Second Blueprint 408 issues

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Since you asked, I would take advantage of the warranty included in the purchase of the engine.

^What he said.
I found Blueprint to be an outstanding company and my shortblock was nothing short of impressive.
Planning to share my personal experience in the near future, but between Johnny and Ken there's no greater customer service folks around.

There was some carburetor concerns voiced on your thread about the first engine. Was that ever addressed? If not, both the original failure and this one could be related (oil dilution) and have nothing to do with BP or quality of their work.

Plenty of folks seem to run their goods without much problem.. maybe the third time will be the charm for you?
 
^What he said.
I found Blueprint to be an outstanding company and my shortblock was nothing short of impressive.
Planning to share my personal experience in the near future, but between Johnny and Ken there's no greater customer service folks around.

There was some carburetor concerns voiced on your thread about the first engine. Was that ever addressed? If not, both the original failure and this one could be related (oil dilution) and have nothing to do with BP or quality of their work.

Plenty of folks seem to run their goods without much problem.. maybe the third time will be the charm for you?
Exactly. We have no idea what was found in thread one, bc its easier to cry wolf on a new, 2nd thread. I see very little blueprint fault here, especially after the BS and insults slung in thread #1. This guy will never be happy with this engine. Should have sold it in thread one AS HE STATED HE WAS GOING TO DO. so lets defame a company, refuse to let them help. ***** online, and demand an "expert" shop, that also couldnt find an issue for a week...rebuild it. Maybe they will replace the leaky carb that never came from Blueprint
 
Exactly. We have no idea what was found in thread one, bc its easier to cry wolf on a new, 2nd thread. I see very little blueprint fault here, especially after the BS and insults slung in thread #1. This guy will never be happy with this engine. Should have sold it in thread one AS HE STATED HE WAS GOING TO DO. so lets defame a company, refuse to let them help. ***** online, and demand an "expert" shop, that also couldnt find an issue for a week...rebuild it. Maybe they will replace the leaky carb that never came from Blueprint

To be fair, he's entitled to be unhappy. Expectations of a professionally built long block run pretty high. But at the same time, it all started with "this engine doesn't have the power I expected" which turned out to be a carb not fully opening... So it's tough to take seriously the kinds of accusations being made about the engine.

Wanting an "expert" shop is not unreasonable because it should lend some authority to the diagnosis and a busy shop can take time to figure things out too, so taking a week and all that doesn't seem that unreasonable to me. Lots of reasons could explain it, and it's better to have third party confirmation.

What does NOT make sense is moving on without involving BPE in the plan. In the OPs position, I'd not be taking any action that didn't come directly from BPE - If they say take it to a shop, take it to a shop. If they say to pull plug wires until the noise goes away, do that - but don't go off on some unknown path, especially one that costs money, while a perfectly good warranty goes unused.
 
To be fair, he's entitled to be unhappy. Expectations of a professionally built long block run pretty high. But at the same time, it all started with "this engine doesn't have the power I expected" which turned out to be a carb not fully opening... So it's tough to take seriously the kinds of accusations being made about the engine.

Wanting an "expert" shop is not unreasonable because it should lend some authority to the diagnosis and a busy shop can take time to figure things out too, so taking a week and all that doesn't seem that unreasonable to me. Lots of reasons could explain it, and it's better to have third party confirmation.

What does NOT make sense is moving on without involving BPE in the plan. In the OPs position, I'd not be taking any action that didn't come directly from BPE - If they say take it to a shop, take it to a shop. If they say to pull plug wires until the noise goes away, do that - but don't go off on some unknown path, especially one that costs money, while a perfectly good warranty goes unused.

Hey Phreakish,
The shop I took it to suddenly got real busy with small jobs so that did delay the diagnosis. The other delay was I asked them to look at every other potential cause. I initially told them to yank it and take apart. But after talking with blueprint and coming to my senses after being royally pissed, I asked the shop to first pinpoint the exact location of the knock, which they did yesterday. I did both installs myself, but I am not going to do it again, not because I do not know what I am doing, but because I am fed up with this project and would rather pay someone to do the work so I can focus my energy on other projects.

