E85Forum.com

daddyzracin · Joined: 04 Apr 2011 Posts: 1 Location: Texas

I've been running 110 octane for about 8 years now with a carburetor that has worked flawlessly for bracket racing and is dialed to the t. Just like everyone else, as gas prices soar, I looked at other options and discovered the buzz on e85. I read several links and finally decided to send my carb off to Mark Sullens aka drag chevette. He made it seem like he was one of the best and that is all he specializes in. He told me you can spend your money twice or just send it to him and do it right the first time. Of course he answers the phone right off the bat so I sent it off to him. When I finally got my carb back my linkage is hanging out of the box just like the pic on his website about crappy packaging. I bolted it on and fired it up, the car wouldn't stay running. This is with me even going to the extreme of pumping and holding down the pedal trying to get it started. Yes, I do know my fair share about carbs but by no means am I an expert. My idle mixture screws are 1 1/2 turns out and my idle screws are where they should be. I also tried 2 turns out and back the other way to no avail. I called Mark and let him talk to my buddy who knows a lot more than me about carbs. We finally got the car to idle (surging quite a bit but at least it is running)with the idle mixture screws out 5 turns(no kidding) and mark told me to leave it there. I had problems staging the car with it surging but tried to make a couple passes to hopefully clear it out or whatever. Once it left it seemed fine going down the track. A few passes and I had milky stuff coming out of my breathers. I asked Mark about it and he said it sounded like rings but they were new. I tore the motor down and the rings looked good but we re-ringed motor to see if there was any difference. I did hook my evac system back up to exhaust(which I previously had off for the last 2 or three seasons with no known problems.(I chalked it up to the rings didn't seat right but who knows) Once again, new motor, new rings, best on the market, and are ready to fire it up. Will NOT idle for nothing.(Even at 5 turns out) Called Mark and left a message as this time he didn't answer. We tinkered with this for about 30 minutes to an hour (as I have my first points race later that day) and I decided to call Mark again. This time he answered and gave me different options of air bleeds to drill and try. I just paid this man $402 dollars to build this carb and I believe I should be able to bolt it up and have to adjust idle screws and maybe idle mixture screws. So my buddy went and bought some drill bits as I bought the tool to be able to drill carefully as I am a die hard racer. Once again going above and beyond what I am supposed to do. If I knew this I would have bought quick fuel metering blocks and done it myself. Anyway, 6 hours later and mad and frustrated as any person can get, I still have no idle and after drilling out what Mark had me drill, now the carb is trying to backfire (probably wrong air fuel ratio maybe). I'm now lost, no parts to go back the opposite way so I call Mark. He says he has no clue to ship it back to him.(not ship it and I will pay the shipping or repay your shipping fee nothing) Really....I'm out $402 re-build fee $25 to ship it to him to begin with, now if I do send it another $25. Come on now. At this point He believes it is my car possibly or something else but not his carb - thats how I felt. My buddy and I decide to put my old metering blocks back on and go back to old specs(which everything is bigger so I am able to do so to make points race. Ding ding ding car fires up and idles like a champ just rich as I have the wrong boosters and needle and seat but it proved my point on carb. By this time there is so much friction between mark and I that there is no way I send my carb back to him. However, I start looking at the metering blocks and see inconsistency in the two of them in my opinion. The next week or so goes by as I do more research in which I notice the metering blocks. During these two weeks I told mark I wanted my money back and of course he denied me. He said to send him back his metering plates and he would refund me $100. I thought about it long and hard and decided that he had such terrible customer service but hated to throw away as much money and time that I spent working on this carb that I would try one more thing to see if he could meet my expectations. I converted my carb back to e85 and put the air bleeds that I had researched in and use my old metering plates for gas with the air bleeds that I also thought it needed. Flushed the fuel system out with e85 and what do you know it idled better than my gas carb conversion(even though it had mix-matched parts for gas and e85. I didn't go test it because the metering plates are for gas application and din't want to hurt my motor. Point is it idled - something Mark couldn't get it to do with only 1 1/2 turns out like it should be. Maybe just maybe it is metering plates. Worth a shot right? I asked him to send me new metering plates(next day air) just like I did as I spent anther $33 to ship it to him. It arrived Thursday and he didn't pick it up but he still could have sent it out Friday so I would have received it by 3 Saturday to put together and test one final time(This was my plan as I kept the air bleeds from the old metering blocks so I knew where I was. I just needed the metering blocks) After talking to mark he made it pretty clear that he wanted to see the old metering blocks before he sent me new ones and he wasn't going to send next day because of money.(he thought about it but I already knew he wasn't sending me anything next day air just by how the conversation went once again customer service?). I would have ran what he sent me(as long as it idled fine as I have proven that his combination is off in my opinion). I tried to call the next day to see if he sent them and I even texted him with no response. This is starting to be a pattern of not answering the phone and or texts. At this point I realized I'm through. I called and again, imagine that no response. I left a message that I wanted my money back and his plates are at the postal service. Later that day I called to verify that he got the message so he didn't waste his money shipping something that I have moved on from. He finally called back and said he would look at the blocks and send my money back(only $100). So I get a package in the mail with some drawn out letter and NO money and two blocks. He says I pulled out the idle bleed screws so he cannot refund me my money. I set them aside to put in the new blocks if he would have sent them as we drilled so many of them I didn't want to be confused where I was when the new ones came. I've spent my money and now I have to spend it again to send it to someone else. I have spent $ 500 plus and have nothing to show for. By the time it does get fixed I could have bought a brand new one. Point I'm trying to make is Mark may do a great job for other people, but I definitely got the raw end of the deal. He specializes in e85 only....and mine wouldn't even idle. I am very disappointed in his customer service skills and I believe that everyone should seriously look into who rebuilds your carbs and do the research. It is fine if you would like Mark to do your carb, as I don't discount anything he does or I wouldn't have sent him mine, there are plenty out there he has done but if yours is like mine good luck or hope you can work on carbs. There is always a happy medium and I shouldn't have had to send it back in the first place . This is all my opinion and experience and really don't care who elses worked fine as mine didn't - bottom line. I would hate to see this happen to someone else and maybe Mark can improve his customer service as no one likes to throw money away. Very nice guy and easy to get a hold of until you have problems and then it is phone tag with you pretty much having to harass him. I would have been fine with getting back half of my money as nothing in this world is free and sometimes things just don't work out. I would have also been ok with him paying my shipping back to him like I stated before so it is not like I wouldn't work with him. I have deadlines too and maybe Mark will do the right thing and refund half my money as I believe it is fair. Mark has sent me a different pair of metering blocks(which are entirely different then what I had before)which didn't come next day ($15 difference) but have made it to my doorstep after him telling me he would send me my money back. I have no use for them and if anyone is needing a pair of e85 metering blocks by Mark Sullens let me know as I don't have room for them and they are untouched as shipped by Mark. My carb is already at someone else's shop as I have a points race this weekend and definitely not going to go through the same scenario as before. Sorry to ramble but if you were out over $500 I believe you would be upset too.

Drag Chevette · Joined: 18 Sep 2007 Posts: 458

I was told of this post this morning, and at first I was not going to respond.
but then I got to thinking about it and decided that yes, I should respond.

Billy, first let me say that Im sorry that there was a lack of communication and understanding on both of our parts, for that I am sorry.
there is alot more to this story than I care to elaborate on, as i feel it would just turn into a pissing match thats not needed or called for.

My offer still stand as it was written in the letter the came with the metering blocks: