I had the misfortune of taking my jeep to Flat-Line Customs because of a bad referral. It was the biggest mistake nightmare I’ve ever encountered in my entire life that owner Michael Montana dragged out for over a year. I simply wanted some parts installed on my engine which he totally failed to do. He destroyed my original 4.2 stock jeep engine. What I received back was a completely destroyed engine that Mike Montana tried to play off as if nothing had happened when I picked up my jeep. I immediately contacted him about the issues, asking what he had done to my engine. He came up with a number of lies & excuses. He absolutely refused to own up to the damage he caused to my engine.

Giving Montana the benefit of doubt I took back my jeep back to him for repair. He said I needed a rebuild & proceeded to charge me. He sent the engine out for a rebuild to JMS Racing Engines in El Monte who are just as awful at repairs as Montana is & does really shoddy work too. JMS doesn’t know how to rebuild engines right & rebuilt a block that shouldn’t have been rebuilt. Both engines that came out of that hack engine shop were totally defective.

What I then got back was another bad 4.2 engine. I was refused the failed parts I request before the rebuild from Montana as required by law of the Automotive Act of 1974, (business & professions code 9880). Montana deflected & blamed JMS Racing Engines for refusing to give up the failed parts causing the supposed engine failure. This was just a cover up because he knew those parts would’ve exposed his many lies. (He most likely overheated the 4.2 after installing the parts because he does not know about engines) I even personally called JMS Racing engines hoping to get an honest answer from them & talked briefly with the owner Mike Johnson. Johnson is a grouchy old man who was a completely rude jerk to me. He wouldn’t tell me anything about refusing me the parts I requested from Montana or what caused the engine failure. JMS knew what happened to that 4.2 engine because they tore it down but like Montana, they just covered it all up. It’s obvious those two hacks work in tandem to cover their lies & deceit because they’re friends.

So this 4.2 engine had to go back because of the warranty (which means nothing). That engine block was deemed non-repairable & shouldn’t have been rebuilt. Several months go by & the next thing I know Montana tells me that he installed a smaller 4.0 engine! He installed a smaller engine with the ’85 head on it without my consent or knowledge! I would’ve NEVER agreed to that 4.0 engine! I told him I do NOT want this smaller 4.0 engine & that I want a correct 4.2 put in.

I immediately contacted The Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR) who said that they would investigate the matter. The BAR representative told me Mike Montana is operating as an “unlicensed mechanic” so he was illegally working on my engine! So he dragged it out to court where I sued him & won the judgement. There’s just so much more to this nightmare that will take up too much time & space.

This 4.0 engine I’m now stuck with has defects as described in the video. It is deemed “illegal & non complaint” according to the BAR. You can’t just install any engine you want. It has to be compliant to Ca. state laws. These two awful shops just gave up on fixing this engine & gave me back a defective 4.0 engine. I never agreed to this & neither one of them held up the warranty to fix this junk engine installed without my consent. So much for the JMS ho...