What went well you ask? I would have to say that they make you feel like you're the number one customer even though I knew I wasn't. I got to meet Jim the owner in person super cool dude. I was able to talk with him for about a half an hour about my build after that, Jess took care of me with all my questions and concerns. So with that being said thank you to the Hot Rod company..... read more

I have been using Hot Rod Company engines in many of my builds since 2021 and couldn't be happier. Hot Rod Company has been easy to work with, provide a great product, product is reliable, and backed by a warranty that i haven't needed to use thankfully. I wouldn't recommend a better company to deal with. read more

It's long .....first off very confusing the way they log and track ,parts,time,warranty, received monies. I sent very specific info my truck year,engine,and I guess assumed the new engine would be the same style vortec because the vortec years all have their own parts . I have 1996 k1500 with vortec 5.7 and a 4l60 transmission ( early 4l60 are 700 r4 with extra servo and not all the electronics) kinda figured a shop doing several thousand units a year would know . The shipped me a 4l60 e LS transmission and said all transmission need custom fitted ...not what I ordered ,,,then they kept shipping cost said they are not responsible,,,I did not order wrong transmission.i have all communication back and forth . They try to delete all info but I screen shot everything as to give date and time .Now as for the craftsmanship ,,engine looks good but ..big but with the non vortec block and a early 1995 date code the alternator and AC are reversed for the vortec so again lots of changing ,adding,, modifying,,to make work . I have the warranty but Jim voided immediately after he took off the flex plate of the balanced blue printed engine I paid for ,so I purchased a sfi stamped jegs replacement. I am researching the entire engine piece by piece as the ace efi has an issue that ace efi is working on ,,,( relatively new company ACE not best idea using their parts until they get all their problems worked out ,,but these cause they were and still are cheaper than the big companies. The cam is a cheaper model sm 1011 under 200 bucks which is not suited for comp control ,their specs but hot rod company uses anyway ,,,heads are house brand ,,not sure if valves springs upgrade as per sm website But for most part they use the cheapest they can ,,,several other yelp comments the same and as for operation under another name West Coast Performance as per the Washington state attorney general office complaints and also better business bureau ,,,so please do research get everything in writing copy and screen shot everything ask questions parts ,numbers,serial number,, everything I will guarantee I will never be a repeat customer and there is several better options ,,skip white performance had some tough builds ,,,Jim butler performance,,,GM performance ..all offer better package for same or better price as hot rod company ...I also am planning on small claims court . Larry Mackey Well Jim you respond and act as you care or would try . But we both know your response on text and what I personally heard you saying to Jess as I was on phone with her . You know the only way you can fix is refund my money ,,you have used 3 different reasons you kept it ,yes 3 I have in texts. I have screen shot everything from day 1 so your deleting from shop monkey I already had copies ,,I have texts and can prove all ,,,,, secondly day 1 was on contract 1996 k1500 5.7 vortec ,,you as knowledgeable shop ,builder should know the vortecs are their own breed ,,I asked for 383 yes but not completely different engine family it's like sending a old 350 to an LS build ,,,you sir are not very knowledgeable by our your actions and smartass asking me why I did build myself if I knew so much ,,yes I have done a few over the years ,yes a few rad customs the 305 ho turned it to a 334 dragging 350 s was a fun build but for reasons it's not why I didn't do myself I am a disabled combat vet and was going through some cancer treatments and removal surgeries the last year has been rough ,,,so I thought I'd buy , no matter if I used out of life savings account thinking I probably won't live to use it anyway I bought a very pretty engine as seen on eBay . I wish I would of checked reviews we will see how it runs aces is going over my killshot and doing updates while there for warranty. As I looked up the parts I could verify you used are not compatible or doesn't work the best together but you use solely on a cost / profit formula not caring about combat ability ,,,according to cam manufacturer ,not here to debate or argue I have text and engine will fire soon so put your knowledge and positive influence in your builds ,,,please ,,,you have the better business bureau complaints and the Washington state attorney general office complaints .stop trying to act as you work with everyone ....it proves other wise ,any way will see how things work as stated it is a very nice looking engine ,,,which I've spent a lot to enhance,spot light ,bring to a show quality ,,changing some ,adding,some we shall see how it runs with ace and their authorized tuner .good day sir I truly wish you well ,,please remember the customer ...13k plus with you ,,another 8 k on making a dream come true. Best wishes read more

Beware of this company!! They lack in every part of a business! If a flex plate was the problem they never offered a suggestion other then send the engine back on! Why send the whole engine back if it was just a flex plate ? Because that wasn't the problem lol there lack of knowledge of the equipment they have is the problem! Engine was completely out of balance and there cheap no name parts couldn't be used because how they decided to cut weight to try and balance the rotating assembly! And I chose to use name brand parts read more

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Found these guys online and ordered a new LS3 525 over the phone from Chad. The eBay ad looked impressive, and they seemed to take the time to build a reliable engine. We received the engine and it was a Frankenstein. 1/2 Holley, 1/2 FiTech, Terminator X, and it didn't run. The test video with a different intake showed that it could run, but the custom shop that installed it just couldn't figure it out. Hours on the phone with Holley and Fi-Tech and we got a tune that worked enough. 341 HP and 11 mpg out of our brand new $14k off the shelf engine. Way less than expectations... Less than 3000 miles later, we dropped an intake valve. HRC quickly sent a set of new BTR springs and some retainers. The intake valve, rocker, push rod, keepers, gaskets, and new head bolts (since we had to open the engine up) were not covered. I was told, after the fact, that I could have paid someone to pull the engine, ship it up to Washington, and they would have fixed it under warranty, then I'd only have to ship it back and pay for someone else to put the engine back in. We paid another custom shop the replace the affected pieces to save what's left of this summer car show season. ($2925) We have 0 confidence in this engine, and don't feel comfortable taking the car anywhere beyond town. Countless emails, with countless points of contact, there will be no further parts to fix their new engine. When something new breaks, and I'm sure it's only a matter of time, they will be getting the engine back. Maybe for good. read more

Ordered from Jim Roby, "JR", owner on 12/16/2024. LS7/Tremec T56 Magnum, complete, turnkey. Promised delivery to my shop in "6-7 weeks", last two weeks of Jan 2025. Several conversations later, where I was told "untruths" several times, the engine and flywheel showed up, March 10, 2025 with an additional $450 shipping fee. Called, Jim was not available (I'm sure I sounded irate), transmission was not yet there. April 5 the transmission finally showed, minus pilot bearing, tail slip joint, shifter and plate, and... This was finally drop shipped from there vendor in Nashville. I called him, he showed me what Jim had ordered, his order was incomplete and transmission guy was unpaid for any of the missing items. THEN discovered that the flywheel and clutch were not compatible, wrong flywheel shipped. These two have worked together for over 40 orders, HRC is too cheap to buy the flywheel from them, sent the wrong one. Fuel management system is a jumble of mixed mfg parts that are not compatible and NOT what I had ordered. After numerous calls, they want me to ship the flywheel back, when they have a tracking number they'll send the correct flywheel after I pay for that one. Dishonest, Liars, have no idea what they are doing (unless what they intend to do is to rip off people). As others here have said, "DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THESE PEOPLE". I've filed a complaint with the Washington State Attorney General, Consumer Protection Dept, I hope all of the others that have given HRC also file, or did file, complaints as well. Share your stories on Social Media too! The below response from James R is a complete fabrication of untruths. As stated above, Katie James' wife/business partner(?), who admitted not knowing what a flywheel was, said that I would pay for the "correct" flywheel" as well as shipping of that new "correct flywheel" as well as the return shipping of the incorrect flywheel. Of course, James did not address the "hodgepodge of fuel management system", parts that will not work together, cannot be programmed to do so. So, we'll begin with the clutch. Photos below should show you each part number, a quick call to your favorite performance parts house JEGS or Summit, would tell you that these are not compatible. But, the photos with the installed pressure and clutch plates reveal a mismatch of at least 1/2", it applies no pressure to even hold the clutch once the alignment pin is removed. Wrong, Incompatible Parts! Again, James has not responded to the junk fuel injection parts. Reading the other complaints instills no confidence in the basic engine, blow ups, broken internal parts. read more

