Performance Engineering

[Gun Doc]

Mathew,
I am realize PE builds many engines every year and have for a number of years, most of which have had no problems. My post is not about those engines; it’s about the engine I purchased, which has never run correctly and people seem to dismiss, because it’s equipped with Weber carbs.

Had I purchased a turn-key 4 barrel engine, I probably would not have had the problems I had. The major problems with my engine stem from carbs that were “bolted on” the engine straight out of the box (no float adjustment, no jetting, and no tuning) with a linkage design that put excessive torque on the throttle plate shafts, causing them to twist, resulting in open butterflies, even with the engine shut off. This coupled with the extremely high float settings resulted in the washed down cylinders.

The dizzy gear is another example of poor quality control. Not only was the gear not matched material-wise to the cam, but it was installed out of spec, causing it to wear prematurely (improper backlash and binding on the block). I can maybe see the mix-up with the material, as most all roller cams are made from hardened steel blanks and those are the cams most often used at PE. According to the folks at the Comp Cams Tech line, this cam, being a special grind for the Webers, was made from a soft core and required an iron gear. This information was verified by both Craig Blood (Blood Enterprises) and me. PE could/should have verified this as well.

Bottom line is Performance Engineering had not, up to the time I ordered my engine, worked much with Weber carbureted engines. If they did not have the expertise to properly build and tune this engine, they should have said so and I would have looked elsewhere to have my engine built. Once I reported problems (day two of me having the car) they should have either offered to fix the problems, or referred me to a local shop that could have. This didn’t happen. I was left on my own to repair/tune an engine that I just paid $15,000.00 for. This continued every time I had a new problem. Like I said in my original post, I got more help from the members of this forum than I did from the company I paid good money to have this engine built. I think as a customer I should have received better.

For now, Eric has responded to my post and we agreed to see what we can do to work through this. For that I give him credit. I just wish he would have stepped up a long time ago. It would have saved us both a lot of time and money.

Gun Doc