What's up with Tom Morana's site?

[Vernon]

I can't get www.moranaV6racing.com up, is Tom still working?

Vernon

[Jason Wild]

Tom,
Is still doing stuff but has slowed down on how much he does now.

[Ryan A Harris]

Tom has a gentleman in NEW YORK work on the site for him. I think he has a few new products to be put on it, so it may be down for the update.

[Vernon]

Thanks guys, I'm getting ready to build a new 3.8 for the 1983 Mustang convertable. It's going to be '94 SC based, but with the holley four barrel it's had and new a insane amount of NO2. I need Tom for an bullet-proof bottom end that I can afford. When I couldn't get the site up I was affraid he might have retired or worse. Glad to hear he's still around, if something ever happens to him then what the Hell will most of us do?

Vernon

[Jason Wild]

Ryan,
You sure know a lot about Tom.:o

[Kobassa Power]

Hey Vern,

After seeing your signature I would highly recommend that you go elsewhere unless you enjoy dissapointment..

Caveat Emptor !!!!!! Buyer beware.

Morana left me high and dry and didn't have the gonads to call and let me know that he could not supply me with overpriced cylinder heads especially when I desperately needed them. I must have called him atleast 4 times and drove out to Scarberia to pick up the Houdini cylinder heads.

******** baffles Brains and there are a few suckers in the club that have fallen into the trap. I'm sure that someone can recommend an alternative reliable, honest and trustworthy shop.

Sincerely,

[fast Ed]

Unfortunately Tom was unable to help out John when he needed a pair of heads, and John had to go elsewhere.

It seems to be a common affliction with engine shops everywhere. Years ago when I was having a 347-inch stroker motor built for my 5.0 Mustang (this was before all the drop-in crank kits were available) by Beatty & Woods, a Toronto-area engine shop with a long history, the delays seemed inevitable. And when there was a problem with the sizing of the aftermarket con. rods that were installed, and caused a bearing failure, it took forever for them to repair it ... which they did at no charge I will add, but I still had to do the removal of the engine, and wait a very long time to get it back.

This seems to be an accepted practice in this industry, not sure why. :rolleyes: :confused:


cheers
Ed N.

[Vernon]

Not to defend Tom but it does seem to be a machine shop thing. I've learned not to schedule my transportation needs around their delivery schedules. Even the guy I use around here does that crap. Race cars aren't built in a day and I'm not building them for a race season, so it goes.

Don't forget you have to double check everything they give you after they are "done" with it.

Vernon

[V6Sprout]

Apparently the guy in NY that does his website is very slow at doing the upgrades Tom wants, hopefully its just down due to the upgrades. I told Tom if I coudl build websites I woudl do it for him but unfortunately I suck at building websites :(

Delays are the norm, get use to them, expect the unexpected, and live with it. I know it sucks but things happen. Tom's work is well worth the wait though.

[BlueThunder90]

It's one thing to have delays and backorders but it's another thing to ignore customers all together.

I would hate to see Tom go into retirement with a bad mark on his record.

[68COUGAR]

If Morana can't do your heads when you need'em, you might try Stiegmier. Their heads are on the Quickest Supercoupes in the country!!!!

68COUGAR

[Ryan A Harris]

Jason, I talk with him a lot now. We are doing(my shop that is) lots of new brackets, spacers, plates and what not for his many ideas. He has never had a shop that can delever on time to him. That may cause some of his troubles. Tom does take a lot of time to return my calls sometimes also. I thinks its because he is a 1 man operation, that is always busy.

I hope that may shed some light onto this for you Vernon. Good luck with your project. (tell him you are a costumer of mine, it will help out some. ;) )

[fast Ed]

Originally posted by 68COUGAR
If Morana can't do your heads when you need'em, you might try Stiegmier. Their heads are on the Quickest Supercoupes in the country!!!!

68COUGAR

At the time, John Z. was just looking for a refreshed pair of stock heads for his ride, which had woofed the head gaskets. Tom was going to sell him a lightly ported pair I believe, but could not deliver on time so that we could get everyone together and do the repair with John ... this is his daily driver, so time was of the essence.


cheers
Ed N.

[Vernon]

I'll admit that not hearing anything would really suck. I imagine at some point Tom just ignored the phones to take care of the work load or perhaps had a personal situation that took him away from his shop leaving it unmanned. I'm not excusing it just offering likely reasons, Tom's not the type to blow people off for no good reason. You can't rush custom machine work, no matter what you're told.

Ryan, I'm a customer of his also. On the 3.8 Mustang I'm redoing I've been running one of his four-barrel intakes, hydraulic flat tappet cams, and heads he prepared and I ported. Though I haven't been able to talk with Tom nearly as much as you do the times I have talked to him he always spent plently of time with me on the phone. He has told me about how busy he is and about how lots of guys are always in a hurry to get their parts. Tom said something like this, "What they don't understand is there is no parts for these motors, I have to make everything, and I'm just one guy." Thats why I posted this question before I tried calling him. I would rather look through his web-site to get a cost estimate for the stuff I want than call him and take up about an hour of his valuable time. My local machine shop owner is also a one man operation. He's the same way, if someone he likes talking too comes in he'll stop working and talk forever. I've actually had to tell him "Well I'm going to leave so you can get back to work." And he'll say "Yeah I'm behind." No wonder.

