Vignogna Racing Engines ruined my racing season

[SUPERSTOCKRACER]

Since I spent over $115,000 in 1.5 years with Vignogna Racing Engines(Jimi Vignogna) from Wappingers Falls, NY on 4 engines and he basically ruined my 2015 season due to poor careless, shoddy work, I need to let everyone know to stay far away from this hacker.
1st Hemi was a KB block Stage V big valve headed 604 CI which he has no clue on what to do with it. He put the wrong head gaskets on it and assembled it running it on the his infamous run stand which made a green pea milk shake out of it.
So after I call Ken Black, KB says you need a special Cometics head gasket designed for our block. Vignogna never did any research on doing a high end engine like this. So Vignogna doesn't take any responsibility on ruining a perfectly good set of head gaskets so who do you think buys the new set of Cometics, Yep me. $220.00 later. Fast forward 2 passes later and the motor lets loose due to no oil pressure because he put in the wrong distributor shaft which did not engage the oil pump deep enough. Bearings seized on the crank and block was never honed correctly or even done because the cylinders were egg shaped and wiped out my rings and scuffed my $$$$ CP pistons. CP specifically also stated to clay all 8 pistons due to the very high compression. Vignogna didn't clay any.
More to come later on the other 2 disasterous indy engine builds. What a waste of time and money from an engine builder who couldn't care less about their customers.

 

[W8avenger]

I want to add that my good friend Johnny D. Got a real screwing from Jimmy Vignogna.
Johnny D.
Spent crazy money on a pump has hemi for his beautiful 65 Plymouth and after it blew up, and the motor was disassembled, all the high end parts that Johnny D. Paid for were not in the engine and used cheap worn out parts were put in the engine instead.

My last friend brought up his ford for rack and pinion work and his worker stripped out a bolt in the rack. His worker went inside the office where Jimmy and his friends were smoking cigars and drinking coffee to ask him what he should do. Jimmy's reply was drill the biotch through and put a nut on the backside of the rack, he'll never know.

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

Man that sux Superstockracer that is a lot on $$ I hope you can recover from it somehow.

 

[Jim's Maxie]

Since I spent over $115,000 in 1.5 years with Vignogna Racing Engines(Jimi Vignogna) from Wappingers Falls, NY on 4 engines and he basically ruined my 2015 season due to poor careless, shoddy work, I need to let everyone know to stay far away from this hacker.
1st Hemi was a KB block Stage V big valve headed 604 CI which he has no clue on what to do with it. He put the wrong head gaskets on it and assembled it running it on the his infamous run stand which made a green pea milk shake out of it.
So after I call Ken Black, KB says you need a special Cometics head gasket designed for our block. Vignogna never did any research on doing a high end engine like this. So Vignogna doesn't take any responsibility on ruining a perfectly good set of head gaskets so who do you think buys the new set of Cometics, Yep me. $220.00 later. Fast forward 2 passes later and the motor lets loose due to no oil pressure because he put in the wrong distributor shaft which did not engage the oil pump deep enough. Bearings seized on the crank and block was never honed correctly or even done because the cylinders were egg shaped and wiped out my rings and scuffed my $$$$ CP pistons. CP specifically also stated to clay all 8 pistons due to the very high compression. Vignogna didn't clay any.
More to come later on the other 2 disasterous indy engine builds. What a waste of time and money from an engine builder who couldn't care less about their customers.

Chris,one question comes to mind.Did or does KB make you or anyone else (engine builders) aware "up front" that special Cometic gaskets were needed for their blocks ? If not I would think they are partly to blame.

 

[Hemi Rebel]

http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/showthread.php?57702-Vignogna-Racing-Engines-Jimi-Vignogna

 

[SUPERSTOCKRACER]

Chris,one question comes to mind.Did or does KB make you or anyone else (engine builders) aware "up front" that special Cometic gaskets were needed for their blocks ? If not I would think they are partly to blame.

