Give J.B. a break guys. He really is a good man a one of the few guys out there making custom buick components. The Car Craft motor made nearly 600 hp with the big carb and I didn't see any threads on how terrible this was. Maybe some of us would like to add power with some heads and not tear out a good motor for months at a time. Before I knew about people splitting blocks I was spraying my 69' into the 10s with a 300hp system for years. Never lost a block or a TRW piston. Jim designed a very nice pan to prevent cap movement. When it gets to that point he can always do that. At $940 for block work shipping and $500 girdle I have felt the pain of the added insurance. Only positive comments please!!! I'd like to hear about this motor.
Since the concern started over a converter problem I thought I would post a reply. Looks like the same old sh_t that happens when a customer has a problem but doesn't let the supplier know about it, just gets mad about it. I used a SP converter that Jim B. made for me in a very hostile environment. I built a car to race in a local heads up street car shoot out several years ago but still drive on the street and run brackets without the nitrous system on. I was having a problem getting enough converter to launch the car on engine alone without blowing through the converter when the nitrous was on. Jim B. offered me a 1 year warranty on one of his custom built switch pitch 4500 stall units with a steel hub even after hearing the application, motor made 814HP 826 ft. lbs. at 5900RPM with 225 horse nitrous jets missing one intake lobe on the cam while on the dyno (cam was replaced under warranty by Comp). I used the converter for just over a year when I finally broke it ( go figure ) I called and talked to Jim knowing that I was past the end of the warranty, Jim charged me half price to replace with new converter and had it from Texas to Michigan in 3 days so I could make Norwalk race that year after hurting it the weekend before. Car weighed 3850lbs. ran on 28x13.5 hoosier quik time pros and went 142 mph threw the traps with a burned up rear thrust bearing in the trans, a fresh trans made the car go from 117 to 125 mph on motor alone, never sprayed it again, looked like it would have gone 150+ on spray with the new trans, class was too far advanced to be competitive anymore and didn't see any reason to take the risk of going that fast in a car not built for that speed. I know this post is long but didn't know how to condense the story. I wouldn't hesitate to use one of Jim B's converters again for a second, I was treated very well and he did stand behind his product, better than I would have expected. I would call PAE direct to buy one of his converters built to your needs instead of getting an off the shelf unit from a supplier, same with any converter should be built to spec not ordered from stock. Sounds like a simple phone call could have solved lots of bad feelings here.
Re: obligatory picture post.... :laugh: ROTFLMAO:TU: What's really ashame is that it's not the vendors that cause the problem, it's us. Some people read waaaayyyy to far into some of these posts. I look at every thread or post from a vendor as a new page in my Buick encyclopedia.
Ok iam going to clear this up once and for all.Iam the customer that Jim B built that engine for.I had a few parts that i bought over the years,wildcat intake,front timing cover from ta ect... At first it was going to be an all cast iron engine. But after he built the bottom end and was close to finishing the heads,porting ect... He came across some stage 2 heads from t TA. So he offered me these and i decided to just go for it.I was going to run the hemi killer cam but a duel pattern cam was going to work better with the iron heads.So i picked the cam from TA 290-08hl . I thuoght it was strong enough as i was hoping for aroung maybe 525-550 horse. It just so happens that it turned out alot stronger . So now its at that border of too much power for the bottom end. But this was done on a budget and i went for the stage two heads so that cost me more money as we all know.
I just did'nt have the extra bucks to girdle the bottom end. Jim has always been a good person with me so no complaints here. Jims always open to speak on the phone,or email . if there is any problem iam hopeful and confident he'd take care of it right away. David
David You'll be happy with the motor I'm sure....You have potential to add power as the budget allows too. I've seen 700+ HP Buicks run to 7000 RPM and live WITHOUT a girdle and I've seen 650 HP Buicks come apart despite having a girdle......
