T&L ENGINES IN N.C. - Page 2 - Ford Muscle Forums : Ford Muscle Cars Tech Forum

valleyfirearms · 11-11-2007, 10:33 PM

That is one messed up engine. The damn distributor is in the back of the engine!

pipedoctor · 11-14-2007, 09:06 AM

Follow Up,

I think it would only be fair to post a follow up, as I blasted T&L earlier.

I finally got my engine from them. It was 8 weeks late, but finally did arrive. It looks good, and arrived in good condition. Time will tell if it is good. From the build specs, it should be a good engine. T&L has a good reputation as an engine builder. Just takes a long time to get one.

Lloyd is backed up over 100 engines. So, it will take at least 4 months to get an engine, or longer. The key point here is, you will get your engine, just depends on how high your "pain" threshold is. Is it worth the wait? I have no idea. If I had it to do over again, I would pay a little more, and get it locally.

It used to be, in the racing circuit around Charlotte, if you wanted to win, you had to run a T&L engine. Not so anymore. Technology has caught up, and the use of CNC machining centers has equalized the playing field. So exact tolerances are common place now.

Llolyd is a nice guy, just way behind. Probably will be for the next 8 years.

Wayne

JH67 · 11-26-2007, 08:23 AM

Slow yes, but they do stand by their product. My engine had some problems and I sent it back. Every Valve guide had failed (Bad batch from Crane). Lloyd took the engine without a quibble and I'm happy to say it runs stronger now than before. T&L valve job v/s RHS is to blame for the extra HP. Thanks Lloyd, this is the monster engine I wanted powering my Cobra and it screams.

P.S. Do you give discount coupons for tires??? The rears can't handle the torque...

badluc1 · 01-10-2008, 06:50 PM

Well heres another version of T&L engines. We had an engine (347) built by T&L 2 yrs ago. Complete oil pan to intake, forged everything, lots of upgrades. Supposedly made 485 h.p on their dyno all motor w/1 1/2" headers. Our bill was $8200 when done. They warranty their engines for 12months/12k miles. Okay we had major transmission issues for the 1st 6 months we had the engine. So the car sat in the shop not moving. Finally we got it up and running and 1st issue was oil pressure. It was scary low to me. However I had never had a solid roller cam engine. T&L assured me low pressure was normal with a solid roller cam. Okay. I buy it.
By the time we got the engine tested and the trans set up and all, the season was over. The most it ran was 16-20 passes, did a 90 mile round trip to a car show. thats it. Mind you its a natural aspirated 347 no spray nothing. In a car using 6400rpm limiter and shifting at 5800-6000rpm.
Next season, we get the car going with a new trans as the AOD Sucked we bought from performance automatic. Were now running into our 30th pass or so and the crank blows at 1200' oils the track down and puts the $26,000 car into the wall, destroying the back half rendering it all a pile of junk.
Take the engine to loydd at T&L. It took him 2 months to tear it down and tell us what went wrong. He blames it on a $380 fluidamper! BUll****! Okay, now he says he'll make it right with us and only charge us parts to fix it. Mind you the ONLY things salvageable were the heads and oil pan!!!!! Says it will take 3-6 weeks to get it done. 6 months pass. Between calls, faxes and emails not less than 30 times inquiring the status, NONE returned or even answered! Finally get an email saying it will be ready in 2 weeks. We call at 2 weeks later Loydd says it will dyno end of next week. We go another 2 full weeks and drive 145 miles to pick it up. We get there and the bare block is sitting on the stand with the still stripped heads on the bench.
So in a nutshell we have an engine thats not made 35 passes, or gone 100 miles and it disintegrates, taking out an entire car. 7.5 months pass and they still have no engine even close to ready to go for us. yet they sell 10+ ENGINES PER WEEK ON eBAY?
TO HELL WITH t&l AND THE BULL**** THEY GIVE YOU. stay AWAY, STAY AWAY STAY AWAY!

