My Experience with Motor & Trans Build by Nick Micale

Status
Not open for further replies.
I don't see how bringing personal matters that he possibly told you in pvt into this has any relevance. Just saying.

I agree with this statement. Regardless of the facts of this situation bringing someone's personal life into a discussion like this is classless. The OP brought in the facts as he sees them and I feel like the other party involved should be able to dispute the facts that were presented by the OP but bringing in things from the OP's personal life is anything but professional.
 
ok so nothing at this point can make you happy? so in other words ur simply whining now. u need to grow up and get over it and if u think everything is gonna go ur way wen trying to build a TR then you have picked the wrong car to modify and u haven't even scratched the surface of wat it takes to build a FAST car and next time don't buy a POS car to start with.

Great question...but that's not the purpose of this post. It's simply feedback so others will be informed. But to answer your question - I already answered that a few posts back...that Nick send me the motor I asked for, which has ported heads, I just remembered...the cam I wanted (larger than he thinks he put in; 206/206), and reimbursement for the probably 40 hours of time I've spent troubleshooting all off Nick's shoddy workmanship. I have a significant oil leak I still can't figure out (after probably spending 10 hours trying). I'm just hoping it's the oil pan gasket. My fear is it's coming from the back of the block...possibly the rear main seal. It might be...I see oil coming from that area. It's hard to know if it's getting flung back from the wind.

But that's not practical, so this isn't a matter of making me happy. I didn't get the motor I wanted, and so now I either have to live with it, or decide whether I want to dump another $3K into it to get the ported heads, cam, and resolve the oil leak. And let's not forget...it's still not running right. I'm making serious progress, but it still needs to be dialed in.
 
Last edited:
I don't see how bringing personal matters that he possibly told you in pvt into this has any relevance. Just saying.

So it is ok for him to outright call me a crook? The facts that I mentioned are relevant as this info is in the public record, and it demonstrates that he is strapped for cash.

I have done some stuff stupid in life, but have never been arrested for anything, much less being a crook or thief.

In my early days, at least an ass-kicking would be in order if someone would be stupid to say that face-to-face.

Keyboard give the wimps a lot of bravado that they cannot back up.

You guys have fun with this thread, I will have someone do the talking for me where it counts, which is not here! :)
 
ok so nothing at this point can make you happy? so in other words ur simply whining now. u need to grow up and get over it and if u think everything is gonna go ur way wen trying to build a TR then you have picked the wrong car to modify and u haven't even scratched the surface of wat it takes to build a FAST car and next time don't buy a POS car to start with.

Wasn't part the reason he brought the car to a "expert" to have all the issues the car had resolved??? Which he got charged for but the work wasn't done!

And whats the guy gonna do now .. do you really expect him to believe or trust any work that was done or anything that could be done ?? Really ?

I mean .. 1 mistake shame on you. 2nd mistake .. Shame on you.. 3rd mistake shame on me!

I cant even believe how complacent some of you guys are.
 
Wasn't part the reason he brought the car to a "expert" to have all the issues the car had resolved??? Which he got charged for but the work wasn't done!

And whats the guy gonna do now .. do you really expect him to believe or trust any work that was done or anything that could be done ?? Really ?

I mean .. 1 mistake shame on you. 2nd mistake .. Shame on you.. 3rd mistake shame on me!

I cant even believe how complacent some of you guys are.

I'm going to say no. It was brought to him to do the worked they both agreed on. Now if additional things needed to be fixed it would need to be discussed between both parties and determined if it will be fixed or not and how much it's going to cost.

The one and only item that should be in question is the fuel pump imop. Other then that..



What work was he charged for but didn't get?

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
 
So it is ok for him to outright call me a crook? The facts that I mentioned are relevant as this info is in the public record, and it demonstrates that he is strapped for cash.

I have done some stuff stupid in life, but have never been arrested for anything, much less being a crook or thief.

In my early days, at least an ass-kicking would be in order if someone would be stupid to say that face-to-face.

Keyboard give the wimps a lot of bravado that they cannot back up.

