gothchick

iTrader: (12)

/\ I laughed out loud on that one~ :-)

Alberto

iTrader: (14)

Before you try to argue their side, keep in mind your entire second paragraph is something that wasnt presented to the community until a few months ago. Two plus years ago sleeves werent marketed as being "TRACK ONLY" parts, in fact they were pushed to the public by most top Z/G shops for builds above 500-550whp. There is some serious dishonesty in that.

Do you consider 525whp high amounts of power when the engine is advertised to handle 1000whp? Do you think its ok for shops to praise HKS head gaskets and then suddenly change their tune and say they are POS when they fail? Do you think its NORMAL for air to be introduced into the coolant system on a regular basis? It is NOT. You are clearly looking at my situation with todays knowledge, hindsight is always 20/20....

But to get to my point. And Ive discussed this with Sharif AND Sam. To be fair Sharif did what he could to get me back on the road, nothing is expected to be free, he did his job in helping me rebuild the motor.

Ive believed since I first had the car built that something was wrong with my GTM motor. Something likely machined incorrectly, not cleaned out properly, etc. Why do you think I believe that?

Well I have oil analysis from the first oil change to the last oil change on the motor that lasted 9000 miles. Not being stock parts you cannot expect metal contents to be anywhere NEAR stock levels right? This is what I was told when I had INCREASING numbers of different metals per Blackstone analysis in every oil change, essentially the issue was getting WORSE. The metal content should have been decreasing with age as the break in process occured.

I had the same signs as Romey, toast HG, scuffed cylinder walls and a set of ruined pistons which I was told hot coolant made them swell, c'mon with that BS

Well Sharif rebuilt the motor, Sam/GTM had no hand in the rebuild with Sleeves. First thing I do is send the oil (now have 2 samples on this motor) to Blackstone. What do I find? I find that the first sample is as expected "dirty" in regards to metal content. Second analysis the oil is damn near free of insane metal content, nearly back to stock levels and the car doesnt push coolant or introduce air into the system with much more power than before. My old motor was pushing coolant at 3500 miles, Im there now on the new one knock on wood no issues thus far.

I'll post the actual data tomorrow, I stand behind it, many of you know Blackstone is a respected company-they have no interest in any of this. I feel like Sam/GTM play like they are gods of building motors but the QC isnt there. An impressive facility does not equal impressive work, just ask AAM customers that. What sickens me is there are many cases of this, NOBODY speaks up, AND shop owners hide this $hit. I'll wait for Sam to come in here and try to discredit my 3rd party DATA like he always does when he gets accused of something.

sentry65

iTrader: (11)

lol, it's just common sense man

ever watch pinks?
they must all have crappy engine builders

Alberto

iTrader: (14)

I was told that HKS HG's are garbage and shouldnt be used in FI apps. Wow-thats funny because I can go back and show that shop the advertisement they put up on the forums months earlier to get everybody aboard the HKS bus....its that kind of $hit Im tired of seeing/hearing.


Sharif never found or came up with a plausible cause, only assumptions and mentioning me as a cause for driving my car for what it was built for.

The other shop in question threw Forged under the bus when I spoke to them, tuning was off, they arent engine builders-they cant assess problems like "they" could have, etc, etc. Real integrity between friends, shops, owners and customers in this community

JAM3Z

iTrader: (17)

I had always thought there was bad blood between you and FP, but its good to see he helped you as much as he did. Did GTM outright refuse to warrant any part of the motor?

Frankly, the fact that Sharif STILL refuses to speak ill of GTM reflects well on his character. However, I don't know the entire story...

Alberto

iTrader: (14)

I have no bad blood with Sharif or FP.

GTM was never an option for helping me get on the road, this thread isnt about me complaining that Sam never helped, its about the fact that my issues are in line with Romey and other MRC customers, AND many Forged customers, jkenefic to name one that I personally know.

You guys know I have no love loss with Julian, but after reading Romeys symptoms which were identical to mine, and knowing of MANy GTM/sleeved failures, its time to speak up. I wouldnt let GTM build anything for me. Dont let Sam and his "years of experience" and nice story fool you, he couldnt fool me when he tried to discredit my oil analysis data on the phone.

