An email to GM by Z28SSMAN

[superford3]

Not to say ford is any better but its the junk I prefer

[Z28SSMAN]

That's a pretty pissed off guy. I'm sure there's never been a guy with a Ford that feels that way.

It's pretty funny to pick one example of a pissed off guy and imply that all Chev trucks are that way.

FYI, I sold Chev trucks for over 20 years. I dealt with all my customers when they had problems. I was there in the service department to meet with them if there was an issue....not run and hide like a pussy to avoid a problem. If the product is a bad as you imply, there's no way I could have kept those customers coming back for over 20 years.

I never let the customer battle it out with the service manager if I thought they needed me there. The business owners I sold to had GM, Ford and Dodge in their fleets and as small business owners they were concerned about saving as much money as possible to help their bottom line. They all continued buying the GM products because they were the least expensive to operate...not just because they were durable, they got a helluva lot better gas mileage.

Let's face it...sometimes you can have a problem truck or car from any manufacturer. Some problems are from pure abuse...some people will never be happy no matter what you do. You should know that if you're in the service industry.

As far as the almighty Cobra motor?...How many have blown up in this town that you are willing to admit to?

There were some pretty big players in town with these forged internal motors. Where are they now? The one's left are probably on their 3rd, 4th or more motors. They keep popping em like popcorn. They make big dyno numbers, but the majority run shit times for what they dyno. I consider them exibition cars. I'd like to see how many have won more than 6 rounds at a single drag race event like I have with my LS1. By the way...when I win an event or runner-up...no one comes over and asks if I won due to having forged internals. lol

[superford3]

for the record I hear about more Ls1 engine chucking the guts more often then cobra motors blowing up, Theres 3 people in town that blow up stock cobra motors, fast mark runs 1000+ so for it to blow up its a no brainer. badcobra blew his car up because improper install on timing chain issues but then that is a twin turbo 1000+. dan dniestadt or how ever you spell it LOL had a bad engine builder build his motor, Blown svt also is running 800+ on stock motor with no issues other then bad driving, cobras afre not track cars I will give you that but they make a hell of a lot of power and hold a ton of power, I consider myself a player in this town and race almost everything but will not be stupid and race in front of apartment buildings like a month ago.

[superford3]

And just because you sold them dont mean they are quality, like I said ford,chevy,dodge all suck and have there problems but for you to say that chevy is the best truck is a lie god damn it LOL

[old vette dog]

Chevy is the best truck.

[MR.hp]

I don't know Ryan the LSx motors in the 99 and up trucks have been so much more reliable then the SB chevys GM had before. I used to watch as from the 80 up untill the late 90's the heavy line guys always had work now it's a different story. Sure shit still goes wrong but like one tech said "I don't make as much since this damn motor came out".

I have seen dozens of 4.6's break exhaust manifold bolts and spit spark plugs not sure about dodges never worked on any and I don't care too. As for LSX motors and 4.6's popping you are right people who tune shit wrong pay for and so do the ones that get greedy in the hp dept. Hell look at Joe's car so far he has popped 2 of them. RPM kills engines almost every time. I still remember back in '04 this gut on tcs that had a yellow mustang GT and everyone talked about how his car was bad ass running low 11's and a high 10 then at CF poof the bottom end goes out. How about the famous yellow Kris R. car that ate 4.6's I don't thing it ever got figured out after what 5 or 6 of them.

So all in all if one pushes a motor of any brand too hard it's going to go sooner or later
that why a lot of guys I know who race tear down their engines and rering and bearing them and check to make sure the bottom end is ok. Like I told Joe if you would have torn town the engine last year you may not have popped it this year, The damage most likey was already there you just hope you catch it before it's too late.

[old vette dog]

Had great luck with GM over the years and nothing major.

[superford3]

I don't know Ryan the LSx motors in the 99 and up trucks have been so much more reliable then the SB chevys GM had before. I used to watch as from the 80 up untill the late 90's the heavy line guys always had work now it's a different story. Sure shit still goes wrong but like one tech said "I don't make as much since this damn motor came out".

I have seen dozens of 4.6's break exhaust manifold bolts and spit spark plugs not sure about dodges never worked on any and I don't care too. As for LSX motors and 4.6's popping you are right people who tune shit wrong pay for and so do the ones that get greedy in the hp dept. Hell look at Joe's car so far he has popped 2 of them. RPM kills engines almost every time. I still remember back in '04 this gut on tcs that had a yellow mustang GT and everyone talked about how his car was bad ass running low 11's and a high 10 then at CF poof the bottom end goes out. How about the famous yellow Kris R. car that ate 4.6's I don't thing it ever got figured out after what 5 or 6 of them.

So all in all if one pushes a motor of any brand too hard it's going to go sooner or later
that why a lot of guys I know who race tear down their engines and rering and bearing them and check to make sure the bottom end is ok. Like I told Joe if you would have torn town the engine last year you may not have popped it this year, The damage most likey was already there you just hope you catch it before it's too late.

Your talking about the shitty ass 2valve motor blowing up, and I can name a ton of things that go wrong with the newer truck engines, they are the worst at breaking exhaust manifold studs off and intake gaskets

[HOTCIVIC]

I respect that you work on all sorts of trucks in your line of work superford, but I can't take what you say as universal truth when it comes to trucks because the only thing you get is trucks with problems. You're like a an air filter that just catches the dirt and then talks about how all air is filthy. There's a lot more clean air than there is dirty air. Just like there are a lot more trucks out there with no problems than there are WITH problems.

