Inline Pro
Thread Starter
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 3,403
Likes: 6
From: DFW, TX
Inline Pro
I am a customer of Inline Pro and feel that it is time for me to tell some of this story.
Back in December, I messed up my stock block. I contemplated many options but what I ended up deciding was to go with an Inline Pro 2.5L stroker. I read about failures that had happened in the past and asked Inline about them. They were more open then you would expect from a shop. There had been head gasket failures in the past, they had no problem admiting that. However it was due to the head gasket design and manufacture. After the 4th gasket, the manufacturer finally got it right. Other failures were user related, and never an acutal problem with the motor.
Anyway, I ordered my motor at the end of Dec. 2006. Inline was always very happy and helpful taking any questions I had. Any concerns I had were always made better. Well now, in the building phase, I had some time to find an installer/tuner. I picked Autowave in Huntington Beach, CA as I was in CA and there was such a high regard for them as a shop. They are another story which I do not wish this thread to be about. Anyway, the motor was finished some time around the end of February and shipped directly to Autowave. It was shipped as a complete shortblock. Autowave had the car finished and tuned by Thursday, March 22nd. After taking the car back it felt great however after one day I started noticing oil levels dropping quickly but noticed a leak around the valve cover. I tightened it down and consumption levels where down to about 3/4 qt. for 400 miles. I was concerned obiviously and was going to speek to both Inline and Autowave about it. However on Monday, when they were both open again a new problem happened that was more improtant. I started noticing white smoke coming out the tail pipe...quite a bit too, and this was under normal driving not beating on it.
Well we talked about the smoke and were not too sure exactly what it was. I decided to change the oil to see if that helped oil consumption. On the way back from changing my oil I noticed my heater wasn't working, not blowing hot air. I hooked up the EMS to watch coolant temps. The EMS showed temps climbing to 240 and not slowing the climb so I coasted the car back down the hill to my apt. and the temps came down as there was no load but there was obviously another problem. The next morning on Tuesday I pulled the plugs, cyl. 1 was soaked. Definitly a head gasket failure. I just didn't know to what extent. I obviously decided to not even start the car from this point on as I figured doing anything could damage the motor even further.
I got a car trailer from U haul and a Yukon from Enterprise and headed out to CA with friends as we had also planned to go to the Spugen BBQ that weekend. We went to the BBQ with the car still on the trailer had our fun and then dropped the car of at Autowave on Saturday. Though as they were not open I simply left the car there put the key in the drop box and waited to here from them on Monday. Though like I said this isn't about Autowave. It turned out that the head gasket not only blew, but it was severly burnt as well and it was between all 4 cylinders! Right at the thinest part of the cylinder wall. Obviously something else caused this, not me putting around for four days. Of course both shops blamed each other but further evidence just leads to show that the tuning caused my motor to fail.
Inline agreed to take my motor back, fully tear it down, and rebuild it. Thats all the labor they already did and more all over again. After seeing how the poorly the block was shipped out to VA I also decided to get the head sent to Inline though this time make sure it was a better packing job. I elected to do this as Inline had been there for me through the entire process ALWAYS doing whatever they could to help me. At this point in time it is now May. Inline tore the motor down and checked the head gasket, and pistons which all showed signs of detenation. Checked the tolerances on everything to make sure it was all correct and started to clean parts up to put everything back together. This is when they found that one of my pistons had also begun to melt. They quickly let me know about this and we went ahead and ordered a new one from CP. After 6 weeks the new piston arrived. However as it came with four others that were gas ported, mine ended up being gas ported as well. That wouldn't work as none of my other pistons were. So, Ya took the best piston out of his 2.5L and used that for my motor so that we could get it running. It is now the beginning of July. Now that Inline had the necessary parts to finish assembly of my motor they finished it up completely, the full long block now, put it on a crate and frieght shipped it out to CA.
Inline did all of this for me free of charge. They always kept me updated on how things were going. They are always happy to help me with questions or concerns. Even though this engine failure was not their fault they did whatever they could to fix it.
I just want all of you to know what a great shop Inline Pro is. They stand behind their products and stand behind their customers. Their service is nothing shy of exceptional. When I first called them back in Dec. I was calling as a potential customer, when I call today I almost feel like a friend. When I finally meet them I will consider them friends. Ya, John, Brian, Jeremy, Chris...and any of the other workers there. Thank You Inline, I couldn't be happier with your service.
Back in December, I messed up my stock block. I contemplated many options but what I ended up deciding was to go with an Inline Pro 2.5L stroker. I read about failures that had happened in the past and asked Inline about them. They were more open then you would expect from a shop. There had been head gasket failures in the past, they had no problem admiting that. However it was due to the head gasket design and manufacture. After the 4th gasket, the manufacturer finally got it right. Other failures were user related, and never an acutal problem with the motor.
Anyway, I ordered my motor at the end of Dec. 2006. Inline was always very happy and helpful taking any questions I had. Any concerns I had were always made better. Well now, in the building phase, I had some time to find an installer/tuner. I picked Autowave in Huntington Beach, CA as I was in CA and there was such a high regard for them as a shop. They are another story which I do not wish this thread to be about. Anyway, the motor was finished some time around the end of February and shipped directly to Autowave. It was shipped as a complete shortblock. Autowave had the car finished and tuned by Thursday, March 22nd. After taking the car back it felt great however after one day I started noticing oil levels dropping quickly but noticed a leak around the valve cover. I tightened it down and consumption levels where down to about 3/4 qt. for 400 miles. I was concerned obiviously and was going to speek to both Inline and Autowave about it. However on Monday, when they were both open again a new problem happened that was more improtant. I started noticing white smoke coming out the tail pipe...quite a bit too, and this was under normal driving not beating on it.
