Pay to get them, then let everyone around know who he is and what he pulled on you. Becoming confrontational with a paying customer in that situation is a bunch of BS.

these things shouldn't have to get to that level.

telling me whats my hurry , are you going boating tomorrow? doesn't sit well with me.

second problem is now that they are torn down they are worth less than when they were assembled correct? though of selling them and buying something complete.

the reason I wanted to know where I sat with these motors was so that I had 6 months or so to get them done and in the boat. I didn't want to be the guy elbows deep in the bilge in august.

IMO pay the $400.00, get your parts back, and make darn sure they are your original parts, how many times have we seen the good parts get swapped out with cheep stuff! Walk away from it and build them on YOUR terms not theirs! Your are in charge of your motors not them. Why is this type of behavior still tolerated in the industry?

I would probably be doing the same thing. How can you start getting parts if you don't know what you need? And the comments about boating tomorrow, if he can't even get your engines taken down now, how is he going to get them together when the spring rush hits? I know it's hard to turn away work but why a lot of builders pull this stuff is beyond me. You hear this kind of stuff about most of them so who can you trust?

exactly, I don't think they would have had anything done even if I didn't show up until February or March. don't promise to do things you cant do.

I was highly recommended to this shop too, thinking about doing them myself. ive build 50 plus motors in my life, including a stroked 454 in my 454 ss truck. I would think they is plenty of info out there if I needed it.

Agree with most here, pay the $400 & get your engines back. "what's your hurry" doesn't cut it with me, if a professional accepts a job then there should be some understanding of the time frame too. Maybe that type of job is a pain in the butt like Jupiter said, then the builder should give some sort of expectation for the work. To me, this shop hasn't communicated well and why should a change be expected if the job escalates into a rebuild.

Move on.

I contract for a living, every one of my jobs comes with a proposed time frame, there's no reason cost matters and reasonable projections on completion shouldn't be given along with any delays as it progresses. Too many forms of communication exist these days to expect otherwise.

Cry once; pay the $400. Make sure what you get back the same blocks you dropped off

Im not going to get them back without paying him obviously, I guess the better question is how does someone think wasting three plus months of my time and a hour of teardown worth $400?

Ask him