LATRLL1 thumbs down!

[IVhunter]

LATRLL1 or Jeff Latourelle from Virginia Beach, VA let me down. He had advertised a freshly rebuilt 455 shortblock and I responded. After several emailed pictures and telephone conversations, I sent him a deposit of $200.00 on a $2200.00 rebuilt 455 shortblock with some minor run-in time on it. We met halfway a couple weeks later (both of us drove about 3.5 hours each way) and there is rust in one bore.All his pictures did not show this and when questioned during our conversation on the phone, he lied and said it looked clean inside. The rust had been there and the engine had been run that way.The rust wasn't fresh and he would have seen it right away when he took the heads off, which happened long before we met.This is not acceptable to me ( I don't want to buy a $2200.00 shortblock with rust in the bore) and I reject the engine.
I gave him the benefit of the doubt, didn't get upset and simply demanded my deposit back. He agreed to that, we shook hands on it and he said he would send a check.He did not say anything at that time about only sending $100.00 back or not being happy with my assessment ( that would have been the time to address it, with both of us there in person).
Finally, after a couple phone calls and emails, he sends me back a money order for $100.00 with a letter that says he dis-assembled the engine, took it to a machine shop and they honed out the rust and it took them 10 minutes to do so.He says "that invalidates the first issue that you stated for rejecting the block".(The second issue was actually not much of an issue, I just noticed one piston looked different from the rest, it had a lathe machine mark on the top of it and the other seven did not, I just thought it was odd, the deal breaker was the rust in the bore)
Anyhow, Jeff, we shook hands and we agreed you'd send my deposit back. You owe me $100.00 . Next time you advertise something like that for sale, tell the guy if there is rust in the bore, especially if he asks you if it looks clean inside . Rust is not clean.You really should have taken it to the machine shop to get rid of the rust BEFORE you tried selling it to me. When you shake hands and agree to something, you should deliver on your promises.I deserve all my money back! Todd

[LATRLL1]

First - Background on the shortblock being discussed….i obtained it as a freshly rebuilt +30 455 shortblock. I run a stick and and aftermarket steel flywheel , so I tore it down and took all rotating components down and had it zero balanced ( AKA: neutral or internal balance ) , reassembled it , installed it , and fired it up . it had approx. 90 minutes of run time and no road time .I tried to run it a least twice a year and at least long enough to get it to operating temp. The time between initial start up and removal was almost 4 years.
During that entire time, the car was stored in my garage.
After obtaining the parts for the next motor , I put this one up for sale on PY. It was up for less than 24 Hrs when I was contacted by Todd . After receiving a deposit , I pulled the motor , removed the top end , and pull the pan to check for any problems.
Pulled ( 1) main cap and ( 2 ) rod caps …no evidence of any problems
Reassemble and retorque …flip it and spin it over …..rotate ….. some marks are visible in the bores ….i beleave that 2 of them were ring marks where fuel/blowby had lain on top of the ring and caused a stain in the shape of the top of the ring – at least 2 of these were present and were approx 1/16 wide and possible 3 – 4 in long ( all on outboard side - lowest side)
The largest one was approx the size of a middle finger and was in cyl # 4….the stain indicated that the piston was down or nearly all the way down ( valves closed )……when I first saw it , I cleaned the bore and gave it the fingernail test - nothing there
Did the same test on all the other cylinders - no imperfections that I could find
- Gave Todd the OK - No problems found

NOTE: STAIN - is a term use by machinist to described any discoloration of the metal from its normal coloration

Upon meeting with Todd , I am the one that pointed out the markings on the cylinder walls. He immediately claimed that there was rust scale and pitting in the # 4 bore and said he wasn’t interested . I could have easily rotated the shortblock (prior to loading it ) so # 4 piston was up and he would not have been able to see the mark , if I had wanted to conceal it. I did try to explain the stain but he had already made up his mind. Fine, no need to waste any further time on this.
It did occur to me that this could have been an attempt to negotiate a lower sale price , as soon as I pointed out the stain , he quickly found another potential “ problem “
Since I am still interested in selling the shortblock….it first needed to be determined if a problem really existed. Since I am not a machinist by trade, I took it to the experts.
Once I returned home, I pulled the shortblock apart and dropped it at the machine shop. Machinist tanked it and assessed it. The bores are now pristine shiny steel The machinist reported that he ran a hone through all 8 bores in approx 10 minutes ( total time). There was no rust , scale , or pitting. If there had been , it would required either boring to a larger size or sleeving the cylinder. Neither operation was needed in this case.
If any of this seems out of place or incorrect , print this out and go discuss it with your local machine shop
Todd rejected the block on a cosmetic reason , therefore I kept half of the deposit to cover the 40 gallons of fuel I burned making that trip. Norfolk Va to Wash. DC ( round trip)