Well we talked about the smoke and were not too sure exactly what it was. I decided to change the oil to see if that helped oil consumption. On the way back from changing my oil I noticed my heater wasn't working, not blowing hot air. I hooked up the EMS to watch coolant temps. The EMS showed temps climbing to 240 and not slowing the climb so I coasted the car back down the hill to my apt. and the temps came down as there was no load but there was obviously another problem. The next morning on Tuesday I pulled the plugs, cyl. 1 was soaked. Definitly a head gasket failure. I just didn't know to what extent. I obviously decided to not even start the car from this point on as I figured doing anything could damage the motor even further.
I got a car trailer from U haul and a Yukon from Enterprise and headed out to CA with friends as we had also planned to go to the Spugen BBQ that weekend. We went to the BBQ with the car still on the trailer had our fun and then dropped the car of at Autowave on Saturday. Though as they were not open I simply left the car there put the key in the drop box and waited to here from them on Monday. Though like I said this isn't about Autowave. It turned out that the head gasket not only blew, but it was severly burnt as well and it was between all 4 cylinders! Right at the thinest part of the cylinder wall. Obviously something else caused this, not me putting around for four days. Of course both shops blamed each other but further evidence just leads to show that the tuning caused my motor to fail.
Inline agreed to take my motor back, fully tear it down, and rebuild it. Thats all the labor they already did and more all over again. After seeing how the poorly the block was shipped out to VA I also decided to get the head sent to Inline though this time make sure it was a better packing job. I elected to do this as Inline had been there for me through the entire process ALWAYS doing whatever they could to help me. At this point in time it is now May. Inline tore the motor down and checked the head gasket, and pistons which all showed signs of detenation. Checked the tolerances on everything to make sure it was all correct and started to clean parts up to put everything back together. This is when they found that one of my pistons had also begun to melt. They quickly let me know about this and we went ahead and ordered a new one from CP. After 6 weeks the new piston arrived. However as it came with four others that were gas ported, mine ended up being gas ported as well. That wouldn't work as none of my other pistons were. So, Ya took the best piston out of his 2.5L and used that for my motor so that we could get it running. It is now the beginning of July. Now that Inline had the necessary parts to finish assembly of my motor they finished it up completely, the full long block now, put it on a crate and frieght shipped it out to CA.
Inline did all of this for me free of charge. They always kept me updated on how things were going. They are always happy to help me with questions or concerns. Even though this engine failure was not their fault they did whatever they could to fix it.
I just want all of you to know what a great shop Inline Pro is. They stand behind their products and stand behind their customers. Their service is nothing shy of exceptional. When I first called them back in Dec. I was calling as a potential customer, when I call today I almost feel like a friend. When I finally meet them I will consider them friends. Ya, John, Brian, Jeremy, Chris...and any of the other workers there. Thank You Inline, I couldn't be happier with your service.
Thread Starter
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 3,403
Likes: 6
From: DFW, TX
Yeah, I just want to share my experiences with them as it has been very good. I know in the past there have been bad things said about their motors and about them. But IMO they are a great shop and I want S2k owners to know that. At least when people search "Inline Pro" hopefully this thread will come up and people will have faith in them. I know I do.
Oh yeah...I'm back guys...sorry for being gone for so long. I was always on S2ki just hardly posting. For a while I was seriously considering selling it as I had forgotten how much I loved it.
Oh yeah...I'm back guys...sorry for being gone for so long. I was always on S2ki just hardly posting. For a while I was seriously considering selling it as I had forgotten how much I loved it.
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Thread Starter
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 3,403
Likes: 6
From: DFW, TX
Me? Yes the car is actually running now. I did a compression test on Sunday after I drove it from CA to AZ and it had about 650 miles on the new motor. The numbers were 210-210-205-210 respectively. I've only burned .8qts of oil thus far on the break in...which is normal. And there are no problems with the motor itself. I'm breaking it in for the first 3000 miles just to be overly safe and make sure everything is seated before getting on it. I've even set my rev limiter to 4800 in the EMS to make sure I can't accidently have fun. The tune is a little frankenstein but I am working that out with Inline and we are basically tuning the car via phone as I am "handy" enough with the EMS that I feel comfortable messing with stuff they tell me too. I think eventually (in a couple months) I will be going Hondata that way I can pass emissions and driving it out to them for the tuning.
There is also a coolant leak right now that I can see, its by the coolant temp sensor so I need to fix that...another Autowave problem.
Overall though, the car is doing much better now.
There is also a coolant leak right now that I can see, its by the coolant temp sensor so I need to fix that...another Autowave problem.
Overall though, the car is doing much better now.
Registered User
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 9,409
Likes: 0
From: Calgary
Good report back! You just never seem to hear bad stuff about Inline Pro. With customer service lacking in pretty much every industry, it's really good to hear there are shops out there willing to do what it takes to please their customers!
Now if they would just open an office a little further north...
Now if they would just open an office a little further north...