Ryan, I'm not sure exactly what kind of machine shop you operate but is there a chance that you would be taking over his 3.8 market should Tom retire? Good to hear you two are working together though, your jack-shaft pulley was one of my faivorite mods because it was so easy and I felt the difference immediately.

Mark, nothing's faster than porting them yourself and I'm totally satisfied with how fast my 3.8's run. Paying Stieg, Coy, or even Tom for porting isn't cost effective for me. Sure their heads flow a little better than mine but not enough to justify the cost difference from free. Chris ported his own heads, Fred ported his own, Jim D. used his own porter, etc.

Vernon

[the SPIN Doctor]

(tell him you are a costumer of mine, it will help out some. )

This is THE funniest thing I've read in a long time.

It was worth popping in just to read that.

Too funny. :rolleyes:

[BlueThunder90]

Originally posted by Ryan A Harris
(tell him you are a costumer of mine, it will help out some. ;) )

Ryan's a secret cross-dresser in his spare time...he keeps switching "costumers". ;) :p :D

[the SPIN Doctor]

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/07-Sep-2003/26877-justin_owned.jpg

[Vernon]

Speaking of which Ryan, for the Flamingo Dancer ensemble have you made up your mind on the purple or teal?

Let me know ASAP so we can order the feathers.

Thanks, Vernon

[Jason Wild]

http://www.ospsitecrafters.com/images/flamspin.gif

[Ryan A Harris]

The spin doctor, strikes again!!!!! It's easy for him to piont out the short comings of others. The "spin doctor"seems to have taken what I said the complete wrong way, and now is saying chit on other boards. This guy seems to have thought(must have hurt) that I meant Tom will give you a "discount" on his work if you tell you know me. I'm just sugggesting that you mention to Tom you know me. by doing so that MAY help,not in price of coarse. Oh well, what can I do......

I guess I should fire my spell checker now.:rolleyes:

Vernon, I'm not looking down that road as of yet. That would be something for the future, but not right now. Thanks for the comments about the jackshaft.

[the SPIN Doctor]

Say what you mean, and mean what you say! ;) :p

I called Tom today, by the way. He has no idea who you are. :eek: :confused:

[fast Ed]

I feel a thread lockin' coming on ... ;)

[tbirdsc357]

Originally posted by fast Ed N
I feel a thread lockin' coming on ... ;)

Ahhh come on Ed....let them play. It's been kind of dead in here lately.:D

[SeanMatteson]

I don't know that locking the thread would be all that fair to Vernon or 68Cougar, but selective 'deletion' might be appropriate.

:D

Cheers,

Sean

[tbirdsc357]

Originally posted by Bill McNeil
Do you miss me Steve? :p :D



:D

[Jason Wild]

This is fun agan it was kind of geting a little boring around here:D




Bill come on back:)

[92strokedbird]

Did Bill leave?

[Vernon]

All my SCCOwhatever threads get locked! Haven't you heard? I'm just to damn controversial and I like GOD and stuff.

I usually have to remind Tom who I am, lucky for me there's not many of us still running four barrel 3.8 Mustangs in his clientele. Spin Doctor, I know Tom, Ryan, Jason, Sean, and Ed. WhoTF are you?

Vernon

[charged92]

Tom's site is back up. :D

[Jason Wild]

Nothing new on Tom's sit for the SC world:(

[Vernon]

LOL-holy crap Bill! You and Ryan and me posting in the same thread on SCCOO, no wonder the Ed is looking for his bottle of threadlocker. LOL.

If this thread doesn't get really chitty and locked up I'll be disapointed to say the least. Maybe is should post something Biblical? - lOL

Vernon

[Shoe]

I went down to see Tom a few weeks ago to pick up parts and the man went out of his way to help me out with extra things I needed,now I just got his new stickers in the mail today thanks Tom

[Jason Wild]

John,
good to hear you got the same service I got from Tom.
When I got my ARP head studs Tom me a deal as well he gave me all kind of info on things to do when doing head gaskest.
Tom goes out of his way to help you thats for sure.

[SeanMatteson]

OK, so far we've established that Tom is great to go and buy parts from and get advice from, but what about having him build you an engine?

I know Bill has had a fairly good experience with Tom with this sort of a project, but what about any others? How about Stephen N.? How about Steve R.? Isn't that where this thread got started? ...someone looking for Tom to build them a motor?

I know I'm playing 'devil's advocate' here (sorry Vernon, but there's your biblical reference :) ) but please understand that I'm not against Tom. I know the guy does great work. I know the guy is a wealth of knowledge. I've met him in person to make these judgements, even though I have not bought anything from him myself. What I see as an issue with Tom is the way he runs his business, particularly in the area of customer service for those people he should be treating the best... The ones who are spending the big money at his shop. It just seems to me that Tom talks with all the enthusiasm in the world when you first go to him to negotiate a deal on a big project motor, but then that enthusiasm wains until it's like pulling teeth to get him to make any progress. ...That sucks the big one, IMO!

