[Repman]

That's why I trust shops like Vengeance Racing who stand behind any issues that may result from their work! Its also why it takes 2-3 months to get on the schedule.Like people always say its not like there is never a mistake but its how its taken care of, you only have one reputation.Do your homework before you choose a shop. A few bucks saved is quickly lost when you get shoddy work.

[Zone5]

I think there was more than one MTI back in the day. The one in Houston did a major build for me around 2004. New NA LS6 with high lift cam, high compression pistons, new tricked-out cylinder heads, headers, etc. Well, it felt weaker than the car I dropped off. Their dyno numbers looked good, but the car was a dog.

I ended up taking it to Phoenix Performance in Phoenixville PA, who have like 30 SCCA National Championships. On their dyno the car was producing less power than a stock LS6 and was tuned extremely lean. (The MTI owner was the one who originally dyno tuned the car in Houston). Phoenix retuned the car and it ran quite a bit better, but the MTI build was so poorly done that the motor was replaced for the next SCCA season. It just didn't make the power. I wouldn't take my lawn mower to MTI. Phoenix Performance, on the other hand, is the class of the field. I believe they just won 2 more SCCA Championships at the Run-offs a couple of weeks ago.

[MartinLe]

Originally Posted by EDFHOBBIES

It looks like MTI motorsports who's been in business for quite a while doesn't stand by there work. Customer put less than 800 miles on motor and it was properly broken in. Shop was caught in numerous lies about parts used in the build to.

This a good article not because the bad luck but something you need to address if you get a shop to build your motor that's not familiar with LT's but are with LS's.


This is probably the 4th or 5th time I've seen pics of LT builds with broken timing gears.

https://medium.com/@davidsutton_3936...key-6b04bbb479

I went to read the post, but has been taken down.

[WhiteMale]

some one got a cease and desist letter

[EDFHOBBIES]

Jayson Cohen or jay.. complained and had it taken down. He also called callies and bitch them out for giving him the serial number of the crank that was bought and inflated price info.

Here is the posting copy and pasted.

When building performance engines, it is not uncommon to run into some snags, or overlook a key component of a build that causes issues. But when those issues arise, owning the mistake and making it right is what separates a good shop from a bad shop. Jayson Cohen, owner of Motorsport Technologies (MTI) in Houston, Texas has elected to be the “Not So Good Shop!”


MTI was hired to build a new motor for me after my stock bottom end fell victim to a driver mod malfunction. They did the original cam and bolt-on build and did a good job. I had no reason not to let them build me a new motor. During the spec’ing of the new motor, we discussed a few options on what rotating assembly to go with. We were set on Callies. We wanted the best of everything. We elected to go with a dragonslayer crank as the centerpiece of the rotating assembly. (See text from MTI)

See text pic^



MOTORSPORT TECHNOLOGIES IN HOUSTON TX BOTCHES $20,000 ENGINE BUILD AND TUCKS THEIR TAIL WHEN CONFRONTED BY OWNER.



When building performance engines, it is not uncommon to run into some snags, or overlook a key component of a build that causes issues. But when those issues arise, owning the mistake and making it right is what separates a good shop from a bad shop. Jayson Cohen, owner of Motorsport Technologies (MTI) in Houston, Texas has elected to be the “Not So Good Shop!”


MTI was hired to build a new motor for me after my stock bottom end fell victim to a driver mod malfunction. They did the original cam and bolt-on build and did a good job. I had no reason not to let them build me a new motor. During the spec’ing of the new motor, we discussed a few options on what rotating assembly to go with. We were set on Callies. We wanted the best of everything. We elected to go with a dragonslayer crank as the centerpiece of the rotating assembly. (See text from MTI)



The price quoted to me for the rotating assembly was $4500 (parts only). I have that in an audio recording but can not attach that here, so my apologies. We will come back to this momentarily.


The next cause for concern was my car kept having to return to their shop after they gave it back to me for the following issues to name a few: oil leak, tensioner hitting the lower pulley, belt rubbed against lingenfelter intercooler tank line causing it to be replaced, broken hub from what was said to be “coincidence,” reduced engine power and check engine lights repeatedly and tuning issues. After repeated trips to their shop, I politely told Jayson that I had enough and that I felt they would not be able to fix the reduced engine power issues, or the rough running issues and that I was going to get a second opinion. I went to another shop where I had the car put on a dyno and had another tuner look at the tune files to see if something was missed. He found a few minor things and the car did gain a bit more power. However, the car continued to run with an unknown issue. THEN IT HAPPENED.


While sitting at a red light a few miles from home, reduced engine power and check engine light with a horrible misfire. Fortunately, I was next to a gas station where I pulled in and shut it down. It was towed to the shop I had look at the tuning, and they wanted to open the motor. ABSOLUTELY NOT! I told them to call me when they were ready to pull the motor and I would come video tape the removal as I did not want a competitor opening a motor that MTI built. The motor was pulled, and I took it to Late Model Engines (LME) to have the engine inspected. There, they found that the LT4 crank gear was not chamfered to go onto an aftermarket crankshaft, as is REQUIRED for ALL aftermarket crankshafts that go into an LT engine. (See report from LME)

See pic^



MOTORSPORT TECHNOLOGIES IN HOUSTON TX BOTCHES $20,000 ENGINE BUILD AND TUCKS THEIR TAIL WHEN CONFRONTED BY OWNER.



