My '03 VIII broke down at Mid-Ohio... zero pressure on oil P guage, oil light came on. Had it towed into paddock, where a guy who earns his living as a mechanic gave a listen: it was quiet at idle, but at 3k rpm he said, "sounds like the bottom end...probably a bearing." Sounded like that to me too.
I had paid a "professional evo shop" over $6k to have it rebuilt with a new oem bottom end one year earlier, so I wasn't up for spending that kind of money again. I took a huge chance and agreed to have it done by someone who responded to my "help...stranded" post on evom. Never met the guy in my life; all I knew was that he was offering to help me and his posts on evom looked like he knew his stuff and he was making the effort to learn more. While I wouldn't recommend this approach to anyone, it seems to have worked out quite well for me. It will be years (I hope) before the ultimate result is known, but I'm writing to report how things look at this time.
The guy’s name is Joe Mihela; he goes by evolve_viii on evom. He got a trailer and drove 2 and ½ hours each way to pick up my car. Charged me $225 for that. Things got off to a rough start. I was hoping it was maybe just a main bearing and that I could get it done under $2,000. He found that there were four badly damaged mains and that everything…crank, block, pistons…needed to be replaced. I couldn’t believe it…lost a lot of sleep…but, I was in and I wanted to drive my car. He put in Wiseco pistons, Manley rods, Clevite bearings, new everything…oil pump, water pump. Kevlar timing belt, etc. Found a used block and sold me a crank that he had. Total for everything: $4700, including an AEM wideband A/F meter, a tune from his friend in Akron, and the towing. Flew in and picked it up one week ago. On my ride home, I got 25 mpg where I’d never gotten 23 before. I had been only getting 14 psi of boost, now it hits 21 in cool weather and 19 otherwise. I’ve owned it since new and I don’t think it has ever had the throttle response and acceleration it has now. So, yeah, a lot of credit to the tune, but the internals are working right, too. The car seems great daily driving one week in. It hasn’t been as clean inside or out in years as it was when I picked it up. He really went all out to make the car as good as it can be: found and eliminated a rattle and even got my sunroof and cig lighter/power outlet working. No comparison to the service I got at the shop last year: he kept me posted every step of the way, he did everything when he said he would, and got it done in about half the time it took last year, even though he was working full-time and doing it on nights and weekends. I can’t tell you how many times fear took hold; you know, if it seems too good to be true it probably is: he’s gonna “chop shop” my car, steal my money, charge me for a bunch of stuff he didn’t do, even kidnap me when In we finally meet. Too good? He was offering me free parts he had from previous upgrades he’d done on his and other evos, “consulting” on prepping my car for time trial, he even offered to meet me part way so I wouldn’t have the expense of flying and he made every effort to find alternatives to keep costs down every step of the way. He really crossed the line from good customer service into human kindness. The only “ulterior motive” I’ve identified at this time is he asked me for a review. How sinister is that? Well giving good service and doing good work to try to earn more business is just fine with me, about the best I could hope for. THANKS, Joe.
I’m the chairman of the Chemistry and Physics Department at a small state university. Joe writes code for Ford Motor Co. You can contact me if you want further info. I’ll update in a few weeks after my VIR weekend.

 

Really good to hear this sort of thing, when most of what you read on here is quite the opposite. Good luck and enjoy the car!