Damper from hughes engines is wobling!!!!!!!!

[Chris A]

My crank damper that I got from Hughes Engines with my 400 kit is shot! The piece on the front with the rubber is wobling all over the place. I talked to a mechanic and they explained how it can rip away from the main part of the damper. Is this going to affect my internally balanced engine? Should I take a new (used) damper to a machine shop and have them balance it to the broken one or what!? I need help. Thanks!

[lancer]

You should get in contact with either Dave or Chris at hughes engines. They keep very good records on what they sell and or build. I've had dealings with them in the past and I have no regrets They will take of your problem .....NO PROBLEM Lancer

[Brian_wo]

yeah they should make good on that but I would steer clear of Dave,he is the reason I will never spend money there and I have talked others out of spending money there,helps to have a personality.

[Chris A]

Talked to Chris and it is no problem, just send it back and he'll take care of it.

When I ordered the kit I new exactly what I wanted and had spent a lot of hours planning out the project and calculating the comp. ratio to be sure my first engine build went smooth. I talked to Dave when ordering and he was like "you know I have a 451 kit ready to go because a customer couldent pay for it" and I said no because I couldn't get a good comp ratio with that without using shims and its a lot of torque to put in front of an 8 1/4, hes like "your the first guy I have ever talked too that didn't want too much horsepower!"

[ChristianCuda]

Chris
does Chris at Hughes still have that 451 kit and what was he selling it for?
Do you have his number handy?
I am always looking for a break to get something better.

Christian

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68 'Cuda 383 Working on adding EFI
69 'Cuda Race Parts Car
76 Duster 273 recent transplant
95 Neon 2.0 SOHC best of 16.96
84 Dodge Ram D50 transplanting 360

[chrisfly]

I just spent about 2500 dollars at hughes. Their quality is top notch and I think they will make good on the damper if it new. As for Dave, I was hearing from some people that he is real arrogant. I went to his shop and he talked to me for 1 1/2 hrs. about advice performance etc. I thought he was very nice, don't always believe what you hear. Just my 2 cents

[Brian_wo]

I don't believe what I hear a lot of the time but I have experianced him in person and on the phone,that was enough for me,lucky for chris that he is not like his dad,he was very pleasant to talk to,all my money goes to either summit of Muscle Motors now days and I am always treated right.

[Tim_K]

I tried talking to Dave on the phone a while back; I found it to be a rather difficult thing to do. I was trying to find some decent solid lifter cams for a 273 and a Slant Six. It wasn't enough that all the cam lobes he told me about were rather low in lift for the duration, but also that he absolutely refused to give me any duration numbers, other than at 0.050" lift. All the lobes sounded like Shivvy cam lobes to me (.431", .443", .477", and .489" lift), and I was not happy at his statement that "273's and /6's DON'T NEED fast rates of lift". That was the last straw for me.
I was going to buy a .504"/.515" lift cam from Hughes for a 360 I'm rebuilding, but now I'm thinking about a Comp Cams 224/230 @50, .477/.480 lift cam instead. Because of Dave's attitude on the phone towards me, he kind of talked himself out of 2 or 3 sales for things I was going to buy from him. Hughes Engines may have some good parts, but they need good customer service, too.

[Chris A]

Christian, Dave was the one trying to sell me the kit, but this was in July of 99. He may still have it though.... There was going to be no price difference even though they were trying to get rid of it, 1800 something for the 451 kit.

[Diplomat360]

Well, I must say my experiences with both Dave and Chris were pretty good.

First while looking for a cam for my 360 I spoke with Dave. He took the time to explain things pretty well. Since I do know a bit about cams we actually got a chance to get a bit more in-depth on the subject, it was pretty interesting.

I bought the chrome shafts, springs and the cam from them. At that time I was planning on using my 273 1.5 ratio rockers. Then at a later point I picked up a set of Crane 1.6 rockers. So I called back asking if I could send the springs meant for the 1.5 ratio back. Spoke with Chris first, not a problem. The next day when I actually sent out the parts, I called back and spoke with Dave, he was pretty cool about the return as well.

I haven't built the motor yet, so I can't tell how good their cam is...but it sounds like a nice high lift, short duration piece. Looking forward to running it.