Originally posted by RSTPerformance:
Shane-

..... I am sure that you have documentation that you spent thousands of dollars for a LEGAL motor. ....... I loved the post a little while back with the ad from Turner Motorsports selling the illegal BMW cams for ITS. I lost a lot of respect for that team.

Raymond “I bet the engine builder blames Shane… Get everything in writing” Blethen
Raymond...let me clear up a couple little points.

First, don't lose respect for Turner...I think we surmised that he was playing a bit of a joke, and doing a little bit of finger pointing by "selling" those used cams on his site. I think his rep is pretty clean, even in a pro series where the "rules of engagement" are quite different.

Secondly, I hope Shane didn't shell out thousands of dollars for this build, because he got ripped off if he did. The pertinant items I was told were: The head...measured within new tolerances. (in other words, never cut.) The valves and ports were stock. (In other words, no sign of any machine work on the head) Hence, no money spent there.
The deck was 'factory clean' according to the results I was told. No cutting there, therefor no money spent on it.

So, it would appear, that the pistons and rings were the entire "rebuild". As it was reported that they were domed units (which are visibly quite different than the stock units), a conclusion could be reached that this "build" was a mere replacement of higher compression pistons, which is the quick and easy way to make power.

(An interesting aside here was that the pistons were actually spotted by a distant observer during the teardown, and reported to me later that day, but I dismissed it as unreliable third party info. "How can you tell from 20 feet away?" I thought. Evidently, you can....)

If Shanes builder was able to build a motor in such a way, and bamboozle Shane by showing no receipts for the usual machine work, etc, then charge Shane thousands of dollars, the guy should be in jail!

Another possibility here is that Shane is telling a bit of the truth. Maybe he bought the engine from another guy, or a wreck or something, was under the assumption that it was legal, then decided to tell a white lie to protect the seller.

Of course, the bottom line is the same...it's your ass on the line and you better be SURE you know what you got.



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Jake Gulick
CarriageHouse Motorsports
ITA 57 RX-7
New England Region
[email protected]