I purchased my remanufactured engine from Mark at California Engines, aka US Precision Machine, on eBay. Mark's seller ID, xtrememachine, has a 100% positive feedback rating, and there's a reason for that, which I'll get to. Wanting to do my homework, I contacted Mark and he gave me his phone number. I called him and spoke to him for the better part of 15 minutes. Satisfied that he knew what he was talking about, I pulled the trigger and purchased the engine. This was April 11, 2017. The engine did not arrive until June of 2017, two months after I purchased it. I say this because you can NOT leave any kind of feedback whatsoever on eBay after two months, hence the 100%positive feedback rating. When I received the engine, I happened to look in the exhaust ports and saw that the valves still had carbon deposits on them, the camshaft had no lubrication on it and the timing chain was not a double roller as pictured in his ad. When I called Mark, he told me that the guy who rebuilt the heads no longer works there and was doing a terrible job. He told me to call him back the next day, so that he could give me the information I needed to send him the engine to have it redone. Having already waited two months for this engine, I decided to take it to my local engine rebuilder. We went from "This engine would have lasted 3000 miles" to "This engine wouldn't have lasted ten seconds on startup". As my engine rebuilder dug into the engine, he found that the camshaft that I had asked Mark to install was not the one installed and no lubrication on it; the wrist pins were dry as a bone, as were the cylinder walls/pistons. The tips of the valve stems were mushroomed; the push rods weren't straight...the straightest one was .024" out. The final insult to this was that the engine was darn-near impossible to turn. It took my engine builder 24 lb/ft to turn the crank, and that was without the pistons and rods in the engine. The reason for that is because the crank was .001" larger than the mains. One of the things I asked Mark was whether his company does a line bore on the mains. His answer was no, because it's just going to go out of round anyway. Long story short, it cost me an extra $2969.49 to have my engine properly rebuilt. I could have and should have just had my old engine rebuilt, which would have saved me time and money, the latter being very important to me, given that I am a disabled Veteran, and every penny counts. read more

Save your money, time and go elsewhere! Unprofessional, rude, etc. Never received my core exchange refund. Horrible customer service. In regards, to the engine work. Well that Engine blew within 2 years....Enough said. They actually don't deserve the one star.... Beware! They also DBA California Engines. . read more

California Engines/US Precision Machine owes my for two core charges, $2000.00. When I called them, I was told they would look into it and never called back. That was the first few calls. Now they do not pick up the telephone and if you leave a message, they do not call back. I have found several complaints online and would like help tracking down the owner's name so I can service him/her with a lawsuit. The company does not even have a DBA filed with the county. Watch out this company also sells on EBay. read more

I should've written this review a long time ago, but I guess that taking forever to write it is akin to the forever that it took these thieves to get me an engine. Back in July of 2008, I ordered a 454 from these clowns. The price was decent, not great, but I went with it. HUGE mistake. I was supposed to HAVE the engine in my possession within two to three weeks max, according to the owner, but five went by without a word. After not returning my emails & phone calls for another couple of weeks, they finally picked up the phone. I think they just forgot to check the caller ID first. I was told that the engine was nearly ready & I'd have it within the week. It never showed. After weeks & weeks of calling, emailing & waiting, they told me that their shop burned down, but miraculously, all of their inventory & tools were okay & the further delay was due to the fact that they had to move to a new shop. Then the owner got sick & there was another delay. It was all a load of BS. Then someone had a hang nail, then someone got a flat on the highway. Then someone had a bad dream & couldn't come to work the next day. It wasn't until I again FINALLY got someone on the phone & told them to refund my money that some dude named Mark--not to be confused with the owner, whose name is also Mark--told me that the engine had magically been shipped out the day before. It arrived at a hub near me & then I had to arrange for special shipping & a lift truck at my own cost to get the damned thing. Oddly enough, I never heard back from them again after finally receiving the engine in October/early November. They still owe me for the additional shipping costs & the $750 for the core charge. They are lying scumbags who apparently cheat everyone they come into contact with. I would've given them zero stars if that was an option. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THESE A**HOLES. I'd love to run into them the next time I'm in the Tahoe area to inquire as to the disposition of my refund, but I'm sure they wouldn't answer the door just as they refuse to answer the phone. read more

Save yourself from this nightmare... I looked at many motors on Ebay and eventually settled on Motorbuilder71 or California Engine exchange because they had a great price. Just so Ebay knows we eventually ended up doing the deal skipping Ebay for a couple hundred dollars less. The Price Was Right!!! And then everything went downhill from there. I ordered and 8.1L HO motor in Red. Communication sucked during the process once I had given my AMEX number. I was never given any paperwork and was never told any tracking numbers. I only dealt with a man named Joe who's phone appears to be a Las Vegas number. Whenever I called he would never answer and would never return any messages. Well, surprise-surprise, one day the motor shows up and I thought GREAT! What was suppose to be a RED motor ends up coming in BLACK. OK, so I dealt with that. My particular motor came with 2 studs in the heads that were not long enough for my particular application. I tried everything to get them out-even torched them and they did not budge. So my exhaust system was down two bolts right off the bat-it probably leaked. The motor was also missing many brass plugs. The ad listed on Ebay said that it would come with an Oil Pump which it never did. Anyway, so I get my motor installed and I thought I was done dealing with this mess. The motor "lower bearings" failed after about 20 hours. This engine was built like crap!! Buyer beware!!! They are cheap because they are pieces of shit!! You get what you pay for!!! So, I contact Joe and let him know what happened. I can't believe he answered his phone. He agreed to set up the shipping to come pick up the broken motor. That was a nightmare in itself just to get that done. It took about 15 phone calls and many threats and about 3 1/2 weeks before it was set up. Joe has his head up his ass! Next, they received the motor and it took another 2 weeks before I heard what they were going to do. Long story short- Joe kept telling me they were going to rebuild the bottom end. Then three more weeks go by. I never received a new motor. I was miraculously able to get in touch with Joe and then his next move was that the freight company had lost the rebuilt motor and they were going to make a brand new one. Well, At that point I had had enough of his Bullshit!!! I immediately called AMEX and disputed the charges. Joe, Motorbuilder71 or Cal Engine Exchange never disputed my claim because they know they suck!! I got my money back and had my local engine builder build me an engine that I can trust, should have done that from the start. This is my first and hopefully only review that I have ever written, but I felt the need to let others know about my experience. If you want a cheap engine that will break quickly motorbuilder71 is your company. If you feel like dealing with "SPICOLI" from "Fast times at Ridgemont High" JOE IS YOUR MAN!!! read more