Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott Watkins
Matteo, sorry to hear about your issues! Suggestions fwiw, if you haven’t, take this discussion with Timmins to the phone or in person if you make it back to the states. Don't know him from Adam, but like most small businessmen, sure he's a reasonable guy.
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I spoke to him the day after I went to see Bob Watson and saw the stripped engine.
In fact I sent him an email telling him I was quite unhappy, not so much because the engine had failed, but because someone had pointed out the case and a couple of things that were not done properly.
Timmins emailed back within 1 minute and wanted to talk straight away.
So we chatted and he was very understanding and upset himself about the situation.
He is not a crook or someone who does not care. He also offered some compensation, stating the last thing he wanted was for me to be unhappy.
So he asked me to send him an email with a recap of what happened and the download of the mapping from the Motec.
I did not hear anything from him for 3 months, until I sent him the last email and his last response.
I want to make clear here that this is not a war against Timmins.
I really believe it is impossible to point the finger and establish without a doubt the culprit for the failure.
Maybe one of the bearings was faulty, or the oil was bad etc.
But from my point of view this engine has been a succession of problems, from the rebuild 250 miles in to the running on 6 plugs because of a bad connector to the crazy mapping to the overtorqued nuts on the chain covers to the too small heat shield plate for the ICU to the fan assembly collapsing etc.
So after all that the engine fails and I find out he took some shortcuts and then he tells me Bob Watson and 9M do not understand anything aboout 911 motors and 911 lubrication when they tell me what is wrong with my motor beside the spun bearing, damaged rod and crank-case.
That is what leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I understand it is difficult to hear someone criticize your work. And maybe I didn't even explained it properly. But I offered for Bob or/and Colin to speak to him if he wanted (offer that he declined) to see what really happened.
What was I expecting?
Sincerely I thought that he'd offer some sort of compensation plus I had asked him if he wanted all the good parts (maybe the P&C if they are fixable, the heads, valves, stacks, air cleaners etc) at 50% of what I paid them....
I figured he's an engine builder, I waited for months to get the parts in... he should be happy.
I never expected for him to pay anything close to what it is costing me to rebuild the engine with specs similar to the old one, nor I expected him to actually come out at a loss.
Anyway I am sure he wishes (like me) he never took on this build.
I want to say one more time that maybe it was just bad luck, and I am much more upset at the way he treated me than at the quality of the work.