beavisr1

I'm trying to find out if anyone is in the same boat I'm in? I paid in full for HKE to build a long block 402 almost 2 years ago. I have a ton of saved emails with empty promises that my motor is almost complete and will be shipped shortly. The last email I received from Erik last week (2/5) said he would send it out ASAP and update me daily on the progress, I’ve not heard from him since.

regorih

Dam sorry to hear that, you must not that be in that much of a rush because I would raise hell after 2 months

kromberg

D@mn..... 2 years. I would have been screaming bloody murder after six months. Any good engine builder can turn around a motor in that time frame no matter how complicated. Plus paying full put front is never a good idea. Most good builders I know of want have up front and half when completed. That gives the builder good motivation to finish the motor in a timely manor. Good luck, but my gut feeling is that you might be SOL.

b16gsr

Exactly, never pay in full that is crap.

The builder we use turns them around in a week to 10 days.

Blitzkrieg

2 Years?? I would have blown a gasket after 2-3 months! Is there another side to the story perhaps?

There is absolutely no excuse that exists for a 2 year motor build! Very Sorry to hear you go through this crap

Corvette-Chris

Agreed with above; I start calling my previous builder after ~8 weeks.

4DRUSH

Ya know what the sad part is,

Takes about 6 hrs of machining on the block, 2 hrs balancing the crank, maybe another 8hrs cleaning, gaping the rings, etc

A nice comfortable 8 hrs for assembly = 24hrs total or 3 days

kromberg

That seems a little rushed.... For $12K or more, I would expected the builder to take their time and do things by checking and double checking. Parts for a long block run around $8K to $9K, the difference is for labor and I would expect it to be done.

RickClarke23

We used him for 1 build. Took 6 months with us contacting him every week. Motor was great when we finally got it and work was top notch. However in the end we found another builder who is just as good and is able to get motors out in a timely fashion.

4DRUSH

Ok, add another day for long block & another day for double checking everything along the way

5 days total, not weeks, months or years

robert miller

This is just sad on the shops part. Not good business at all here. Robert

black98c5

2 years? You've got a lot more patience then I do... LME did an awesome job with my motor and took them only 5 weeks. Thats with me telling them to take their time.

I gave them half of the money for the motor up front, and the other half when they completed it. I've heard of Erik taking maybe several months to finish a motor, but YEARS? That's just

inspector12

Isn't your name David Beard? Ive seen the short block over there for a while, and it was put together. I feel for your situation. Everytime I go over there I look around to see whats been turned over and what hasn't. I don't know the stories behind a lot of the motors overthere. but I wonder when I see the same motor two or three times. I'm always wondering did the person not pay the balance or what's going on etc... Sorry to hear this.

breecher_7

I completely agree. Its never taken me more then two 8 hour days to machine and assemble a engine. Some of the time frames I have seen people wait are rediculous. I dont care how good the engine builder appears to be. There is only so much **** you can check...

BLOWNBLUEZ06

Erik has had some personal issues over the past couple of years that have taken him away from his business on occasion. Certainly not an excuse for that kind of delay. Sorry for your situation. I sent Erik my last motor two years ago.

Erik's head machinist and assembler left him a while back (deliberately regardless of what Erik tells people) and started working as a CNC machinist for a big oil operation. He saved up and bought the machines needed to machine and build engines and started a little shop that he works on the side. He's as good as they get, honest as they come. He is **** beyond most people's comprehension and he learned it from Erik. I can get you forum members in touch with him if you want to PM me. He's not "cheap", but I would rather pay more for top notch work and not have to deal with the poor communication and wait.

PM me if I can help.

slow ride

I use a local shop and "help" him along I've learned a lot over the years doing so and it sort of helps speed up the process. During the busy season it can take some time, but 2 years is crazy as 2-3 months is the most I have experianced. Thats just do to my junk sitting around and not getting worked on as I am low man when it comes to the shops income. You see a lot of big time shops put the little guys on the back burner for the big shots even if they were first and I really don't think thats right, but it's normal.

ajrothm

I will DEFINITELY vouch for the builder Bret is talking about. He is also in Houston. He finished mine in about 3 months, but we were held up on pistons from wiseco for 1 month. No doubt he can do one less then 2 months and the attention to detail is second to none..

I will definitely use him again for my future LS builds..

Feel free to PM me for his business info.

p1bz

I've dealt with 3 of HKE's engines. 1 was "freshened" had 2 mismatched pistons and used rod bearings, 1 is a 346 that just plain out don't perform from mismatched components, and 1 was a 427 that wouldnt turn over by hand when picked up. Two of those engines are for people in this thread. Some reason people are scared to say on the web what they say in person.

5 Liter Eater

h2?

2bridges

HOLY HELL!!
May I suggest a lawyer can draft a "motivational" letter pretty cheap.
If I were in your shoes - I would go after the money.