A Call Out, And a BIG THANKS Options

[DNHunt]

I have been informed that a few people feel they must stick up for my interests with Jake. I do not know who they are, Jake won't tell me but, STAY the fuck out of my business.

Just so the record is straight. The big loosers in this have been Jake Raby and Charles Navarro. They have supported this for three and a half years at what expense I really don't know. They have gone far beyond what they ever had to, since, I signed an agreement accepting responsibility for any failures. About all these guys can salvage from this is customer goodwill and insight into what went wrong.

Right from the top, I THINK THESE GUYS ARE GREAT and I'll stand up for them till the end of time. Aybody that wants to say I'm whoring for them I really don't care, you are welcome to your own opinion and, you can save your time reading to the bottom of the page. Anybody that wants to keep reading can see what REAL CUSTOMER SUPPORT is.

For you who haven't been around all this time, this engine started out as a core I bought from Rich Dauenhauer in August of 2003. Jake and I worked a deal for a kit before there really was a kit program and he let me upgrade many things. Charles got dragged into it when I chose Nickies. The only parts still remaining from that kit are the crank and the rods.

My son Gerry (teen914) and I finished the build in the fall of 2004. In October we lit it off using a Mallory dizzy and Kevin's (rhodyguys) Webers. The only problem was we had the firing order off (by the way, Jake was on the phone and said it was running on 2 cylinders). After we changed around the plug wires, it ran fine and we broke in the cam. We got the engine in the car in the early winter and set about seating the rings. I varied engine speeds, rolled onto the throttle to 6K and came off the gas and it continued to smoke. Finally, it was bust it or seat it and it never seated so out it came and down came the engine. We found broken tensioners in the oil control rings. We also found a worn cam and wear on the inside of the thrust bearing.





So, Charles had the cylinders replated at his cost and Jake sent a new cam and new rings. I had the crank polished. At this point no one really knew what the problems were. Jake said he had had one other set of 96's smoke but, nothing like mine and he was at a loss how I could wear a cam with ceramic lifters. He did ask if I was running rich and I said no, everything was sooty from the oil and I thought my AFR's were OK. We wrote off the thrust surface on the inside of #1 as damage from some of the stuff that came apart. It was cut and polished .004 and we were good.

Gerry and I reassembled it and got it back in the car. And everything went to hell again. The cam went flat and the oil rings failed. This time I got pictures of the broken tabs on the ring lands but, that still didn't help any. The cylinders and pistons went to Charles and he sent them to Bob Cousimano at CMW Motorsports for his opinion (Charles really went out of his way on that). Cousimano picked out new higher tension oil rings and said to use the cylinders; they were fine. Jake looked over the lifters and ran them in the spintron and said they were fine. He still thought that I was running rich and diluting the oil. I still said no because I thought all the stuff I was seeing was oil soot. He chalked the cam up to too small of a base circle for the ramp rates and he sent a new cam with slightly less lift.





Back together it went and it was better but, it still used lots of oil. Gerry and I auto crossed it in Portland and drove it to Sacramento to see Jake after his crosscountry trip. We were having a lot of fun with it but, it still used about a quart of oil every 300 miles. Jake decided it was time for new cylinders and KB pistons so they replaced them and we reassembled the top end. I also changed to new heads at that time. Jake was going to use my old cylinders and pistons on one his personal projects. At the time, I thought he was crazy but, he was sure they were OK. By the way, he offered to build it himself for free and I turned him down because I wanted to see this through.

The engine was better still but, still used too much oil and the leak down numbers were not good. So, we reringed again with a slight change in how the bottom oil scrapper was installed. I ran it about 50 miles and detonated it on the freeway. I coasted to an offramp and got towed home. We had an autopsy party and found 3 broken pistons. At that point Jake again offered to assemble it but, I still wanted to finish it. Jake said come on down here and put it together in my shop so, I cleaned up everything and shipped it to Georgia and spent my vacation working harder than I work at work.

During that week, I built the engine with Brent, Blake, Tom and Jake's help in 3 days and then Jake broke it in on the dyno. Rebecca always had something to say to cheer me up even when I was out of gas. They answered all my questions and offered advice. I know I disrupted the normal operation of the shop but, they all went out of their way to help. I owe everyone a big thanks.

Get this the piston and cylinders are the exact set that shipped with my engine in 04. Leakdown was nil.



So, what got this engine all those times?

First, I ordered cylinder shims from Rimco the first time I put the engine together and I used them with every build until I got to Georgia. These were my choice based on Jake's suggestion. They fit very tightly on the cylinders. The last time I tore the engine down I made a new torque plate so I could measure the cylinders and low and behold the shims acted like a tight belt and distorted the cylinders. Interestingly they also distorted cast iron 94's enough that I could measure it with a bore gauge. I suspect that this caused the oil ring failure.

Second, I had the engine tuned too rich. Jake questioned me from the begining about the fuel mixture. Seeing the plugs that I pulled out of my engine on Jake's dyno was an epiphany. I really think that it was too rich at idle and tip in and I was diluting my oil. I'm almost sure that was the cause of the cam failures and it probably played a part in all of my problems.

Now, can anyone question the product support I've received? Not only that, Jake and Charles have both been forthcoming and pleasant. I know both guys get bashed sometimes about what they charge. But, what value can you put on their support?

Dave

[rhodyguy]

claytonovich, please give me a tiny bit credit on outing the pooper. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) i only hope my insessant ranting saved other owners a pile of grief. as with the others in socal jake did me a huge solid too.

k

[Brando]

claytonovich, please give me a tiny bit credit on outing the pooper. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) i only hope my insessant ranting saved other owners a pile of grief. as with the others in socal jake did me a huge solid too.

k

Yeeeah... except for the part where you painted all the SoCal guys with being in cahoots with (IMG:style_emoticons/default/stromberg.gif).

But I think you've grown past that by a ways. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif)

I will say that Jake is a standup guy. I can agree with his disdain for our frugality. Appearantly almost all 'older' porsche owners are like that. I deal with them on a daily basis.

I've said it before and I'll say it again -- the guy knows how to make a good product, and stand behind it. That's crucial in a market today where most vendors won't do shit once it's shipped off their lot.