Hi Jim:

Thanks for the feedback.

Essentially, you've created an argument for doing everything yourself, which
is a valid point.  But eventually, you have to let somebody do something for
you.  We can't all build our own houses, grow our own food, etc.  We have to
trust the farmers to not overdo it with the pesticides, trust the roofers to
not screw up the shingling job, etc, etc.

We all have to make choices about what to do ourselves and what to trust to
others.  You've decided to do your motor yourself, and I respect that.  I've
rebuilt a few motors myself also, and frankly, I'm getting sick of it.  I've
decided to trust that job to S & S.  They came highly recommended to me by
several of my friends who have used their motors, and several local
mechanics who's opinion I trust.  Those mechanics have probably used a total
of about 75 motors from S&S, and not one of them has had problems.

As far as knowing exactly what's going into the motor, I can't have the same
knowledge as picking the parts myself and installing them, but the motor
comes with a long and impressive list of new parts, which I'm not going to
repeat here.

And if the problem rate is 1.2%, then my odds of getting a problem are 1.2
out of 100, definitely not 50/50.

As far as making mistakes ... well ... I've made a few mistakes in my
lifetime, and I'd bet good money you have too.  Would I trust you to do my
motor more than S&S?  I don't know.  I'd have to do the research on you and
compare you to the company, and make an educated decision from there.  All I
know is that after I rebuilt my first motor, I had learned a lot ... and I
learned it by making mistakes.  In my opinion, increased experience reduces
mistakes.  When I picked up the motor, I met the guys, and didn't see one
person who looked under 30.  There was one guy who looked in his late 20s
whose job it was to load the motor on the palette and forklift it into the
back of my truck.  They called him "the kid."  They've been in business for
a long time, and they do good work.

If you don't trust the workers at the motor company, then you should also
question the workers who made your original new motor, not to mention the
Chinese assembly line workers who made your tires, the people who made your
gas hot water heater and on and on.  Granted, rebuilding an old motor takes
more judgment than assembling a new one, but you get the idea -- mistakes
can happen anywhere.

Ultimately, I think each individual needs to decide what their capabilities
are, how they want to spend their time, and what they want to do with their
life.  I'm back in school now for pre-med, and classes are starting next
Monday.  So I've chosen to focus my energies on other things than
controlling every little aspect of what's in my motor.

You've made different decisions about what to do with your time, and I
respect that.

Just my two cents worth.


-Robert




"Jim Smith" <j_h_smith@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:cpidnWrEzdbqzJbeRVn-gQ@comcast.com...

"Robert" <Anonymous@NOSPAMPLEASE.montanasoft.com.SPaMFilTER> wrote
in message news:qIWdnZ4FD-Wps5beRVn-vg@bresnan.com...

Hi Theo:

I'm in the middle of putting in a remanufactured line-6, 4.0 liter
motor
right now.  I'd recommend removing and stripping your old motor,
and putting
in a remanufactured motor.  I got mine for $1,206 from S&S:
http://rebuilt-auto-engines.com/

Here are some advantages of trading your old motor for a
remanufactured one:

   - They do a better job than you can do ... too much to explain
about
that ... check their website.

Fat Chance!!!  You think some 19 year old Tech High School wanna-be
mechanic is going to put forth more of an effort building his 12th
motor this week than you would building your own?  You think he's
going to care if something is .003 out of spec?  You think he's
going to slab on the assembly lube like you would?

   - 7 year/70,000 mile warranty

What good is this warranty if you have to do all the work pulling
out the warranted motor?  Build it correctly the first time and you
don't need a warranty.

   - HUGE time savings.

Until you have to pull it out because some guy didn't torque the
headbolts and you've got big trouble!

   - The cost of buying a reman motor will be close to what you'd
pay to do
it yourself.

That may be true, but I know what I have when it's all said and
done.

Some of those motor rebuilders are terrible ... but these guys are
great ...
they do a really good job.  They have a failure rate of 1.2
percent, vs. 7
percent for the overall motor remanufacturing industry.

What do you think your chance is of getting that 1.2 % emgine?
50/50?

I'm in the middle of this job right now, and I definitely don't
regret
buying the reman. motor at all.

In the middle, so you don't know if your engine will run or not?
I really hope you don't experience any problems, but I can tell you
that many people will experience some sort of problem when they buy
a remanufactured engine!!!

I spec out the work done by the machine shop.  Just because someone
does that type of work for a living doesn't mean they can't make a
mistake.  After I pull an engine, spend the time, energy and money
rebuilding it, I know what I have.  Can you say the same for your
remanufactured engine?  Of course not.  You're taking it for granted
that the guy or guys that built your engine knows what they were
doing and did it correctly, much less, a less than perfect part
being installed into your remanufactured engine.  You can do
whatever you want, but I feel better knowing everything about an
engine I'm putting into my truck/car/jeep.


Respectfully,
Jim Smith