1999 Longhorn Nautique Restoration Thread

That made me laugh! Very true!

Gary S wrote: DHMcFadin wrote: . For those of you that don't know what Jumpers are I guess you post on planet nautique first

Horns:

Damn fine work. Hopefully y'all will be able to cruise around the lake before summer ends -- looking for those burnt-orange-bikini-clad U of T coeds...

JQ

Cool picture. How was it decided who got the boat?

Hey D, any updates?

Bad news: The engine. About two weeks after the dyno run, the engine arrived. At first glance, there were a few cosmetic and wiring items that needed to be cleaned up but nothing terrible. I attributed this to the engine builder being older and not so attentive to aesthetics. Regardless, I was already planning on stripping the engine for a nice paint job, powder coating the valve covers, rebuild the holley terminator harness to fit this engine like a glove, and finally, to swap the intake manifold. What I found as I started taking things apart floored me. I'll let the picture speak for themselves. When the builder was sending me pictures, I noticed that the O2 sensor appeared extremely close to the left hand valve cover. I pointed this out and he told me that despite the picture, there was clearance. When I removed the left hand exhaust manifold, I found out where he got his clearance from. The guy ground a hole through the valve cover. I could see one of the rocker arms through the hole. Not only that, but oil was dripping into the crevice between the exhaust manifold and head. Before I took anything else apart I started taking detailed photos. As I inspected further, I found the following:

Mutilated efi harness with bare, un-terminated wires throughout. Bare soldered wires only covered with electrical tape, no heat shrink. He did a decent job of concealing the cluster of wiring by wrapping everything in techflex. When I took all the techflex off, it got ugly quick.

Rear seal had oil pooling around the bottom edge which then started leaking onto the floor of my garage

Head fasteners/ bolts were reused from the original 20 year old engine. A complete ARP set costs 100 bucks. He reused the original 20 year old fasteners. I started wondering what other components and fasteners he reused.

But here is the big one:

He ground the hole in the valve cover with the valve cover on the engine. Instead of manning up and having the exhaust riser replaced and remachined, he ground a hole in the valve cover for clearance. When I pulled the holley high ram off, I noticed a couple silver specs in the valleys and crevices next to the push rods. It was aluminum shavings. I started finding them all over. I then proceeded to remove the left hand valve cover. Aluminum shavings and shards everywhere. When I received this engine, it had about 15 hours of dyno time on it. 15 hours with metal shaving floating around. At this point my heart sank.

I continued taking pictures and documenting in detail everything I found. I then brought this to the attention of the engine builder, sent pics, detailed observations, etc. Literally his first words out of his mouth were "you are running a scam, that engine left my shop just fine". Then he told me that if I wanted the engine that nice, he would have charged me a lot more. Finally, he said the only part he would replace was the valve cover with the hole in it. I continued to confront him but it was no use. He proceeded to block my phone number. I sent emails and called and text a few more times. No response. Long story short, I've had the engine broken down by a local restoration shop to professionally document every single wire, scratch, metal shaving etc. I also sent the oil off to be analyzed for bearing material. Finally, I have obtained an attorney and am taking this guy to court. Damage plus cost of labor to rebuild is about 10k. I am livid to the say the least. This guy screwed me. DO NOT hire Bob Lloyd of Spicewood, Texas for any engine work.

Famous saying : “Trust but verify”. So sorry for your issues.

Wow, that’s awful. He claims you’re running a scam? What kind of scam would that be? Tear up a newly rebuilt engine to get a few bucks back? I hope you’re able to get your money out of him.

67 ski nat wrote: Unbelievable. What did he think would happen when oil started pouring out of hole He is no engine builder   Just bizarre really

Even crazier, once he blocked me, I sent the engine off to begin it's independent inspection. This inspection documented the oil shavings, old head bolts, broken and scratched parts, mutiliated efi harness, etc. I sent Bob a certified letter with a breakdown of the problems and items damaged. While this letter was on it's way, he sent me an email stating "I would like for you to bring the engine back to me along with a list of your issues and give me a chance to rectify them. Considering the world health crisis we are now in, and it appears we are approaching the end of time. We’ve had fires, floods and earthquakes, now a pandemic. The bible predicted all of this."

