From: William Hartwell Woodruff <woodruff@engin.umich.edu>
If you changed the ring, would the engine still be under
warranty? If they sent you a new engine (or fixed this one)
would you get another whole warranty period. Seems like
i'd stick to maximum warranty if the engine has proved
unreliable ...
I brought that up when I called and they said not to worry about it,
they'd work with me to get it running, even if it took longer than the
warranty period. And they would send me parts if I wanted to work on
it myself, which would not void the warranty.
They also offered to look over any parts if I brought them to Sear's Point
this weekend (they'll be racing).
This tone was rather surprising, based on what I know about BPD. They
were quite easy to work with and were not defensive at all. I'm still
reluctant to send them the engine, I'd rather look at it myself at this
point. And it's a lot of work to keep pulling engines and shipping them
off.
On the advice of Bill Burnett, I'm going to give the engine a run on
the freeway and see if the rings seat on that cylinder (maybe they're
still breaking in, remember this cylinder has been getting more than
its fair share of fuel). If that fails, I'll probably replace the piston,
which can be done without pulling the engine (it has to be loosened but
not removed).
If I get this far and find evidence that the "rebuild" was not really
what I thought I was getting, I can deal with my credit card folks and
get a partial refund of the price. But this'll mean lots of paperwork.
So far I'm certain that the engine was apart, so there's no reason
to believe the pistons and rings are not new. But it doesn't mean
the machining was done to fine tolerances.
I'll keep y'all posted.
-Dan D.
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