You guys have fun with this thread, I will have someone do the talking for me where it counts, which is not here! :)

I do think the OP was over the line when he called you a crook to begin with but that does not condone personal attacks in my opinion. By all means dispute his story if you have facts to back it up, but don't resort to 3rd grader playground attacks because that only makes you look unprofessional.
 
I'm going to say no. It was brought to him to do the worked they both agreed on. Now if additional things needed to be fixed it would need to be discussed between both parties and determined if it will be fixed or not and how much it's going to cost.

The one and only item that should be in question is the fuel pump imop. Other then that..



What work was he charged for but didn't get?

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

Re-read the post and look at his invoice..

Was the car tuned when it left?
 
I would love to hear from that engine builder who pmed you. No need to hide imop.

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk


I'm not sure you want to bring more fuel to this fire .. It would get pretty silly quickly for your friend.. Leave it alone .. Some dogs bark .. But some dogs bite
 
Tune as needed I see that

Nick charges 1k for a R&R.

Tune as needed to me is different from your tune as needed.

Basic sensor setup, fuel pressure, chip, etc would be as needed.

Now if it was a line, $250 for tune then yes i have issues with that. But knowing he charges 1k for the Ř&R of the engine I'm going basic tune setup


Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
 
I'm not sure you want to bring more fuel to this fire .. It would get pretty silly quickly for your friend.. Leave it alone .. Some dogs bark .. But some dogs bite

Bring it...

As of right now you can't even call this a fire.

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
 
Many years ago i experienced the same thing with a known shop in Texas which is not longer in business ( i will never mention any names).
i would see charges of "shop tools, misc" on my receipts and other crap..but who is the ONE who chose to go back and spend money... ME,.. who was the one whining?... ME..
guess what i did..

I READ, RESEARCHED, and LEARNED KNOWLEDGE ON THESE TR6
 
what fire? more like a smoke screen to me.... maybe next time the OP will realize it actually costs $$$$MONEY$$$$ to build a fast car and apparently he thought he was gonna spend very little and get a LOT. doesn't work like that.

and apparently ur really confused on what "Experts" are paid to do. they are NOT payed to fix every little issue you have on some POS car you bought unless YOU specifically state exactly what u want fixed.

the OP creates a thread calling Nick a "crook" and now he wants to get all righteous when someone calls out his BS! if he doesn't want ppl insulting him or his lack of intelligence then don't call well known and proven vendors crooks cause you happen to be a fukn idiot!!

I'm not sure you want to bring more fuel to this fire .. It would get pretty silly quickly for your friend.. Leave it alone .. Some dogs bark .. But some dogs bite
 
After 30 years of working on many thousand of turbo Buicks, building about 1000 turbo engines and dealing with many thousands of customers in the US and abroad I never had a worse "customer from hell" that could never be satisified?

This "self-proclaimed" expert obtained has extensive knowledge from owning a GN years ago. I do not want to bash Terry as he has lots of stress in his life with a divorce, bankruptcy, a failing business and trying to raise a young son, but I do want to clarify our relationship which started out well, and went down hill as his stress level increased.

As always, he had a written estimate of work to be performed and it included detail pricing.

When his car was finished he had a balance of $2262.50. He want to take possession of the car, so I agreed to a notarized Promissory Note which he signed on May 11, 2015, so he was clearly aware and agreed to the billing.

He test drove the car here and then loaded it for his trip home.

After a few hundred miles he was not happy with the trans so I shipped him a fresh one and paid for a shop there to install it, and ship back the old one.

He had a few other "issues" we discussed which may or may not be from my work or his tinkering?

Yes, I became completely fed up with his whining and figured would leave my Promissory note in the drawer where it belongs, and was willing to forgo it.

However, with his allegations in public, especially calling me a crook, has driven me to obtain legal help in Colorado to enforce the note as well as slander.

When I read the note last night, I just had to smile based upon part of what he signed:

"EXPENSES. In event any payment under this Note is not paid when due, the Maker agrees to pay in addition to the principle and interest hereunder, reasonable attorneys' fees not exceeding a sum equal to 15% of the outstanding balance owing on the note, plus all other reasonable expenses incurred by Payee in exercising any of its rights and remedies upon default."

