Stroker engine parts suppliers?

[347Stroker]

Hi guys,

I have just had a brand new fairly healthy 302 fail in a major way, with just 943 kays on it due to a major cam manufacturer here in australia (think type of bird) and am now trying to get some required bits for a stroker I need to source very quickly, basically need 347 rods and pistons by thursday morning at the latest, so I have a chance to get the motor assembled, and into the work ute by monday.....I know it sounds hopeful, but its worth giving a go...
I have a new crank here by the way.


Any ideas?

[EDXR8]

I know they are not in Brisbane but VPW (www.vpw.com.au) or HPW (www.highperformanceworld.com.au) may have parts in stock and be able to overnight them.

[347Stroker]

Well I got all the gear I needed from performance wholesale here in Brisbane, great guys, had everything on the shelf, and great prices too.

Back to the engine, the cam base circle was 153 thou smaller than the factory cam...lifters go down so far they come out of the retainers on the spider, and rotate....you know the rest.
Lets just say one of the retainers has shattered, in large pieces, and found its way into the rods.
Block is stuffed, heads are in need of rebuilding, cam, well its a paperweight, as well as all the lifters, spider and retainers, all stuffed, still looking through the bottom end.....will keep you all posted.

[brenx]

Retainers weren't crane branded by any chance??

[Gammaboy]

Originally Posted by 347stroker

Well I got all the gear I needed from performance wholesale here in Brisbane, great guys, had everything on the shelf, and great prices too.

Back to the engine, the cam base circle was 153 thou smaller than the factory cam...lifters go down so far they come out of the retainers on the spider, and rotate....you know the rest.
Lets just say one of the retainers has shattered, in large pieces, and found its way into the rods.
Block is stuffed, heads are in need of rebuilding, cam, well its a paperweight, as well as all the lifters, spider and retainers, all stuffed, still looking through the bottom end.....will keep you all posted.

OUCH!
Sounds like someone put a retro roller cam into a roller block?
Thats not that rattle you had in the ute's motor is it?

[!Gn|T|0n]

Originally Posted by 347stroker

Well I got all the gear I needed from performance wholesale here in Brisbane, great guys, had everything on the shelf, and great prices too.

Back to the engine, the cam base circle was 153 thou smaller than the factory cam...lifters go down so far they come out of the retainers on the spider, and rotate....you know the rest.
Lets just say one of the retainers has shattered, in large pieces, and found its way into the rods.
Block is stuffed, heads are in need of rebuilding, cam, well its a paperweight, as well as all the lifters, spider and retainers, all stuffed, still looking through the bottom end.....will keep you all posted.

I cringed reading this. Unfortunate mate, sorry to hear. Do you mind me asking what you got the required bits for?

[347Stroker]

Well, to answer the questions...

Retainer for the roller lifters were Ford....

It is looking like the supplied cam actually was a retro roller, although the manufacturer is not saying that, they tell me the base circle on them is even smaller....but yes, the rattle in the engine was the lifters catching on the retainers, and hammering them back and forth into the tops of the lifter bores, resulting in them finally breaking. I was a little concerned with the rattle, but was pretty sure it was valve lash, and did minimal kays in it, but had to drive it a fair way last weekend. I believe, well, I was actually told this afternoon that they were getting the Factory drawings from Tickford??? (Thought they didnt exist...lol) and that they took all the cams off the shelf, and were taking them to a major Ford engine builder in Melbourne, to have them checked. They were also chatting to somebody in WA.
From that, they are having Wayne Jones come tomorrow moring to inspect the block???
I guess I will have to see what they will do, but have had a report done, engaged a solicitor, and he is extremely confident.

Paul, I will PM details to you, they really helped me out, so I dont know if I should post them.....

[347Stroker]

What do you guys think, would you be chasing the manufacturer to pay damages, seeing that its their fault?

[EDXR8]

Originally Posted by 347stroker

What do you guys think, would you be chasing the manufacturer to pay damages, seeing that its their fault?

Unfortunatly I don't think you would get anything out of them because it is generally up to the person who assembles the engine to check everything. Obviously they gave you the wrong part but I don't think that makes them responsible for the damage, but I could be wrong. I would still push it as far as I could go, they know they screwed up and may just decide to settle it.

[Gammaboy]

Originally Posted by EDXR8

Unfortunatly I don't think you would get anything out of them because it is generally up to the person who assembles the engine to check everything. Obviously they gave you the wrong part but I don't think that makes them responsible for the damage, but I could be wrong. I would still push it as far as I could go, they know they screwed up and may just decide to settle it.

I can think of 2 kinds of Birds who are cam manufacturers that start with C....

I had a local mob supply me with a set of 14 hardened pushrods and 2 non hardened... well. needless to say, it ate the soft pushrods, *broke* a guideplate and popped a lifter out of a bore. The supplier coughed up for a guideplate, another set of pushrods, and then another set of pushrods when the overnighted set rolled up with the balls broken off the end of 2 or 3 of them.... after a phone call pointing out there stuff up had left me stranded 3000km from home, in the week between chrissy/new years, they overnighted a set of Comp Cams Magnum pushrods. I wound up covering the cost of the Oil, filter, gaskets (of course, the CHI heads use custom gaskets), and a set of new lifters (suspected i'd collapsed one anyway). I thought I did reasonably well to get the guideplate and pushrods out of them....
I will say that I'm impressed with the service from them, I was expecting them to just tell me not their problem (And they were open in that Chrissy/NY break). I still Buy stuff from them. If you want to know who it was, PM me, i'm not 100% comfy with broadcasting their name because it was basically their suppliers stuffed them up.

Good luck with collecting damages from them, from the sound of their response to it all, they're looking down the barrel of them being at fault due to a design c*ckup and accepting that and you might get a happy(ish?) resolution from it. The fact they've pulled the cams from their shelves indicates they're not sweeping you under the carpet, and are prepping themselves to fix it all. I suspect you'll your parts costs covered, but probably not labour?
Bish