I can't answer that question because this was my 1st attempt at building a KB block hemi. Vignogna should have done his homework and not have taken on a job if he had never done an aluminum engine before.When an engine builder gives you a confident feeling and takes your hard earned money, that he can build you a stout piece, and says this is going to be my best engine I have ever built for a customer and the end results in just 2 passes is catastrophic failure, and when you call him on the phone to give him the news and see what he thinks we should do on a Saturday at 11:00 am and the phone call goes to voicemail and you leave a message telling him we have a problem, with no call back and then a text to him and you get a reply back 15 minutes later in a text that says," NO CELL SERVICE AT THE HOUSE, AND MY WIFE IS ON THE HOUSE PHONE" and then you wait all day Saturday, Saturday night ,all day Sunday. And no reply was the end of the relationship. That just showed me that all he cared about was the mighty Benjamins($$$).
I texted him back Monday morning at 7:00Am to tell him, I'm coming up at 4:00pm Monday to pick up the 3 other engines, transmissions, slicks, wheels and all my parts that I should have picked up last November when I saw his work ethics rapidly declining.
I have 3 friends who saw his downfall 1st hand and said go get your parts out of there fast. He looks like he's going out of business. They were right. 3 engines later and all of them are junk.

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http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/showthread.php?57702-Vignogna-Racing-Engines-Jimi-Vignogna

That thread was before he touched and built any of my aluminum engines before. Good try again. You need to learn from the 1st time.

 

[Hemi Rebel]

As you can see, i did learn from the first time.

 

[SUPERSTOCKRACER]

As you can see, i did learn from the first time.

Some people having reading comprehension deficits.
right back at ya,

 

[Hemi Rebel]

Some people having reading comprehension deficits.
right back at ya,

Really, if you would have learned from the first time, you would have posted the link yourself, clarified, and that would have been the end of it.
The only reason I posted the link is the two threads contradict one another. The term of endearment had nothing to do with the 2 threads or the engine fiasco, which im truly sorry for. I know what its like to put a lot into an engine and have it go south. I wouldnt wish that on anyone.

 

[Cranky]

Lots of things can change in 2 years. I know of another shop that got really bad in less than two years time.....and I noticed the last thread got canned because of it turning into a pissing match and hope this one doesn't end up being a replay of the last one.

 

[Hemi Rebel]

Im not trying to make it a pissing match, just want the clarifiction. There has been a push to use the search function to check history it seems, and anyone doing so will find exactly what i did. Im 100% genuine in what i said about his motor failure. I wouldnt wish that heartache on anyone. For what i said yesterday im sorry too. I dont post like that at all. No excuses. I was wrong. Sorry to the OP and anyone,member or lurker, that saw it.

 

[cdr]

well now I see why you have not updated us on your cars Chris, very sorry you got hosed , hope you can regroup.

 

[Hemi Rebel]

Lots of things can change in 2 years. I know of another shop that got really bad in less than two years time.....and I noticed the last thread got canned because of it turning into a pissing match and hope this one doesn't end up being a replay of the last one.

It may not even be a matter of the the operation going south, it may be they still kick but with iron block builds. I dont know.

 

[SUPERSTOCKRACER]

Lots of things can change in 2 years. I know of another shop that got really bad in less than two years time.....and I noticed the last thread got canned because of it turning into a pissing match and hope this one doesn't end up being a replay of the last one.

Thanks Cranky,
I am not going to let that happen on my part. A few enjoy seeing my racing season turn into poop.
In the end, I realize everything happens for a reason. You learn from your mistakes. Vignogna has a great line of BS and promises you the word then when his engines go bad, he turns his back on you and waits for the next sucker to walk into the door. Working 2.5 hours in a 9 hour day when I was spending time there was the hand writing on the wall. He doesn't want to be there and when he assembles a 35-50K hemi in 3 hours, you know something ain't right.
Even if Vignogna said he would make it right with me, I realized his knowledge with high end race motors is not there and it wouldn't have gone back to be fixed there.
He's riding on his fathers reputation from way back and he couldn't hold a candle to his dad.
It's sad to see people get screwed over like this.

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well now I see why you have not updated us on your cars Chris, very sorry you got hosed , hope you can regroup.

CDR, I'm sorry I didn't reply to your pm, I just saw it because I haven't been on here in a very long time.
My buddy notified me of this yesterday. Thanks for the kind words.

 

[SlinktRR]

I've had work done at jimi's shop and always had a good experience. His family has been doing mopar stuff for a long time and he has a lot of knowledge that you won't find many places locally. There are always rare mopes and street rods there getting this or that and it's good to talk to someone who knows our cars. Then again I haven't had a 600" alum hemi in there either so my expectations are probably way different and I really feel bad about your situation.

Unfortunately that's the old car business these days. Lots of risk...how many shop jail stories do we come across in forums. I have a big wedge build in the offing and I will be using a shop in CT for the bulk of the machine work. He has a lot of guys working there, but there is employee turnover and he turns away work when racing season is on as it's hard to keep up. I respect that and have the luxury of time. Many folks don't and that's where there's added risk.