Well Nick, it's about time you've showed up. And I'm really not surprised you've announced a nice detail of my personal life's challenges. There's real respect there, to be broadcasting my personal life to everyone. It just shows how your intent is to hurt me. My intent has never been to hurt you, only to inform the TR Community and make them aware so they understand that there's a possibility they may have happen to them what's happened to me. I would think if a person is going to spend ten thousand dollars on a relatively basic engine and trans rebuild, with only some of the base internal upgrades, one would expect quite a stellar outcome. What I got was the polar opposite of that.

And now, what I finally get from you, is a broadcast of the personal hardships that I chose to confide with you in private. But more importantly, you spin my perfectly legitimate complaints into "whining". Let me assure everyone on this board who's judged me, that if you had had my experience with Nick Micale, you would take back every word of what you've said. Shame on you, and shame on you Nick.

Nick, I look forward to seeing you in court. As you know, I took a myriad of pictures, and sent you uncountable emails as this all unfolded from DAY 1. I will surely be presenting all of that in court. And you're forgetting one thing. James told me you tried to put in a used transmission from a previous customer!!! James specifically told me that a customer had returned a trans that he had previously built for him, but "decided to go a different route". But you reduce it to "he wasn't happy with it, so I sent him a new one". But that was only after you first lied about it, and claimed you grabbed the wrong transmission. You're welcome to compose a message as you have, but you are a crook...there is no doubt. The fact is plain - you tried scamming me by gambling and putting in a used trans that you thought was good, and taking me for $1,800!!! I'm sure the court will enjoy seeing all the photos I took of that trans (many of which I sent you), showing a trans that looks nowhere close to freshly rebuilt. What trans builder wouldn't clean the outside casing? How is it even possible (even if your lie was true) that you could have made the mistake to "grab the wrong transmission", when it was clearly filthy as hell? You just were not thinking on that one. I'll give you a tip: Next time you try scamming someone, at least clean the outside of the part, so it looks rebuilt to the naked eye. And if you come up with a lie, make it so that anyone who's not legally mentally handicapped or blind can see right through it. Because only an idiot would buy that one. You've insulted your intelligence big time on that one, along with your integrity.

And I've got lots of good photos of the trans pan with a ton of black debris in it... one or two weeks after I got the car back (when you sent the new cast pan, thinking that was the cause of the leak). So this, "I wasn't happy with the trans" statement...have to shake my head on that one. Again - you are a crook.

The motor was literally leaking all over the place the morning after I parked it in the garage. It's one thing to have some bolts needed re-torqueing. Nope...I discovered that virtually all the valve cover and oil pan bolts were only hand tightened. I cannot emphasize how loose they were. They had only been put on with one's hand to begin with. Two 4" oil puddles, and 3 or 4 other small ones toward the front of motor. And the trans was leaking like a sieve...4" puddle of fluid. Again, this is 9 a.m. - morning 1, after driving it once, probably 2-4 miles max after trailering it from Phoenix to Colorado.

And you know full-well that I wanted fully ported heads. You know that I spoke of getting Champion Irons. Why it was so cheap on the invoice, I wasn't about to argue about it, but that's why I kept asking you about it on the phone. And every time I brought it up, you would just say "they'll be ported", or something to that effect, and move on to the next subject. Red flag city. But instead of cluing in to how important the porting was to me, you didn't care about my needs as a customer...you just wanted to get off the phone, often telling me how busy you were. Here's how it should've gone: "Terry, it's very obvious you want your heads fully ported. We can do that, but it'll cost you $x (say what...$900?). That will take some time. I'll have to send them out to be done, and it might add a couple months until your car is ready. Is that okay?" See Nick, you don't get it. I've had two (2) people PM me who are waiting for you to make good on port work as we speak! One has been waiting several months! So now I think I get it. You knew that to have the port work done would add a lot of time to my job, and you wanted to do my job quickly. So you just said "yes" to porting, thinking I'd never know. So yes, come to Colorado and bring your attorneys.

