nastee383

Back in mid January I talked with AR on the phone and via email about building a motor. They were polite and answered all my questions. Based on that interaction, their 99+% positive feedback on Ebay and the positive comments I heard here on this forum I sent them a check for an engine build.

Ever since its been more and more difficult to communicate with them. I send emails and I MAY get a partial answer. I call and leave a message and I MAY get a call back. If I do get someone on the line they act like I'm bothering them. I have called only 3 times since January. I requested a receipt (seeral times) for the check they cashed in January and I haven't received it yet. They promised an invoice upon payment and a 6 week build schedule. Well its been over 10 weeks and I have nothing. I'm not concerned about the build time but I do expect a receipt for the $$$ I sent them.

I'm not ready at this point to condemn them but I'm starting to get a little annoyed. I just got my $1750 back for the trans/converter that Donny's Garage never delivered and I'm seeing some similarities between the two.

I would appreciate it if anyone could relate their experiences in dealing with AR Racing. Maybe my expectations are to high. (to get a receipt for a cash payment and to be able to talk to someone if I have a question) :mad :cuss :rant: :rant: :skep:

VETDRMS

Sounds like AFR. :jester

Sorry to hear your having these issues, I do remember a few other members who either waited a very long time, or upon delivery the motor was dead after startup.

Good Luck!

:cheers:

EDIT: GranSportC3 always had very positive things to say about them, I believe Tshort is another person on the forum, and possibly Bseerey? or something like that. Come on ya'll, you know you want to reply! :)


[Modified by VETDRMS, 8:34 PM 3/30/2004]

munday

I went through the same thing with speed o motive...they have all been aholes who didn't give a darn about me except for one person that was polite, but i assume only to get me off the phone since they never got back with me...the only upside is the engine runs good......so far

GrandSportC3

I had a great experience with AR Racing.. They built my current engine which ran 11.67 @ 119.79 mph (PUMP GAS - without NOS or other power adders)..
I put about 10k miles and 50 - 60 passes on the engine and it still runs like on the first day... When I purchased my engine - it was delivered pretty quick.. I didn't have to wait long at all.. Sorry to hear about your problems with them.. So far - I always got somebody to talk to when I called them...

surfolly

I'm trying to decide on which motor to purchase and when I called AR, I asked about a warranty and was told that there is no warranty unless you pay the "what it costs" price to build any particular motor. In other words, if you pay the upper end of a grand more you get a warranty. At least that's how I understood it. They answered all of my questions and were helpful at this stage though. I'm thinking about a ZZ430(Fast Burn 385 w/Hot Cam) from Goautocenter. I haven't heard anything bad about the ZZ4 motors, but I don't know much about goautocenter though.

GrandSportC3

As I understand it - the warranty on GM engines is for parts only and the warranty is void if you race with the engine... Why would you want a 400+ HP engine and not race it?? :confused: :confused:
So - if you have intentions to race... any warranty is void anyway...

nastee383

Your expressed experience and the ebay feedback rating was a major factor in my choosing them to build for me. I would not have sent a personal check to another builder up front if there weren't lots of people saying good things about him. To pay by credit card was $400 more. If I didn't trust them I would have gone that route because I would have a better chance of getting my $$$ back if it came to that. I still believe that it'll all work out. I hope so anyway.

surfolly

Maybe you can clarify how a crate motor warranty works for me. Of course I realize that if I'm at the track and I tear up the motor while racing that's my choice and a risk, but what if I have a problem or failure off the track? Does the fact that I have raced it at all void a contract, and who would know anyway? Even if racing is defined as anything reaching over 5000RPM lets say, then why would GM offer any warranty at all on a 400+ horsepower motor? I've been meaning to ask someone this, and I would appreciate any knowledge you or anyone has on this. Thanks.

GrandSportC3

My experience with custom built engines is that they take a lot more time.. I wouldn't want to rush them into doing everything quick because that could result in worse quality... I'm always willing to wait if the product is worth it..
BTW - I bought one of the pre-built engines.. which made it easier... I had a engine custom built at another builder before - and it took over 4 months to get my engine...

GrandSportC3

Well - legally you void the warranty as soon as you race the engine even if the engine doesn't break at the track.. However - they might never find out that you raced with the engine.. so they might still honor their warranty.. but LEGALLY - the warranty is void as soon as you race it.. Theoretically - it would be fraud to make a warranty claim after voiding the warranty by racing the engine.. As I said - if they don't find out that you raced it you might get away on a warranty claim on an engine that was raced.
Read the terms and conditions of the warranty and you'll see!!

GrandSportC3

GM Performance Parts Warranties for Crate Engines & Short Blocks
GM Performance Parts crate engines and short blocks carry a 12 month limited parts only warranty. Parts are warranted against defects in material and workmanship. This warranty specifically excludes engines and short blocks used in racing, any competition, or marine use, and parts that fail as a result of alteration. Should any part prove to be defective, that part and only that part may be warranted at the discretion of General Motors. The buyer assumes full responsibility for the entire cost of repair, service, damage and/or loss to property. Unless specified by GM, these engines should only be used in 1973 and earlier pre-emissions vehicles. It is the buyers responsibility to check for any state and Federal laws concerning engine replacement, modification, and emissions regulations.