Ummm......wouldn't the BPG board be a good place to put that information ?? Thats not Jim's board .. Thats Our board .....problem is, we never seem to use it o No:
You know guys I tried to stayed out of this as I call threads like this, "gossip columns". Sorry Dave no intentions on just picking you out, but the above quote is what think is wrong and yes there are others in this thread that are also as wrong. First off guys, Board Members speak of freedom of speech to speak out. Yes it's good and correct but Freedom Of Speech doesn't give you the right to scream fire in a movie theater. So goes when a vendor posts about his product it doesn't give the right for one person or more to totally rip into him. Sure if you had a bad experience (and most on this board had them, me included) you don't attack the vendor like he just killed a family member. Reasonable proper protocol would be to contact the vendor in question privately and see if something can be worked out. Once you cry wolf publicly you should then expect to get nothing in return and rightfully so. Emotions can run high and what should be done first is to cool off regroup and then go and talk to the vendor. If it was a past bad experience and now a vendor posts information and you rip into the vendor, well in my professional opinion, "Shame on you". Your wrong going on the attack. You had your problem in the past and should have dealt with it and moved on. If you feel that upset about it then place a short post of; "I disagree with what was said if you like to hear more call me etc." Unless obviously you were scammed and now your trying to warn people. And being scammed doesn't mean being dissatisfied with a product. I had three experiences with vendors regarding my Buick. When my engine blew up at Norwalk after 8 passes in 2003, I was inside fuming to a boil over. I was pissed at my engine builder as we found the problem. I was ranting to Doug Hecker at the time about this and it wasn't nice (not realizing I was wrong on my badmouthing). Thank God for good friends because Doug Hecker and John Csordas calmed me down and John telling me to first go back to your engine builder and talk with him, not yell rant and rage, but talk like a normal person should. Well I did. As it turned out it was a machine shop error on the crank and my engine builder went to bat and fought with the machine shop getting me entirely redone race prepped block & crank for zero bucks. Also he is working with me (a mutual agreement) on redoing the engine eating some of the costs. In this case it was something he never could have prevented yet instead of leaving my ass out in the wind he worked with me on getting things back together. I am extremely please with that. And extremely please I didn't let my emotions take over and start bad mouthing otherwise I would have gotten nothing plus I would have lost a good friend. I find that with the internet sites we ALL at times type before we think, and sometimes that can really cause a problem. My other problem was an engine builder years back who built me a short block. I assembled the rest and perfectly dotted my I's cross my t's, the engine wiped out all the cam bearing on break in. I called him and he said and I quote, "I don't know what to tell you guy." He didn't even want to see it, nothing, he got his money and that was it. It turned out he installed the front cam bearing incorrectly, At that time (back in mid 80's) I didn't know that could be a problem. There was also another vendor who after cashed my check for parts he claimed he had in stock told me after 3 months they were discontinued, then on a check refund, his check bounced! These two bad experiences I won't preach on the board. If I saw someone was going to use them I would PM them and speak one on one without the 2 cent'rs that love to throw wood on a fire. So if there was a problem with JB and a customer, that customer should contact him directly see if the problem can be corrected. Otherwise if I were a vendor and a mistake was made on a customer and he went off emotionally ripping into me I would give him squat. Just like JB, JW, Charlie E, Mike T/A, Stage 1 etc all of them, they all will make mistakes from time to time most if not all are unexpected, unseen. The huge difference is how you the customer and you the vendor handle the problem. As with the different ways and choice on building an engine. Well again that is up to the customer and the vendor. I can see two major types. Either method should not be bashed, as each holds its own merrit. a. Customer with a tight budget asked to have a big HP engine built lets say at that 600 hp figure. Vendor "A". may say hey you need a block girdle, lifter girdle, filled block etc. Otherwise you run the risk of dropping the crank or lifter bores. The budget minded customer tells the builder he doesn't want to go for the extra bucks, that he has heard of engines running over 600 hp w/o girdles and all that expensive stuff. Vendor "A" then says well I don't build engines that way it is wrong and he may actually turn away that customer. B. Same situation but Vendor "B" says, well I would recommend you doing it as good insurance but yes there are engines out there w/o the girdle, block fill, etc that are running strong, if you still want it your way I'll build it for you. Anotherwards some will stick to their own beliefs and not do it and other will do what the customer stresses for whether they fully agree on it or not. Now before you try to flame me saying that I dislike JB that he doesn't care about customers, IN WHICH YOU WOULD BE ENTIRELY WRONG. Scotty of PG Performance whom I consider the best of the best of the Buick engine builders holds this practice. He will actually tell you to your face your nuts if you do it this way and tell you up front you may run the risk of engine failure, but in the end if you stress you want it this way, he may still build it your way, and a damn good one too. But he'll give you his opinion freely and building it your way he will tell you don't come back crying to me. And there is NOTHING wrong with this. Two types, you as the customer has to choose, hence the V8 Board and other Boards, to ask question, NOT to flame or discredit. Ask me a question on a vendor on any Board and I'll only answer you with a PM followed with a telephone call. Otherwise your going to get generic, "their pretty good" answer on the Boards. I will not state who is bad, they are all good at their work. Another point: Engine builders posting what they offer in services with prices. That is good, some do it on this Board others have their own web site. I have always asked vendors regarding the BPG Newsletter that I will freely post what they have to offer as with specials, serves, etc. Very few replied, maybe because what they see what may happen on the various Boards, and I mean various Boards, as we seen in the V-8, GSCA, Turbobuick and BPG Boards it happens in all of them. I always stress that not one man can attempt to control the Newsletter or dictate who and what goes inside. So let this be a notice, if anyone EVER grumbles or worse publically or behind the scenes state that the newsletter sides with one vendor or picks and chooses who gets their stuff listed will have a HUGE problem with ME to deal with. As editor I may at times have an issue that is lame nothing good, it happens, but I take this position extremely serious I keep the newsletter fair and open and free to speak providing your not screaming fire in a theater. Lastly, and again Dave, sorry, Yes it's Jim's Board, Yes Jim basically lit the fire for the start of the BPG and the BPG Board, and Yes Jim does have his own views and at time freely speaks it. But so do others on this Board, and Yes I agree that it is not always the correct thing to do. But I give you a big NO when it comes to that statement that Jim controls the Board because it's his. That is a pretty broad statement and heavy comment. Being on the inside I see and hear a lot, and this couldn't be further from the truth. And as far as the others not posting as much or not at all, such as Charlie E, Finishline, Mike P. Well I know that there are a few different reasons and I will not go posting them, though I will always talk on the phone with ya. On closing here guys, after reading the posts on this thread and the other two flaming threads I see the problem not being the vendors as much as it is by the many guys that throw in their own comments which continue to feed the fire, some intentional and some not. Case in point is your quote Dave, which could VERY easily drag the thread into a GSCA, BPG bashing. Because it is not a secret that both Charlie E. and JW do not see eye to eye and each one is sort of an icon of each of the two clubs. So you can see how easy it is for this thread bashing to start up and escalate. Dave I have been guilty in the past of this just like most everyone on this Board and other Boards. But Dave I'm trying, I'm trying real hard. I suggest we all should do the same. Best Regards, Rick Martinez editor: BPG- Build Sheet Northeast GS/GN Club - Legend 845-228-9894 845-228-9895 24-hr fax Dave does this still mean I'll get my mail on time:grin:
Holy Smokes.. Went thru a whole bag of popcorn reading that one Rick.. And although Charlie and I are not drinking buddies, we agree more than disagree on engine stuff. Club thing is prolly the biggest difference between us. I am quite sure that Charlie/Mike Phillips build very good engines ... Mike Phillips and I get along just fine. Just spoke with him a week or so ago. Topic was about a potential customer of mine on the resto side, that Mike had built the engine for, and Mike did not want to put it together because it was honed without a torque plate.. so they had to get another block, and it took a little longer.. and I was curious on how that whole deal played out. But in the end it was fine. JW PS.. Look for your completed STG1 TE heads in two weeks.. three at the most.. Barring any unexpected delays.. Chips are flying.. :TU:
