Hard lesson learned, thought quote was reasonable from seller at $20 apeice for shipping through Fed Ex from Long Island NY to Arlington MA look what happenned to one of my now not so wonderful score of # 5752113 '58/'59 posted nos service replacement large valve y block heads. I guess they needed more packing shows what happens when you pinch on shipping. On a side note, do I have any hopes of reliably and successfully repairing this damage or is the head done. And if so does anyone else have another, I am heartbroken. N
That ****s. Can't tell from the pic, but was there visible damage to the packaging? Seems like it would have to take a hell of a hit to do that. If so, contact FedEx. They may not do anything, but you never know if you don't ask. If there is no package damage, the guy sold you a busted head.
Blame packing on that Not FEDEX,, sometimes things get dropped,,that just happens ,,but those things were not protected in any way
Badly packed...I used to ship heads all the time...Minimum was bubble wrap followed by completely enclosing in corrugated cardboard, then a box around the whole package, filled with packing peanuts.
That break is clean and new. That was shippers not seller looks to me like it was dropped on its corner.
FedEx....Well have I got a story for you. A few years back we restored an 81 Chevy 4 wd pickup for my Aunt and needed a p***enger front fender. 6 fenders later we finllay got one that had a small dent it that was usable. The first one had a hole from a fork lift in it. Two were almost bent into crease, another had a good size hole in it. the other one the whole side was caved in. Maybe it was LMC but I am not so sure all 5 were their fault.
damn that ****s.when i ran a service truck and would work on the yard goats for ups i would see them just toss packages and seen alot land on the floor and remeber one time saw a mopar performance crate busted up badly
On a serious not though...Check machine shops, I have seen and heard of blocks tat were repaired with rod holes and were fine. May be really expensive but if these heads are that rare may be worth it. Type in Repairing Cracks in Cast Iron Cylinder Heads and Engine Blocks. I know there was an article in one of the major car mags or car shows on TV(I am positive that was where I heard it. ON Chop Cut Rebuild). They fixed the starter ear on a super rare block. Believe an aluminum 427 Chevy.
those don't come close to nos with shelf wear. i heard story's bout those ups and fedex employes tossing packages around like nothing. i prefer usps over them. never had a problem with the post office.
Thanks all for your responses all good ideas. Maybe not NOS but real nice. Look$ like a fairly tech repair job. I got one pm member has one I'll check it out thanks. PM me if you have one avail, thanks in advance. I do feel just incrementally better to have spread the pain a little sorry about that & I sure hope I am done w/this and to have some success stories coming after awhile. I should have double made sure to have seller pack even better, very foolish of me!! Such a good deal turned out to be such a not good deal. N
You're lucky. You still have all the pieces. About 10 years ago a sold a set of '55 Chrysler heads (yeah, the good ones, ......551 IIRC) to a guy in Wausau, Wisconsin. I packed 'em good; 2 packages (that way each package was under their limit of 75 pounds). Sent out the two packages with 2 different tracking numbers. Guy never got 'em. I tried to track them down (they did have tracking numbers), but i didn't get one bit of help from Fedex. They finally offered to pay the insurance on ONE package of $100 (a lot less than even one head was worth), and I fought them on that, but they wouldn't give in. They finally told me to sue them; after I talked to my lawyer, I gave up because it was an interstate shipment and would been very expensive to pursue. (My lawyer told me that if I filed in Minnesota, they'd try to get it moved to Wisconsin, etc. etc. etc.) He said that since they had accepted the shipment, they were the ones that had them last and could force the issue on where the lawsuit had to be filed, so I swallowed hard and gave up. (Never did get the insurance one the ONE head either; that would also have had to go to regular court). Since it was interstate, no easy conciliation court deal here. I finally ended up sending the purchaser his money back. Oh yeah, while all this was happening, I received a greasy old SBC Chevy head in a Fedex box with no note of explantion or anything. Bottom line; how do you lose one 74 lb. package with something the size of a hemi head, much less two? My take? Someone in one of their facilities figured out exactly what they were and decided that they would be just right for their own project. This is all supposition, but I think that after some preliminary investigation Fedex figured out what had probably happened and didn't want the trouble or bad publicity of dealing with it, so they just stuffed it and I got screwed, as did the guy who wanted the heads. Sorry; this is mostly a rant against Fedex; I will NEVER even consider using them again. There is a bit of knowledge to be gained from my experience however; it looks like, unless the problem is a real simple one, they won't lift a finger to help you. I feel better now. Thanks for letting me blow off steam. One last thing; after seeing the last couple of posts, my position is that Fedex should have never accepted the shipment if the packaging was that bad. They are the shipping professionals here and bear much of the responsibilityin situations like this.
I agree there 100% No doubt that it was mishandled but that is one sorry ***ed packaging job to be shipping a set of heads. You will have to post the casting number of the heads to find one to match and if they are as rare as you say it may be worth it to see if you can get it welded.
I don't know about fed-ex but with UPS if they don't package them and something gets damaged that you dropped off at the UPS store their insurance doesn't cover them, they will tell you that they weren't packaged properly.... if the seller initallied that he packed them when he shipped it you have to go to the ups store and get them to pay [the ups stores are not owned by the company they are owned by indivduals.] I have a friend that is taking a local UPS store to small claims court right now for damages..... I would think fed ex operates the same way..... sorry
Thanks Tubman, Your severe pain is felt. Argggh swiped hemi heads!! That s$#@$ all the way around. New shipping mottoes: As buyer specify ultra grade packing, total over kill & offer to kick the seller a few more bucks As seller Pack ultra well & insure high then CROSS YOUR FINGERS!
Hey guys they're probably not all that rare really. They are just good to work with. 1958-1959 #5752-113 take a look. I am at peaces now N
Thanks for the sympathy. They had been hot tanked and had a fresh valve job. The only good thing I can think of is that I sold them 10 years ago and only lost $500. I don't even want to think what they would be worth today.
Sorry if I missed this but did you contact the seller? He should have insured them through Fed Ex, they always ask how much do you want to insure them for. I would find out and chew his *** for not packaging them well at all. You have got to be a complete dumb *** for shipping heads like that, he should have known better!!
Thanks barnfind, but chewing him isn't going to get the head back. It's really on me honestly to have been more specific as he gave me a fair deal and seemed confident in the job, but his shipping estimate was low this is where I erred SO: Oh and anyways: Another complication I did not forsee that matters is the receiver was my neighbor across the way who has a Professional bodyshop (I gave him a business address packages were marked 'Home Delivery"!) so to make a claim I gotta use his Fed Ex acct #. Looks like I'm gonna **** this one up.. Just getting to respond to my PM's thank you for responding. N
Clarification: I did give the seller a "Business Address" but package labels came as "HOME DELIVERY" so maybe they drop kicked them some more.
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