I would like to qualify this post by saying that anything in this post that is not pure fact from the Arrow failure report is either the truth about my personal experience having purchased a supercharger system from Jason Heffner. The rest is either my opinion or true occurrences in my dealings with Jason. It was Jason Heffner who rebuilt my entire motor, including machining the block, crank, ordering the pistons and rods and so on. TOOOFST advised me to make sure the engine builder assembled the motor since he has all the proper tools to measure everything properly before he puts it together. I mentioned this to Jason Heffner and he replied he had more personal interest at stake than the engine builder and that he would do a better job. I trusted him before he became a big name in the Viper tuning industry. Please do not form any opinions until you reach the end of this post! Thank you
Jason, We have spoken at length about the situation at hand.
You offered to give me another crank. That was very nice of you to do.
I thought everything was going to be fine.
Your quote of Torquemonster looks like a threat to me from an improper perspective on the situation.
Jason Heffner,"I just wanted to quote this so Paolo can thank you for setting the truth free. It'll take me most of the day to compose this on but be on the lookout."
This is a post to clarify a few things about parts of the Jason Heffner experience I have left out until now.
1. Jason Heffner told me I could come out to pick up my car that he was supercharging for me about 2 years ago. I got there and the car was not done at all. The shortblock was still on the engine stand and he was busy trying to get other cars out the door.
 I slept in the back of my pickup truck for 2 weeks waiting for Jason to finish my car.
2. In the course of turning the car over with no spark plugs to pressurize the oiling system, The BRAND NEW timing chain cover locked up because he did not put any assembly lube in the oil pump gears.
I had to have a new timing chain cover next day air shipped to me by Arrow AT MY EXPENSE!($1,100.00 + shipping)
Nice!
3. The fuel pump took a shit after one trip across the parking lot. Heffner told me to fly home and come back in a week for him to finish up the car.
4. For about the first 2 months or so, I noticed pieces of metal on my oil drain plug. Heffner did not know what it was………
I finally figured out it was the valve cover baffles when I pulled one off and half the fucking baffle was missing, the other ½ that remained was safely out of range of the phase of movement of the 1.7 T&D’s and the high lift cam.
Can you all guess where the other ½ of the baffle went? You got it…
Right through my motor. Can you say metal debris?????? Does anybody here think this could be good for the bearings in the motor?
To say the least, I would say not.
I told Jason about this and he said, “Don’t worry” I was so relieved as the master, Jason Heffner had spoken……..
I begged Jason Heffner to build me a twin turbo system with a pair of GT40-R’s instead of the smaller GT35-R’s he was using in the prototype kits. He said he did not think the bigger turbos were needed.
I guess we all know that is not true by now don’t we?
Now enter the CPE TT on the dyno and detonation and taking the engine to Arrow….
Here is the failure report:
Paolo Castellano’s
Engine Problems
1 Six of ten piston skirts where collapsed (Below a 4.002” diameter).
2 Piston rings tight in ring grooves and won’t rotate (may be from the over heating, and this will cause an increase in cylinder wear).
3 Pin fit in connecting rod to large (.0015 we recommend .0006 to .0010).
4 Pin bushing in connecting rod starting to flow from overloading (maybe the reason the clearances are increasing).
5 Piston pin to piston clearance tight at .0004 (we recommend .0006 to .0010).
6 Number six main housing bore small and out of specification.
7 Number six main bearing severely scored.
8 All main bearing housing bores weren’t inline and had excessive axial taper and out of round condition.
9 Number two rod bearing was severely scored and was on the verge of spinning.
10 All cylinder liners had excessive wear on the major thrust faces.
11 Embedded debris on minor thrust faces of pistons.
12 All pistons have wear marks from contact with small end of connecting rod to piston pin piers (not enough side clearance).
13 Cam clearance over our specification (.0032 to .0040 we recommend .0015 to .0030).
14 Windage tray retaining nut was found in oil pan without any loctite applied.
15 Piston pins are 2.500 long (we recommend 2.750 long premium quality endurance pins).
16 Rods have 3/8” rod bolts (we recommend 7/16” to hold your horse power).
17 Improper rod bearings for this application (CB-481-P passenger car bearings we recommend CB-481-H high performance bearings).
18 No loctite on any internal fasteners (windage tray, oil pan baffle, cam bolts and lifter tie bars)
19 Connecting rod doesn’t seam to be Oliver’s (maybe LA enterprises).
Arrow initially told me that the block machining was off from the last time it was machined.
For enquiring minds, that would have been your highness, Jason Heffner.
When I called Jason Heffner and informed him what information Arrow had conveyed to me, he was stunned and felt bad and told me that he does not possess the proper tools to check the machine shop’s work for the line honing and such and that the only thing he checks when he assembles the motor is the bearing clearances.
He asked me how fast Arrow could turn around a motor and that maybe he should send all his motors to Arrow instead. I told him he should because they seemed very professional and that I was very comfortable with the way they did things. They rebuilt more than 120 Viper motors last year.
For the record, #’s 1, 2, 10, 11, and 14 are a direct result of the detonation and are my fault.
