| Guys I have been in a bit of a predicament over the last several months, but out of my own patience and hope, I have neglected to seek help over a situation that keeps declining....
The story starts around thanksgiving of last year. A member of this website located ~4 hours from me, contacted me regarding an engine build and installation. It was going to be a 2-step process. The 1st step, he was to bring me a pre-assembled short block, as well as pre-assembled heads, along with a box of parts and I was to basically just bolt the heads on, and all of the remaining accessories (water pump, oil pump, pulleys, etc) A price was agreed upon, and a completion date as well. He brought all of the parts to me, I assembled the motor within a week or two and within the deadline, and the money was paid to me.
Now we move to step 2. Now that the motor was assembled, I was to travel to his home and pick up his non-functioning car, bring it back, and install the motor and get it all up and running. Once again we set a price for the labor and a date for completion. Sometime before Xmas in 2006 me and my brother traveled to pick this car up. At the time of picking the car up we were paid for gas money and the time to pick the car up. I got the car in my garage and feverishly went to work so that I could get the car done in time for him to have it back to enjoy over the summer months. As time passed and progress made, the customer constantly added items to the overall project such as HID lights, ZEM install, Complete DEFI guage install, Wideband Install, CZP 350Z big brake kit, paintd calipers, etc. At this time we were both aware that adding these items also added to the labor rate as well as the date of completion. I finished the car and fired it up, it ran well, I have even documented video of it starting up on youtube, and took many pictures during the engine build process. After about 20 miles or so of runtime, the car began to start slinging oil on the hood bonnet. I could see that it was coming from behind the intake cam gear on the driver's side. After tearing the front of the engine down, I discovered an improperly installed cam gear seal. I had no idea of knowing this previously as the machinist was the one who assembled the heads. After the cam gear seal issue was fixed, and some break-in miles later, the car began to develop some serious tick from the cam gears. Unsure of what the problem was I tore it down 3 times or so replacing misc items I thought could be the issue, until one day I discovered that his machinist had not removed the valves from the stock cams and installed them into the JWT 500 cams that came with the preassembled heads. After putting the valves in the ticking went away. By this time it was around the middle of summer. I got a chance to take the car out to get some more break in miles on it and around 50 miles in the car started to develop a smoke on accell and decell. I diagnosed it as the turbos being bad from sitting for so long. This is where it starts to get blurry. The customer was in a bit of a downer considering the money he had spent in parts on this car so far and it still has yet to see the open road. Knowing it would need new turbos to be road worthy he decided to wait a few weeks to make a decision on what to do with the car. Unfortunately that decision never came.... I have called and emailed intermittently requesting updates up until November 2007. Around the early/middle of the month I called and spoke to him regarding the money he owed me and also the fact that his license plate sticker was about to expire (11-07) I warned that my city has strict policies on 'abandoned cars' and they are quick to tow. He insisted he would go to the DMV asap, purchase a sticker, and send it to me. We only live 4 hours apart so mailing would have taken a day or two max. 7 days later I had yet to receive a sticker so I placed a follow up call. I was told by him that he forgot to put the account number on the envelope (?) and that he was doing that today and placing it back in the mail. He also stated that he dropped 100$ in the envelope for me, just for the troubles. To date that envelope has yet to show up. The car sits in my garage shielded from the community, broken, and the customer owing me labor charges that total in the thousands. The customer has not returned any of my calls or emails since the November contact. At this point I am asking for advice from the community. Should I seek a mechanics lein? Should I try and obtain his address and send him a notarized letter stating my intentions? I would love to just get the money that is owed to me for the time I spent on the car earlier this year, but if it has to get as complicated to the point of where I need to obtain the complete car legally, then I'll do what I need to. Thanks in advance
|