I have been keeping BP in the loop and they have been reaching out to me. So this is not about Bp service at all. And I am going with there suggestions. I just no longer trust the product. They have not closed the door on paying for the repairs either.

Right now all I care about, which may not seem right to some, is having a good powerful operating motor in my car. Even if that means abandoning the 408 project all together and putting my 340 back in. Yes the warranty is nice, thats the main reason I went with BP, but its not nice if I have to keep taking the motor out.

Some are taking this as a slam at BP, it is not, I am sharing my experiences with a BP engine. I really wish I was the one that did not get to experience what I am currently dealing with, but oh well, nothing I can do not other than figure out a solution.
 
Charger, and FABO,

I FULLY get being upset about any bottom end issue. Be it problem engine #1, #2, etc. it sucks. Period. Pulling an engine back out of a project completely deflates the project, kills ambition. I’ve been there, I get it. I will gladly take the engine back, at this point, probably throw 100% of it in the dumpster, but not until AFTER we inspect it, and see what caused this bottom end problem. I’ll even provide a free replacement, and pay the shop to install it. But we need that one back to determine what caused the issue. Now since this thread is titled “blueprint issue #2” I will defend us in the fact that the first time we got it back, we tore it down and found no issues. It was evident in the other thread that a poorly tuned carb very well may have been thinning the oil, etc. I’m not getting into all that as this is already a no-win situation, but I want anyone to know we rebuilt it free the first time, even after finding no defects, and if we get it back again, we’ll provide a replacement. If someone doesn’t want that opportunity…then all I can do is apologize for the problems, and wish them the best. I’ll (and anyone else at BluePrint) will help anyone out there that gives us the opportunity, every time.

Johnny Mac
 
Hey Phreakish,
The shop I took it to suddenly got real busy with small jobs so that did delay the diagnosis. The other delay was I asked them to look at every other potential cause. I initially told them to yank it and take apart. But after talking with blueprint and coming to my senses after being royally pissed, I asked the shop to first pinpoint the exact location of the knock, which they did yesterday. I did both installs myself, but I am not going to do it again, not because I do not know what I am doing, but because I am fed up with this project and would rather pay someone to do the work so I can focus my energy on other projects.

I have been keeping BP in the loop and they have been reaching out to me. So this is not about Bp service at all. And I am going with there suggestions. I just no longer trust the product. They have not closed the door on paying for the repairs either.

Right now all I care about, which may not seem right to some, is having a good powerful operating motor in my car. Even if that means abandoning the 408 project all together and putting my 340 back in. Yes the warranty is nice, thats the main reason I went with BP, but its not nice if I have to keep taking the motor out.

Some are taking this as a slam at BP, it is not, I am sharing my experiences with a BP engine. I really wish I was the one that did not get to experience what I am currently dealing with, but oh well, nothing I can do not other than figure out a solution.

Good summary, and it sounds reasonable. Good reply too, I think it's too easy for people to read between the lines when it comes to forum stuff.. You lay it all out very well there.

100% agree that even the best warranty is cold comfort when you've got to yank an engine out (again). But I can attest that the engines are worth the effort once installed and tuned.

Personally, I think your best bet is to crate it up and get the whole shebang back to BPE (assuming they agree at this stage). If they replace the engine again, you could always just sell it instead of install it and change course. Or maybe you can work with BPE to get the engine setup/dyno'd with your carb to rule that out as a contributing factor? Just spitballing..
 
Charger, and FABO,

I FULLY get being upset about any bottom end issue. Be it problem engine #1, #2, etc. it sucks. Period. Pulling an engine back out of a project completely deflates the project, kills ambition. I’ve been there, I get it. I will gladly take the engine back, at this point, probably throw 100% of it in the dumpster, but not until AFTER we inspect it, and see what caused this bottom end problem. I’ll even provide a free replacement, and pay the shop to install it. But we need that one back to determine what caused the issue. Now since this thread is titled “blueprint issue #2” I will defend us in the fact that the first time we got it back, we tore it down and found no issues. It was evident in the other thread that a poorly tuned carb very well may have been thinning the oil, etc. I’m not getting into all that as this is already a no-win situation, but I want anyone to know we rebuilt it free the first time, even after finding no defects, and if we get it back again, we’ll provide a replacement. If someone doesn’t want that opportunity…then all I can do is apologize for the problems, and wish them the best. I’ll (and anyone else at BluePrint) will help anyone out there that gives us the opportunity, every time.

Johnny Mac


Hey Johnny,

FYI, I am pretty sure I got a new motor not a rebuild of the one I send back. It had a different year block, heads, different serial number etc. I am very grateful that you guys took it back and swapped it. You guys are kick *** in the service department. It did give me piece of mind at how easy friendly and nice you all are. You could have told me to pound salt. However the block was a leaky mess , that was confirmed by one of your techs when i checked on it. In addition I was told the dip stick was hitting the crank that in turn was throwing the dip stick up. The motor was spewing oil out the pcv valve. So who knows what happened, but the motor certainly had issues other than an issue with the carb, the issue with the cab was related to the early a bodys having a short throttle cable. Once the longer one was added problem solved. Yes I messed with the jets some, but put the jets back to stock way before the oil was spewing out the pcv side. I guess I just had back luck 2xs. Or maybe I did something wrong, and if I did I have no problem admitting it and would not hold you accountable for my mistake. I was really hoping this was a simple issue. I am just perplexed why/how this could have happened a second time.

This is not an attack on your company or product. I am only sharing my experience.
 
So, the warranty is the main reason you went with BP, yet you're refusing to take advantage of it? That just doesn't make much sense...

I don't expect it will make sense to everyone

Many, myself included, see the extension of a warranty as an indication of the quality. If a company is willing to outright replace an engine they must have some faith in their own work... and I don't think anyone plans to USE a warranty if they can avoid it.
When faced with having to deal with shipping an engine versus just drive it across town, it can be easy to feel like going with a local shop would make life easier. So it's not as insane as it sounds.

But Johnny makes it obvious that they really want to make things right, no matter what. That matches my experience too. I think if the OP takes them up on it, he'll eventually be glad he did. If OP decides to go some other route, it would be a disservice to BPE as much as the OP because there's something to be learned from every failure.
 
Yeah I could send it back to them, but quite frankly, at this point, I am not trusting there product.
Even if it's the second failure, you dont openly say that **** on a forum till you end up screwed AND without repair/compensation.
With that said...best of luck.
 
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Hey Johnny,

FYI, I am pretty sure I got a new motor not a rebuild of the one I send back. It had a different year block, heads, different serial number etc. I am very grateful that you guys took it back and swapped it. You guys are kick *** in the service department. It did give me piece of mind at how easy friendly and nice you all are. You could have told me to pound salt. However the block was a leaky mess , that was confirmed by one of your techs when i checked on it. In addition I was told the dip stick was hitting the crank that in turn was throwing the dip stick up. The motor was spewing oil out the pcv valve. So who knows what happened, but the motor certainly had issues other than an issue with the carb, the issue with the cab was related to the early a bodys having a short throttle cable. Once the longer one was added problem solved. Yes I messed with the jets some, but put the jets back to stock way before the oil was spewing out the pcv side. I guess I just had back luck 2xs. Or maybe I did something wrong, and if I did I have no problem admitting it and would not hold you accountable for my mistake. I was really hoping this was a simple issue. I am just perplexed why/how this could have happened a second time.

This is not an attack on your company or product. I am only sharing my experience.
Completely reasonable response and point of view. As I stated above, glad to help. All we can do as a company is improve day to day, and make our customers happy when things don't go as planned.
 
Many, myself included, see the extension of a warranty as an indication of the quality. If a company is willing to outright replace an engine they must have some faith in their own work... and I don't think anyone plans to USE a warranty if they can avoid it.
When faced with having to deal with shipping an engine versus just drive it across town, it can be easy to feel like going with a local shop would make life easier. So it's not as insane as it sounds.

