My Experience with Motor & Trans Build by Nick Micale

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Terbro

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May 24, 2001
I feel it my duty to the TR Community to leave feedback about Nick Micale. And I’m going to say first thing – that I’m concerned. As a result of my post regarding my challenges with fuel pressure, and a relatively short couple negative comments about Nick, I’ve since had two fellow TR members private message me, telling me they’ve also had very poor experience with Nick. One person rambled on about more stuff than it sounds like I will be, and let me tell you – this man is…extremely upset, to put it one way. The other, very respectful, in short stated that he fully understands my frustration; that he’s also had negative experience with Nick, but like the first person I mentioned – is concerned about complaining publically, as Nick is held in such high regard on this forum, and neither wants to get booted or have their reputation tarnished in the TR Community.

Of course I don’t either. Very importantly, I greatly value this forum, and with our high-maintenance, moody TR’s…we need this forum to maintain and troubleshoot them! But this isn’t Nazi Germany. We shouldn’t be fearful of getting shot (off the board) if we speak freely. But there’s something far more important than that. It’s the no-brainer value of respectfully communicated feedback. So when I saw this section, I thought that it was a great one. I wish two people I mentioned above would’ve spoken up, (maybe they did elsewhere that I didn’t see) so I had a better understanding of Nick’s history. The only thing I had heard, was in essence “Nick is the man; he’ll take care of you”.

I’m in Fountain, Colorado. I bought an ’87 TR with a very sick motor (loud clacking internal motor noise). I knew I would need to have it rebuilt first thing (as well as restore the interior and repaint). Of course the price was right, so I buy it, and did extensive research for a qualified TR motor rebuilder somewhere in Colorado. Search on my posts from 2014, and you’ll see them. No one offered anything too reassuring, and I only got suggestions for Nick Micale. This is my sixth TR since 1997. I r&red the motor on my 4th in 2002, but I wasn’t up to doing it again. So I pulled the trigger to ship it 800 miles to Phoenix. I absolutely loved the idea of having a veteran TR guru like Nick to work his magic on it, and set it up exactly right.

And I had the budget for it as well. So I paid $500 and had it shipped to him. And while I was initially thinking it would be a basic rebuild, I came into more money which justified more goodies, internally and out for the TR. So instead of the “$1,500” rebuild Nick said his start at, I had him to do the “$3,000”, which allegedly included full machining of the block, boring 0.020 over, and I requested forged pistons and crank, with a street cam, as well as ported heads. All this was itemized on the invoice. After further inspection, I would notice things like “new cam”, which got me suspicious...not an upgraded cam that I requested. It was when I would later ask Nick what cam he put in it, that irked me. He didn’t know…he just guessed, thinking maybe it was a 206/206.

I want to throw this in here: My suspicion as to Nick’s honesty didn’t take long. The day he gets it, he informs me that the block is cracked and unusable. He sends me a photo, and sure enough, there’s a chunk of the block broken out of it, just next to the dipstick tube hole. This was perplexing, because he was initially telling me the block was cracked when it arrived to him. But that wasn’t true. As I looked at the photos, I thought about it and it was such that there would’ve been a catastrophic oil leak when the car left Colorado. There was *no* oil leak at all. I had been directly underneath the car, and had been looking right at the same area (we had to, because we had to put the dipstick tube back in, and I was underneath it, doing that) right before it left…no huge hole in the block! And I spoke with the auto transport driver personally, emphasizing that the car is un-drivable, and that he is not to start it for any reason – explaining that the motor is very sick. He understood, and had a winch for his flatbed hauler.

(Continued...)
 
After my interrogation, Nick finally admitted that the block cracked when he had it. I had previously take a video of the motor, posted it on youtube, and posted it on a thread and/or emailed it directly to Nick. So he was very much aware of how sick the motor was…which was why he tried to deny responsibility. He should’ve known better, and he knew it. I was running the motor for mere seconds, so as to not have that happen. Well, I was more than understanding, and *I* took responsibility for it…being that, technically, I never told him to not run the motor. So…I bought a new block and sent it to him. He didn’t like that block (apparently it had been sleeved), which is fine, and I ended up paying him for another block that he had, if I remember correctly. I mention all this, because it was obvious - *Nick wasn’t being honest about what happened in the first place*. My first red flag.