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My engine is on its way. It took a little longer than I hoped, but there were problems that were beyond the control of HRC. The engine looks and sounds great! I dealt with Jim R, TJ, and Savannah. And I am not the easiest customer to deal with. They bent over backwards to satisfy me. Thank you again!! read more

ZERO STARS! Terrible company to do business with I wish I read the reviews prior to doing business with terrible company! They use the cheapest parts and customer service is by far the worst! Jim or Jeremy is real prick, then they messed up my order and had me pay for shipping 2 different times! STAY FAR AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY! read more

Absalutly nightmare to deal with. Bought my 6.0 LS and les than 300 miles pistons came apart and blew a hole in the block. They won't warranty because apparently I'm not in there system because I paid cash and picked up from there shop. Looks like there employe TJ put the cash in his pocket and never entered me in there system. Even after proving with my invoice and pictures they refuse to honor there warranty. I tried to support a local machine shop and they f'd me with a junk motor and rude attitude with absalutly no warranty. Wish I could give less than one star. read more

I bought a motor from Hot rod company about a year ago. Great product. Good service. My motor got delivered on time. I appreciate each and every one of them I have not run the motor yet.Hope it runs good and has power. read more

Do not buy engine from them. 1. Oil pick inside oil pan was not the right one. 2. Paid for oil pan that would fit Chevelle and they didn't put it on or send it. 3. The CVF serpentine kit was not right the belt does not sit right on the belt tension idle pulley. 4. They did not dyno engine. 5. They market engines with A Fitech system, well when they sent the system they sent a fitech kit that was for an engine below 500 hp and they market there engines at 500 to 510. 6. They will build the engine get it running with THEIR set up (carburetor), and not use the fitech system (EFI), and I have video proof. 7. PAID for break in of engine that was not done. 8. Horrible customer service and quick to say its your fault. These guys literally told me "we didnt run with the fitech system because we didnt want to teach it bad habits". All in all I dont know how they have won any awards for building anything. I have documented proof of it all. There plenty of other builder out there for engines stay away from this one. They have set me back THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS and 6 solid months. STAY AWAY PLS!!! read more

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Ordered a basic 350 build. Promise date was 10 weeks ARO. Delivery was 22 weeks ARO. Always initiated conversation about status, most of the responses were "shipping next week", which only materialized on the last exchange. Engine arrived with damage to painted valve covers. Was told new ones would be shipped, but as of this writing (2 months), nothing. Web site states all engines get "tested on our 902 Super Flow Dyno" .... but that didn't happen. Engine arrived with retarded timing. No dyno results provided. Only documentation provided was on Carburetor, and a NW Hot Rod Company sticker. No information on AC compressor, power steering pump, Alternator. Premium price, third world support, third world delivery, and poor customer service. They don't deliver on what they advertise. read more

Customer service sucks! They're interested in you till you pay them, then they literally ignore you when you call for assistance! Last words out of the salesman mouth was"call if you need assistance " lip service! Ps engine was NOT as advertised or promised read more

Had a wonderful experience with the delivery of my Hot Rod motor. Everything went as planned. I received everything and they worked to get on the road again. Highly recommend to anybody that is looking to order a good motor. Thank you, Kim Jorgensen read more

LS3 6.2 was ordered. $3,000 deposit then another 9300 after it was done $240 to ship to Texas. Motor was supposed to be built for 600hp crank. but only Dinoed at 474 hp. The first motor only had 60 miles on it and to blew up on the second Dino pass. It took some convincing to get Hot Rod Company to honor their 3year warranty and unlimited miles warranty, they tried saying we did something wrong. Had to pay shipping every time at $255 3 times. Stay away from the FiTech fuel injection they sell you it's garbage, we couldn't get it to run correctly. Mechanic and I Finally got it covered under warranty. Hot Rod Company Built me another LS 3 6.2. This time it dinoed at 575.25 at crank. closer to 600 but not quite. so far this motor has a little over 10,000 miles on it. if I had it to do over again I would not choose this company. I would go Gm Create or Sumit Racing. Hot Rod Company customer service sucks! read more

