Complaint Review: McKeown Motorsport Engineering - Internet
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- Author Not Confirmed
- McKeown Motorsport Engineering 10F Iron Gate Drive, Waldorf, Maryland, 20601 Internet United States of America
- Phone: 3019329292
- Web: www.mmeracing.com
- Category: Auto Parts
McKeown Motorsport Engineering MME Racing Bad Engine Build, Bad Business Practices, Bad Customer Service, Don't Buy From These Guys! Internet
*Author of original report: MME, MCKEOWN MOTORSPORT ENGINEERING BAD BUSINESS
*Author of original report: PHOTOS OF VALVE COVERS
*Author of original report: MME, TRY TELLING THE TRUTH
*REBUTTAL Owner of company: We have nothing to hide...
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I contracted with MME to build an engine for me. The engine was very similar to their Engine Masters build and so I had hoped for the same quality and attention to detail that I thought they had demonstrated. I provided them the heads, intake, distributor and other parts totaling over $4000. Add to this their total bill of almost $16,000 and my engine build totaled almost $21K.
The engine did not even make it to 1200 miles before it started breaking rocker arms(Jesel shaft rocker arms). An examination by Jesel and one of their consultants concluded that the valve train had not been properly speced out resulting in a valve train that was out of control.
Here are the issues detailed in the report and input from Jesel's consultant:
1) The wrong valve spring retainers were used. When the spring manufacturer was contacted they informed Jesel's consultant that there was only one correct part number to be used with the Manley Nextek springs used and that, that particular part was a titanium spring retainer. The retainer used by MME was too steel and fit very lossely allowing the spring to much freedom of movement.
2) The springs themselves were the wrong poundage and were improperly shimmed. The springs used were rated for 800 lbs at full lift. The Comp Cams spec for the mechanical roller cam in question is 525 lbs at full lift. Additionally the springs were not properly shimmed, allowing them to bounce and contribute to the valve train being uncontrolled.
3) The pushrods were too short. Jesel report revealed that the adjusters on the rocker arms were turned out to the point that they only had 2 or 3 threads in the body of the rocker arm. This means that pushrods were really too short.
4) The adjusters on the rocker arms were probabaly overtorqued. Jesels report show that the rocker arm adjuster were probably overtorqued leading to a failure of the rocker arm body. I watched Mark Mckeown adjust these and he did not use the Jesel tool with pre-set torque, nor did he use a torque wrench, so in truth he had no idea what torque he was using when setting them.
5) When my final bill came they padded the bill by charging me for phone calls made to parts suppliers to make sure they got the right parts so that my engine would fit my car correctly when installed.
Additionally after the engine was delivered and FULLY PAID FOR:
6) A custom set of valve covers were delivered out of spec and over cost. When I asked them to fix them they took 5 months to fix them and then tried to charge me additional money to fix their mistakes. At that point I stopped talking to them.
AS OF THIS DATE THEY HAVE NOT DONE ANYTHING TO BACK UP THEIR WORK OR MAKE THIS SITUATION RIGHT. TO SUM IT UP I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND ANYBODY BUY AN ENGINE FROM THESE PEOPLE.
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 11/28/2009 11:36 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/mckeown-motorsport-engineering/internet/mckeown-motorsport-engineering-mme-racing-bad-engine-build-bad-business-practices-bad-cu-530310. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content
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#4 Author of original report
MME, MCKEOWN MOTORSPORT ENGINEERING BAD BUSINESS
AUTHOR: DJEZC - ()
SUBMITTED: Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Recently there has been a variety of activity and discussion of MME, McKeown Motorsport Engineering, on various websites and Facebook pages.
The engine had to be completely re-built after less than 800 miles of road use. Again I will state that a multi-page report, with microscopic photographic analysis, by Jesel pin pointed multiple issues that led to the valve train failure.
ALL ISSUES IN THE REPORT WERE DETERMINED TO BE THE RESULT OF ENGINE BULDER ERRORS!
I can confirm that to date McKeown Motorsport Engineering has NEVER attempted to do anything to make the situation right with regards to the defective engine build they did for me.
