As I often say, I greatly appreciate those offer positive input, so thanks to those who do. And I'd be lying if I said I was never self-righteous or never put anyone down. I just like to be sure I'm quote unquote "right" when I do. That doesn't necessarily make it my actions commendable. You know...I've read uncountable stories on these forums of woes with our cars, and when folks try to add insult to injury, it's just not cool. Again, I am old enough to be doing much better than I was when I myself was in Jr. High. Back then I would've been crushed. Now, usually a few moments of thought has me understand it psychologically. But, it's all good. What I've learned is when I or others put people down without good cause, it reveals we're not really happy with ourselves. There, my psychological assessment for the day.
As far as your comment about the owner of the car being responsible regardless...no. That would be the case if I built my own motor. But when we hire professionals, especially those who have made a name for themselves, it's *very fair* to assume they will break in the motor properly, as well as give us basic instruction on how to treat the motor in the miles afterward. THAT is why we hired them. Well, that is why we
should be able to hire them. If you have a different opinion of what it means when hiring a pro to build a motor, then that's cool. I know my expectations are far from unreasonable. Why? Because I've had engine builders (including the one working on my car currently) who stands behind his work, and has said "I want to do it right the first time, so I don't have to go back and do it again".
You know, in today's world, no one wants to be responsible for their own mistakes. Watch any drug advertisement on TV, and you'll hear the full list of side effects, and they usually include death. Drug manufacturers want to be able to make a drug and not be held accountable. An engine builder can do the same thing. You sound like you're right there with them. They screw up the break in, no communicate the after break-in precautions, (like those made on a drug TV ad) but blame the user for the damage. Pretty slick. I like that business. What it does, is gives the person who's doing the actual work less and less incentive to do high quality work. And when I complained about it in another post, I caught some flack from people. My motor got thrown together, and was handed off to me without checking, re-torqueing (or even initially torqueing) many bolts. My mechanic discovered more when he was disassembling it to r&r the heads.
We need to get back to a state where people are responsible for their work, and stop blaming the guy who entrusts the professionals. That will give them the incentive to take pride in their work again, double check, make sure it's right, do it again it it's not, properly inform the customer how to treat the motor (just like a doctor informs the patient after surgery), etc. Can you imagine if a patient went back into a doctor's office after their surgery wound became gangrenous, if the doctor gave them no instruction on how to treat the area, and the doctor just said "Oh, you should've known! Treating the area around the incision after surgery has been available on the Internet for years now!"
I asked Nick about the black debris in the oil right when I got the car back. I asked him if that was normal and he said it was. I figured it was normal "fresh rebuild" debris. Nick didn't say a word and I was naïve. I wouldn't have remained naïve if Nick had spoken up. Get it? Everybody who's been so good at quoting me by coloring my posts forgets...they were the same way once too, until they learned. And there's only one way to learn. Ask or read. I tried one, and figured that was sufficient. At the time, I had no reason to doubt Nick. I was mistaken. Highlight that. I couldn't help but notice a lot of key statements I made a day or two ago were not colored in red.
Anyway, who's a good vendor for the different pushrod lengths?