Let’s start with #12 , which says, “All pistons have wear marks from contact with small end of connecting rod to piston pin piers (not enough side clearance).”
 What this means is that where the connecting rod goes into the bottom of the piston is too narrow of a gap so the edge of the rod is actually cutting a groove into the piston pier(putting further debris through the engine bearings)
Remember the debris that already went through the engine bearings from the valve cover baffles? This is definitely not a good thing!
Now let’s look at #6 and #7:
#6 Number six main housing bore small and out of specification.
#7 Number six main bearing severely scored.
#7 could easily be a result of the bore being out of specification and could also be attributed to all the debris from the valve cover chunks that went through the motor because Jason Heffner forgot to remove them. I t could also be from the debris from Jason Heffner’s assembly mistakes not realizing that he needed a certain clearance for side to side rod movement on the wrist pin. I guess we all make mistakes and #12 is a fact not opinion.
Let’s look at #14: Windage tray retaining nut was found in oil pan without any loctite applied
This could also be my fault as I might not have re-torqued all Windage tray bolts after checking the rod bearings
But let’s look closer at #18:
No loctite on any internal fasteners (windage tray, oil pan baffle, cam bolts and lifter tie bars)
Hmm, the last time I checked with top engine builders and per Arrow’s stating the facts, windage tray, oil pan baffle, cam bolts and lifter tie bars are SUPPOSED TO BE LOCTITED
OOPS!
At this stage, I would never try to assemble a motor, but if I ever did, I would educate myself as to exactly what needs to be done.
Let’s get real here, I am sure mine was not the first engine Heffner had put together. It is obvious what he has been doing has been working SO FAR…….
Let’s look at #16:
Rods have 3/8” rod bolts (we recommend 7/16” to hold your horse power).
Now they say for even 1,000 HP(which we were certainly planning to make with the supercharger) a 7/16 rod bolt is recommended.
#17 is one of my personal favorites:
Improper rod bearings for this application (CB-481-P passenger car bearings we recommend CB-481-H high performance bearings).
Heffner used passenger bearings which are too soft to be making big power like 1000 crank HP because they distort under load.
Jason Heffner said he uses those passenger bearings because they are easier on the crank.
 Most professional engine builders recommend the high performance race bearings
Let’s look at #15:
Piston pins are 2.500 long (we recommend 2.750 long premium quality endurance pins).
Jason Heffner put in too short of a piston pin he says to save weight when he should have gone for strength according to the people who build more of these engines than anybody!
Let’s look at #8
All main bearing housing bores weren’t inline and had excessive axial taper and out of round condition
This here is another interesting one because
a. Arrow had this machined pole/pipe that they slide through the main bearing journals that checks the axial alignment of the main bearing journals of the block. When I told Jason how this piece did not make past the second of the 6 main bearing journals(4 more to go) , he stated he did not have the tools to check the machine shop’s precision and that he wanted to get one of those bars. Jason also wanted to know how much it cost to get such a tool.  At that time he did not suggest that the power output, more specifically the torque, could have distorted the main journals of the block
b. After thinking about over the weekend, I guess he changed his mind and came to the conclusion that the torque could have distorted the main journals of the block. After speaking with Jason Heffner on Monday morning, the guys at Arrow changed their verdict about what they originally told me that #8 could have not been caused by the torque. It could very well be that the torque did distort the whole 9 yards. Who knows there is really no clear culprit here except maybe a mix of a little of everything. Interesting to say the least for sure.
Let’s look at #9:
Number two rod bearing was severely scored and was on the verge of spinning.
 This is an interesting one because one of the guys at Arrow told us it was a good thing we detonated the motor as this bearing would have spun on the next dyno pass and the motor probably would have grenaded.
Now remember #17, Jason Heffner could have used a better bearing…….
I will be completely honest here and will say that the detonation could also have caused the #2 Rod bearing to be destroyed………..
I repeat, Now remember #17, Jason Heffner could have used a better bearing…….
Now if #17 is one of my personal favorites, #19 has to be the icing on the cake:
Connecting rod doesn’t seam to be Oliver’s (maybe LA enterprises).
I have to tell you all that I paid for and thought I had gotten Oliver rods and would not have known the difference anyway except for every experienced engine guy who looked at those rods know they were not Olivers.
Jason Heffner admitted to me today that they are a different brand he believes are as good as Olivers. He also told me some top secret characteristics about the rods he did not want anybody to know about. Don’t worry Jason, your secret is safe with me!
Maybe they are as good or better than Oliver rods, I really could not say. They did the job and then some by also having to cut a groove into the piston piers!
The bottom line here is that I was told I was getting Oliver rods and did not get them. You all can be the judge as to the ethical implications of thinking you are purchasing one thing but are getting another…….. How would you feel? I know how I feel.
