swtchikn

I know I don't post a lot on here and am not a power user by any means, but I feel like this needs put out there. It's a little long, no tl;dr.

This is rather long but I feel like it needs to be known. I'd like to share my experience with any enthusiast who will hear me. I am in the midst of building an s13 hatch with a ka24det as the powerplant. Given the nature of the motor, I sought out a machinist who would be able to build the motor for me and build it correctly. I was referred by a friend to SMS (Specialty Machine Shop) in Childersburg, AL.

I dropped two engines off at the same time. My d21 pickup block was returned to me within two weeks. My S13 block was returned me over a year and a half later and I have only just retrieved the head after countless back and forth with Robert Vinson, the owner. The head is incomplete, missing parts that were with it when I dropped it off and now has to be redone. The block appeared to be complete but upon further inspection, I found that was not the case.

Immediately after unwrapping it, I found it hadn't been vatted. Freeze plugs were also the old plugs. The block had not been decked as well. So at this point, the only thing I can be sure of is nothing at all. During disassembly to have it decked and vatted, I found metal shavings resting on the underside of the pistons, rod caps loose, studs over tightened with the end of a fastener even beginning to round, windage tray bent and upon further inspection, the motor had been assembled with gear oil, not assembly lube. There was trash on the journal side of the mains and the gear oil was on the underside of the mains. The biggest kicker is that I was told line bore was done and yet, standard size bearings were used and the marks on the girdle and bearing side are quite obviously not a line bore. Maybe it was honed, but definitely not line bored. The disassembly was done after cutting all ties.

When I asked for money back for work not done, I was called a liar and he threatened to "beat my ass." He continually tried to convince me that he was an honest guy. After showing proof that my block had not been vatted and not decked (again, before disassembly) I was refunded $100 for not being decked and told that "nothing gets assembled with being vatted." I then questioned him about the timeline since no motor takes two years to build and was told that "shit that don't pay gets put on the backburner, you see what I'm saying?" He then told me that he did me a favor and that $1700 ($1600 after $100 refund) was cheap to have a motor built (I was doing the final assembly, block and head were supposed to be ready to mate).

I paid upfront and got screwed in the end. Countless times I was told it would be ready in a week or later that day. And when I returned it wasn't ready. And every time, there was some excuse. Basement flooded, wife is in the hospital, I'm in the hospital, I've got kidney stones, helper is in the hospital, helper's wife in the hospital, foot burned at nhra, emergency at the airport (apparently he has his pilots license), basement flooded again, cnc machine broken, cnc machine still broken, tech for cnc machine never showed that day.

I'm a pretty understanding person and had my own stuff to go through with these past two years. My car has been put on the backburner in my own life, but at no point, especially after being paid, should a customer have to deal with what I went through. The general disrespect and poor attitude is atrocious and I think anyone who wants or needs a motor built needs to hear about it.