Some backstory:
This mechanic runs a small shop. Over the years, he's sometimes had an employee or two, but as of late, he's been a one-man show. He's been working on my cars for a dozen years or more. He used to be johnny-on-the-spot. Jobs got done promptly, properly, and the repair bill was fair and reasonable.
In the last few years, things have gone downhill. He had my Caprice a couple of years ago because it was running roughly. The job took.. man, I want to say about 10 months to get completed. He threw all kinds of parts at it (at my expense), including an opti, plugs, wires, etc. Eventually he discovered that it had a broken valve spring and a bent valve in #8. He missed it initially because, he told me, he compression tested 7 of the cylinders but #8 was hard to get to so he didn't do it. Then, after just about giving up, he re-did the compression test on all cylinders and realized that #8 was low.
I drove the car for a little while and then it started leaking oil. I had another shop troubleshoot it and found out that the #1 cylinder was badly scored. Turns out the piston was cracked. (I assume it happened the same time as the broken valve spring--while accelerating aggressively, I thought I was in D and pushed the shifter forward into OD and floored it, only to find that I had been in OD and I had just overreved it in neutral.) I had that shop quote me replacing the bottom end with a used, good one, but when they quoted me a standard SBC bottom end instead of an LT1, I got nervous that they weren't really familiar enough with this engine to trust them with the job.
So I went back to my previous mechanic, since he knows LT1s really well. (He's owned, worked on, and modified multiple ones.) He said it was difficult to give me a written estimate up front because of so many potential variables, so I asked for a "worst case scenario" price for a bottom end rebuild, which he quoted at $3500. That was in August, at which point I dropped off my car. I told him that I wanted the it back by the end of September or, at the latest, early October.
I kept on him over the months and got various excuses--he got hurt at work and only had one good arm; he was fighting with his wife and going to get a divorce, etc. During that time, I made two payments of $1500. I stopped by a few times and he showed me, with pride, the progress he was making. He told me that the pushrods were too long and that the valve locks were leaking (I think that's what he said) so it needed new ones. He didn't offer a dollar amount, but I said "if you say it needs that stuff, do it". I figured that stuff was above and beyond the $3500 worst case scenario and mentally prepared myself for an extra $500 or so.
My wife and one of my buddies had both been on my ass the whole time about using this mechanic again since he took so long with the broken valve spring, and my wife especially was pissed about how much I've spent on this car, which is a lot, relatively speaking. Per their insistence, when I went to pick up the car, I brought a check for $500, with the intent of paying whatever overage the mechanic had after I drove the car for a week or so to make sure everything was in good shape.
I arrived and took the car for a test drive. It seemed fine but the AC didn't work. Back at his shop, he started charging up the AC and gave me the bill to look over, while he shot the **** with my buddy. My draw dropped when I saw that the total outstanding balance was $2475, not $500 or even $1000 as I had expected.
I explained calmly that there was no way I could or would pay that kind of an overage. The discussion eventually got heated and turned into a yelling match. The $2475 overage changed to $1250, which I was sort of okay with, but I knew that my wife would hard line on $1000, no matter what, and I'm not having that battle if I don't have to. I told him that I'd pay him $500 on the spot and more after a week or so--at least $500 but I couldn't promise $750. He wasn't okay with that and I was about to leave without the car, and he said "you've got me over a barrel--I have $42 in my checking account and I need that $500 payment." So I gave him the $500 check and left with my car.
After I got home, I wiped down the underside of the engine, crossmember, trans, etc. A few days later, I checked it and found the leak mentioned in this thread.
My mechanic was supposed to take pics along the way (which I figured would help confirm an engine rebuild if I ever do try to sell the car), which I have never received. I didn't get a build sheet either, which I required as part of the job. There were 4 pages of hand-written notes, which I took pictures of.
The way I see it at this point, the engine probably doesn't have a warranty. Since I have refused to pay his $2K overage, I'm sure he feels like I've screwed him over and if anything breaks, he'll tell me to go screw myself. I did text him about the leak including pics and he told me to "drop it off", but I kind of feel like the only reason he might work on it is because of the $500 (or so) that's still out there.
I'm not at all interested in addressing this legally. He won't sue me because no judge is going to find in his favor for the overage when it wasn't provided up front in writing. And I won't sue him because I've found out the hard way that winning in small claims court costs a bunch of time and money, and all you get is a piece of paper that says you won, but has no actually teeth to be able to collect anything from the losing party. (I've won $20K in judgments against deadbeat clients and have been able to collect $0.)
So, do you guys still think I should take the car back to him to have the seal fixed, or would I be wiser to cut my losses at this point and have it fixed elsewhere?