The reason I am posting this is not to put blame on anybody here except myself to always be pushing the limit and go where nobody has gone before . We detonated the motor big time. My fault! When pushing the limit, you are only as good as what and who you have to work with. I have learned a lot from the experience so far and will certainly apply the new knowledge to build a better turbo system for the regular guy than what is currently out there
You forgot the part about trying to extort $7000.00 from me while you omitted the part about melting a hole through the cylinder liner, burning away a portion of the deck surface and melting away the cylinder head and head gasket which were all caused by extreme detonation and a severely improper engine tune. I'll get to all of this in my report. Now that the truth is out people can begin to see some of your lies. "The crank couldn't handle it", "Main journals were out of alignment", I guess things can distort when you are burning away pieces of the engine from detonation. I'll post a full reply later, I have to get to work.
Its my hopes that the Two Most Powerful Viper Tuners out there can take this offline and resolve this matter privately. There's more than enough space at the top of the Viper Tuner World that these two can resolve their matter privately and both ultimately benefit.
SVS, Woodhouse, Heffner, life..... they're all out to get poor Paolo! Classic case of someone that thinks they're never in the wrong. Can't take the blame for anything. It's funny to me that all of these folks have awesome reputations in the Viper world, yet they all seem to want to screw Paolo over. You don't think you could attribute any of this to the fact that you abuse the living shit out of your car???? You had this engine for two and a half years or so, and it has held up just fine until you go and slap together a home made turbo kit that is way over the top, and have SVS's castaway put it together and tune it for you. Something is fishy here. Didn't you make a LONG post last night saying that no one was to blame???? Make your fucking mind up! Where is my flip flop pic when I need it? BTW, once again, I was not trying to make you look bad with my initial post, but when you attack my character, you will get return fire, and lots of it.
and the plot thickens...unlike carrots pencil-like penis...
Dude go away! You have nothing to offer to this problem. Take your comments about Carrot elsewhere. No one reading this cares what you think about him.
SVS, Woodhouse, Heffner, life..... they're all out to get poor Paolo! Classic case of someone that thinks they're never in the wrong. Can't take the blame for anything. It's funny to me that all of these folks have awesome reputations in the Viper world, yet they all seem to want to screw Paolo over. You don't think you could attribute any of this to the fact that you abuse the living shit out of your car???? You had this engine for two and a half years or so, and it has held up just fine until you go and slap together a home made turbo kit that is way over the top, and have SVS's castaway put it together and tune it for you. Something is fishy here. Didn't you make a LONG post last night saying that no one was to blame???? Make your fucking mind up! Where is my flip flop pic when I need it? BTW, once again, I was not trying to make you look bad with my initial post, but when you attack my character, you will get return fire, and lots of it.
More news at 11:00
couldn't have said it better.
Makes you think about other complaints that Paolo has had about other tuners where maybe the first complaint had some validity to it, then a second and a third makes you wonder it Paolo is not one of those "woo is me" type of guys. When you have a motor that you race they go ka-boom from time to time. Even the guys building motors for top fuel NHRA can not stop a fool from full throttle attempting to be an all time dyno queen for the sake of "look-at-me. I feel bad about what PAOLO did to his own motor but thats the breaks. If you want a motor that will last longer and have less down time keep it stock. If I was a tuner and Paolo called I would hang the phone up and run in the other direction. Lets play the victim game.
Good Luck or better luck on your next build
I don't think you're pushing the envelope if you haven't blown a few motors during development; I think I've heard from every tuner some story or another about pushing the limits just a little too far.
Instead of trying to point the blame somewhere else, seems to me that there is only one person accountible for the final results of their car - the person overseeing the deveelopment.
Woulda, coulda, shoulda - but if you knew about potential problems and kept running the motor anyways you have nobody to blame but yourself.
Lesson learned? When you push these kinds of numbers you bettr damn well make sure you triple-check everything.
My car runs stock block, heads and crank, albeit modified, with no issues at MUCH higher numbers. And guess who built it?
Couldn't tell you who makes the rods because they aren't breaking, just like yours aren't breaking. Does your receipt say Oliver? You sure your rods aren't better than Oliver?
In fact, if it wasn't for old smokey the left turbo and that FUCKING GADDAMNED TRANNY BRAKE, this car would have been down right boring.
As far as Heffner I would send my car today if I was ready for a TT having seen Chads car and now hearing about twinViper. No other Tuner has achieved what Heffner has to date. Not saying that other tuners aren't close but for now, today it is Heffner all the way.
When my motor started falling off I wasn't interested in pointing any fingers as there was no where to point other than lots of gas and pushing the motor extremely hard.
racing breaks motors
during a build if you are not Ok with what is going on and in your motor you need to open your mouth after all it is your dollars.
My car runs stock block, heads and crank, albeit modified, with no issues at MUCH higher numbers. And guess who built it?
Couldn't tell you who makes the rods because they aren't breaking, just like yours aren't breaking. Does your receipt say Oliver? You sure your rods aren't better than Oliver?
In fact, if it wasn't for old smokey the left turbo and that FUCKING GADDAMNED TRANNY BRAKE, this car would have been down right boring.
These posts of "nothing wrong here" are not helping my cause to buy that "die in a TT melt down fire" Heffner TT in the classified section.
I had the guy down to 40K now it's back up to 100K. Thanks soooo much.