Anyway, back to the work to be done: Besides what I’ve already mentioned, I had Nick install a RJC FMIC, and dual BB turbo (the turbo, I paid for independently) and new exhaust. After the motor was done, Nick informed me that the transmission was shot and needed to be rebuilt (had to take his word on that). He had a trans guy (James) that does his transmissions, so I pulled the trigger on that too. He quoted me a good price (this is a fair feedback); $1,800.

Knowing TRs as well as I do, I knew when I bought it that whoever had put this car together before had mixed/matched a lot of wiring and bolts and I told Nick that…and sent him photos. He knew what he was getting into. That’s another reason I sent it to him…to get it all the way it should be.

I then also decided I wanted the heads ported, and asked Nick if he could have that done, and he said he could. But something soon stuck me oddly. Whenever I brought up the head porting, he never really wanted to talk about it, and quickly moved on to something else. I grew suspicious by his demeanor that…I wasn’t going to get ported heads. I just had a feeling.

Well, Nick says the car is done, but I still owe him $2K. But…he offers me a deal. There’s a TTA in Denver that he wants to buy. We negotiate to have me rent a truck and trailer and drive the TTA down to him, and he’d pay me $400 for that, and I’d drive my TR back up from Phoenix. Nick *offered* to let me carry the $2K I still owed him, on the bill, which totaled $10,375. I had already paid him $8,313. Fair enough. I get there, drive it for about 8-10 minutes on the neighborhood streets, and it feels phenomenal. Fast as hell.

I rent a motel room in Phoenix, sleep about 3 hours, and I’m off a 2 a.m. the next morning. Drive 816 miles the next day. I get home and park it in the garage, and the next morning, I look underneath, and there are 4 or 5 oil leaks in different areas all around the motor, one of which is about 4” in diameter. And a trans fluid leak, about 3” in diameter. I’m shocked. Morning 1…and I’m in Downtown Leaksville.

I would discover that essentially nothing was tightened down. The valve cover bolts could be tightened with my fingers, as could some of the oil pan bolts! I even discover one of the header bolts could be tightened by hand. The oil return line clamp was loose and leaking oil. Another fitting bolt at its base was as well. Two or three of the vacuum lines were not connected, including the boost gauge.

So, the very first days after receiving my freshly built TR, I’m immediately spending hours underneath it. And it didn’t stop. These leaks were everywhere. The transmission pan was leaking like a sieve. Nick offers to make that right by sending me an upgraded aluminum cast trans pan. And then I’ve got the PITA job of r&ring it. And…when I do, I see *tons* of black debris in the trans fluid. This is supposedly a freshly rebuilt transmission! I take pics and send them to him, but he says it’s normal. No way!!!

(Continued...)
 
And…it still doesn’t fix the problem. Turns out it was a blessing, because I started to clue in that the trans had burnt the 2nd gear band. The leak was due to the fact they didn’t properly seat the TV cable seal, which was discovered by a local trans shop.

And after driving it a couple weeks, I noticed that I only counted 2 shifts. I originally thought it wasn’t shifting into overdrive, but later discovered (with the help of the trans shop) that it wasn’t shifting into 2nd gear. That’s right, it would shift from 1st to 3rd, then 4th, without exception.

So, I pay another shop to r&r the trans, I have it shipped back to Nick and he has James rebuild it. Nick never mentions what happens. But…I talk to James, and he tells me that Nick put in an un-rebuilt transmission. James told me this when he received the transmission I sent him. I got the truth only from a 3rd party. When I confronted Nick about it, he then told me that the trans was grabbed and put in by accident. But here’s the deal - I noticed that the trans looked dirty. In other words, it was *obvious* that it was not a freshly rebuilt trans. Trans builders clean transmission cases when they rebuild them! I’m convinced this was deliberate. Nick later tried to give me some explanation that another customer had recently returned a supposedly newer rebuilt transmission that was still in good shape…I think he said because the customer was “going another route” or something. What Nick was really saying was that he had intended to give me a used transmission that he didn’t know the exact condition of, that he hoped was still in good shape and pass it off as a my new rebuilt transmission!!! I’m sorry, but that’s some major bull you-know-what. Even if it did have 2nd gear, the other gears were soft. That trans was bad all around. This is a bad, bad thing regarding Nick’s conduct. This is crook action.

