I know this is a long story, but it's all true. I never want anyone to go through the nightmare I have and all the work and money and still get junk.
Two years ago Fed 26 I called Agostino racing and talked to Nick Agostino about building me a 396 cu in supercharged engine for my 95 Camaro z28, capable of running at least 12lbs boost. Nick said no problem. I paid $4200.00 down, and he said it would take 6-7 weeks to do. I sent up my block and heads. The block was all debured and polished in the lifter valley and had about.001 to.002 out of round & taper. It was the original block for the car with the same Vin#(never seen the block again).
7 weeks later I called Nick (hard to get a hold of) lies after lies, thats the way they are.I finally get my engine in July 2002 after all kinds of BS. The engine main 4bolt studs , 4 of them didn't have full nuts on them, timing chain was flopping around and a lot of the clearences weren't the same as what the spec sheet said. To make a long story short, I got the engine in.
The PCM was programmed by Bryan Herter (PCM for less). The spec sheet said 10.1 comp(I wanted 9.0 or9.5) but they couldn't do it(agostino). When trying to run the engine even at low load the engine rattled like a bucket of nuts & bolts.I sent the PCM back to Bryan 2 more times, pulling out more timing and still it was rattling. I took a comp test 235 to240psi (thats the comp of some diesel engines).
By now Nick was bought out by his partner Wade Stevens, another idiot. All he could say about the engine was that it was tuning. Then I had Barry Dwyer sen me the figures on how they got the comp ratio, which weren't on the spec sheet. He gave me some figures over the phone that he and Wade must of pulled out of a hat. The engine had 6in lunati rods, you can't build that combination with stock heads to get that low of a comp.With 6 in rods to have 9to1comp ratio the pistons wouldn't be strong enough. Ask any piston manufacturer. So then I had the engine checked on a whistler machine at a speed shop here. It was 12.4to12.5 to1 thats why Bryan couldn't tune it. I talked to Barry at ARE and they said to send the engine back (after a lot of crap again).
Oct 2002 I pulled the engine out again. This car is completely painted underneath the same color as the car metalic green. After dozens of phone calls and more lies I called my lawyer on Jan 2003 I was fed up with ARE and all the BS with in a week I finally got my engine back.I took it back to the speed shop and had it checked by the whistler, it was 8.4 to8.5 to 1. The spec sheet said 9to1, that was ok. Got the engine all back in again. Bryan programmed it . This engine shook so bad a 4000rpm, it shook the car.This engine was loosing oil pressure like the first one, I called Wade and all he could tell me were more stories and more BS. On the spec sheet it said internally balanced, but the flywheel is stock so it would have been neutral balance , so Wade said he may have sent the wrong flywheel so I had the flywheel neutral balanced.The car shook so bad that I couldn't drive it. Wade blamed the place where he gets his balancing done. But they couldn't find any records of it being balanced. Thats because Wade was pissed off that I got a lawyer. They didn't balance anything, and threw it all together and sent it to me.(thats the way they are)
I spent $10,800 for a short block and it has to come out for a 3rd time.I had the speed shop here take the engine apart to check for balancing. It was out 70grams in the front & 80grams in the back. The main bearings, rod bearings and cam bearings were damaged because of the balancing and the block not cleaned the Callies crank was marked. The rings were not seating in the cylinders because the engine was not honed with a deck plate. When the engine was apart at the speed shop Danny the engine builder said they were 6in rods. The pistons were made by Diamond and Wade said they could make that combination so I thought they could. So the engine was put back together at a cost of $1,600.00 and the flywheel at a cost of $500.00. The engine was externally balanced a I installed the engine for the 3rd time and it runs smooth as silk.
But in the spec sheet for the 2nd engine it said 5.85 rods. This was on my mind what the other piston companys said so I called Diamond and talked to Ron. He said that you could not make the pistons strong enough with 6in rods. If I run anymore boost than I'm running now the pistons will break. He said that with the 4lbs that I have now that it's debatable. Ron said he wouldn't make the pistons with 6in rods because they wouldn't be strong enough. So Agostino must have modified them with a 35cc dish to lower the comp ratio , so if I want to run anymore boost it will have to come apart again and will have to have 5.85 rods and new pistons.
At ARE I dealt with Nick Agostino, Wade Stevens and Barry Dwyer and all I can say is they are is they are a bunch of morons and liars and they are lucky we have law. They think they are so smart and everyone else is stupid.
By the time this is all said and done it will cost me $20,00 or more an still have junk.
If anyone needs a boat anchor they can go to ARE , they sell good boat anchors but they are expensive.
PS If anyone had any experience with ARE, please let me know.

 

I've heard some horror stories about Agostino lately. Including a friend of mine who's been waiting on his LT1 396 since October. He has paid in full for ir already.
I'm wondering what happened to ARE, they have been one of my favorites, and they have a great reputation. I'm disappointed they have been not-so great with their customers recently.