ORIGINAL: Obsol3te

Well, I was curious to who else was in my area with stangs and I signed up at the Corral.
After I posted some crap about me in the Northeast Section, I went and browsed the 5.0 section and saw a 331 Dyno #'s thread.
Well I went and posted some info about my future setup(which is nearly done) and tossed up the spec sheet.
Someone replied to me do a search about Golen Engine Service in the Northeast Section...
So I did and found nothing but bad responses to their shoddy work...
Here's the thread.
http://www.corral.net/forums/showthr...ighlight=Golen
I've spent a GOOD!!! amount of money with them only oweing about 920 left, which I have in the bank sitting, waiting for the engine completion.

Please guys, any advice as to what I should do here?
I emailed the owner of Golen about the thread saying basically what I said here, and asking for a reason behind this.

... Can't afford to take a loss this big

ORIGINAL: redcoupe @ corral.net

Bought a 306 from him a couple of years ago and got about 20,000 trouble free miles from it but once it hit 20,000 has been nothing but headache. First lost an oil pump at track, which I sent back under the motor Life Time Labor warranty. Their inspection found that only new bearings were needed, they were installed and it was sent back to me. Not even two months later heard a knocking noise on way to work then motor seized. Pulled motor and oil pan to find half the motor lost oil, bearings gone, crank/rods/pistons lost. Brought this back against warranty once again, ordered all new parts..crank/rods/pistons and he built a new motor.

New motor doesn't even have 500 miles, same knocking noise came back. Pulled motor #1 & #5 bearings shot and took out crank journals. I've had the parts inspected by 2 different engine builders both concluded, it was due to improper initial lubrication or improperly set tolerances.

LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES AND AVOID THIS PLACE AT ALL COSTS, THEY APARANTLY CAN NOT PUT TOGETHER A MOTOR!!!

ORIGINAL: redcoupe

The place I'm having rework my parts has had 2 other failed motors from GES, says from what he has seen quality is average at best! I hate bad mouthing someone but don't want to see anyone else go through what I have.

ORIGINAL: redcoupe

Well my saga continues with Golen's Engine Service shoody work, motor is being rebuilt as we speak and it appears we found out why I kept breaking oil pump shafts. I have a girdle on my motor and apparently when they installed the oil pump they did not address the clearance issues that the girdle posed, when they went to remove pupm they had difficulty taken bolts out. The oil pump was hitting one of the mains bolts causing the pump to not seat flat against block and GES decided rather than addressing this to just install as is and try torquing down the bolts to get it flat. This didn't work and there was a gap left which was causing improper oiling of bearings.
So to summarize, these are problems I have had the latest Golen's Engine Service motor build:
-improperly set tolerances on a few bearings
-improperly seated oil pump
-charged me for a new stock oil pump when it appears that the old HV pump was reused
Am seeking legal advice in this and want to stress once again...DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH GOLEN'S ENGINE SERVICE!!!

ORIGINAL: Cougar5.0 @ Corral.net

Golens was a real pain for me as well and I also have a small rap that I can hear when the engine is cold . My problems were:

1. They were supposed to zero-deck the block, but didn't. It was on the work order, but he still argued with me when I returned it, then he argued with me when I told him that quench height was an important thing (he didn't seem to know).

2. He recommended Keith Black pistons when I described what I wanted, but was not familiar with the special gapping requirements for piston rings when using KB pistons. I got my shortblock back to my house and took one of the pistons out to measure the ring gap - sure enough it was stock which would've eventually blown the motor at the track. It wasn't until I brought him in a print out from KB's internet site that he would re-gap the rings without trying to charge me for the work. He also said my pistons were in stock, but then they took several weeks to arrive.

3. He told me I was getting an aftermarket balancer that he was balancing the motor to (lightweight pistons). I got the motor assembled eventually and I was shocked to find that the balancer runout (wobble) was about 1/8"!!! It turns out that the cheap Pioneer brand he used was just a stock Ford piece that was re-manufactured. Unfortunately the Chinese apparently weren't told that you can't just overbore the inner diameter of the balancer if it is rough. I knew that was the problem when the balancer just fell off into my hand when after I loostened the bolt holding it in!!!!! (I also wonder if Golens did this to make it easier to get on and off during balancing)

4. Since access to the base is restricted, it makes you feel like he could just refuse to see you - then what would you do? He did deck the block and re-gap the pistons when I returned it, but the whole experience made me feel uncomfortable. I am sure if anything goes wrong now - I'm definetely on my own.

I would NOT recommend these novices to anyone who cares about their car.

ORIGINAL: Obsol3te

It's too late now, theyre just waiting on the heads...