Universal Automotive & Engine Rebuilding

Steve quoted me $ 2,800 for my engine rebuild and that included break in & a dyno run to show me how much horsepower my motor would make. He said he could install my new fuel injection system and it would be ready in three weeks. Once he got the motor, he raised the price to $ 3,200, didn’t know how to install the efi system, and couldn’t do a pull on the dyno because something was wrong with his equipment. Three months (not weeks) later, I had my engine. He threw away my header gaskets, lost my brand new lift plate, and kept the fuel pump block-​off which caused oil to leak out of the motor and all over my truck bed and garage floor. The shop is a filthy, disorganized, cigarette smoky mess with engine blocks and crank shafts EVERYWHERE. He won’t call you when your engine is ready; you have to chase him every week and remind him which engine is yours. The receipt is printed on a dot matrix printer, if that gives you an idea of how antiquated this place is.

1. Shop is very dirty!
2. Engine blocks are scattered all over the shop… lots of them just laying on the floor; floors are incredibly dirty.
3. This may be more of a pet peeve, but I feel the business owner shouldn’t be smoking in his shop, especially in the «customer service area». So what if it’s your shop and you’ve had it for 100 years; you should still have the consideration and professionalism to smoke elsewhere.
***You never see reputable machine shop owners smoking in front of customers, in their shops, or when dealing business with the customers.***
–Sent my engine to a reputable shop in California, where they charged less than what Universal Engine quoted and included full assembly at no charge! I honestly would rather do business locally, but this place has allot of cleaning up to do before I trust my engine to them.