PureXTZ

First off this is not an attack against Lloyd this is just my experience with a set of heads that he ported. I purchased a new unused set of le2 heads and intake from a member on this site. Problem 1 was discovered by the machine shop that was putting the bottom end together. They informed me that the valve job that he had done was not done properly and that they need to re do it. Wanting a second opinion I took them to another reputable machine shop Gunther’s and had them look at them and they agreed that the valve job needed some work.
I contacted Lloyd about this sent him pics and he agreed the valve job could use some cleaning up and he would redo it for free but I had to send him the heads and pay for shipping. My thoughts were if it was not done right the first time and now I have to ship them back to him at my expense I'll just have Gunther’s do it knowing it would be done right.
So Gunther’s did the valve job and actually finished putting the engine together for me and I put it in. Well it started to burn antifreeze at a really slow and inconsistent rate, but I was not getting smoke out of the exhaust accept at start and no milky oil so I thought nothing of it. Well a 100 miles into the break in it started sucking antifreeze and blowing billow smoke out of the exhaust. It was so bad that it was escaping out of from the #1 tube where it connects with the rest of the header on my AS&M headers.
Well the tear down began by pulling the #1 header tube off and the port was soaked problem located. Took the head off and was surprised the head gasket was it perfect shape wtf. So the head went back to Gunther’s and he said that he would pressure test the head for free and get back to me that was two days ago.
Called him this morning and the bad news was delivered the head has pin hole leaks in the #1 exhaust port from being ported to thin. They are going to send the head off to his welder to have it fixed and he said all should be good with the head.
So 1300.00 dollars for a port job has now cost me close to 1800 dollars and a lot of my time. Now all I have to do is hope that nothing else goes wrong with these heads over time.
I also did not contact Lloyd with this the second problem with the heads sorry just lost all confidence in his work.

Chirs

Norse1974

WOW!!! And people say this of my Patriot heads.....Ive seen nothing but good reviews about this guys(Loyd) work but just goes to show it doesnt matter who you buy from it has the potential of being just as crappy as anyone elses heads including Patriots. Sorry for your misfortune man,,,makes me wonder who else has expieranced this or other problems with his work but nobody has said anything due to him offering to fix it or replace it?????

pizzi-man

Porous castings are the problem and am sure that if it was caught ahead of time it would have been fixed. This is one of problems that happen when porting and could happen to any good head porter. This is just one of those things that you chalk up to experience and the cost of taking it to the limit. In all fairness though, those heads should not have left Lloyds shop with out a pressure test and an incomplete valve job.

RamAir95TA

That's the unfortunate risk you take with hand-ported heads. This isn't the first time that I've heard of him punching through exhaust runners, either.

F6

I had three holes altogether in the port job he did for me. I know of three different forums where they are complaining about his porting.... Do a search in this forum and you'll find enough info.

Norse1974

So why does this guy come so highly recomended if theres so many people complaining????? I got dogged basically for using patriots. Was told I should of used this guy. Why?? Just seems to me its a matter of perception on what aftermarket head to use. Some offer better flow than others & what not but after reading this guys disaster & finding out others are also complaining, Im fine with my Patriots now.

TrybalRage

To be fair, though, would you really expect him to pay for shipping, etc when you didn't actually buy them from him? No excuses for the rest of the problems but this one I don't see an issue with. If anything, I'm surprised he offered to fix it for free.

96capricemgr

Pinholes are a potential issue when porting heads, particularly OEM ones BUT there is no risk if you use a good shop that checks for such things before shipping. Such things are easily caught before shipping to the customer and easily addressed.

Norse1974

Yeah,,,& obviously thats something LE is not doing..... To spend that kinda coin for his heads one should expect that all criteria has been checked to ensure quality control.

henryz28

What castings were the heads. I know some heads can not be cut out as much as others. I had him do a le1 port job on my 643 heads, I hope mine are fine;I am going to start it tomorrow.

Bersaglieri

So you bought a set of heads that were supposedly Lloyds from someone other than Lloyd. Then another guy said the valve job wasn't good, so Lloyd said he'd do work on them for free, oddly you expect him to pay shipping for something you never bought from him. Then you have someone else mess with the heads and put them on the motor. Then they develop a leak and you skip talking to Lloyd and have yet another person mess with them again. Then you hop on here and point the finger at Lloyd who tried to make the situation right from the get go.

How many hands have been on these things? 3 since you've had them, who knows how many before you did. What if the former owner's "engine builder" said the exhaust ports were too small and went in there to open them up some more? That's assuming the heads show up at Lloyd's shop untouched. See the slippery slope your on when you buy "new" used parts?

This why there are certain things you buy directly from someone. If there is an issue in regards to his workmanship he typically offers to fix/repair/replace it for free. You decided to side step the best part of buying from Lloyd, the service. I'm not saying it isn't Lloyds fault, but if it was you needed to talk to him about it. Instead your making it less and less his fault with each set of hands that touch those heads.

That being said out of the 4-5 sets of LE heads my close group of friends have used, everyone dealt directly with Lloyd and had no problems and experienced great service.

Personally, I'd like to see pictures of the pin hole leak area and/or port. I'm wondering where in the port it's thin.

-Dustin-

PureXTZ

I never said anything bad about his customer service, just that the work that he did was not up to the standard that I would expect from someone who is regarded as one of the best.

As for the rest not getting in a pissing match this is not what this post was for.

Norse1974

Yeah the subject at hand is not his willingness to help or how friendly he is but his quality control. Theres no reason he shouldnt be putting his heads through quality checks & final inspections before leaving his shop.

Injuneer

The point Bersaglieri was trying to make is that you don't know who did what to the heads since LE ported them (assuming he actually did port them).

If this thread turns into a bunch of petty arguments, its going to be closed down.

Norse1974

sorry if seemed like things are getting "Petty".. I didnt see that but oh well your the moderator. I personally feel like a new light has been shed on someone who is thought highly of. after really digging into this guys history with customers complaints he has a substantial amount of complaints about the "pin holes" problem...People should be aware of these complaints vs. all the good compliments as well.