickup tube still in place?

i had a shop build a motor for me and it seized up after 5 minutes of running, when i pulle dthe crank there were very deep scores in it and glass beads sitting on the bearings..... i got a full refund and did the engine over myself

It seems the only person you can trust to do a good job anymore is yourself.

Originally posted by orange crush
It sure sounds like you had an oiling system failer more than improper cam lube. I could see you flatting a cam shaft but everything else that siezed leads me to believe something else failed. did you ever have an oil pressure reading? was the oil pump siezed, or broken. was the oil pickup tube still in place?

i was kinda wondering the same thing later after i thought about it more, i wonder if the seized oil pump was the first problem and the rest followed

thought about it some more again and realize that the main brgs would seize up long before the cam would go flat if you lost oil pressure.