Very bad experience with Engine Dynamics of San Jose CA

[JAGraff]

I just want to say sorry in advance for this long letter, but I need to let everyone in on this engine shops lack of morals. When I first called the shop, Engine Dynamics Inc. of San Jose CA they gave me a quote of $1250.00 for the engine and heads to be machined and balanced and all the rest of the goodies. I specifically said a 3 angle valve job, since I read about it on here just make a point of seeing what I was going to get. I had gone to the shop several times to gather data to see if I wanted to let this shop do the work on my newly acquired 351C engine, after all, it did take forever to find the stinkin thing. Well, when I finally got there he told me he didn’t realize I wanted him to do the heads too. I gave him the benefit of the doubt, but when he told me that the engine was going to cost $1800 for the machining alone and $3000 for him to do the whole thing, I didn’t know what to say. He also told me on several other times that it would be about $160 – 170 to have the engine magnafluxed (neat name for checking for cracks) and to be degreased and to have the engine all cleaned up. I went as far as to tell him that I wanted to get the engine painted after he was done cleaning it up before he did the engine work. When I was there with my engine the price was raised to $237 for the job to be done and once again he told me that he didn’t realize I wanted the heads done. Ok, fine do all the work we spoke about for $237 so I can find out if the engine and heads are good or not. I dropped off the engine and everything I had for the engine and was told by, I think his name was Mike, that I should leave the dampner, intake, pistons and rods to see if they were any good too and so they could clean them up. Needless to say, the couple day job turned into over a week and several trips over there. When the engine was finally done, I got off work early with a friend to pick it up and when I arrived the block went from a greasy POS to a rusty POS (POS = Piece Of Shit). I had to fight with him tooth and nail till he finally told me, “since I am such a nice and caring guy, I will keep the engine till tomorrow and take the rust off it for you.”. Like this was some big favor, I mean what did I pay all that money. He also told me that one of the heads was bad so he didn’t bother cleaning it off and when I asked him if he was going to deduct it from the bill, he told me that I didn’t understand how little business works. He continued to tell me that the money I would have gotten back, I spent by asking him all of my questions. That was the first time I have ever heard of an engine shop charging for questions personally!!!! Please, correct me if I am wrong……… Didn’t think so. You thought I was over, but I am not. When I went to go pick the engine up the second time (mind you I had to take off from work four times so far because of this guy) he had cleaned the sand off of it from when he sand blasted it and then covered it with some gray paint and finished it off with some sort of oil. All I am trying to tell you is make sure you really know who you are dealing with when you go to get something done. This guy was the nicest guy you had ever met, till he heard he wasn’t going to sucker me into the larger bill and then he turned into a supreme jerk. He went as far as saying that he would have done a better job if I was going to get the engine done by him!!!! Talk about lack of morals and common sense!! One more thing, get EVERYTHING in writing and read it more then once so you really know what you are getting since as I found out, word of mouth isn’t enough. Warren, the owner, and his worker, Mike, told me so many lies of what they were going to do and when it came down to it they were all lies. Warren told me that Mike would never have said that stuff and that nothing is for free in his shop. The best thing is that I had my roommate with me the entire time I was there. I was never there alone and he was trying to tell me I was wrong. Sorry for being childish, but, what a moron!!!!!! Thank you all for listening to my blabber.

Racin’ Jason

[mslcr]

Thanks for the tip!
It is good to know who is "naughty or nice".

[red]

Thanks for letting us know about this place. No one should have to put up with B.S. like that. Can anyone recommend a machine shop for Jason in the San Jose area? -JON

[mike sylvester]

bummer,cant help you find a good shop cause im from mi.my best friend owns a performance machine shop,im lucky, he's building mine.one thing i'd suggest is to get your block sonic checked.its a measurement of the wall thickness of the cylinder bores.clevelands were prone to core shift when they were cast.if its not off too much a good machinist can compensate when he bores it out.mine was off .009 in two holes.a sonic check will run about $75 and could save you from smokin your motor.good luck. mike 69 mach 1 351C top loader 3.89 limited slip restified.

[patman]

Im not sure how its done in Cali,but in Va I believe a good ass whipping would have been in order. Lotsa crooks in this business. Keep the faith though because there is also good folks out there!

[Michael Grossman]

I had a machinist clean and bore a block and he didn't even see the big cracks between the two cylinder walls. Talk about not giving a shit about your customers. Another machine shop did my heads, but when I got them on my car, one wasn't true and built up pressure in the cooling system. All they had to do was check to see if the head was warped before doing any machining , but they didn't. Finally, i got a trans shop to do my transnmission, when I got it in my car, it burned up after 5 minutes. He apparently put the pump in crooked I was told.

I had to do everything over, but finally found a good shop w/ reasonable prices.

Solution: either build it yourself or get it from a respectable source like PAW or Jasper. If I knew all the problems I had w/ machine shops and how much extra it cost me, I would have gone w/ a crate motor to begin with.

Engine machinist are really just sledgehammer mechanics anyway and most are pretty disreputable in my opinion, so you are not alone out there. Also, if u want something done right, u almost always have to do it yourself.

[SlowandSteady66]

IT F***in sucks to deal with these replace a part, don't know what there doing, trying to make a buck but never read a book mechanics. I have had 6 cars and all too many of those. Unfortunately it seems if you want something done right you gotta do it yourself, or find a good mechanic school like a jr college that takes clients. That way thing should be done by the book, charge you less and repair any mistakes made by the students at no charge to you.

[Elvis]

I agree that it is pretty much a crap shoot when trying to find someone reputable. There are many horror stories but once in a while you can find a gem. I had my engine rebuilt by City Motor Supply in Dallas about a year ago. They did a great job and charged what they quoted to the penny. A rare pleasant experience. E.

[Ingeneius]

Tacoma Wa. 98444 Parkland National (Mike at the counter, Dave the Machinist) did my 67 long block302 what wonderful experience, very knowledgable, $1,250.00 for the job. runs like brand new.
Gene