Bit of a Quandry Engines, Wheels, Forums, Car Club Headache

[Jimbo-Jones]

Hello sorry my first post is abit War and Peace

 

I owned a Classic car and beggining of last year my dream car came up for sale really cheap with a blown engine I bought it and started to source a really good replacement engine (I only had one wife approved shot at this so it was a case of if im going to do it im gonna do it right). Meanwhile a friend had told me of a spare engine he had in his garage for his car which was according to him fully rebuilt and damn near perfect (This all verbal i trusted the fellow had no reason not to). Now I bought it off him for a fair amount £300 and then paid the company that were doing the restoration work to my newly acquired dream classic a further £400 to fit the replacment engine. All good Happy Perfect.

 

Now from the off it wasnt perfect the garage and my friend and I all put the oil smoke down to the thinner Running in oil that was recomended for the first 500 Miles to bed in the new shells piston rings etc. Anyway I completed the first 500miles of gentle running in and its quite clear something is NOT right at all. A small strip down and borescope inspection revealed the engine is not a low mileage rebuild item at all the bores are worn the compression is low on cylinder 3 and the valve stem seals are leaking. Now at this point I am Royally angry. £700 down the drain.

 

So I contact my friend and tell him whats happened and he is very decent about it having written off his car earlier that week he agrees that I can HAVE (FOR FREE) his engine (bare engine just long block no ancillaries gearbox etc) which im happy with I can use all my ancillaries as I had had most of them polished up to a mirror shine or powdercoated etc. This still leaves me having to fork out another £350-400 fitting cost though so he offers me the wheels from his written off car as well (which are unusable but rare so ideal to sell for spares or replacments for someone who has hit a pothole and got a broken one)

 

Now all taken car is fixed and happy as am I. I hear nothing further when about a month later he gets the hump about it all saying I owe him money for the wheels (never discussed or a figure settled upon) and it drags on for about 2-3 weeks with me eventually telling him to ram it or id put in a claim against him for the engine being not as described.

 

 

7months later after no contact whatsoever I think this is the end of the issue and hear nothing till a few days ago, when a friend tells me to look at the owners club forums where one of his friends is on there slating me for effectively stealing all of it and slandering me all over the forums disclosing personal email addresses and contact details for me on an open public forum and more worryingly where they are threatening to use "the power of the shoe to get some satisfaction" with further remarks regarding steel toe caps etc.

 

Now im not quite sure what to do whether I should just ignore them or state my case on the forum to "show the other side of the story"

 

All in all im concerned as to where I stand legally in all of this as everything relating to the engine and wheels is 95% verbal. I dont feel I owe the gentleman in question anything at the same time the friend of his who made the original posts regarding the issue on the forum is unhinged enough to appear and use the power of the shoe to get satisfaction which if I was at home would be a case of "bring it fool" but I work LONG shifts away from home and my wife is home alone most weeknights so im concerned for her if I do ignore it

 

Any advice or help would be greatfully appreciated.

Edited March 6, 2010 by Jimbo-Jones

[heliosuk]

I'd say go and take all the info you had to plod and explain it to them. Whilst no crime has been committed you are duty bound believe it or not, to report what you think might be one. The forum posts you have, you could take to a solicitor for an initial fee and ask them to send a letter asking him and the web site to apologise or face legal action for libel.

 

Plod ought to go and have a gentle word with the bloke explaining what his fortune will be.

 

Of course it might just be the beer goggles talking but then only you can make this call.

 

What car as a matter of interest?

[DorsetStrider]

Being on several car related forums myself and having seen a number of these disputes aired over the forums I would say this...

 

Post ONE reply on the thread stating the facts but do not get drawn into a slagging match. In more than one case I've witnessed this tactic seems to work well to resolve the issue. I would also contact the site administrator and ask for them to remove the post/s with your personal details on, threaten legal action if nessicary, although I'd ask politely first.

 

As for the comments about "power of the shoe" this is quite common on these websites as people do tend to big themselves up, I'd just ignore them although I'd advise taking copies of the posts for future reference. As has been previously stated you could also supply the police with copies if you do feel it nessicary.