And briefly - we had probably 15 communications about the fuel pump and related cutting-out issue. You gave me every assurance that it had a DW300 fuel pump in it. As a result, I spent probably 25-30 hours troubleshooting, with the assumption it had that DW pump in it. I've got the photo (which I've posted on this thread) of how that tank hadn't been opened in years. As I've said repeatedly ,you "banked" on me flipping my car as I told you I might shortly after I got it back. You figured I'd never find out about the FP, so you said "screw putting in a few pump, he'll never know. And when I asked you and Dennis to tune it to 17 psi, but got it home and it was (and the boost gauge was curiously not hooked up), it all makes perfect sense: You knew it couldn't handle 17 psi...you learned it was cutting out

And when you attempt this court action, I'll be presenting my vast wealth of evidence, emails, photographic and my testimony of all your promises. And of course I have the right to ask the court to have you reimburse me for any court or attorney's fees I incur as well.

Personally, I'd consider yourself fortunate you received the $8,313 you did receive...considering the horrifically sloppy job you did in literally throwing my project together.

Slander? I'm not aware of any laws that prevent one speaking the absolute truth about someone. This is one of the things I respect about our country. It doesn't serve you well, but that's surely not my fault...that's all you Mr. Micale.

And for all those that think I'm whining. Keep reminding me of that. And when you spend over $8K on a build, and it comes back with a bevy of problems, I'd really love to see how positive you stay...when it actually happens to you. And when you complain, and someone flips that into whining...well, you'll know - they're just being computer tough guys. Just let me remind everyone - this wasn't paying a shop $49 for a wheel alignment and the car wasn't aligned well. This was $10,375 of work... Anyone that knows me, knows I'm well on the high side of being a positive-minded person (including Nick). Point being - my complaints are beyond valid.

Anyway Nick. Come to Colorado. I'll wait to get served the court hearing notice. You have my address. And I will get right on preparing the wealth of evidence supporting my justification for not paying you. What's interesting, is I couldn't help but notice you haven't mentioned a word about the head porting...or really any specifics on any other real issues. Or is hand-tightened bolts your standard protocol for the oil pan and valve cover bolts and even a header bolt? Any comment there? Let me guess - you forgot to do that too? Because it's on the invoice, just like the DW pump. And that's like a checklist. Weren't too thorough with the checking, obviously.
 
OP you are sharing too much info if this ends up going to court.. i would suggest all parties to end the online feud and handle this in court.
 
That CL ad (which was what...5-6 months ago now?) was only when I had discovered the smallest issues like all the oil leaks and the transmission. And he made good on the transmission, as I have stated in my original feedback comments. I discovered the fuel pump 2-3 weeks ago. I discovered the pistons and lack of port work yesterday. At the time I wrote the ad, and aside from the parts, the motor itself appears to be well built. If Nick's claim of having built "about 600" TR motors is anything close to true, then it should be.

So nice try, but no, I wasn't coming close "doing the same thing as Nick". I'm nowhere close to Nick in that regard. I'll be changing my signature momentarily, now that you've reminded me that's something I need to do. And be assured if/when I sell the car, it will be described 100% accurately. The last thing I would ever do is claim forged pistons and ported heads since I now know it doesn't have them. Sigh...

More like 4-6 weeks ago max on that CL add...For someone who has had 5 TR's you have a lot to learn about these cars. Oh and yes you can change out the cam with the engine in the car...Wow

Wish I had that CL add.... Maybe bring it to court with you if it goes that far, but that would hurt your case. You have been trying to dump the car for 5-6 months knowing it had issues. It didn't sell like you planned and now you want to bring this all up. Glad you didn't get a chance to dump your problem on someone else.
 
i would suggest everyone try to work it out out of court or at least mediation .if you go to court the attorneys and the judge will not have a clue what anyone is talking about or what reasonable is .and the only winners will be the attorneys .work out a solution put the emotions in your pocket give up a little and work things out . its not worth court unless you can handle it in small claims
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top