[Modified by GrandSportC3, 12:52 AM 3/31/2004]

surfolly

Thanks for the information GrandSport. That does makes sense that a warranty could be voided once the car has been raced.

GrandSportC3

I just edited the post above.. it has the exact wording of the GM Performance Parts Crate engines!!


[Modified by GrandSportC3, 12:53 AM 3/31/2004]

442olds

It takes a long time to get anything from a machine shop. I think I waited 5 weeks for the machine shop to finish my lt-1 for my 93 Z, and I still had to do the assembly. When a machine shop gets popular or only has one worker(as in my case), its pretty easy for them to have 10 to 15 engines in the shop in a week, and everyone is waiting for the call that says they are finished. Any complications with any one of those engines can put the whole line behind. AR seems to have a ton of engines for sale on ebay which means they are building like mad, through in a couple dozen custom orders on top of that and well, it takes a while to put it all together. i'd love to start putting together custom engines for people but unless I can afford the tools and not rely on a machine shop to do most of the machining, I don't see how I could ever turn an engine around for someone fast enough that I could get them to come back for a second or refer a freind.

We have had problems with Speed-o's 383 motor, came down to the fact that the motor didn't have a windage tray and it was causeing oil starvation, but trying to get speed-o to help out was not going to happen. And when we finally got the parts in it to fix it they wouldn't reemburse us for the parts because we didn't buy them from speed-o. Now they didn't offer to give us any parts needed to fix the motor or tell us that that was the only way to get compensation. So Better Business Bureu got involved and they basically are uselless. Its like a slap on the wrist and nothing was accomplished.

The motor screams and hasn't missed a beat, quality was excellent except for the flucthating oil pressure prior to the windage tray installation.

So all I can say is be nice to them I am sure they are under a lot of pressure to get a large number of engines done and making them angry or nervous is not a good idea when the engine costs that much.

mpro71vette

I had a good experience with AR, I bought one of their pre built stroker engines. I had a lot of questions for Mark and he always answered them by email right away. The engine runs great! I think if you have a custom built one its going to take longer but I also believe they should have at least sent you a receipt.

tshort

AR's business has picked up quite a bit in the last few years. When I first heard of GrandSportC3 buying from them and the praise he gave them I started calling and emailing them asking questions. This was about a year and-a-half ago. They weren't too busy and I was always able to get ahold of Mark by phone or email. As business started really picking up for them it became a little harder and harder to reach Mark. I always dealt exclusively with Mark. I ended up having a custom motor built and it did take much longer to build.....I actually started off with one of their ebay motors and it was ready in a few weeks but I changed my mind. Mark had no problem with that and even though sometimes it was hard to reach him he ALWAYS answered my questions and I spent many hours on the phone with him.

If any of you remember, I had a bad vibration problem that I thought was from the engine. I ended up taking the motor back out and Mark wanted me to send him back the motor and they would either find and fix the problem or send me a new motor for no charge. He also offered for me to send him my carb and he would set it up on their engine dyno, run it, and tune it up for me, free of charge. Turned out I had forgot to install the pilot bushing and that was the cause of all the vibration.

So, in the end, yes it was a little frustrating trying to get responses from emails. But if Mark was in the shop he always had time to talk to me no matter how busy he was. The engine is running great now and I don't think you could find a better motor for this price. In fact, in 2 weeks I'm getting it chassis dyno'd.


[Modified by tshort, 8:35 AM 3/31/2004]

nastee383

Don't get me wrong, I'm not upset about the build time because I'm nowhere near ready to install the motor anyway. What annoys me is they won't send a receipt for the $4500 and the fact that if I need to talk to them they are hard to reach, don't return calls or emails (sometimes) or act like I'm bothering them. And I DON'T call them often, probably 3 or 4 times since January. And I definitely don't want to **** them off. My motor probably wouldn't last very long if I did!

GrandSportC3

I hope that everything will work out for the best and I hope that the engine will be worth the wait.. I'm actually planning to have them also build another engine for me.. but this will only be in a few months..

Mr.Gearhead

May I suggest Chad from Golen Engines? Check out back issues of Chevy HiPerformance... Had a good article on this engine builder and I also purchased my motor from them. Chad will answer all questions. Tell you upfront ALL costs and had a promised delivery date. Two weeks later... BAM... motor arrived looking really sweet!!! He even tells you to call him right before you crank it up for the first time to go over his check list.... http://www.golenengineservice.com/


Some pics of the motor from them.... http://temp.corvetteforum.net/c3/bendera/

Matt Gruber

the cancelled check is the receipt.
a small deposit and COD seems the way to go in the future.