BEWARE the Babbitt Pot - shoddy work and attitude

My dad was in the process of rebuilding the engine on his 1929 Chrysler 66 and asked me if I could find a resource to re-babbitt one of the rods - evidently piston had collapsed and hammered the babbitt. I searched the web, and some may recall me asking here.

Well, I found several places, inlcuding The Babbitt Pot, and since my dad is in Western NY, he decided to send the rod them since they were the closest geographically. He received the rod back with a quick turn-around and on visual inspection, it looked good.

A member of dad's antique car club has a business building race engines for customers nationwide, and he was helping dad put the engine together - mic'd everthing, checking and re-checking, everything right on spec. They fired the motor, and Dad drove it home. Next day, Dad's driving it around the block from his house and the motor starts knocking - LOUDLY.

After tearing it down, they found the rod that was 're-babbited' by The Babbitt Pot had a 'skin' of babbit material peeled away from the original material - evidently it was not completely melted out and repoured, just patched. Several other member of the club looked at the rod and concurred.

Dad called Zig Billus, owner and self-proclaimed expert, and he claimed he had done nothing wrong, and wanted my dad to drive some 400+ miles one way to his shop so they could 'discuss' it. Rod is now in Chicago at another babbiting shop to be re-done correctly. Just thought I'd pass along the experience to those considering using The Babbitt Pot

I don't doubt that it happened, but I wonder why? I would think pouring a skin, would be just as labor intensive than a whole bearing, and more likely to have a flaw due to its thickness. Certainly they spilled more babbitt than they poured in the mold. Not that babbitt is expensive. I wonder if they were worried about melting the old babbitt out? they could have cut it out since they had the facilities to size it correctly. I'd like to hear the other side of the story but I doubt that will happen. Thanks for letting buyer beware on this one. I do remember your question when it was asked. I wonder what Hemmings has on them. Unfortunately there is always someone looking to take advantage of us old car guys and our passionate hobby. And let me be the first to say that cost of repairs and rebuilds are not necessarily a reflection of quality. I had a bad experience with a chrome job I paid too much for and I had a good experience with one that was quite a deal. Sorry to hear about things like these.

You never know, they might have someone new at the shop and that one 'slipped through the cracks'. I'd think just for the sake of good customer service that they should re-do the job right & eat the cost. Look what word of mouth has already done right here. Cheers, - Jeff G