He told me he didnt know why that analysis would have shown increasing metal content. But he would look into it and get back to me, the sole purpose being to find closure and so if it was his fault it wouldnt happen again. Of course I heard nothing back, but the funniest part is this. While he admitted he knew alot but not everything he was 100% sure the oil analysis data didnt show anything was wrong with his motor? ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?! Funny how the guy who "isnt an engine builder" put something together thats obviously been machined and assembeled correctly, the oil analysis proves it...

Mike Wazowski

iTrader: (113)

I can back this as I actually have a copy of that report from Alberto (Mar 28,2007) when I was doing some research on UOA's and built motors.

I kept it on the down low as he didn't want to call anyone out at that point.

Alberto

iTrader: (14)

Thank you. I will post the abnormal wear history tomorrow of GTM's motor, and the normal analysis that I should have received the first time that I now have with Forged's motor. This whole situation has upset me on many different levels (financially to name one)

Im doing my best to keep this civil, free of insults and direspect. The last thing I want are my posts to dissapear or to be banned for no reason. The prices of these engines that are failing is highway robbery and its time people know that. How many people have to speak up with the same problems about the same shop before they believe it? If this was AAM people would be saying "of course we knew this would happen" and thats not fair.

sentry65

iTrader: (11)

Alberto, I know how it was 2 years ago when SGP and everyone else said you need sleeves for big power. I'm not trying to judge your decision back then today, but you did choose to run your car hard and maybe you should have known how much sleeves impact cooling - I dunno, maybe it wasn't a factor at all and it was a machine error like you said. Anyway, you "took one for the team" in revealing how sleeved engines are probably bad news for most of us and that sucks you had to end up footing the bill for it all

Right about the time I started getting my vortech installed, Rich at Dynocomp was explaining to me about the bad things with sleeves at least with the STI's as well as the risks with going with different headstuds.

I started rethinking sleeves all together from that point on and even said in a couple posts my concerns with sleeves, but because I didn't race my car or really abuse it hard, I was still considering sleeves anyway. - I preached the 4.2 stroker kits FOREVER - as I'm sure you remember

I really seriously was considering a chevy V8 swap when I recently had problems with my stock engine...but decided to stick it out with the VQ...

IIQuickSilverII

iTrader: (13)

i could swear i read that recently

Alberto

iTrader: (14)

This comunity knows I share everything, the good, the bad, its a learning process for us all in the end.

When I had suspicions of the GTM motor not being right I started a thread here in the FI forum asking members to send oil to Blackstone (no I dont work for them btw) so we could collect a database of results/metal content vs build types.

Do you know how many I have received? ZERO All you sleeved guys dont say I didnt try...

NeverBoneStock

iTrader: (38)

Well thats enough for me .. They are not (GTM) doing a TT install on my G37 ...... I wish there was more threads like this !

Sean

I am glad you have spoke up. There are other long term members here that should do the same.....it will be interesting to see if they do. The lucky ones were able to go to the GTM shop to get things resolved in person, but at what cost (parts at the minimum I would guess) I don't know.

GodSendsDeath

iTrader: (1)

Alberto I dont know you in person, but if I were too id thank you for posting. Everything I saw you post for the past 3 years that I have been reading on this site has been constructive. Too be honest after reading what you have had to say I think I will skip the 370Z and get a low milage used C6. I want big power and not big problems.

Again thanks

~Edvin.


PS: I loved my 08 HR Z, but I want more power.

Alberto

iTrader: (14)

Another thing to note, myself and Rome...

3.5L Darton sleeved motor from GTM

Same Turbo kits, different engine managements, different TUNERS, same fate----> headlift, air in the system, pushing coolant like mad, blown headgasket, damaged cylinders and pistons. I find it hard to believe that Sharif and Julian's tuning sealed the same fate into both motors.

RudeG_v2.0

iTrader: (1)

+1

Thank you for speaking up Alberto. It is much appreciated.

Sean

would someone with a G35 account post a link back here please. Or at the least paste up Alberto's posts

RudeG_v2.0

iTrader: (1)

I'll do it.

turismo

iTrader: (33)

Then what can you say about Nitrouz car? I thought Sharif used GTM's motors at one point? Ive seen quite a few builds done by GTM and haven't heard of any issues until now.


PS: Im not taking sides.

JAM3Z

iTrader: (17)

Honestly, I thought you (Alberto) were being overly sour about the motor failure when the rumors were first coming out.

Now that you've shared this I think differently. It's very unfortunate this happened to you.