Jimi's shop is pretty small and, devils advocate, he may have taken on too much work at the same time. Don't know. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, he has always been straight with me. Again I can count the number of mopar shops in the tri state on one hand so I'll still take my car there.

 

[SUPERSTOCKRACER]

I've had work done at jimi's shop and always had a good experience. His family has been doing mopar stuff for a long time and he has a lot of knowledge that you won't find many places locally. There are always rare mopes and street rods there getting this or that and it's good to talk to someone who knows our cars. Then again I haven't had a 600" alum hemi in there either so my expectations are probably way different and I really feel bad about your situation.

Unfortunately that's the old car business these days. Lots of risk...how many shop jail stories do we come across in forums. I have a big wedge build in the offing and I will be using a shop in CT for the bulk of the machine work. He has a lot of guys working there, but there is employee turnover and he turns away work when racing season is on as it's hard to keep up. I respect that and have the luxury of time. Many folks don't and that's where there's added risk.

Jimi's shop is pretty small and, devils advocate, he may have taken on too much work at the same time. Don't know. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, he has always been straight with me. Again I can count the number of mopar shops in the tri state on one hand so I'll still take my car there.

I don't know when the last time you were up there but things have really taken the turn for the worse. His family doesn't work there, it's just him and a 20 year old kid making $9.00 an hour. There's no more father who kept the place running. He's liquidating everything to keep the place afloat. Once everything is sold and the property is sold, he'll be gone.

Just walk in the front door and you'll think you're in a recording music /rehearsal studio and not a auto repair shop.
He has NO clean work station and the place is dirty.
No heat in the winter to keep the place relatively warm except for a tiny junk/oil heater in the back of the shop.
Who assembles a engine no matter if it's a $4000.00 wedge or a $50,000 aluminum hemi next to a lathe and a Bridgeport. re was metal shavings all over and inside of my tunnel ram intake and dual edelbrock carbs. My air bleeds and boosters were clogged with dirt and dust.
My new MSD crank trigger, NGK spark plugs, gaskets all disappeared and all of my ARP oil pan studs and nuts were missing off my engine. Those cost $109.00 alone plus 3/4 of my jesel belt drive allen bolts not on the engine when I received it back.

 

[bobtile]

I have seen the recent work and the resulting catastrophic failure of the high dollar stuff. Maybe he can do basic mechanic stuff, but the point is that you can't take a big money project to him. I have seen enough evidence where I wouldn't bring my stuff there.

 

[SlinktRR]

Haven't been this year and you're right times can change. Losing key employees hurts any shop but he has to make things right with you. Hope you can work it out and recover. There are other shops around here but for hemi builds you may need to go with the big names nationwide with reputations to protect, and have the resources to hit your timelines.

 

[Cranky]

Im not trying to make it a pissing match, just want the clarifiction. There has been a push to use the search function to check history it seems, and anyone doing so will find exactly what i did. Im 100% genuine in what i said about his motor failure. I wouldnt wish that heartache on anyone. For what i said yesterday im sorry too. I dont post like that at all. No excuses. I was wrong. Sorry to the OP and anyone,member or lurker, that saw it.

Thanks for that....but I mainly posted that as a general statement to anyone that might have been thinking of going into the deep end on this thread....or off the deep end :grin:

 

[SUPERSTOCKRACER]

Haven't been this year and you're right times can change. Losing key employees hurts any shop but he has to make things right with you. Hope you can work it out and recover. There are other shops around here but for hemi builds you may need to go with the big names nationwide with reputations to protect, and have the resources to hit your timelines.

The hemi was crated and shipped out about 5 weeks ago. It's all finished and waiting on the new CFE Sheetmetal intake. Then it goes on one of their 3 dynos. They said it wont come back till its perfect. Going to try 2 sets of carbs on it and I will get a build sheet and dyno sheet.
I'm only surrounding myself with quality professional builders from now on. Vignogna was close and he fed me some great lines in the beginning to hook me in. I'm the *** that gave him 4 engines to do. Leaving 3 of them up there all at once was a huge mistake. I should have learned my lesson back in 1998. He ripped e off back then too. But he promised to make it up to me. He sure did. $12,000.00 to fix 2 engines and who knows how much the wedge is going to cost to get that fixed.
No more part time/backyard mechanics with iffy equipment.

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It sure looked good on the engine stand.