I know the guy has bills to pay, and to me that means you need to run your business right. If you know full well that you cannot devote a huge portion of your time to any one project that you undertake, then don't sell it like you will be. ...Honesty up front. ...Honesty with the customer, and yourself. ...That's all I'm asking for.

If in fact this is the way that all engine builders operate, then I guess I'll be attempting my own build-up in the future. If it's going to take forever to do it, I might as well do it myself. Then I won't have anyone else to blame for how long the project takes. Nor will I have anyone else to blame if the thing blows up. I can live with that.

...Just my $0.02 worth.

Best regards,

Sean

[fast Ed]

Originally posted by Bill McNeil
Non-serviceable locitite, you mean! Ed ispretty cool accept when it comes moderating and previous events co-ordinators. Ryan, on the other hand, gets his panties in a bunch over just about anything, as you can see. It makes for some good humour.


Actually Bill, what makes for some good humour is seeing your comments on here at all, first under your alias, and then under the regular user name. This after your large going away letter a while back stating that you wouldn't be posting on the SCCoO forum any more. ;) :p

I've refrained on commenting about this before, but if you want to take shots at me directly, then it will come back at you. Anyone is always welcome to post on this forum in a constructive manner. But if you want to keep throwing out your little digs at people in the club whom you don't get along with, then please follow your own stated intentions and remain off the forum.

thx
Ed N.

[SC Killer]

Originally posted by Bill McNeil
I would hardly call most of the posts that occur in this forum "constructive" by any means, so enlisting that criterea would render this board obsolete. Considering I pay my membership fees, and most people who use this forum are enjoying the free ride, I will post as often as I like.

Lock away! :rolleyes:

Well, MR.I'm better than you. You spelled the word criteria wrong.

[Jason Wild]

Originally posted by SC Killer
Well, MR.I'm better than you. You spelled the word criteria wrong.

This guy is cool come out of no where to start $h!t on two posts:)

[fast Ed]

Originally posted by Bill McNeil
Certainly! More like I typed it wrong, but I get the point. :p



A threat from El Presidente to a former member? Sounds like it. :rolleyes:


No threats here, Bill. You can read into it whatever you like. Just reminding you of the old saying, "what goes around, comes around". ;)


thx
Ed N.

[Les Borda]

There's nothing wrong with this club!!!

Lighten up all of you, stop the pizzing contests and the GD jabs, we each know the others personalities quite well by now and know full well what gets under one persons skin does not on the other.

I had a temper tantrum the other day only because of personal sh-it going on with me, I apologized, end of story, move on, water under the bridge it's over and done with.

I suggest some of you take a smilar attitude. what's been has been it cannot be changed, only what is about to happen can be.

[Superbird281]

I think Edna and Billie should fight it out, like this...
http://www.messyfun.com/images/video_pics/m59v1.jpg

[V6Sprout]

Am I the only one who saw this?

In the works!!!
Another intake to be used for the twin port motors, to use with a supercharger from supercoupes!!


I am working on a setup as well to utilize the split port heads from the 99+ mustangs to use with the Superocupe blower, I know Tom made a one off lower intake but never finished it, I wonder if he finally did, I will have to check into this further with him.

[Vernon]

I noticed that Jamie but Bill (who is usually pretty cool except when posting about moderators) has already hi-jacked this thread and drove it to ~~~~zville. It's more of interest to late model V6 Mustang owners than SC guys. I doubt it retains an intercooler and we don't have splitport heads.

Vernon

[V6Sprout]

it would work perfect for you guys. You would obviously have to swap the split port heads on though, but they are a 40hp gain NA on the mustangs, and a buddy of mine gained 75 hp when he swapped over to the split port intkes on his vorteched 3.8 so I figure they are good for around that much on the roots blown motor. You could still use your IC and everything, its basically just a custom lower intake. Only other major problem is the fuel rail, the split port heads have a different injecotor spacing and are returnless fuel rails, so no return line, anyone who converts to split port on a pre-99 motor needs a custom fuel rail. There is a split port return fuel rail formt he windstars and F150's that might clear the SC blower, but they won't clear the mustang upper so the mustang guys need the custom fuel rail, I will ahve a F150 rail soon to check clearence on the SC motor.

If this is not what Morana is making, it is exactly what I am making, I shoudl get my split port heads next weekend to start my custom lower intake design.

[Jason Wild]

Jamie,
If that was the intake Tom showed us that night I was there with you. It's still the same he showed me last time I was at his place nothing had been done. Tom has more intrest in working with carb. set up I know kind of a step back. Are your head now ported?

[V6Sprout]

humm I wonder what he has in mind then from what his website says. I remember on that intake we saw he said he wasn't gonna produce them cause they were too much work butthen I saw this info on his site, maybe its somethign different.

Myheads are ported yes, they were orginally ported by a mustang guru, then Tom touched them up after I got them, this was done a while back though, not recently.