When building performance engines, it is not uncommon to run into some snags, or overlook a key component of a build that causes issues. But when those issues arise, owning the mistake and making it right is what separates a good shop from a bad shop. Jayson Cohen, owner of Motorsport Technologies (MTI) in Houston, Texas has elected to be the “Not So Good Shop!”


MTI was hired to build a new motor for me after my stock bottom end fell victim to a driver mod malfunction. They did the original cam and bolt-on build and did a good job. I had no reason not to let them build me a new motor. During the spec’ing of the new motor, we discussed a few options on what rotating assembly to go with. We were set on Callies. We wanted the best of everything. We elected to go with a dragonslayer crank as the centerpiece of the rotating assembly. (See text from MTI)



The price quoted to me for the rotating assembly was $4500 (parts only). I have that in an audio recording but can not attach that here, so my apologies. We will come back to this momentarily.


The next cause for concern was my car kept having to return to their shop after they gave it back to me for the following issues to name a few: oil leak, tensioner hitting the lower pulley, belt rubbed against lingenfelter intercooler tank line causing it to be replaced, broken hub from what was said to be “coincidence,” reduced engine power and check engine lights repeatedly and tuning issues. After repeated trips to their shop, I politely told Jayson that I had enough and that I felt they would not be able to fix the reduced engine power issues, or the rough running issues and that I was going to get a second opinion. I went to another shop where I had the car put on a dyno and had another tuner look at the tune files to see if something was missed. He found a few minor things and the car did gain a bit more power. However, the car continued to run with an unknown issue. THEN IT HAPPENED.


While sitting at a red light a few miles from home, reduced engine power and check engine light with a horrible misfire. Fortunately, I was next to a gas station where I pulled in and shut it down. It was towed to the shop I had look at the tuning, and they wanted to open the motor. ABSOLUTELY NOT! I told them to call me when they were ready to pull the motor and I would come video tape the removal as I did not want a competitor opening a motor that MTI built. The motor was pulled, and I took it to Late Model Engines (LME) to have the engine inspected. There, they found that the LT4 crank gear was not chamfered to go onto an aftermarket crankshaft, as is REQUIRED for ALL aftermarket crankshafts that go into an LT engine. (See report from LME)



To take this a step further, I called Texas Speed and found out they sell an aftermarket LT4 crank gear that has the chamfer (part# 11-CG10125).


This is a direct quote from Texas Speed


https://www.texas-speed.com/p-5780-t...ort-block.aspx


“Either a modified or aftermarket lower timing gear is needed for aftermarket LT crankshafts.”


When I confronted Jayson with this information, he stated he had also spoken to TSP and to Callies and this was his reply:


“I spoke with TSP as well and they said it was common with their own cranks they have made due to the LS style radius at the snout. Callies specifically said they’d never seen that issue on their LT cranks.”


Jayson said he had spoken to Brook Piper at Callies, which I did confirm after speaking with him myself, and that Brook told him that the chamfer was NOT REQUIRED. After speaking with Brook, he told me in a recorded phone conversation that:


“In my opinion, I’m not convinced the motor failure was caused from the crank gear, but I’m not an engine builder. But should the crank gear have been chamfered or modified to the aftermarket crankshaft? Absolutely!”


The other piece of this issue resorts back to the dragonslayer crank that I was quoted that I shared earlier for $4500. When the inspection was done by LME, I noticed on their report that I had a compstar crank in my motor and not a dragonslayer that was quoted to me. When I confronted Jayson about this, he told me that he paid $4400 (his cost) for the parts. See below.


See pics of texts^



MOTORSPORT TECHNOLOGIES IN HOUSTON TX BOTCHES $20,000 ENGINE BUILD AND TUCKS THEIR TAIL WHEN CONFRONTED BY OWNER.



When building performance engines, it is not uncommon to run into some snags, or overlook a key component of a build that causes issues. But when those issues arise, owning the mistake and making it right is what separates a good shop from a bad shop. Jayson Cohen, owner of Motorsport Technologies (MTI) in Houston, Texas has elected to be the “Not So Good Shop!”


MTI was hired to build a new motor for me after my stock bottom end fell victim to a driver mod malfunction. They did the original cam and bolt-on build and did a good job. I had no reason not to let them build me a new motor. During the spec’ing of the new motor, we discussed a few options on what rotating assembly to go with. We were set on Callies. We wanted the best of everything. We elected to go with a dragonslayer crank as the centerpiece of the rotating assembly. (See text from MTI)



The price quoted to me for the rotating assembly was $4500 (parts only). I have that in an audio recording but can not attach that here, so my apologies. We will come back to this momentarily.


