Well Uncle Dave...sit down and read this...

I bought a motor from Leon. It was a 540 that he said dynoed on "HIS" dyno at 631 HP. The motor he pulled out of my boat was a 1989 454 with 330 HP. I had a cam in it and Merlin heads on it. The boat with the 454 and 990 hours on it and ran 71/72 gps. Leon put his 540 in the boat and it ran 1 mph faster with the "supposedly" 631 hp motor thanit did with the (maybe) 425 hp 454. He had 1 excuse after another...the boat...hook...its a sled...buthe NEVER got his ass in the boat to run it...he sent Matt out with it. Leon set the floats on the carb so high it wouldnt hardly idle. He told one guy that was there when I was there checking on it that the boat was an 80+ mph boat. This was before we ran it. I was happy and was niave enough to believe him. The boat ran 72/73. I was not happy being that I donated $16,000.00 plus to him. I also had a heating issue that I did not have before I had him do the 540. $2250.00 later, he corrected the heating issue. He also promised me that the boat would be done in 2 weeks...yea right...6 weeks later I got it back. I kept on him about the motor...something just aint right...631 hp and this damn boat runs 72/73 (1989 Baja 226 Islander)...1 mph faster than it did with the old motor. Matt even said the same thing about something not being right. Leon asked me if I gamble...I said yes. Leon says he will pull the motor out and put it back on ""HIS"" dyno and run it again. If it doesnt make 630 HP...he will give me $2000.00 and no charge to pull the motor and put it back. But if it DOES make 630 HP...I pay him $2000.00 plus shop cost to pull the motor and put it back. I was going to do it until I talked to a friend and he said...NO FRIGGIN WAY do it on his dyno, but go to a neutral dyno. I told Leon we will go to a neutral dyno and he crawfished...wouldnt do it. I got seriously pissed and pulled the motor out 3 months later and took it to Reher & Morrison in Arlington. 2 dyno pulls and the motor made 515 and 517 hp...if I remember correctly. If my memory is off alittle,its not much. I have all the paper work on it...I'm just getting pissed again typing this and too lazy to pull it out. The people at R & M showed me HOW Leon manipulated the numbers to get the high fudged numbers he gave me. They also fudged it to show me HOW he did it and it was very close to what Leon's dyno said...all total BULL-CRAP. I told Leon what we did and what we found and after that it was like he left the planet...he was not there...he was UN-available...he was with a customer...and he would NOT return a phone call. Hell...it would have been easier to get laid in a convent than to get hold of him. He screwed me over and laughed. The ONLY time he returned a phone call was when I told the lady up front...I think maybe his wife, but she is a very wonderful person...I was going home and talk to my attorney about all this crap. At first Leon was unavailable again, but I didnt get 10 miles down the road and he called with the sweet talk to calm me down. I listened to him when I shouldnt have. Since my experience with Leon Dereberry, I have run into MANY people with very simular experiences dealing with him. I do not believe a word he says and I think he is as dis-honest as one can get. The guy getting the motors done by him...I feel sorry for you dude. Whatever Leon tells you or shows you for a dyno sheet...I would not believe it. Take 25% to 35% away from whatever the numbers say and THAT will be close to what your REAL horsepower will be. I did not know that Matt had left, but I will bet anything that Matt knew that I was right. Matt was the "go-between"...I am not mad at him because he had to do what Leon told him to do...no problem. I am stiil massively pissed off at Leon, but I would like to talk to Matt sometime. I see Matt as a good guy caught between a rock and someplace, but I see Leon as pure LOW-LIFE to screw people over like he did me.

Thats a horrible story-

I guess my Dereberry PR story needs a workover.
Id be supremely pist if this happened to me.

515 HP on a 540 is completely lame as my small block 406 with Brodix heads makes 500HP on a flat tappet engle-ep 20/22 cam. That mill should make 515hp with the cam sprocket off a tooth!