But Johnny makes it obvious that they really want to make things right, no matter what. That matches my experience too. I think if the OP takes them up on it, he'll eventually be glad he did. If OP decides to go some other route, it would be a disservice to BPE as much as the OP because there's something to be learned from every failure.
Great points. I always come back to the fact we exceed 50 engines a day at times...if we weren't selling/building quality, we'd be out of business. Believe me, I get the same feeling in my gut from having to warranty an engine, as the customer does. We don't want them blowing up any more than a customer does. I am the kind of person that couldn't wake up every morning and peddle BS. I love this company, and hopefully that, and the willingness to help our customers is very evident.
 
... We don't want them blowing up any more than a customer does. I am the kind of person that couldn't wake up every morning and peddle BS. I love this company, and hopefully that, and the willingness to help our customers is very evident.

It is. Blueprint goes out of it's way to make the customer happy. Even in cases where no one would fault them for rejecting a claim and Johnny seems ever-present and ready to help.

There's always ways for companies to wiggle out of responsibility even with an active warranty. Blueprint doesn't. That says a ton.
 
Since you asked, I would take advantage of the warranty included in the purchase of the engine.

Yep. Be mad all you want..... And that's OK. But make them repair the motor. And then sell it... I can see all sides to this but you can't bash Blueprint because as of now they are willing to resolve the issue.

I have been in the printing industry my whole working career just about. And I have seen on more than one occasion where we screwed up and then screw up twice more on the same job. No matter how hard we tried to do everything right that black cloud just wouldn't leave us.....Remember your engine is a manufacturing process so it can happen. However because it's mans love for cars and a personal investment you should be frustrated.

But in logic not letting Blueprint make it right just does make sense. You have too much emotional involved in the decision so maybe sit on it for a day or 2.

Good luck,
JW
 
why aren't Blueprint given the opportunity assess / repair their product?

Because I am choosing to not send the motor back to them. If they want to pay for the repairs then they can. I also hope they will speak with the engine builder I am going with. I may just say screw it and put the 340 back in and ditch the 408 project all together
 
Yep. Be mad all you want..... And that's OK. But make them repair the motor. And then sell it... I can see all sides to this but you can't bash Blueprint because as of now they are willing to resolve the issue.

I have been in the printing industry my whole working career just about. And I have seen on more than one occasion where we screwed up and then screw up twice more on the same job. No matter how hard we tried to do everything right that black cloud just wouldn't leave us.....Remember your engine is a manufacturing process so it can happen. However because it's mans love for cars and a personal investment you should be frustrated.

But in logic not letting Blueprint make it right just does make sense. You have too much emotional involved in the decision so maybe sit on it for a day or 2.

Good luck,
JW

Thanks
I know s*** happens. But I don't have much patience for this type of s***.

At this point its not known 100% if it is rod failure or something else. I do know its internal. If the pan gets pulled off and the cause is associated to something that I did then I will eat it. So I would rather see what happened with my own eyes at this point.
 
Thanks
I know s*** happens. But I don't have much patience for this type of s***.
Then quit this hobby , its definitely not for someone like you...and man you don't need to see anything with your own eyes.. cause if your eyes knew what they were looking at you would have build your own motor in the first place.
 
**** i'd take the warranty engine and when i got it just sell it and build what you want.. small blocks are still easy to come by.
 
Send it to blueprint and let them resolve issues and supply me with the new and improved for 1/2 the cost of new. That's my offer. PM if you want to roll that way....

John
 
Send it to blueprint and let them resolve issues and supply me with the new and improved for 1/2 the cost of new. That's my offer. PM if you want to roll that way....

John

I skipped the last few posts .
Why not pay the diff. and buy a complete engine from them, carb and all , tuned and set up by them/ No bullsh-- about whose fault then , which sounds like yours to start with.
The shipping back and forth probly has already surpassed the cost of them tuning it carb to oil pan , =total drop in !.
 
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