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DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY!! Cecil JOEY (James) Roby the owner is a fast talking tool. They have drafted a contract for the deposit and get you locked in. READ THE CONTRACT!!!. The engines price looks attractive. The HP rating on the motor is a guess as they do not dyno the motors. The salesman tells you anything you want to hear to get your deposit. Then they go dark. SAVE YOUR SELF THE HEADACHE AND DO BUSINESS ELSEWHERE. He will even lie under oath in small claims court. The $2k you stole with out any work I hope you can use to take an anger management class and customer service skills. I'm sure his response back to this will be great. Thanks for nothing JOEY. read more

I spoke with the owner at length about an LS motor for my 69 Camaro. He first tried to bait and switch with a different motor than i was interested in. When i repeated what i wanted he jumped the price another $3500. He offered me some "free" items if i would send him a deposit today. Any legit business will honor any offer the following day. I found a better deal on a similar engine on their own website. Jim called me the next morning wanting to know why i hadn't sent him a deposit. I stated that i was still considering my options. He then got upset and told me that i have champagne taste on a beer budget and no one would build me a motor at his price. After reading all of the negative reviews on this company, i definitely wasn't interested. Long story short, i found a builder that is giving me exactly what i want in the budget that i have and it will come dynoed which Hot Rod Company cannot do. Dont fall for the pretty pictures on Ebay or the smooth talk from Jim. Read the reviews, that will tell you the real story. read more

They built me a motor and transmission and the transmission blew up at 900 miles. They have been silent in helping me get this fixed. Bad alternator Bad coil packs Bad fuel pump BLOWN transmission at 900 miles, then they assured us they would pick up the transmission, but have chosen to ignore me. I bought a transmission from a much better company who will stand behind their flaws in workmanship. HOT ROD COMPANY IS RUNNING THE OPERATION AS FRAUD.... someone should investigate these CLOWNS!!!!! read more

Junk junk junk. Never returns calls, engine blew, maybe had 25 miles on the engine. Does not honor warranty. Junk parts and the fitech system was junk also. STAY AWAY!!!! read more

I bought one of these motors,it had the wrong harmonic balancer,crank pulley bolt was too long so it didnt seat against the pulley and messed up the threads,distributer had a broke wire,engine vibrates bad,carb leaks gas,altenator had a bad module,water port on the intake and water pump was messed up. I've had this motor for 5 years and its got 2o miles on it, still working on it. I called them about it, they said they had got some wrong parts in,and still used them. This motor also has alot of blow by. Buying this motor was the worse decision ever. read more

The Hot Rod company is a business who does the work they agree to do in a reasonable period of time. They are a representation of quality and integrity. It has been a pleasure working with them, I would certainly do it again and they come highly recommended for anyone lookin to buy an engine. read more

Ls 6.0 kept on getting warm and coolant wouldn't pressurize.. took it to no limit mike took a look at it and said I have head gasket issue and Fi tech is junk. Who ever sells that shouldn't be in business. Any way I call Jim several times. After about 2 weeks he gets back to me and says sorry about that but u need to ship the motor to me. No one would pull the motor out for simple head gasket job. His tech didn't torque my ARP head bolts down correctly. Please go to smeding performance or SoCal customs. This place is a joke. Jim and HRC and the warranty is shit. read more

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I purchased a 383 stroker motor from this company. In less than 1000 miles of driving, my heads came loose; causing the motor to lose water and overheat blowing. I live in Hawaii so I had to see what had happened. When we went to remove heads on the left side, every bolt was loose indicating bolts were not torqued down properly!! I payed my mechanic to replace the head gasket and resurface heads only to find out the motor had serious blow by leaking and smoking through breathers on top of valve covers !! Then did a pressure test finding out bottom half of motor was no good low compression !! I then called Tj who told me to put marvel miracle oil in my gas told me my rings had carbon buildup ?? I then waited several months thinking about this and made a yelp review. The owner called me back at 4 o'clock in the morning saying he would work it out with me, called him later that day after waking up and taking down the review that he asked me to do . I asked him if he could pay for shipping from Hawaii to his shop. and I will pay the shipping back to Hawaii . Told him my hardships that I haven't been working due to a writer and Actor strike !!he then blew his top cussing at me yelling telling me to F off . And left an arsenal of threatening Text messages!! So I'm out all this money on this crappy motor !!! Before all of this was having problems with pulley assembly, TJ helped out sending me a bracket to hold the power steering pulley from bending when hitting throttle!! Pulleys, never lined up correctly had to change the belt three times and still wears incorrectly after 1 trip to town!! I believe this company is overwhelmed with buyers, so they are rushing putting these motors together and not tightening bolts correctly!!! The owner is definitely not a people's person and a short fuse was very disrespectful and rude, not caring about his customers concerns!! Bottom line do not do business with this guy !!or have anything shipped out!!! because you will have no warranty !!we on the islands are people with Aloha !!this guy is a breathless Haole!!! read more