Even if you kept track of how many Fords or Chevys or Dodges came through your place, you wouldn't be able to come up with a valid statistical analysis because you're just one shop and you hardly see a fraction of the total number of vehicles out there with problems in different locations.

J.D. Powers would be a much better reference as far as quality goes, and in 2008 it's not even close. The Silverado pounds the F-150 into the dirt when it comes to design, powertrain and interior quality.

Not saying I don't like the F-150, I think it's a nice truck. I think the exterior looks great and I really like the interior too. The ones I drove were very quiet and rode really nice. Only problem was that they were pigs and could hardly get out of their own way. Guess that's what you get with the Triflin' 5.4 liter, as ZMAN likes to call it.

Also, I'm sure that if I worked on problematic vehicles every day I might have a more negative view on the trucks I worked on. Can't really blame ya there.

[Z28SSMAN]

And just because you sold them dont mean they are quality, like I said ford,chevy,dodge all suck and have there problems but for you to say that chevy is the best truck is a lie god damn it LOL

Well...I base my opinion on what I've seen and the small business owners I've dealt with. I think they're a good gauge of real world because they have to watch every penny. At the end of the year, they see what part of their business expenses can be improved. The GM trucks were the most dependable and as I said before the least expensive to operate.

So...I guess if that's the real world criteria for my opinion along with the small business owners feeling they are the best, then I stand by my opinion.

[superford3]

And I also stand by my opinion, theres a slight difference in selling vehicles and wrenching on them for a living, like I said you stated the chevy is the best truck and I begged to differ so to each his own

[superford3]

I respect that you work on all sorts of trucks in your line of work superford, but I can't take what you say as universal truth when it comes to trucks because the only thing you get is trucks with problems. You're like a an air filter that just catches the dirt and then talks about how all air is filthy. There's a lot more clean air than there is dirty air. Just like there are a lot more trucks out there with no problems than there are WITH problems.

Even if you kept track of how many Fords or Chevys or Dodges came through your place, you wouldn't be able to come up with a valid statistical analysis because you're just one shop and you hardly see a fraction of the total number of vehicles out there with problems in different locations.

J.D. Powers would be a much better reference as far as quality goes, and in 2008 it's not even close. The Silverado pounds the F-150 into the dirt when it comes to design, powertrain and interior quality.

Not saying I don't like the F-150, I think it's a nice truck. I think the exterior looks great and I really like the interior too. The ones I drove were very quiet and rode really nice. Only problem was that they were pigs and could hardly get out of their own way. Guess that's what you get with the Triflin' 5.4 liter, as ZMAN likes to call it.

Also, I'm sure that if I worked on problematic vehicles every day I might have a more negative view on the trucks I worked on. Can't really blame ya there.

I base my opinion on what I see day in and day out and like I said they are all junk in there own way and all have there problems but too say one is better then other because you sold them dont mean anything also so you got to look at my side of the coin also

[Z28SSMAN]

for the record I hear about more Ls1 engine chucking the guts more often then cobra motors blowing up, Theres 3 people in town that blow up stock cobra motors, fast mark runs 1000+ so for it to blow up its a no brainer. badcobra blew his car up because improper install on timing chain issues but then that is a twin turbo 1000+. dan dniestadt or how ever you spell it LOL had a bad engine builder build his motor, Blown svt also is running 800+ on stock motor with no issues other then bad driving, cobras afre not track cars I will give you that but they make a hell of a lot of power and hold a ton of power, I consider myself a player in this town and race almost everything but will not be stupid and race in front of apartment buildings like a month ago.

You make some good points about the people in town blowing up LS1's. Probably not a fair comparison though since they have an excuse...no forged internals like your terminators.

IMHO, the guys running greedy shots of nitrous with lousy tunes are to blame...not the engines. Most guys must run the nitrous because they feel they need it to compete with the blown Cobras. I don't run the stuff because on any given day at the track, I don't feel I need it in order to out run these "exibition cars" in competiton.

I'll agree with you that your engines make a ton of power. Most guys like yourself are real impressed with dyno numbers. Hell, I'd like higher dyno numbers too! But, a dyno number alone never got a car to the finish line first.

[Z28SSMAN]

I base my opinion on what I see day in and day out and like I said they are all junk in there own way and all have there problems but too say one is better then other because you sold them dont mean anything also so you got to look at my side of the coin also

So...my REAL WORLD experience doesn't mean anything???

I can't argue with your opinion about them being junk. Maybe you should hope that more of them are shit because if that weren't the case...you'd be out of business. lol

[superford3]

You make some good points about the people in town blowing up LS1's. Probably not a fair comparison though since they have an excuse...no forged internals like your terminators.

IMHO, the guys running greedy shots of nitrous with lousy tunes are to blame...not the engines. Most guys must run the nitrous because they feel they need it to compete with the blown Cobras. I don't run the stuff because on any given day at the track, I don't feel I need it in order to out run these "exibition cars" in competiton.

I'll agree with you that your engines make a ton of power. Most guys like yourself are real impressed with dyno numbers. Hell, I'd like higher dyno numbers too! But, a dyno number alone never got a car to the finish line first.

Agreed but my dyno numbers do me a lot apparently, with the style racing I and a large group do people are scared to shit of my car, I hear it all the time, but it may be the fact il race anything, nobody even knows my numbers but they know roughly what my car makes, The street race scene here in MN is dead so it dont take much to be fast