The way I read it is KC ultimately said send it back and I'll fix it but Trask said no, he didn't trust KC any longer and was going to have the work done locally but wanted KC to provide the parts. KC, understandably, doesn't want to provide the parts without inspecting the damage for himself.

Thus, a stalemate.

o-k,I'll correct you because you are wrong........
From what I've read,KC said send the engine back so he can inspect it and fix it,Damage does not want to send the engine back,instead has asked for a list of parts to be shipped to him so someone can rebuild it there.....all based on some photos of damaged parts..............

I know of no engine builder or manufacter that would send replacement parts halfway around the world based on some photos sent to him.....without the chance to inspect the damaged engine to see what is damaged and why it was damaged.....

If your Ford car/truck is under warranty and you have a problem,you tell Ford what is wrong and tell them to send you the parts and you'll fix it yourself,yea,that's the way it works....and then still expect them to warranty it????:confused:**)%/

Jim & David G,
With all due respect, sorry I can't agree with you.
After three months (or more) of "talk to the hand, because I don't give a sh!t" how can you say that KC wasn't playing bluff? And just putting it on for the public!? Particularly when it's seemingly pretty clear that he wanted to wash his hands of it pointing the finger at the suppliers... And did sweet fa behind the scenes in the private emails.

Come on now, I don't really believe you are that naive.

I'll exclude the 3 separate instances (2 to Aus and 1 to the UK) where this has been played before. In your minds they are probably dismissed as here say evidence no doubt, and you don't believe me...

Look KEITH MAY BE A GREAT GUY. He may be a master chef who baked one bad cake. On a day he had many issues going on that prevented him from doing his best.

But at the same time, he had many an opportunity to come out smelling like roses, instead Kirkham are the ones who offered to solve damage's problem in liue of KC DESPITE it NOT even being their problem.

I'll do business with Kirkham. Hard now for me to do so with KC if the response is like this.

Take what you will from that.

I was asked to send photos of the damaged parts to show what had failed and what needed replacing way back in November. At that time I put forward what was proposed in respect of handling this. AT NO TIME WAS THIS OPPOSED.


KC stated in February on this forum to send the engine back so he could warrant it.

February my first contact was in November, so what happened in the 3 months before hand, where was his advice in the 3 months beforehand.

THERE WASNT ANY.

As at this date I have not received an email directly from Keith only from his associate Lance and Lance has been unable to provide any answers from Keith.

How long should one have to wait before they receive a reply.
How long should one have to wait before they get an answer.
How long should one have to wait before they get any action.

Anyway this is done now, the engine is crap it's getting fixed at my expense end of story.
I bought a new motor it shouldn't have expired the way it has in such a short time.


Regardless if KC sends parts or not I end up out of pocket.

Regardless if I returned the motor for repairs I end up out of pocket.

The simple message delivered out of all this is BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE which could have been averted by simple communication in the first instant.

I bet Ford wouldn't leave you hanging the breeze for over a month or two before they suggested you return the truck for warranty.

Damage,

Pretty much mirrors my experience with Nick Acton aka mickmate.. Well except that Jamo hasnt shut your thread down. You got junk parts and like me theres no way its getting sent back.. Would be great to see your build progress and show em how its done right!

SB

This is where I think your analogy falls apart IN THIS MATTER ONLY.

1. What is the likelihood that Ford will warranty the problem? And, assuming they agree to warranty the problem, what is the likelihood the problem gets fixed properly by Ford?

2. What is the likelihood that the engine builder discussed here will warranty the problem? And assuming they agree to warranty the problem, what is the likelihood the problem gets fixed properly by the engine builder?


If Vegas bookmakers are laying odds on these prop bets, for me, then #2 better pay some very long odds.

Actually, you are quite wrong. My brother got a free set of heads for his his V10 truck when they cracked and he fixed it himself. No money at all. All he had to do was return the old heads. I had the same issue with rear brakes on my Corolla. They gave me the parts to fix it. In many cases, if you have a receipt for repairs that were made beyond normal circumstance....like living in another country, The automotive company will reimburse you if you file a claim.

I deal with the auto manufacters all the time and the 2 instances you gave are the rare exception to the rule........yes,if it is an emergency repair and you have receipts,you will likely get reimbursed......

I would bet the instance were your brother received the heads for his V10 was the dealers choice,not something Ford does on a regular basis for a warranty claim......

Back in the 80's, my then still in warranty F 150 developed a miss in the engine,i brought it in only because it was in warranty, they checked it out and told me it was either the spark plugs or the plug wires,but were jammed up and wouldn't be able to work on it for at least a week or two,the service manager knowing me and my mechanical skills offered to give me a set of plugs and wires which I took and installed myself.....I doubt they would have given me a set of heads to install had the heads been the problem......

I had an engine built and run in on the dyno in California (I live in Australia). When I pulled the oil pan off to install supercharger oil return lines before installing it into a car, I found a lot of metal fragments which turned out to be a cast distributor gear being chewed up by the billet solid roller camshaft. Easy mistake to make when assembling an engine I guess.

Fearing that it might be more than just the distributor gear needing replacement (ie: had debris gone through the oil pump and/or into the bearings?), the engine builder agreed for a local engine builder near me to disassemble and report on any carnage. Turned out the bearings were fine, so it was just a matter of needing a bronze gear and some miscellaneous gaskets. Add in a few hours labour and I let the Californian business know what it was worth. It turned out that I needed to buy some other unrelated parts at the same time, so they agreed to credit me for the cost (so I didn't have to wait for parts to ship to the other side of the world). They added about 20% extra to the credit (just in case any other bits were needed!), and sold me the other parts I ordered at their cost as a goodwill gesture.

This was a "mere" $20K engine, but I think it's an example of how a situation can be resolved without the distance being an issue.

I am not disagreeing on being exceptions to the rule, but 40 miles on a $60k engine sitting half way around the world seems like it would be an exception to me. Especially when it seems as though the builder wants nothing to do with the customer.

For that amount of money and type of engine, KC should be sending a shipping label pre-paid to the customer.

I agree with you on the above statement.......

or at least KC and the owner split the cost of shipping the engine back to the builder......we don't know what/if any written warranty was supplied by the builder and what was in the fine print.....

As others have said,it's a bad situation all the way around and we don't know all the particulars surrounding this situation.....

I do hope both parties can come to an agreement they both can live with.....

When Ford Racing came out with the new BOSS 302 blocks, I plunked down $1,800.00+ for one for my race car....assembled a 331 stroker on the block (same exact set-up I was using before) and from day one on the engine run-in stand it leaked oil out of the rear main seal....I talked to Ford Racing techs and others and tried 4 different seals from different manufacters,no difference....took all kinds of measurements and had 2 local machine shops look at it,we all came to the same conclusion,where the rear main seal fits in the rear of the block, the machine work done on the block when manufactured was off by about .050,causing the leak........
Ford Racing had me crate the block back up and ship it to Livonia,Mi. AT MY EXPENSE for them to check it,only after 2 months of repeated calls....
They checked it and said there was nothing wrong with it and sent it back to me,ever since I've had this beautiful $1,800.00+ paper weight sitting in my shop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

David