I purchased a $16k engine that when it arrived, it had aluminum in the oil pan. Owner (Jim) agreed to fix the issue and pay for shipping (his words were "You will not incur any costs." Well they fixed the engine and shipped it back to me. They didn't pay for shipping on the way back and now the shipping facility is requesting payment before we can pick up our engine. Due to no fault of our own, we must pay for shipping costs due to their mistake. Also, when I got the owner on the phone about the incident he denied being the owner stating that he was another Jim. Well turns out he was the owner with further discussion. He later admitted to being the owner. Why would you lie to your customers? Don't do business with a company like this. read more

Will not help you after you purchase! Terrible parts used on motor, and customer service is horrible. Look elsewhere for a motor

I purchased an engine and transmission combo from Hot Rod Company. It took me some time to finish my car. So long, that the timeframe warranty had expired before I had even dropped the engine in. Now up that its up and running, the transmission goes out. I have just over 1000 miles on it. I pulled the pan and there's metal chunks at the bottom. It's basically toast! I called Hot Rod Company and spoke to T.J. Not only was he arrogant he was also rude swearing at me while on the phone. So I posted a review on the BBB website which caught their attention. I received a call from the owner saying that they are doing everything they can to accommodate my situation. With that said, I'm not sure how an email with one sentence saying call this guy is doing everything they can. Not to mention that the owner didn't even bother to apologize for his employee's rude behavior or even seem to care that I was in this situation in the first place. His only concern was my post, and that BBB was all up in his business. As the conversation continues the owner starts to explain his side of the story and blame the installers etc. Finally, he asks me what he can do to make it right. I say refund me the cost for the repairs. That was a quick NO. Then I say exchange my transmission. He says he can make that happen, but I need to remove my post first. I say get me the transmission and I will either remove or revise my post. His response was if I don't remove the post, we can't help then hung up the phone on me. Proving that Hot Rod Company does not back their product, thinks its fine to employ rude people, and is willing to make a sale at any cost. Even if it means screwing over the little guy. At the end of the day yes, I'm out a couple grand for a new transmission. After all that has transpired, I would rather purchase a new transmission then install whatever garbage they send me. DO NOT BUY FROM THEM. You will regret it... read more

HORRIBLE COMPANY TO BUY FROM! This is the worst company i have ever dealt with. I paid 8,000 for an engine and then paid 500 more for them to break it in. The engine ran for 1 min and blew. Bent rods and broken pistons. They will not honor any warranty. Do not buy from them. read more

Awesome engine builder using the best parts and the highest quality cnc equipment call them for anything from stock to wild great bunch of guys read more

Do your research before buying from this company or it's owner. I purchased a 355 engine and transmission package. The owner Mr Roby said that I could drive this package across the country no problem. This engine made it less than 5 minutes of initial start up and it was found to have a cracked cylinder which was verified by two separate mechanics. The block was from Mexico and cheap parts were used in this build. Mr Roby is a good salesman but apparently an incompetent engine builder to miss such a blatant flaw. This company apparently does not test run his engines for quality because this issue would have been identified. Take the time to really read the reviews especially the good ones and you may find a pattern. You will also find company responses blaming customers that speak up and claiming the company can't make everyone happy because there are just some problem customers. That may be true but I have never seen a company disparage their customers on any level to justify poor service or a poor product. You make your own judgement based on that the information is out there by doing a little digging into the company. I also don't recommend that you buy outside of eBay no matter what this company offers you because it limits you protection in the event you have issues. Buy from a reputable builder or go through Summit Racing don't make my mistake. read more

Hot Rod Company - Cracked cylinder - Auto Parts & Supplies Near Me