Core Plugs revisited

Awhile back, you all may remember my posting on the rear core plug blowing out 5 minutes into the breaking-in of my engine? Well, a week and a half ago, the middle plug on the side sprung a leak right after, what I thought was, the final shake down cruise before a show last Saturday. I fixed the rear core plug with the Betson bolt and I fixed the middle plug with the copper expansion plug that I had already purchased but could not use on the rear. Now, after a short drive this afternoon, I check and find that the rear side coreplug has started to leak! I had not mentioned the builder up until now. I called Advance Performance Technology (APT-Fast)after no response to email, about the first core blowout. The owner was in England, but I was told they would take care of it. Well, I fixed it and I have not even had an inquire from them about it. Because of limited time to the All British Car Day show in San Diego(Sunday) and the long distance to their shop, I am going to fix this third core plug too.

I paid over $3k to have my engine done by them, only after listening to their machinist drone on for nearly an hour about how they don't cut corners, are a high end shop, how they build racing engines, blah, blah blah. He did not mention that they have no clue as to how to install core plugs correctly

Here is my question, and I apologize for being long on this, what should I reasonably ask from them to make this right? I guess the question is: what would I be charged to replace the rear, rear side and middle core plugs, each on seperate occassions?

Mike

$65/hr here. Go figure. We would be seriously unamused if it had happened here after spending that kind of money.
They should be fawning around you to make it right and not let this rot their rep.

If memory serves me right, I paid $75.00/hr for general machine work and $150.00/hour for 'clean room' work and assembly.

MB-

I'm sorry you have to deal with this and I'd always use the plugs with the nut on them. But David Anton at APT is a stand-up guy. Once a year he spends 6-8 weeks in England finding parts and tending to his parents' needs. If something went wrong, I have no doubt that he'll make it right. Call and ask when he's returning. Best of luck. Basil

Basil, that is encouraging. However, I feel like they blew me off. I am going to talk to David tomorrow, this has been an ordeal.

Mike

I'm sure it hasn't been fun but really, he's one of us. Basil

I second that David is a good guy, hell, in my book, he's the best of guys, that whole business revolves around David, if David and Lorie have been in UK, rest asure when they return, David will stand good on his end. David has forgotten more about these engines, than the most of us will ever know, you're in very good hands. No matter how good you are or how hard you work to perfect at this, ocassionally things will give you fits, that's what makes this job so interesting, you never quit learning, David will get to the bottom of this. I'm just going to throw this out there, check to see if you getting any steam (white smoke) out the tailpipe, a blown head gasket sometimes will fail from a water jacket to the cylinder bore and that piston will act like a water pump, this tends to build pressure in the block and cause freeze plugs failure, this could have nothing to do with your problem, but it worth a thought and a pressure check to be sure.

Hap, I have a 10 lb cap on the radiator, wouldn't that release first? And, there has been no noticeable loss of coolant. If you look at the pictures of the first failure, you can see that it was not installed correctly. That was the member concensus. BTW, they installed my head, too.

Listen, I appreciate your comments about David, I met him once, seemed like a good guy. And I am happy to have a shop relatively close that knows our cars. However, I was told on the phone that they would call David in England and get back to me. It did not happen....How would you react? After I fixed the rear core plug and all was good, I sort of said, Ah, forget it. But now three, I'm not happy. As you say, he is one of us; I am going to give him the opportunity to make it right. I don't want a pound of flesh, I just want a fair response and to make up for the hassle, work and worry over three $.50 parts.

Mike

Mike, Let us know what hapens. Basil

mbarjbar Wrote:

I just called APT, David is still in England. The person I talked to originally asked, ...was I supposed to call you or you call me? !*#_^, I reminded him that he was supposed to call me after calling David. I asked what David had said, he said that he would certainly stand behind their work. So, when he gets back after the tenth, I asked that he called me to discuss this. So until then.... right now I have to go drain my coolant and change out a core plug.

Mike