Jake,
I do think you may be over reacting.
It was not your fault, a part was installed wrong and life moves on. No one is going to blame you.
Its not about you, its about Joe's motor...


If this is enough to move you out of a business market, sorry to hear that and good luck with the rest of your business.

You dont have control over the installation, so dont sweat it.


To joe,
Pull the lifter out and take high resolution pics of the crown, the cup and if you can, the camshaft lobe in that hole.

the crown may have survived in tact, the cup may have gotten beat up a bit...

You may not be totally doomed...you might have gotten lucky.

rich

So, I won't be able to buy another cam from you for my next build? Sorry to hear that.

I don't see where joe blamed anyone here. Am I missing something?

No, you aren't.

The guy who built Joe's engine made a mistake, feels pretty shitty about it, and is correcting it. If the cam went flat, I am certain it will be fixed and the engine rebuilt properly. Jake's parts were not to blame, and I don't see anywhere here where any one said that they were.

Zach

I am not over reacting.. I am stating facts so someone else might learn a lesson.
When the unknowing read "Raby 9550" and "failure" that's all the read and they don't realize what happened. The lifter crown requires precision measurement.

I fight people half assing and rushing projects all the time and no one listens.. Now if he loses a cam or lifter after it goes back together he has been warned. You call it over reacting, I call it what's required.

so this motor needs to be opened...
not the end of the world.

I don't personally feel any thing negative against the Raby product line.

I appreciate the candid explanation, but please don't quit making a GREAT product because of one failure that was assembly related and not product related.

Wow, I must have missed something because the first time I ever read that this had any relation to a Raby 9550 was when Jake posted it

Although I think Joe should have been a little tactful rather than posting

"What the hell was aluminum pushrods doing in his engine"
Jake Raby
Joe, Should definitely know better.

Especially if it was a different builder using Jake's products so I think Jake is justified in his post but maybe not so much in removing a product line from the masses.

I'm sure its not going to hurt your bottom line Jake but it would be un-politic to do so because of something mistakenly stated on this board when it can always be retracted or edited out of the thread. Now that you have published your own remarks it will remain here on the board until the thread expires or is removed and further highlighting what you may consider negative publicity for your product line. I personally would have had a similar reaction but I tend to write my reply then after reading I realize, WOW, I just swatted that fly with a sledge hammer damaging everything under the fly as well. I then count to ten and review what I am really upset at.

Some of us are very much idiots but idiots who have no intention of seeking to damage your reputation or your name.

Joe should remove this thread or request it to be removed and starting a new one if he so wishes without statements made to the quality of a product line from a manufacture that was not responsible for his mechanical troubles.

Hmmm

It is what it is.. I promised myself the last time that I had a similar issue that the next time it occurred I was done with valve train sales. It took almost two years.

The easiest way to solve the problem is to eliminate the option.. I am so done with retail sales and these types of issues that I might just close the whole store, or sell it. It has been nothing but a hassle for the last 8 years, when we only created engines we NEVER had these issues. Nothing is about the bottom line here.

Anyway, this isn't about me, even though it involves parts that I take great pride in having developed. I can't ensure that every single person is going to have success... I just hope that Joe doesn't waste the rest of the engine from losing a lifter or a lobe. I am going to bed..

What a Prima Donna! I'm so sick of reading these whining diatribes. Take your toys, go home. The sandbox is plenty big enough everyone will survive.

Forgive the following didactic but I want to comment on something I personally understand.

I'm sorry that Jake Raby is fed up, but I sympathize. Sole proprietors of any business have it rough. I know.

Retail sales adds a quantum of additional stress and heartache to that equation. Aside from the considerable pressure that corporate on-line marketers add to this mix, it already was difficult. No matter how professional and quality oriented, retailers are in the line of fire from both suppliers and customers.

The stress of retail is systemic and I have a feeling Jake's decisions regarding whether or not to sell parts are not based on a single incident, nor would I hold anyone but him responsible for that decision. Given the environment, it's understandable, albeit unfortunate if he decides to give up that part of his "line."

Very few people have a natural affinity to the work of selling to the public; however, it is critical to our well being that they continue. That's why I try to treat individuals who are in the business of selling things important to me with as much sensitivity as I can muster.

This is not the first time this has happened.. It happened at least 4-5 times before we only sold valve train kits.. That was an effort to give the installer all the right pieces and since they paid for them and had them on hand we could only expect that they would use them.

Thats not the case and this has happened over and over again. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing multiple times and expecting a different outcome.

I have received a lot of emails about the cam kits. After sleeping on it I'll try to come up with yet another method of trying to keep these instances from occurring while continuing to offer kits for the interim, at least. This thread will serve as a great reference for my newsletters, Facebook posts and threads on my forum about what happens when the proper components are not used. Sometimes people have to see what happens before they listen.

That said, lets now focus on making sure Joe gets it back together without further collateral damage from the issue. The first think I'd do is a leak down test to ensure the valves on that cylinder are not bent, then focus on checking out the cam and lifter that saw the damage.

There is nothing that I hate more than dealing with broken components, so excuse my aggressive responses earlier in this thread. Anytime our parts are involved in any sort of failure episode it ruins my day; knowing that it happened because someone was rushing trying to make it to an event it really pisses me off... Thats what happens over and over and over again. Its my biggest pet peeve of all.

There is nothing that I hate more than dealing with broken components, so excuse my aggressive responses earlier in this thread. Anytime our parts are involved in any sort of failure episode it ruins my day; knowing that it happened because someone was rushing trying to make it to an event it really pisses me off... Thats what happens over and over and over again. Its my biggest pet peeve of all.
[/quote]

Jake, that is the definition of "just being passionate about your work". Now go have a beer and get ready for another day in a career that you love.

CAR IS BACK ON THE ROAD !!


Thanks everybody who helped me.

Special thanks to JAKE for puttin up with ME



Car pulls very strong, idle is very smooth. It is the 914S I always wanted

And for those of us who want to quickly slap your 2056 togeather:


I ended up replacing the brand new KB pistons, installing the correct chromoly pushrods, set with 0 valve lash. Rehoned all four jugs. Inspected the cam (no signs of wear) THANK GOD And waited an extra 3 months to put it all back togeather because I wanted to get it to Hershey to show off.



YOU MUST TAKE YOUR TIME !!!!


+ + = ( )



Joseph Sayre

Great news Joe, finally got your dream car back and you stayed with it to get 'er done. Good for ya buddy.......now drive the heck out of it and have some fun!