Additionally money spent on the custom valve covers has never been refunded, subsititute valve covers were never offered and they are still in possesion of both my money and the defective valve covers. As previous photos clearly demonstrate that McKeown Motorsport Engineering can't even get the basic features of a set of valve covers right.
BEWARE doing business with MME, MCKeown Motorsport Engineering, Mark Mckeown, Heather McKeown!
#3 Author of original report
PHOTOS OF VALVE COVERS
AUTHOR: DJEZC - (United States of America)
SUBMITTED: Sunday, March 21, 2010
The custom valve covers I mentioned in my first post were supposed to be powder coated blue and the engraved with "BOSS 427" so that the silver color of the aluminum showed through.
MME engraved them first and then covered over the engraving with the blue powder coating. This is not what I ordered and anybody with common sense would know that this is not correct. Yet MME claims that this is what I ordered so that they do not have to take responsibility for their mistake, which is one of their MANY mistakes.
I am attaching photos of the valve covers as they were originally delivered. You will see immediately that they have no provisions for breathers or a filler cap.
I don't know how MME thought I was going to put oil in the engine.
At this point I have spent about $900 to have valve covers that were cosmetically and functionally incorrect.
When MME made an attempt to add provisions for breathers and a filler cap, they then presented me with a bill for additional charges to fix the mistakes they made with regards to the valve covers in the first place.
To this day MME is in possesion of these valve covers and my money.
#2 Author of original report
MME, TRY TELLING THE TRUTH
AUTHOR: DJEZC - (United States of America)
SUBMITTED: Monday, December 21, 2009
If anybody would like proof of my claims I can offer the following as proof:
A) A copy of the report from Jesel outlining all the issues their examination revealed.
B) The part numbers used for the springs and the retainers verifying the mismatch of parts.
C) The specifications of the springs from the manufacturer and the requirements of the cam manufacturer verifying the mismatch.
D) Photos of the valve covers as originally delivered, clearly showing that they were delivered without provisions for a filler cap or breathers. Valve covers that were originally quoted at a cost of $350.00, were delivered out of spec and over cost at $900.00, months late, and are still not delivered to date(12/21/2009). I refused to pay more when MME tried to charge me another $350-$400 to fix their mistakes months after the initial botched delivery.
E) A copy of my bill showing that MME charged me for phone calls
If MME wants to correct this situation, it is really simple: Pay for the parts that I need to fix the engine and I will glady be the first to say in the end MME did the right thing and fixed the situation.
Meanwhile I am out around $21,000 on an engine that is sitting, broken in my garage and $900 on set of valve covers which are still in the possesion of MME. Heather, when you rip people off do you think people are just remain quiet about it?
A) I paid for an engine.
B) It did not last even 1200 miles before it started breaking
C) It is utterly useless as it sits right now.
D) MME has done nothing to date to stand behind their product.
E) They delivered a custom set of valve covers that were not correct from a functional/mechanical standpoint, and were not cosmetically what I ordered, and were over double what had been originally quoted. When asked to fix them, they tried to charge me more to fix their mistakes.
THESE ARE THE FACTS!
OBVIOUSLY THEY BUILT A DEFECTIVE PRODUCT, THIS IS UNDENIABLE.
THEIR BUSINESS PRACTICES ARE NOT FOCUSED ON BACKING UP WHAT THEY SELL OR CREATING A SATISFIED CUSTOMER.
ANYBODY WHIO WISHES COPIES OF THE ABOVE OFFERED PROOFS MAY CONTACT ME TO VERIFY MY CLAIMS.
I HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE!
Chris L
(((Redacted)))CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.
#1 REBUTTAL Owner of company
We have nothing to hide...
AUTHOR: Heather - (United States of America)
SUBMITTED: Monday, December 21, 2009
We here at McKeown Motorsport Engineering, Inc. have nothing to hide. We are happy to give full disclosure of the details of this situation. It did not happen as this customer describes and anyone who would like to question these details or our business practices we will be happy to address your inquiries. Please contact us directly.
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