Need advice for a friend

[fastlikeanascar]

Okay my buddy asked me to post up & get advice on what some of you guys might think is fair..

He recently bought a GN from a member For lets say upwards of $20,000 I wont say who he is or what car he bought because he is not sure how he wants to handle the situation..

The car was suppose to be well built by a well know Buick performance shop which seller had receipts to back up..

Long story short the car blew a head gasket on a high 11 sec pass which should be nothing based on the fact tht this car is suppose to be capable of low 10's mid 9's... We just could not figure out what went wrong or why it would have done this.. " No adjustments were made to cars tuning what so ever. this also happen with no knock "

So we sent the car to the best buick shop we could find @ least within 400 miles of us.. after pulling the motor apart they stated that the head gasket was already blown, that there was no way he could've caused tht damage on that one run.. the block was worped etc.

They also stated that they cant be positive but this was basically a quick fix to make the car drivable to be able to sell it...

My ? is what would you do if you basically dropped $20,000 + & got to drive a car twice . once on the street & one track run & then some1 tells you
" Man you got Burned "

" Did I forget to Mention They quated $7000 to fix the motor.


My suggestion was park that Mf'er on his front lawn.. now thats me & thats how I handle business, times are to hard to be getting ripped off.

 

[getchasum]

Hate to say it but a 22 year old car would be considered an “As Is” buy unless the seller implied otherwise written. Never really herd of a warp Buick block, maybe deck needs squaring up but that’s part of most any build after a HG failure? How long did he own the car before it went south? Might be worth it to have a consultation w/ an attorney but don’t think he has a leg to stand on.

 

[stack1]

I think the best option is to privately contact the seller to resolve this. Right or wrong, the seller will likely deny any knowledge of the issues. I think the best that your friend can hope for is that the seller will split the cost of the rebuild.

 

[Grumpy]

Hate to say it but a 22 year old car would be considered an “As Is” buy unless the seller implied otherwise written. Never really herd of a warp Buick block, maybe deck needs squaring up but that’s part of most any build after a HG failure? How long did he own the car before it went south? Might be worth it to have a consultation w/ an attorney but don’t think he has a leg to stand on.

I agree with Scott except for the attorney thing .. that would be throwing more godd $$$ after bad .

 

[fastlikeanascar]

He owned the car for about 2 weeks.. but like I said was only able to drive it twice, I think the splitting the cost is fair.. I mean who wants to be over $30,000 in a GN.. Not me :frown: But to late for that

I think it just sucks that you buy something with confidence because so many people vouch for the person & you get burned..

 

[TurboDave]

I'd have to wonder about how in the world repairing a head gasket and squaring up a deck could possibly cost $7,000

Me thinks your friend is going to get the dirty end of the stick again.

But maybe there's a lot more in that rebuild than you mentioned.

 

[mjdwyer23]

Does the bill of sale have an "as-is" statement in it?

 

[stack1]

Does the bill of sale have an "as-is" statement in it?

It doesn't matter. There is no implied warrenty from a private party. There is only a warrenty if it's specifically spelled out in writing. Since this thread exists, it's safe to say that wasn't the case.

 

[TurboRegal84]

As stated in the previous posts your best bet is to contact the seller directly. If he/she is unwilling to help you do not have any grounds to recover the costs from the seller. Who knows? Your friend COULD have put 89 octane in the car and turned he boost up to 31PSI.

Did you friend see/drive the car in person prior to purchasing? Was the car driven to the track? Buying from a private party is tough...it is always buyer beware.

 

[scot w.]

Sounds like a case of a "Lifted head" to me! It probably had a head lift and the gasket started to push out and it eventually went!! In this case Knock doesn't have to be present to do this, BOOST does!!

Your freind bought a beefed up street car capable of 10's-9's and there won't be a warranty with that of corse.

The Previous owner may have not known about this issue either, If he did he won't admit to it now anyway.
AND
The new owner might have went out and slung the sh*t out of it in this cooler weather and lifted a head with the added boost in this weather and won't admit to it either!!


Scot W.

 

[fastlikeanascar]

I'm not sure if the previous owner knew or not. & I'm sure he will never admit it.. But the car runs only C-16 race fuel thats what was in it.. & honestly he didnt get a chance to hotdog it or sling it around..

It was a pretty bad deal all together considering the fact tht its gonna cost so much to fix it.. but we just pulled the motor & are gonna be sending it back to Anderson Perf. this week.

 

[SS_Sean]

I think your buddy is SOL unless he intends on filing a lawsuit. As for the $7000 rebuild, that doesnt make any sense. I spun a bearing in the motor and it cost me about $1500 to put the thing back together.

 

[Johnboy]

Something doesn't seem right for it to cost that much to rebuild??? Who rebuilt it the first time, seeing as he has receipts? I would be giving him and the previous owner a call, doesn't hurt to talk to either. I bet in theses hard times as stated above he could find somebody cheaper to fix/rebuild it.

