I had Five Star do an engine exchange on my '86 Ford truck. When I picked up the truck after the exchange, I noticed the following, which were not present when I first took the truck to them:
1. The hose connecting the air cleaner housing to the cold-air intake port was crushed and shoved in some empty space by the wheel well.
2. There were oily rags also stuffed into nooks and crannies in the engine compartment.
3. The clutch was not properly adjusted. If the pedal was not burried into the floor mat, the clutch would not disengage.
4. The engine idled poorly after it was up to operating temperature.
5. The engine had very little power, and knocked under load (such as driving up a hill).
6. The accelerator pedal wouldn't travel past about half throttle.
My main concerns were the crushed hose and poor idle. I returned the truck to Five Star and spoke with a very abrasive manager (I think his name was Lynn). I asked him to replace the hose and fix whatever was causing the rough idle. They reformed the crushed hose and fixed a vacuum leak where the intake manifold bolted to the head.
The rough idle came back a few days after the truck was returned to me. So I took it back to Five Star again, and again they fixed a vacuum leak where the intake manifold bolted to the head. The motor still idled poorly, and upon inspection of the intake manifold, I saw that it was cracked where one of the mounting studs went through. It appears that Five Star overtorqued it in an attempt to fix the vacuum leak.
I decided to check the timing on the engine. Five Star had it set waaaaay retarted. After advancing the timing, the motor had much more power, and no longer knocked under load.
I inspected the accelerator linkage, and it seems like it was missing parts where it attached to the carburetor. I'm not sure how it looked before, but it was obviously missing parts. I fixed the problem by shrouding the accelerator cable in a 2" length of 1/2" pipe where it attached to the carb. Problem solved.
After fixing all of the problems that Five Star caused, the motor seemed to run fine, aside from the rough idle, which I just learned to deal with. I did notice that the motor was burining more oil than a fresh motor should burn. Every time I checked my spark plugs, the plugs from #1 and #2 cylinders were always covered in oil.
Taking into account the fact that the intake manifold would never seal against the head, and the overabundance of oil on the spark plugs, I have concluded that Five Star gave me a poorly remanufactured head.
Do yourself a favor and do not use these guys. They do shaudy work, have poor customer service, and use an unsatisfactory product. Spend your money somewhere else.
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