[Iain]

I don't know if I should be posting this so if I upset anyone then I am sorry (I don't want to get booted out but I do want to have a moan!)

If anyone has read the For Sale classifieds in Snake Torque (the last few issues) you will have seen the Ford 351 Cleveland engine for sale. Originally priced at £1500 but I bought it for £950 including a clutch and clutch plate. Anyway, not knowing anything about American V8 engines I pop up to see this chap (Terry Beeman from Morley in Leeds) and hand over my hard earned cash for this lump. He was very accomodating and fed me a story on why he was selling it. Anyway, to cut a long story short the engine is not as it was advertised. I have infact bought a Ford 400 (of the Cleveland family) which is a major drop on the 351 Cleveland as they were used as a work horse in American trucks. As I understand it there is lots of torque but bugger all bhp! I am also led to believe that getting parts to get this thing to do anything worth while is not easy in the UK.
The result is that if I don't get my money back from good old Terry I will be £1000 down the drain and a small claims court battle to go with it. Meanwhile non of this is helping my build or my wallet. Unfortunately my car is being built under a fairly tight budget and after all this agro it will probably wind up being shelved for a while.

The moral of this story is "If you don't know what you are buying then take someone with you who does." I learnt the hard way.

As a final note I thought you might like to know that this chap is (I believe) a member of the club. Buyers beware!!!!