RE: [Chrysler300] Advice on engine repair

["'John Grady' jkg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [Chrysler300]" <Chrysler300-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Shannon, 

A lot depends on exactly what he did, especially if sourcing F specific
parts...--which really is not in your e mail,  ---but seems 2x to me, B
blocks are not that hard, non F hard parts that wear in them are common to
many engines. Did he have to buy many new specific to 300F parts? A list of
those? Who paid for the 2nd  letter car engine? And how much? 

Balancing? That goes all over the place,  1000 even.

I had to pay 8500 for a "rebuilt" 300D California "pig in a poke" 392 long
block w carbs a few years back...I knew it was a rip off... whole brand new
500HP B blocks or A blocks run on a dyno from Indy engines are less than
that, ---but --how many real 300D engines are out there..?? My 300C had no
engine at all. To add insult to injury, while machining on mine was very
good, ( we took it down to check it) and it was painted up pretty,  he had
hydraulic lifters on the D cam, wrong diameter pushrod ends, some non D WCFB
carbs from a marine app, no pulleys, no starter  etc etc . Built by a good
BBC Chevy marine engine guy, good machinist probably, who apparently knew
nothing about 300D engine specifics. It came out of a long abandoned in a
shed Hemi ski boat.

I got in his face about wrong carbs and pushrods etc , wanted 1000 back, got
no where. In retrospect I turned his very real and obvious ethics problem
into my own personally irritating problem for an extended time, raised BP
for nothing gained at all .  . It is better for your head to walk away, but
put up a sign for others. Maybe a cheap lesson--- to walk away personally
intact with a good engine. Get it in writing, obviously, is one take away.
Or even better,  a person you can really trust, too.

Now that 8500 above is not a  rebuild, that is a rebuild and an engine....a
hemi engine.

It also cost me really a lot to get a good high end rebuild on our special
ram carbs. Can get near 1000$. Scary, --I will think twice maybe next time
on that ..But job Was perfectly done, no complaints, praise even, beautiful
work...I knew the number going in, just a question of real value received.
No ---maybe that is not even the right way to say it. Guy did ~900 worth of
work, did I need that much work on a carburetor pair??. Probably not. I paid
because he did do it. Again --if as good as brand new ones, they  are
comparable to today's new  500$ big AFB, so from that view I guess OK , if
as good as new. They appear brand new. The old screwed up ones with bad
needle seats and loose shafts are not worth much. ---We might think they
are, but not really. They are cores, like the engine going in, to some
degree.

None of this is an explicit answer, but if you ended up with a perfect new
overbored 300F engine, and it performs perfectly, has a warrantee, ---and
you had to buy that,--- that is where it probably is , $ wise--nothing to do
with sad $ path to it ; hope that makes both of us feel a bit better.. But
not by much. And you kicked in at least one engine core. 

Post the guy's name. That is how you fix this. 300F rebuilds at this guy are
10k, lots of tear jerking story goes with it.. approximately 5 k worth. 



-----Original Message-----
From: Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Shannon LabLoverDC@xxxxxxx [Chrysler300]
Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2016 1:22 PM
To: Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Chrysler300] Advice on engine repair

I'm afraid I already know the answer here, but I'm going to ask the group
for any opinions which might help.

Quite some time ago, we took our motor to a reputed old Mopar engine
rebuilding specialist/machine shop for a complete and thorough rebuild.
>From what we could tell at the time, he had excellent credentials, was
reputable, and knew what he was doing.  The project was delayed initially
when we discovered the engine which came with the car (300F) was not the
correct year, but with kind help from Scott Tozzi and Don Verity, we managed
to secure a proper, date correct engine.  Now, finally, the motor is
supposed to be finished, and ready to pick up.

The problem we are having is with the bill (although we don't know how the
engine runs yet).  We were initially quoted $3500 plus parts for a very
thorough rebuild.  Unfortunately, we did not get a written estimate per se,
but instead he gave us a printed flyer he had which described his process
and the price in great detail.  It was one and a half full pages, single
spaced, VERY detailed, described the whole procedure, and even discussed
tolerances, etc..  Basically, it's about all you can do to a normal engine,
at least from my knowledge.  We didn't want any high performance mods--just
a stock, very reliable motor.  We did say we were OK with minor
modifications to enable running on unleaded gas or to create significant
improvements in reliability.

So far, we've given him $4500, and thought we were nearly paid up, but today
he said the motor is ready for pickup, and he wants another $5000!  We
haven't seen the parts bill (I know he put in pistons, and maybe a cam,
which we didn't want), but we were floored.  The initial discussion started
to go south over the phone, so we thought it better to go there in person to
deal with it, which we plan to do on Friday.  His explanation so far is that
the $3500 was a special he was running at the time, but it took a lot longer
than what he thought, so this is his bill.

My belief at this point is that we are getting totally ripped off, but I
don't see any other choice but to pay his price and get our motor back.  I
suppose we would have a weak case in small claims court for the overage (I'm
guessing about $3500-4000, depending on the parts cost), but otherwise I'm
at a loss.  

Does anyone have any better ideas than paying the "ransom?"

As an aside, can anyone tell me what a complete rebuild on a 413 from a 300F
should cost?  I guess if the going rate was about $9K, I wouldn't feel as
bad, but that seems awfully high to me for a normal performance motor.

Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated.

Shannon
300F convertible

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Posted by: Shannon <labloverdc@xxxxxxx>
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Posted by: "John Grady" <jkg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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