But…we’re not even close to done. While the trans is being rebuilt, it’s occurred to me that my torque convertor has been contaminated by all the debris from the burnt trans. So I ask Nick to send me a good TC. He tells me he’s going to send me a “$400” Hughes 2,800 rpm stall stock style TC. I get the trans back, along with a shiny, red torque convertor. They get installed, and I must admit, the new transmission is awesome. James rebuilt that one the way it should’ve been the first time. Major thumbs up there, and it’s about time….after all this massive hassle, that I get a little compensation (by getting a sweet tranny), and an upgraded torque convertor will be nice, right? No. I had told the guy at the trans shop what I should be getting, and he tells me it’s a stock TC. Sure enough…it’s stalling at 1,600-1,800 rpms (brake torque test). I’m betting Nick painted a stock TC bright red and lied again, saying it’s a high stall TC.

The problems continue: May sound minor, but once again, I’m spending several hours troubleshooting a problem, based on the assumption that Nick PUT IN THE DW300 FUEL PUMP! Several months ago, when I was still talking to him, I’m following his suggestions, running 10-gauge wire to give it a better ground to the fuel pump…wasting my time. $250 on the invoice for a “DW fuel pump installed”, only to find a Walbro 255 lph, that’s obviously been in there for years. Looking at the top of the fuel tank, the sending unit was filthy…it hasn’t been touched in years.

I wrote the above about a month ago, preparing to post it in the Feedback section. I had been suspicious about some other things as well, and wanted to wait until I made some progress. I just received my endoscope today. And so today, I pulled a couple spark plugs and put it down the cylinder to see if I had the forged pistons I asked for. It’s still not 100% confirmed (because I have to go in from the oil pan and get the number off the bottom of the piston), but I posted pics, and have a person that says they’re Speed Pro hypereutectic, i.e., NOT forged. And then I take the endoscope and put it through the throttlebody and get down to the intake side of the heads. No sign of any port work. And no surprise, if you remember my earlier thoughts on it.

As I mentioned, I want this to be fair feedback, so I’m posting pics of the pistons and the heads. If I learn differently, I will update. It’s not a matter of if Nick Micale is a crook…just how much of a crook he is.

I’ll be getting into the bottom of the motor and posting my finding as to whether I actually have a ($700 on the invoice) forged crank.

What I know, is I paid him over $8,300 total for what I believe to be a rather basic rebuild of a stock block ($3K), a RJC FMIC ($900), stainless dual exhaust ($400), two used tires ($60), an HE radiator, an RJC crank pulley, $325 for “up grade heads with new valves and port work” (the port work didn’t happen as it looks), the R&Ring for $1,000, a steel balancer for $290, an adjustable FP regulator for $150 and some miscellaneous parts like braided turbo feed line, etc.

As it looks…I got a $1,500 rebuild, and most importantly – tremendous disappointment. I got nothing of the reputation that several of the TR members spoke of regarding Nick Micale. I sent my car to him because I wanted my car to be done RIGHT! What I got…was my car done WRONG, and I paid about $3K more than I should have. I got shoddy workmanship…leaks everywhere, lies, deception, and most importantly, I didn’t get the *build* I wanted. I got $5K worth of work and parts done, not $8,300. And to think Nick wanted $2K more!!! All I can say is THANK GOD it turned out that way…that I had a balance due.

If it’s not blatantly obvious…stay clear of Nick Micale. I’ve said it before, and I will say it again – he is a full-blown crook.
 
Pics of pistons and heads via the endoscope.
 

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Pics of the converter and invoice. Also got my popcorn ready.

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
 
This forum is so biased somtimes.

No one can rebuild these motors, theyre not like a chevy 350.

No one can rebuild these transmissions.

Its like a monopoly around here
 
All I can say it that I have bought numerous things from him and he always sent me the parts before i sent the money just my 2 cents.
 
Wow what a bummer and kick in the balls
Stupid question and not taking sides:
You said when you got it back from him that evening you were cruising around and it felt awesome. Didn't you notice the boost gauge didn't work, it had no second gear and several vacuum lines were disconnected.
I don't even know this nick Mical Person, just trying to put the chain of events together.
 
Wow what a bummer and kick in the balls
Stupid question and not taking sides:
You said when you got it back from him that evening you were cruising around and it felt awesome. Didn't you notice the boost gauge didn't work, it had no second gear and several vacuum lines were disconnected.
I don't even know this nick Mical Person, just trying to put the chain of events together.
Im not taking sides either, but its not like he ever drove this car before hand. He bought it needing the motor rebuilt.
 
I've dealt with Nick numerous times and he's been a stand up guy. Granted that's just my dealings with him. There's always 2 sides of a story so perhaps Nick will see and address this post.
 
Let me ask you one question.

You spent over 8 grand and didn't get an itemized parts and labor receipt?

Without that it's just an unverifiable pissing match of your word against his.

I only pay when I get a detailed receipt of all parts and all labor that have been installed or performed.

That way you have proof of what was done or not done.

I have my buttered popcorn ready and hope that I don't have to eat more than one bucket.
 
Every single engine that leaves the machine shop I'm learning the trade at, has a little zip lock Baggie with EVERY single tag/barcode ripped off the original box in it. This way you know what was purchased, what was installed, and have it for reference for future repair if needed. If it's something I'm working on personally, I take pics during the whole process so you can see what's going on, and have as my own records.

I'm heading to Ralph's supermarket to get some popcorn, the last one in my cabinet was expired.
 
Screw ups do happen and when I bought a motor off someone he showed/gave me the original receipt.

I looked it over and noticed the SFI damper wasn't on the motor. I asked if he sold it and had put a stock one on there.

He said he hadn't touched it and that is the way he got it from XYZER.

I then looked at the spec sheet and noticed that it said stock damper installed.

So to make a long story short he was telling me the truth and didn't even know that he was charged for one damper and a different one was installed.

This is just an example of why you need to have your :poop: together when having someone build you an engine or any other part of the car.

This guy had a refund coming and was to stupid to even look at his receipt and notice the screw up.
 
This forum is so biased somtimes.

No one can rebuild these motors, theyre not like a chevy 350.

No one can rebuild these transmissions.

Its like a monopoly around here

GO DIRECTLY TO JAIL !!

DO NOT PASS GO !!!

DO NOT COLLECT TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS !!!

Just kidding, there are some things that most shops don't know as far as how these motors like to be setup.

That doesn't mean you can't provide the specs and have them do it. Any competent machine shop should be able to do it if you do their homework for them.:LOL:

I have a good trans builder in my town and he won't touch a 2004R. He doesn't want the hassle of having to warranty it. That tells me that even though he says he knows his :poop: he's really admitting that he doesn't when it comes to the 2004R.
 
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I only pay when I get a detailed receipt of all parts and all labor that have been installed or performed.

Let's us know when you find a mechanic that'll do $8k worth of work with no money down please. He'd have a 10 year waiting list.

D
 
Let's us know when you find a mechanic that'll do $8k worth of work with no money down please. He'd have a 10 year waiting list.

D

Not TRUE!

It's done all the time my friend.

I've done it myself and I know of some others on this very board that have also.

I don't want to tell you how many liens I had to put on vehicles or how many I ended up having the title signed over to me.
 
Well Ive got my POPCORN POPPING TOO but for starters
So instead of the “$1,500” rebuild Nick said his start at, I had him to do the “$3,000”, which allegedly included full machining of the block, boring 0.020 over, and I requested forged pistons and crank, with a street cam, as well as ported heads. All this was itemized on the invoice. After further inspection, I would notice things like “new cam”, which got me suspicious...not an upgraded cam that I requested. It was when I would later ask Nick what cam he put in it, that irked me. He didn’t know…he just guessed, thinking maybe it was a 206/206.

never knew you could build one for 1500 period.... you will have that in parts! just on a minor stock piston job, no labor costs, by the time you buy everything.just with bearings, rings,resize rods,polish crank, and machine work .I mean minor rebuild no labor easy 1.5 K in parts

so you are boring ,line boring, .forged crank, and forged pistons, balanced for an additional 1.5K ....dont think so not here anyway
Nicks always been good to me.... 2 sides to every story..... just hope you get things worked out
 
Pics of the converter and invoice. Also got my popcorn ready.