The next cause for concern was my car kept having to return to their shop after they gave it back to me for the following issues to name a few: oil leak, tensioner hitting the lower pulley, belt rubbed against lingenfelter intercooler tank line causing it to be replaced, broken hub from what was said to be “coincidence,” reduced engine power and check engine lights repeatedly and tuning issues. After repeated trips to their shop, I politely told Jayson that I had enough and that I felt they would not be able to fix the reduced engine power issues, or the rough running issues and that I was going to get a second opinion. I went to another shop where I had the car put on a dyno and had another tuner look at the tune files to see if something was missed. He found a few minor things and the car did gain a bit more power. However, the car continued to run with an unknown issue. THEN IT HAPPENED.


While sitting at a red light a few miles from home, reduced engine power and check engine light with a horrible misfire. Fortunately, I was next to a gas station where I pulled in and shut it down. It was towed to the shop I had look at the tuning, and they wanted to open the motor. ABSOLUTELY NOT! I told them to call me when they were ready to pull the motor and I would come video tape the removal as I did not want a competitor opening a motor that MTI built. The motor was pulled, and I took it to Late Model Engines (LME) to have the engine inspected. There, they found that the LT4 crank gear was not chamfered to go onto an aftermarket crankshaft, as is REQUIRED for ALL aftermarket crankshafts that go into an LT engine. (See report from LME)



To take this a step further, I called Texas Speed and found out they sell an aftermarket LT4 crank gear that has the chamfer (part# 11-CG10125).


This is a direct quote from Texas Speed


https://www.texas-speed.com/p-5780-t...ort-block.aspx


“Either a modified or aftermarket lower timing gear is needed for aftermarket LT crankshafts.”


When I confronted Jayson with this information, he stated he had also spoken to TSP and to Callies and this was his reply:


“I spoke with TSP as well and they said it was common with their own cranks they have made due to the LS style radius at the snout. Callies specifically said they’d never seen that issue on their LT cranks.”


Jayson said he had spoken to Brook Piper at Callies, which I did confirm after speaking with him myself, and that Brook told him that the chamfer was NOT REQUIRED. After speaking with Brook, he told me in a recorded phone conversation that:


“In my opinion, I’m not convinced the motor failure was caused from the crank gear, but I’m not an engine builder. But should the crank gear have been chamfered or modified to the aftermarket crankshaft? Absolutely!”


The other piece of this issue resorts back to the dragonslayer crank that I was quoted that I shared earlier for $4500. When the inspection was done by LME, I noticed on their report that I had a compstar crank in my motor and not a dragonslayer that was quoted to me. When I confronted Jayson about this, he told me that he paid $4400 (his cost) for the parts. See below.




After seeing this, I had Callies send me the ACTUAL invoices where MTI paid for my rotating assembly. See below.



So you see, the other $1000 for my dragonslayer crank I was quoted was found. Except it was left in MTI’s pocket and not returned to me as you can see from his email above that he changed the order to the compstar crank without talking to me. And I didn’t know I had a compstar crank until I had an engine failure that required it to be tore down.


In closing, Jayson has made it clear that he has NO INTENTION on standing behind his work and that I was not cheated out of a dragonslayer crank. There is a mountain of proof that shows the cause of failure with my motor was an improper crank gear that they installed. So, I warn you all that this is what you can expect using Motorsport Technologies on one of your builds. Jayson has no issue letting you spend $50,000 in his shop as I did the past year. Just don’t expect him to pay for a $3,000 repair that he causes in the process. So, make sure you have some extra money set aside for their incompetency and make sure you make them provide you receipts for the parts they order for you. DONT ALLOW THEM TO TREAT YOU LIKE I WAS TREATED.

[MartinLe]

Originally Posted by EDFHOBBIES

...

Cool.

[EDFHOBBIES]

Good news social media worked!

[Joshinator99]

Too bad it had to get to that point for MTI to do the right thing...

[EDFHOBBIES]

Right!

[MartinLe]

F*#$in' COOL! NEVER underestimate the power of social media. Great lesson.

[EDFHOBBIES]

Originally Posted by MartinLe

F*#$in' COOL! NEVER underestimate the power of social media. Great lesson.

There was so much proof I figured something positive would happen. Just can't believe he wouldn't believe the write up from LME on the engine failure cause and all the proof that was also acquired from TSP and various articles about the problem. I called Mast motorsports and Golen Eng service and they to said the exact same thing "chamfer the timing gear".

[BanOne]

I guess the question is would you trust them after you had to bend them over a barrel to fix it, I would keep a very close eye on them.

[Joshinator99]

Originally Posted by BanOne

I guess the question is would you trust them after you had to bend them over a barrel to fix it, I would keep a very close eye on them.

Only way to handle that is to let LME do the repair work and MTI foots the bill.

[EDFHOBBIES]

I totally agree LME should handle the repairs and he pays the bills.