Howdy Blue Oval Guys, a Bow Tie owner here! I know it's strange for me to be posting here, but I wanted to share my experience with T&L and give you all fair warning. I originally ordered a Chevy 408 stroker from them in Jan '08 while on deployment, I'm in the Navy, and sent a deposit. I was hoping it would be delivered shortly after returning home since they quoted me 8 weeks. After three months had gone by I called and they told me there was a back order on the AFR heads holding them up. Fine, I said. By August they had e-mailed me for the final payment since they would be shipping within the week. Sounds good I said. The end of Sep rolls around and still no engine. I call and am told they are backed up on shipping but I should have it by Nov. Fast forward to the end of the year, still no engine. I start calling in Jan '09, keep getting the shipping back log excuse but am told "hopefully next week".
March rolls around and still no engine. I finally get the owner, Lloyd, on the phone. At first he did not even know what engine I was talking about. After being put on hold, he tells me "Oh yeah, that engine got put over in the corner and forgot about because it was dropped off of the forklift when getting loaded onto the shipping truck. We need to check it out, dyno it again, and make sure it's ok." He tells me to give them a couple weeks. So I waited and still no engine.
I have been calling every week since Jan of this year and another guy, Rob, keeps telling me "hopefully next week, we're doing the best we can". In August he tells me, "Oh yeah, Lloyd can't find the original carb because we robbed it for another engine. But when he does, he'll need to dyno it again". So I tell Rob I'm running out of time because I am transferring from Hawaii to the mainland the first week of Dec and have to ship my car in Nov. Rob tells me he'll talk to Lloyd, but I never get any call back.
I keep calling every week, and Rob keeps telling me "hopefully next week". I tell him I want to speak with Lloyd, but he is always out of the shop. I leave messages with Rob for Lloyd and also on the answering machine, but Lloyd never calls me back.
So here I sit, 21 months after originally ordering the engine, it is paid in full, and I still am empty handed. Now I am in a bind because I have to ship my car in three weeks and will have to temp fix the old engine and drop it back in just to get the car running.
I keep asking about a refund, but Lloyd still has not called me. I thought I was the only one in this situation, then started hunting on the internet in other forums. There are dozens of other customers in the same boat. They have an F rating with the BBB. I, along with many others, have filed formal complaints with the BBB and the Attorney General, and T&L have yet to respond. Even those who have received engines, and oddly they ordered after me, they have had problems with the internal parts like rockers not being centered over the valves. You don't have to take my word for it either, just check out the links below and do your own research.
Sorry this was so long, but I wanted to share so others can be well informed before making a decision on using T&L. There are some people happy with their engines, but they are very few. I also know shops can get backlogged and a quality product takes time, but 21 months is ridiculous!
Earl engine#1849
Ewa Beach, HI
check out these forums and make your own conclusions:
tandl.freeforums.org • Index page;
anybody use T and L engine development;
T&L Engine Development, INC. - Team Camaro Tech;
T&L ENGINES IN N.C. - FordMuscle.com Forums