I showed my attorney this email and he recommended I not let this guy touch another thing on this engine. Had it just been aesthetic issues, maybe. But it was so much more than that. Metal shavings in the valleys of the head? Really? I lost all trust in this guy the second I saw those metal shavings. I'd be a moron to take it back to him.

A day later, he officially received the certified letter. He responded to that letter with a completely different attitude by sending ME an invoice for additional services and then saying that if I did not pay within 30 days, he would report me to the credit bureaus? Not even kidding, here's an example of the items on the "post delivery" invoice.
"diagnostic for wiring of IAC" $120.00 The IAC was BRAND NEW and plug and play to the Holley EFI harness. He was the one who hacked up the harness in the first place.
"consultation and technical advice after hours" $200.00 That was him telling me about progress on the engine.
"post engine tuning testing" $1500.00
"cost of water for dyno" $35.00

So at this stage, the engine breakdown and inspection are complete. Now I am waiting on the oil test to come back. As soon as I get this back, we will be proceeding legally.

It does keep me up at night. I have spent some much time ensuring that every single piece of this boat is perfect. Literally spared no expense on this thing. Sucks when others don't care about their work.

That's just an awful story. You have to wonder, has he always been a hack, and if so how did he last in business this long? Or is he losing it and cutting corners? Frustrating to say the least.

Good luck with the legal action and getting the engine back into new rebuilt condition.

Horns:

Dude, that drama with your engine just sux. I really feel bad for you. Hopefully, it all works out in the end. Your mechanic sounds like a hack. It's bad karma to mess with CCF people...

JQ

sport1999 wrote: You should pick this up for a spare. https://tampa.craigslist.org/pnl/bpo/d/pinellas-park-marine-eng-58-efi/7117394891.html Sorry to hear about the engine.

That looks like a great deal.

rosconole wrote: I know that dealer proceed with caution .

Dominic,
A thought crossed my mine and I too am thinking proceed with caution. Before you continue investigating what this hack did on your engine, you may want to talk to your lawyer. He may want the independent engine shop to continue with the investigation rather than yourself? Whos knows what this guy will come up with in court? He may say you did the damage and planted the metal chips? Just saying!

DHMcFadin wrote: Thank you and good point. Fortunately the inspection was completed last week by the independent shop. Everything is documented in detail in a 5 plus page invoice. The owner of the shop has dozens of photos to accompany the inspection. All I am waiting for at this moment is the oil test results from Blackstone.

Gary S wrote: I had a very similar thing happen many years ago with a VW transaxle. Lawyer had me get the car out of there in boxes and take it to a dealer. 7K in todays money is what it took to get it back together so I took him to court. Just before we went into the court both lawyers wanted to settle the case- he steadfastly refused. Judge asked his mechanic how did you learn to work on these,he said he watched the companies training videos, He then asked the VW mechanic how did you learn, he spent a week in class taking them apart and putting them back together. Case closed! Got my money,he ended up going out of business all for a torque converter seal and not taking responsibility. You have a very good case sadly it will take time to play out.

That is reassuring. I believe this will all work out the way it should. I am sure this isn’t the first this guy has done something like this.

ArtCozier wrote: I haven;t taken time to read all of the posts, but thought I should throw in my contribution in the form of my 2 cent's worth. I rebuild marine transmissions for "play money" after having spent almost 50 years working for Correct Craft. My advice: If you are going to up the hp, set the 40 series transmission aside and get a Series 80. The 40 was built in Italy and there are no longer repair parts available for it.. The 80 is built in the USA by the Velvet Drive division of Richmond Gear. It is a much tougher tranny than the 40.

Thanks, I will move to an 80 series but I figure I can use this perfectly good 40 series for the time being. I imagine there isn’t much resale value on the 40a but I could be wrong.