See the attached invoice. I'll just describe the TC. It's bright red. So I called Hughes this morning, and they did confirm that theirs is bright red. I asked if they paint anything else on them, and he said only a number near the pump inlet. I told him the TC was installed, and he said I wouldn't be able to see if so. But I'm not going to make too big of a deal about the TC...it's just one of his lies that I believe he exaggerated on. Technically, to make good on replacing my old debris contaminated TC, which I believe was stock, he could've just sent a new or good condition stock replacement. It was his "This is a $400 Hughes TC with a 2,800-3K stall" that I believe he just embellished on. I didn't pay for it, so enough said about the TC. The point of my Feedback is fair more concerning than the TC....like no forged pistons...putting in a used transmission when he was supposed rebuild mine...not putting in the DW (never dropped the tank; see pic), no ported heads!!!

I have another thread where I asked about the pistons, and a person's reply, who said they were Speed Pro hypereutectic. I asked him about his confidence level (he said he had the same pistons originally in his motor, then upgraded to the Speed Pro forged). His reply was: "I'm positive. The hyper ones are far more common than the forged. Come to remember, the new ones I bought were .040 bore, hypereutectic... I did a lot of research on that material and the names those Pistons all go by and found nothing bad. These are the ones.. Found my invoice."
 

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Wow what a bummer and kick in the balls
Stupid question and not taking sides:
You said when you got it back from him that evening you were cruising around and it felt awesome. Didn't you notice the boost gauge didn't work, it had no second gear and several vacuum lines were disconnected.
I don't even know this nick Mical Person, just trying to put the chain of events together.

Right. I took it for a 5-10 minute test drive on Nick's neighborhood streets, and it did feel awesome. Being that it had a fresh motor though, I never WOT'ed it. Nor did I start inspecting pistons, confirm whether it had ported heads, look for oil leaks, look at all the vacuum lines, etc. Nick was on his way somewhere and was waiting for me to get back so he could leave.

All this was based on his reputation on this forum. I've known Nick for well over a decade myself, and have bought parts from him in the past, from probably around 2001 (an HE radiator for sure). There's a big difference in buying a part from someone and having them rebuild your motor and transmission in the car.

As far as itemized receipts. Again, I relied on Nick's reputation. But red flags started popping up when he started sending me the first invoices. After closer scrutiny...I start seeing only general descriptions (as you'll see, now that I've posted the invoice). "REBUILD 109 ENGINE -FORGED PISTONS, NEW CAM, BEARINGS, GASKETS AND MACHINE WORK" - $3,000. That's pretty vague. However, he gave me great detail over the phone as to what would be done to the motor. Decking of the block, alignment of the cylinders so that each was true to one another, balancing, etc. Let this be a lesson to others...don't listen to someone's banter on the phone. But even the invoice won't help you. Nick put "forged pistons", DW pump", "port work" on the invoice, and those are examples of things that didn't get done. So who cares about detail...if a person is intent on scamming you, more detail won't matter. Nick's detail on the phone was extensive. Putting that in writing wouldn't have mattered. He wanted his thousands, and that's all he had in his eyes.

What's scary, is the fact that we have known each other for almost 15 years. He remembered me from way back, and knew me from this board. He knew I was a member of this TR Community, and it didn't matter. As I said in the Feedback post - I'm betting he gambled on me flipping the car shortly after I got it, and would never discover all these things. He'd get his $2K once I sold it.
 
First, have you verified every issue that you speak of in this thread and not just the word of others on some pics you posted??

Second, have you brought this to Nicks attention before posting in this thread to see if you could come to an agreement on your concerns and give him a chance to explain himself??

If the answer is yes to both of those then have at it and post away.
 
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