The saga of a 5 year old machining job gone wrong.
Here's where the story starts. Rewind your way back machine for 2003ish. There is this E21 owner who has the brilliant idea of purchasing a E30 318is wreck from a friend in the hopes of pulling the mill, and parting the rest. The extra engine will be the project. Take my time (ha ha) to build an engine capable of creating some decent numbers, and swap it into the E21 when it's done to limit the amount of down time on the car (double ha ha).
So E21 owner dis-assembles the engine, delivers many components to the machine shop. A MLS head gasket is purchased, new valve springs and seals, a little bit of engine hardware, etc. 800 dollars is placed as a deposit/initial payment for services rendered on the engine. Some of you may recall me polishing the beams on the connecting rods (more of that later).
Time passes, school becomes a larger priority for me. The machinist in question is not the most driven person in the world. With my small rental house and not a spare bedroom to build an engine in at the time, I let it slide. No big deal I kept telling him. Now if you tell that to any machinist you end up at the bottom of their long "to do" list.
I graduate and move in with my friends. I have space now, hopefully I can get it built. Go to visit the machinist. "I'll order pistons" he says. "cool, Me and all the roommates are moving in a few months to a new place that has more room so I'll be ready".
We move, no engine. I return to the shop. I learn that Don (machinist) is aiming to sell the shop. Of course he mentions that finishing my engine is a top priority before the shop sells. This is 2005 or so. I would hope so. I stop by everyday for a week getting updates. "still waiting for pistons". Blah blah.
5 months pass.
Things look good after a few days. I call Don and he says that things are going to be moving soon, and I should have the motor back in 5 days. I call back in 4. "Don got in a motorcycle accident". Now, I can't be mad for this, but it bums me out for sure. I decide to give it a week or two because of the circumstances and don't call.
One day I call.
"Hello"
"Hi, this is Nic, Is Don there?"
"nope"
"Can you tell him I called?"
"Sure thing".
Now this is a small shop, two guys work their with the odd younger kid there to help out. I know them all. I've been stopping by to see them for the better part of 3 years. I didn't recognize the voice of this guy. I just assumed that it was a new young guy working there. A week or two passes. I call again.
"Machineworks" (same voice)
"Yeah this is Nic with the BMW 4 cylinder, is Don there."
"Nope"
"Will he be in today?"
"I haven't seen him in a week. He's supposed to be stopping by later today to pick up all this $hit."
pause from me.
"What?"
"Yeah I keep telling him to pick up all his stuff."
"I'm sorry I'm a little confused. Don is supposed to be finishing my engine."
"Not in my shop he's not."
The conversation continues a little, and I find out this is Matt, the NEW OWNER OF MACHINEWORKS. I'm floored. In hindsight I should have told Matt to keep my things there, don't let Don take anything and I'll be by to pick it up. During our phone conversation I had him look around for a few of my things. One of which was the head. It had been completed for 2 years. A simple rebuild, nothing fancy. The guy who does their headwork is the other employee and has been there for ages. He does good work and obviously doesn't like things sitting on his bench. When Matt walked over to him and asked "you seen a 16v BMW head around here?" He replies "Oh you mean the one on the rack that's been done for 2 years?". I could hear him in the background.
So I should have gone and snagged all my stuff, cut my loses and got out of dodge. I heard through the grapevine that Don was going through a rough patch in life. Not my problem, and a commitment is still a commitment, but at some point you've got to be ready to cut your loses and get out. At this point I had a new MLS headgasket, and a rebuilt head for 800 bucks. I was probably out a few hundred, but atleast it wouldn't be a total loss. I didn't go there, I didn't pick up my things. Stupid.
I called the next day to do just that. To ask Matt to hold my things until I could get there. I bet you can imagine what happened. Don had gone to the shop the previous afternoon and picked up all the projects that he needed to fix. Bad news for me, good news that there are others in the same boat. I had Don's cell phone and started to call.
He answered and assured me that he was still allowed to work in the shop even though I was told otherwise. His motorcycle accident was bad and he was just now trying to move around. I had heard rumors that depression had got the best of him and he had done some things to try and "end it". So I was on edge trying to talk to him. I want my stuff, I'd prefer it finished, but in no way did I want to ride him to the point where he actually accomplishes a task that someone should never be successful at.
A month passes. No word. I call Machineworks back. I'm ready to go to Don's house and get my things. Matt says he hasn't been there, and they don't have a home address for him. So now, Don is dodging my phonecalls (1 or 2 a week) and no one that I know can tell me where he is. I google maps, streeet view, I call friends that know him. No dice. Nothing. I keep calling Machineworks in the hopes that he'll turn up. 8 months later I get a hit. Supposedly they're looking for him too. He's doing some side jobs at another machine shop it town. I call and stop by hoping to catch him. No luck. I leave a message in person and the owner assures me he'll get in touch with him. "I just want my stuff back" I say. 2 weeks go by, no word.
Fast forward to Thursday of last week. Steph and I are getting ready to go out to dinner. I pick up my phone (you have to remember this has been eating me for the better part of 5 years), I decide to call. It's 5pm or so. Steph asks who I'm calling. "Don" I reply. In a fit of clarvoyance (girls are great at that) she says "Are you prepared to talk if he picks up?"
She asks me this because I'm fuming now. If I passed him on the street I'd yoke up on him and make him pay for the years that he's been farting around. Suicide or not, I'd help him finish the job at this point. This long for a stupid little project. What makes him think that it's OK to push me aside? All these questions.
"Hello"
He answers. Now I'm almost pissed that he answers. 8 months of dodging my phonecalls not returning my many messages, and he has the balls to answer? Very short conversation insues. Basically I tell him that tomorrow (friday) he better have all my stuff at the other machine shop for me to pick up. I have to work and he needs to get it there. "It'll be there" he says. And I'll be damned it was:
I didn't take the pictures in black and white on purpose. The camera was set that way by accident. It's fitting though considering how long this crap has taken. You'll notice that my con-rods are missing. Don is still returning my calls. It's like nothing ever happened (odd). And he's looking in his garage for them. This has been the biggest pain EVAR.
The head is supposed to be ceramic coated, along with the exhaust ports. I believe it is. It appears that way.
Anyone else using Raceware fasteners? I purchased them ages ago because ARP didn't make M42 specific head studs, or main bearing hardware at the time. The main bearing kit is listed as 320i, and I was told they were interchangeable, M10 and M42. Is this true?
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