Has anyone got their engine built by Jackson Auto Machine
Correction:
You were quoted a price over the phone for a service but only heard the first half of the conversation. You asked how much to port the chambers on your cylinder head. The answer was $200 for the porting plus the labor to disassemble, clean, mill and re-assemble the head along with a set of valve seals. All you heard was "$200". You showed up to take delivery of your engine and didn't have enough money. We gave you the benefit of the doubt and allowed you to take your head with you while you still had a $408 balance with us, which you agreed to pay the following week. Two weeks later you made a partial payment of $200 and agreed to pay the rest in another week when you got paid. This second payment was never made. Instead, you called your credit card company and tried to dispute the charge as an unauthorized transaction. The bank found that to be laughable and immediately placed the funds back into our account.
As for not receiving services that you paid for I'm going to assume you mean the oil squirters? Jerry told me you called about that a few weeks ago but I'll clarify anyway. Recently we have had a handful of 4G64 blocks come through the shop with significant core shift and/or casing imperfections which wouldn't allow the OEM-type squirters to be installed. Since then we began using a method borrowed from other engine families and the racing industry of installing oiling "jets" into the mains to supply oil to the bottoms of the pistons. Only some of the 4G64 blocks have problems but there's no way to tell until you poke a hole in it. Instead of adding a bunch of blocks to the scrap pile we came up with an alternative. If you feel you're being lied to, the push out a rod and piston or pull the crank out and you'll see them clear as day. I can assure you that you weren't charged for any parts or services that you didn't receive. The opposite is actually true- you received more than you paid for since you still haven't settled your debt.
You were quoted a price over the phone for a service but only heard the first half of the conversation. You asked how much to port the chambers on your cylinder head. The answer was $200 for the porting plus the labor to disassemble, clean, mill and re-assemble the head along with a set of valve seals. All you heard was "$200". You showed up to take delivery of your engine and didn't have enough money. We gave you the benefit of the doubt and allowed you to take your head with you while you still had a $408 balance with us, which you agreed to pay the following week. Two weeks later you made a partial payment of $200 and agreed to pay the rest in another week when you got paid. This second payment was never made. Instead, you called your credit card company and tried to dispute the charge as an unauthorized transaction. The bank found that to be laughable and immediately placed the funds back into our account.
As for not receiving services that you paid for I'm going to assume you mean the oil squirters? Jerry told me you called about that a few weeks ago but I'll clarify anyway. Recently we have had a handful of 4G64 blocks come through the shop with significant core shift and/or casing imperfections which wouldn't allow the OEM-type squirters to be installed. Since then we began using a method borrowed from other engine families and the racing industry of installing oiling "jets" into the mains to supply oil to the bottoms of the pistons. Only some of the 4G64 blocks have problems but there's no way to tell until you poke a hole in it. Instead of adding a bunch of blocks to the scrap pile we came up with an alternative. If you feel you're being lied to, the push out a rod and piston or pull the crank out and you'll see them clear as day. I can assure you that you weren't charged for any parts or services that you didn't receive. The opposite is actually true- you received more than you paid for since you still haven't settled your debt.
Evolved Member
iTrader: (46)
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,400
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From: Thornton, CO & Pasadena, MD
Unfortunately I fell into the category of I also heard bad things about JAM a few yrs ago and I recently moved to MD from CO and had I not heard those bad things I would have had my engine built by them. So I would also agree what RSMike said as well cause had I known this before hand that would have played a roll on who I bought my motor from. Just saying. Congrats on righting the ship though.
Here is my side. Originally I was quoted $2980 for block and got charged $3150. Only $170 difference- no big deal. I called and talk to Tony regarding head chambers, He asked Jerry how much it would be. He told me $50 a chamber. I asked if it included disassembly and assembly, he said yes. Now I expect the price to be $200, if there were additional charges, I should have been informed about them. I am a service advisor so I quote estimates to customers all day. If I quote an estimate and if its going to be higher, I call customer to inform them. They did let me take the head without payment, he did owe me parts that I already paid for and was suppose to ship them Monday. I paid them $200 and they kept my parts that I already paid for. To me it was not about the money, more how it was dealt with. At the end of day, I still consider my experience to be bad and will not recommend to anyone.
Newbie
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 35
Likes: 0
From: MD
I'm going to assume that you are referring to the Cometic head gasket. It was on backorder when you picked up your engine. When it was delivered you still owed us money so as far as I'm concerned you didn't pay for the gasket. I have some here in stock so if you'd like to settle your balance I'd be happy to send one your way.
I paid for cometic head gasket and balance shaft kit on my original invoice which I did not receive. Cometic gasket was not on backorder cause I ordered it right after I got off the phone with you. I owe you nothing as far as I am concerned. You need to learn how to quote people.
JAM is building me a 2.3L that spun a rod bearing and after continuous disappointment in Evo shops turning out engines that go through 3qt's of oil in just under 1k/miles, hopefully this time around I wont have to cary 3qts of oil with me whenever I need to driver longer distance.
Newbie
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 35
Likes: 0
From: MD
I paid for cometic head gasket and balance shaft kit on my original invoice which I did not receive. Cometic gasket was not on backorder cause I ordered it right after I got off the phone with you. I owe you nothing as far as I am concerned. You need to learn how to quote people.
I have a 2-3 year old 15-20k mile JAM built 2.0 Manley block + Super tech head.
Carmella was nice/knowledgable enough to me and my shop and it has yet to blow up or burn really any oil. I beat the **** out of it daily.
Not too many engine builders do the actual machining as well, not that it's critical, but i thought it was cool.
Carmella was nice/knowledgable enough to me and my shop and it has yet to blow up or burn really any oil. I beat the **** out of it daily.
Not too many engine builders do the actual machining as well, not that it's critical, but i thought it was cool.
Newbie
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 35
Likes: 0
From: MD
If I had the time, I would. We've got a steadily increasing flow of work coming through the door which is keeping both of us busy, and is honestly about the most we can handle. Almost all of it is via word of mouth or repeat business. When we sponsored EvoM and spent time on the forums it generated very little revenue for us which was made worse when IB bought the site and jacked the prices through the roof. Right now I pop in when I have time to check on certain builds, see what people are talking about and address any issues that come up but the work in the shop has me too busy to dedicate a bunch of time to be active on any forums.
I would consider this a last minute budget build using used MAP spec rods/crank new JAM spec Venolia pistons... quickest turnaround for a short block of any builder and top notch machine work... much much more left in the car but tuned it to drive it a bit before winter here in WI
I would consider this a last minute budget build using used MAP spec rods/crank new JAM spec Venolia pistons... quickest turnaround for a short block of any builder and top
notch machine work... much much more left in the car but tuned it to drive it a bit before winter here in WI