We are small-time racers who cannot afford to have multiple engines. Even though Wiesman Motors was extremely expensive (almost twice the price of other builders), we had heard that his engines were of the highest quality and very durable. We could afford only one engine &chose to go with him because of his reputation for durability.
When our engine was finally ready to be picked up, we were not very pleased with the dyno #'s results, but were assured by Mr. Wiesman that we would gain at least 30-40 hp with our headers (which he had approved.) During our visit, he made it clear that, when it comes to service during the race season, he gives preference to racers that follow his "program" over those who don't. That seemed fair to us and we were willing to follow his recommendations regarding engine set-up. However, he went on to make it uncomfortably clear that his priority was to his "major" customers...the ones who spent the most. Although we would follow all of his specifications, we knew we could not afford to be one of the "big spenders." We realized we would not be considered priority customers, but never expected we would be treated as such "throwaway" customers down the road.
Finally, we were able to get our car together and out to the track, with everything set up according to Mr. Wiesman's specifications. Any item used was either purchased through him, or recommended & ok'd by him. At our very 1st race, we took the car out for "hotlaps" to see how she handled and to check the track. With only 2 ½ laps on this brand new engine, she blew up. There was a gaping hole in the block and the oilpan, with serious damage to many parts on the engine. The RPM’s had only reached 6300, well below the peak power band of 7000 RPM recommended by Wiesman.
We called Wiesman to see if he would look at the engine. Being a reputable builder, we imagined he would be concerned and want to determine if the problem lie with a failure of some part or if it was due to some error during the building process. We thought there might be some kind of warranty or recovery from the manufacturer if there was a defective part detected. If the problem was on the builder’s end, we had hoped that we could reach an agreement on the cost of repairing/replacing it. At the very least, we thought that Mr. Wiesman would take our calls. Instead, on the rare occasion when we did reach him, he was short and rude, saying only to bring the engine back… nothing about whether or not he would even look at it…before he hung up. When we dropped the motor off, he again was rude and refused an offer of help in tearing it down and would not say when he would look at it. After approx. 10 days of not hearing anything from him and not getting him to return our calls, we finally reached of him only to have him say that we would not be receiving any breaks from him regarding the engine. He never even looked at the upper half of the engine to see what might have contributed to the failure. He said he took the oil pan off to look at the damage and that the breakdown was not due to any error on his part. Asked when he had planned to get this information to us, he replied that he would have gotten around to it in about 6 weeks or so after he got caught up!!
If and when we can afford to race again, you can be sure we won’t be buying anything from Wiesman Motors. Nor will we ever recommend him to anyone in the racing business.