This 7-10 Ilmor is the first boat engine Ive owned that Ive never seen dynoed personally - I make the final payment contingent on HP delivery with all my builders because I want to make sure I get what Im paying for. (Ilmor engineering gets a "flyer" though)

I suspect VV's numbers are closer to the truth simply because of the parts he's using. It'd be hard not to make 600 ponies with that parts combo but there are a lot of ways to cheat a dyno as you say.

Thanks for taking the time to write even if it did anger you substantially just to rewrite it.

Dereberry negative PR noted.

Uncle Dave

Laveycraft 2750 -710
Laveycraft 20.8 Sebring

This is a video section and not the beware section, sorry to steal any thunder from the guy who started the thread,BUT. Yeah, it is amazing how hard it is to get a hold of Leon once you have a problem. "He's outside with a customer",or "He's lake tuning a boat", or "He's sick today". Yeah I heard them all. Didn't return my calls either until I said I was going to call a lawyer. But I am sure he is a pro at dealing with that by now with all of his dealings. I guess I should just get my $400.00 in spare impeller pumps and run...Mike

Did you ask him why a guy that had been building engines for as long as he has would miss a pretty standard issue like that since all the engines of that generation had these trays in them. I don't remember if the 575 was a genV or VI, but I am pretty sure it wouldn't have been the first one of that generation that he took apart or put together.

Wether it came that way or not, wouldn't you think that if the other one had it in there, it should have thrown up a red flag.

That stuff just pisses me off.

I make mistakes also, but my customers will tell you that I try or do make it right the best that I can. I once gave a guy a HUGE refund on the labor and more, because of a mistake that I had made, and let him keep all of the stuff and bought him a bunch of brand new parts. Lost my azz on that deal.

I know this doesent belong here, sorry.

But shouldent that boat still be faster then 1+ MPH with 180 HP more ????????

Let me tell you about my boat ,had the same thing .

Come to find out we mistacenlty changed gearset wrong.

Just a quess ??!!

Wonder how much RPM and what prop and which gear ratio.

To only make it go 1 MPH faster !

Yes-Sir...you are correct...with 180 more CLAIMED HP that Leon says that I had...I figure...and others...I should have at least run 80. Pure fact...Leon lied and he got caught. Did I go to the law...No...I prefer to handle it myself. I dont screw people and I wont tolerate being screwed. I will meet up with Leon one of these days and then it will be GAME ON.

For the guy that is getting his motors done by Leon. If your boat doesnt run right...you got screwed. I will bet...with odds...he pulled the same crap with him...fudge the numbers to get a higher HP reading on the dyno sheet. The guys at R & H showed me how to do it...I can dyno those motors for you and show that they put out 2000 HP each...with a single carb and no blower. Can I get an AMEN here...or what??

AMEN !

Yeah same thing with me, engine builder dyno'd my motor after rebuilt ( 6K ). 675 HP. Befor the rb. we dyno'd 608 HP,
cause of rb. 2 pistons had 80% leakage !!!!!!!

Boat ran 2 MPH slower then befor rb. LOL

Come to find out motor had 500+ HP not 675 !

Now i have it back like it should be. ( 760-800 HP ) REAL HP !

To be clear here, Leon didn't build my engines I am having my boat rigged there. Leon Dynoed them. I thought the numbers were a tad low if anything.

They all suck you need to do everything yourself. 2 years ago I had a machine shop put my bottom end together to save me time. Well that fackfired the dumb A$$ did not leave enough clearence for the forged pistons and it smoked the rings.

I can't see why rigging dyno numbers would help anything the customer is going to know when he runs his boat by the speed gain or loss.

And the guy with the 454 with 990 hours on it that runs 71where is that engine at I want to stick it in the hall of fame for the longest lasting 454 I ever heard about in a boat. I want to pull that engine apart and see what made it blow up proof.

I can arrange for you to get that 990 hour 454 if you really want it. It is still running and currently lives in a 1985 Corvette. The guy doesnt hot rod it...just drives it. When I had it in my boat, I didnt run it in the ground all the time. Actually very seldom did the WOT thing, but it was a great motor and the ONLY thing done to it was a cam, intake, carb & head change