Central PA BB Engine Builder
- Thread starter 193rdsow
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XMAN JR
Well-Known Member
Not only is ray bartons stuff junk. He is a total ***. Ryon Jonson. AKA Shady Dell Check out his web site. All he does is MOPARS & is very good. He is in state college. SHADY DELL SPEED SHOP
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Shorthorse
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Look up Bob George Racing, 84, PA. Just Mopars, good people.
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XMAN JR
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& y is that ?
193rdsow
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Thanks!
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Last January I brought a low deck motor to Ryan for a mild rebuild. As it's going into a resto, I didn't want or need a high end motor. I was promised the motor at the end of April.
May came and went
June came and went
I got the motor back in July as a long block.
I finished the assembly and painted it.
When I set the motor up in my test stand to break it in, it was reluctant to start and when it did, it sounded awful. Alarmed, I shut it down after 20 or 30 seconds. A compression test revealed the #6 cylinder was beat and as an added bonus, the rear seal was leaking. (See the oil spot on the cardboard in the video).
I pulled the head on that side and found the #4 and #6 cylinder walls scored up. I was so disgusted I brought the motor to a local shop (Shady Dell is three hours from me). Upon disassembly, one of the cam bearings came out with the cam, the bottom end was full of metal shavings, only one of the pistons was in the bore it was marked for and of course, the aforementioned scuffed up cylinder walls. The machinist said the rings sounded like they had been put together with sand instead of oil. The block was re-honed and the custom pistons were sent out to have the skirts coated to take up the clearance created by the re-honing. Cam and main bearings were replaced and the short block was reassembled.
I finished the assembly at home and brought it back to the second shop to break in it on their dyno. As they say on TV, but wait, there's more.
As soon as they put (pressurized) water to it, the head on the left bank started pissing water out of a crack just above the exhaust manifold. I brought Ryan 3 sets of iron heads to choose from and apparently he didn't bother to mag them.
Whatever parts Ryan wanted, I bought. What he wanted to charge, I paid. No arguments, no cheaping out . As it stands I have over $7000 into a stock rebuild that makes mediocre power.
Has Shady Dell built great motors in the past ? I'm sure they have. Will they build great motors in the future ? Yeah, they probably will. But I get the feeling Ryan only takes an interest in some high end, max output motor and could give a rats *** about a lowly stocker. At least he didn't give a rats *** about mine. I read the reviews, I heard the recommendations and I thought I had found a reputable Mopar engine builder. I thought maybe time got tight and he farmed it out to one of the guys from the other side of the shop that sweeps the floor, but when I spoke to him he said no, he put it together himself, which I found to be even more disheartening.
So after I contacted him and told him all of this his response was "bring it back". After seven months of waiting and the **** job he did first time around I had ZERO confidence I would get back what I paid for the first time. I told him I would provide pictures, parts and an affidavit form the second shop to verify my claims. I asked for a PARTIAL refund to offset the re-rebuild cost and his reply was " I can't just write out checks to everyone that's ever had a problem". From a business stand point, I can understand that, but it doesn't make my situation any better.
Maybe Ryan's a good guy, maybe he's your best friend, I don't know. I never had cross words with him or have anything personally against him, but one thing is for sure, Shady Dell Speed Shop cost me a helluva lot more than this motor should have.
68sprtsat383
Well-Known Member
Damn man that just sucks
65belved
Member
i live in state college, pa. have a 70 satellite conv. with a 408 stroker in it that ryan did.works great dynoed out at 495 horse with iron heads no problems here
XMAN JR
Well-Known Member
He knows his stuff. He is in the proses of building my dads 413 max wedge
mmissile
Well-Known Member
I don't think you/anyone needs a "mopar" builder, as much as a competent builder/machinist. They're all air-pumps, and work by the same rules. Know what you want/need, and take it up with a good machine-shop/builder. If he has any good advice...look into it, before proceeding. After all, you're not gonna be the builder....so maybe they know more than a person off the street does.
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