D.J.Ellis of Nuneaton, man or mouse?

[tonym]

I went to see Dave Ellis of D.J.Ellis of Nuneaton on Thursday about some pistons and rings. I needed a set of pistons for my 3.5 at +.020 which he told me he didn't keep in stock and he'd have to order them. No problem so far. I asked if he could fit my conrods onto the new pistons, not a problem says he. Monday morning I took my pistons to him, paid the cash and left. I arrived back at dinnertime to pick up my pistons and off I went. Monday afternoon I started to gap the rings and tried using a new piston to centralise the ring in the bore only to find that the piston was too big. No problem thought I mistakes can easily be made, perhaps the wrong pistons were put in the "right"box. I rang Dave up and mentioned that the pistons were too big, Oh dear. Its not the pistons, he said it must be your bores. Are you sure you ordered the right size? Er yes I replied 3.5 +.020. Well you probably need your bores honing to suit the pistons was his reply. But shouldn't they fit if they're the same size as the ones that came out, ie +.020 says a puzzled me? It's obviously your bores are wrong then because my pistons are always right says good old Mr Ellis. Oh, I'll come down and see you then I replied but he was busy I had to go down in the morning.
I scratched my head in confusion and picked up one of the new pistons and compared it to the old one and lo and behold it was approX 5mm bigger Then my phone rang, it was Dave's assistant saying that Dave knew what was wrong, bring them back now and he'll sort it. What was wrong then I innocently asked, he wouldn't say she replied just bring them back.
I took them back and he told me the supplier must have made a mistake with the part numbers, they'll be sorted by the morning.
I arrived at Ellis's this morning but Dave wasn't there only his assistant who had the correct pistons ready for me.

I believe that he put a set of 3.9 pistons on my `rods and after I phoned spotted my 3.5 pistons and realised his mistake. His assistant told me that he was at the unit late last night in his own time sorting this out for me (like i should be grateful), shame the pistons were still warm from putting the gudgeon pins in though!!!! The other thing which makes me believe he cocked up was if he doesn't stock the pistons how come he suddenly had a set to put on my rods if they weren't mine already?
Now I know it's easy to make mistakes but what annoyed me was his insistance at first that it wasn't his fault it was my bores, and that when, I believe, he did realise his mistake he wasn't man enough to admit it "blaming" his supplier.

Thoroughly pi$$ed off I was, I can tell you.

[TINKA]

Hi Tony, only ever spoken to him on 2 occasions, and that is why I never bought anything from them.

[craigh]

useless,try rpi engineering next time very helpfull

[James]

Hi

I can recommend the guys down at V8 Developments in Spalding
They know there stuff on Rover V8's big time

regards

James

[STEVE G]

Spoke to the man once, most condesending b*****d I've ever listen to.Try RPI.Very nice people.

[maxGD059]

Tony

Back from afar to see your post. I've used Dave for quite a bit of work in the past & can give you my honest opinion if you ring/PM me. In a nutshell, what I can say openly is that his engineering work is very good, but he does get a lot of people ringing him up for freebie advice, & rightly or wrongly, he drops everything to deal with it (in his own way). Speak to you soon for the full story

[TR Mike]

The best guys for v8 rovers are definately Ray or Rob at V8 Develppments who have been around for years and they are heavily into TVR's. Then there is John Eales and don't forget Ian Richardson