 

[stunnin6]

not trying to agitate you but i don't think you can hold the shop responsible for the car,they can inform you of how the car was built and what parts went in to the build but if the previous owner abused it and the shop had no knowledge of it, it squarely falls back on to the previous owners shoulders, i wish you good luck and i hope you get it resolved and have an awsome time with the g/n

 

[fastlikeanascar]

Price wise we always get the short end of the stick over here.. I blew & head gasket last week & was quated $1,800 not including if I had to get any head work

Basically there is no1 here to touch the cars so they just try to shaft us.. Literally with no valsoline I mean $116 hr seems a bit much to me for a hourly shop rate. but then you get the speech " these a really special cars & we a certified to fix them no1 else knows them like we do.. blah, blah , blah

 

[SS_Sean]

Price wise we always get the short end of the stick over here.. I blew & head gasket last week & was quated $1,800 not including if I had to get any head work

Basically there is no1 here to touch the cars so they just try to shaft us.. Literally with no valsoline I mean $116 hr seems a bit much to me for a hourly shop rate. but then you get the speech " these a really special cars & we a certified to fix them no1 else knows them like we do.. blah, blah , blah

You pay gas, I would drive there and do it for $500, and you'd still save a thousand bucks!! Haha...HG's are easy, man.

 

[fastlikeanascar]

You pay gas, I would drive there and do it for $500, and you'd still save a thousand bucks!! Haha...HG's are easy, man.

Yeah I've done a couple on my mustang but any time you talk to a shop about buicks they make it seem like your working on a glass house with hands made out of rock..

Sean is there any1 out there tht knows how to tune ? I'd def make the drive for tht..

& thanks for the offer if I run into any problems I'll take you up on the offer.

 

[fastlikeanascar]

& as far as my buddies motor I guess it was built by anderson perf. We just crated it up & plan to send it this week..

 

[87granny]

Did Anderson give you the quote or someone else 7000 should be right for a complete rebuild inc. pistons cutting crank and all does seem steep though

 

[SYTECH]

Previous Owner Was Open & Honest About Condition Of Car Before The Sale

No one wants to invest 20K+ only to have your new dream car blow a head gasket after only 4 runs

This car was sold as a proven 9 second, stockblock stroker

The new owner knew the history of the car

The new owner had every right to take the car to his own shop to verify condition before making an offer to purchase

He could have done a compression test, he could have done a leakdown test, he could have gone to the track and watched the car run, all before deciding to buy

I have known the previous owner for over a year and have watched the car in question out at the local tracks go from 11's, to 10's, down to consistent mid to hi 9's

The car was a beast, and as such, was pushed hard each time it went out

Anderson built the motor in question and the motor lived up to the Anderson pedigree

How long should a built motor last? Who knows

1 run, 10 runs, 300 runs, each car and each driver is different.

Depends upon to many variables

Fuel octane, altitude, tune, air / fuel ratio, boost, timing, driver experience, track conditions, fuel delivery, spark, etc.

In the past 5 years I've had (and raced) a Ford Lightning, a Syclone, a Typhoon, a twin turbo Callaway Corvette, an 87 GN, GNX #485, and currently an 86 GN.

If you push these cars hard, they will eventually break or wear out to the point that they need to be re-built

Do I enjoy replacing parts?...hell no, but if I want to play, I'm gonna pay! eventually

Your lucky, head gasket replacement on a non-AC / heater car is easy compared to a stocker

You bought a proven used race car that had well over 40K put into it over the years and unfortunately one of the safety valves (head gaskets) went out shortly after you took ownership and made a couple of runs

While it sucks to spend money on top of money, atleast you got to break the motor down enough to discover any other worn, wearing, or broken parts.

If this car went mid nines in its current condition (as your friend implies "was broken or damaged before you bought it"), think of how fast it MAY be once everything is freshened up by Anderson again.

There was no shady dealing here, no one tried to hide anything, and the previous owner is well known and respected in the buick community

The previous owner has no obligation to pay or even offer to pay for half of any repairs for damage that was incurred after the sale, unless that was part of the original sales agreement

Not to many RACE cars are sold with a warranty, so don't cry foul just because of the unfortunate timing of the blown headgaskets.

I thought my car was fast, but my car will never see the 9's. I may have hit 10.72 at 125 mph but the car you bought scared the hell out of me. There was no comparison to the in your face power difference

You got one hell of a proven race car for a great price. Get it fixed to your liking and lets see you push it to the low 9's. Learn the car, clean it, wrench on it, discover any and all faults, fix them according to your schedule and budget

Best of luck with your re-build, and post up some pictures of your time slips when you hit your 1st deep 9

Regards,

Ray