badluc1 · 01-10-2008, 09:54 PM

Forgot to mention. My fiancee, (the driver) has been published in Muscle Mustangs and fast Fords twice. Race pages magazine 3 times. Shes a KNOCKOUT to look at, and grabs all the attention anyone can handle. So one would THINK a company might make just the slightest effort more to keep a high profile customer making headlines. If you follow Fun ford or NMRA in bristol, atlanta. bradenton, orlando or Holcomb Civil Wars at Rockingham. YOU have seen her and her car....Trust me you would remember her...

valleyfirearms · 01-12-2008, 09:35 AM

Can't visualize it, you better post some pics of her.

royster · 01-19-2008, 05:04 PM

Maybe he Wished she was his girl friend!
I;ll bet ,if he posts pics, they;re from a mile away! with a telephoto lens!

sbrickell · 01-21-2008, 06:02 PM

No experience here other than google... going to have to say that the only negatives I can find are due to delivery time (other than this thread). I live about 2 1/2 hours away in Raleigh and am still seriously considering giving them a swing. I got a setup on it's last leg, but it is still running.

It is interesting (in my opinion only) that the flames come from members with very few posts. Almost like they are out looking to intentionally cause trouble... just my 2 cents.

Scott

71hotrodpinto · 01-21-2008, 07:25 PM

Hmmmm only a couple of posts from the negitave guys.
Could it be that they are the competition of T&L??? And that they are flaming them anyway they can just to get them a bad rep???
NAWWWW that kind of thing doesnt happen in todays day and age...

badluc1 · 01-22-2008, 07:18 AM

Well Since royster is talking trash about her. Heres

some pix to shut him up.

badluc1 · 01-22-2008, 07:26 AM

Another thought for those who question validity of our posting. Your right. I dont have a lot of posts here. I posted on here for one reason only. Thats is to make others aware of the potential problems someone may face with T&L. Not to smear, talk smack or because Im using a competitors engine (were not using any engine at this point). Just wanted the facts listed. We have been racing a long time at a lot of FFW and NMRA events. I just hate to see other ford guys getting screwed over. If you run a chevy, well thats your problem. The ford people we meet at these events have always been good people willing to lend a hand to fellow racers. Thats all there is.
Should you decide to run, or if you do run a T&L engine, great. More power to you. Best of luck. Hopefully you wont suffer the aggravation and financial loss that we have.

FEandGoingBroke · 01-22-2008, 07:49 AM

Hey, I thought you said here are "some pix" !!!

That's only ONE!

She's almost as cute as I thought... Dressed WAY to formally though

Good luck to you all in your engine hunting!

Why don't you Order all your parts and build it yourself?

FE

sbrickell · 01-24-2008, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FEandGoingBroke

Why don't you Order all your parts and build it yourself?
FE

Because I want my car to run...!

I just don't have the expertise to put a short block together... I'm not looking for a complete setup, just a long block.

gc65restomod · 01-24-2008, 03:49 PM

This is my first post and I only came into this because I was looking for web information on T&L. I ordered my engine in early October with an expectation that it would take 6-8 weeks. At that point I also paid a 50% deposit. I have grown increasingly more concerned over the past couple of months due to a complete lack of communication or response to requests for information. I have called them many times and I have spoked to Lloyd the last three times. When I ask the status of my engine I always get a response of it should go on the dyno next week. My last conversation was that they were waiting for a bracket from March and would be calling me in 1 week to arrange final payment and shipping. That was 3 weeks ago. I am not sure what is going on. I am not feeling as though I have been cheated at this point but I think Lloyd is in the habit of telling people what they want to hear instead of being open and honest about what is going on in his shop. I would really just like to know what to expect and not continue to have to call for the same answer. If I ever do get my engine, I will post my comments about the quality.

badluc1 · 01-27-2008, 07:25 AM

I got "two weeks" for 3 months. reminds me of the movie "the money pit" with Tom Hanks. Sorry to hear about your problems. Loydd just takes on too many engines and rather than be honest and tell people its going to be 4 months,5 or 6, he just tells ya what you want to hear.