Reply to "MME ENGINE FAILURE UPDATE"

First a comment about Jesel rocker arms: the Jesel & T&D rocker arms that I have experience with are extraordinarily beefy parts. They are designed to handle the strongest valve spring pressures available for high lift (0.700"+) camshafts at high rpm. I am aware of the recommendation to tighten the jam nuts to 5 to 20 foot pounds, but I cannot believe that snugging them down with a typical 7" or 8" long combination wrench could possibly damage these beefy parts. I've never used a torque wrench, just gave them a good tug and have never had a problem. What's even more puzzling, these rocker arms are failing on the short side, between the pushrod cup and the pivot, this area is so thick its hard for me to imagine a failure occuring at this place; look at the photo at the bottom of the page (the pen is pointing to the side that is failing) a picture is worth a thousand words.

Second, I think it is great that everyone is supportive of Chris and his plight.

Mark D is absolutely right, the policy of this forum is "if you have nothing good to write, write nothing at all". I've personally not silenced Chris because I've assumed people may interpret silencing Chris as "covering up" for MME, which would not be the case, but people are going to believe that anyway because I've recommended MME so many times in the past.

Mark McKeown is a fan of the Cleveland engine, as I am myself. That's why he's made the Cleveland engine a specialty of his, witnessed by the fact that MME offers a Cleveland crate motor, something unusual in this day. Mark understands the special prep required to make a Cleveland work reliably and make BHP. This is the biggest value MME offers the Pantera community. There aren't a lot of knowlegable Cleveland engine builders left, they've all retired or gone to the big dyno-room in the sky. There's plenty of engine builders who will tell you they know the Cleveland engine, but I know better. MME is the real deal. I have no business relationship with MME, no reason to defend them, I only respect Mark's ability to build a Cleveland engine right.

It is obvious that a business relationship between MME and Chris has broken down. The details to that break down has two sides. That is (or should be) a private matter between two parties. I'm sure if you were to call MME and inquire they would tell you it is a private matter. Just as I am sure they would never come on this forum and write anything derogatory about a customer. Based on my own personal set of moral values, I believe Chris does himself a disservice in airing his displeasure with MME publicly the way he has. These things are best kept private.

I know for a fact that MME has many many satisfied customers on the Cleveland forum. Customers with whom they have friendly relationships. Repeat customers. They don't just build Cleveland engines either. In fact Cleveland engines are a small part of their business. They work on all Ford engines,GM engines and Chrysler engines. They do chassis work on race cars, trucks and even imports. They do a lot of work amongst Mustang owners. And they've built an admirable reputation. I've been privately thanked by a dozen Pantera owners for referring them to MME. Chris has been the only Pantera owner reporting a bad experience. Each of you need to consider this when you form your opinion of MME. Based upon all of these considerations, I do not believe that the breakdown in the relationship between Chris and MME is representative of the business practices of MME or that everyone would have the same experience with them that Chris has had. If I had any reason to believe otherwise, I would never have recommended them.

I want Chris' mechanical problems resolved as much as the rest of you. I don't want Chris to think that my comments above in anyway means I am not supportive of him. I understand the sentiment expressed by a couple of you that MME ought to come on this forum & defend themselves, or take care of Chris' complaints for no other reason than to avoid bad publicity. I also understand Chris' appreciation of Jesel's offer to examine the motor and replace the broken rocker arms. What am I to tell you? I don't advise MME or even work with them. The break down of the relationship between MME & Chris is between MME and Chris. MME is not going to come on this forum and tell their side of the story if it would mean making a derogatory comment about Chris in public, that would not look good. So they are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

Lets analyze this like adults. A business run by a husband and wife team has shut the door on a customer. Why they've totally shut the door on Chris we don't know, it is not likely we would all agree who is to blame even if we all had the complete facts, but we can agree that totally shutting the door on a customer is an extreme thing to do, and normally there is a "perceived" substantial reason for doing so. Mark and Heather did not wake up one morning and decide they didn't like Chris Lewis for no reason at all. Nor are they two immoral, unethical, uncaring people who routinely rip-off their customers. Life is not black and white like that. There are no indications shutting the door on customers is the normal business practice of MME. If there is, I want to hear about it.

It is a fact of life that relationships (both business and personal) break down between well meaning adults. I frankly do not want to know the reason why the business relationship between Chris and MME has broken down, I will be quite content if it is kept private between Chris and MME. No good guys, no bad guys, no victims, no perpetrators. Nobody has to take sides. Neither Chris nor the McKeowns need to have their character questioned. Which brings me back to an earlier point, these things are best kept private.

cowboy from hell