Product Review

Force Fed Performance

Force Fed Performance removed and reinstalled the engine in my sand rail after it needed to be rebuilt due to detonation caused by faulty manual lock out of the distributor. The engine was built by Nathan at Horsepower by Gerolamy.

Keith and crew at Force Fed Performance pulled & reinstalled the engine, changed some of the fuel setup and tuned the engine (Accell DFI - Gen VII).

We had problems getting the sand rail to fit on their dyno as the rail is over 90" wide with normal tires on it.  I purchased 7" wheels and smaller tires, but it was still very tight.

To make a long story short, due to the width of the car, Force Fed Performance was not able to get the engine to wide open throttle to fully tune it. Keith tuned it as much as possible, and told me to keep it under 3/4 throttle for our trip to Sand Mountain and get it fully tuned later. I picked up the car at 10am and by 1pm were were on our way to Sand Mountain.

At Sand Mountain, everything seemed to run pretty well.  I wasn't driving it hard, but the temps stayed under about 200 degrees. I put maybe 4 hours on the engine.

Once home, I found another dyno shop in Sacramento (Motorsport Dynamics) that could handle the width of the car. In preparation for the dyno time, I took it to another tuner as Force Fed Performance was too busy. The new tuner (Autotrend) is very well versed in Accel DFI and came highly recommended by Accel and a local racer.

Once at the Autotrend (10/5/05), he checked the Accel programming, and pretty quickly saw that the timing synchronization was off by 12 degrees (advanced). He pulled the air cleaner and noticed a lot of oil coming from the valve cover breathers.  Once he found all the blow by oil, he ran leak down tests on a few different pistons.  The #2 cylinder was reading nearly 50% leak down at TDC (should be less than 5% on a new engine).  He also ran a compression test mostly to compare the #2 piston to others and found large differences. He then used a bore scope and noticed what looked like foreign material on the cylinder wall of #2.

I called Keith at Force Fed Performance, and his comment was either the distributor moved or the guy running the test doesn't know what he is doing. I assured Keith that he did in fact know what he was doing, and that I would have the distributor checked out. The distributor checked out just fine. It was firmly in place and did not move while the engine was running. On top of that, if it did happen to move, it would have moved to be farther retarded, not advanced.

I have called Force Fed Performance three times on 10/6/05, and Keith has yet to respond. I called them again several times on 10/7/05, and finally Keith answered. He said he hadn't had a chance to check his messages and that is why he hadn't got back to me.

I informed Keith that the engine builder was traveling up to Autotrend on Monday (10/10/05) to review the health of the engine.  Keith said he would wait until he heard back from Nathan (Gerolamy) to decide what he would do.

On 10/10/05, Nathan from Horsepower by Gerolamy (engine builder) came up to Autotrend to review and make a final determination on the health of the engine. Here is what they found:

• Using bore scope, Nathan found what looked like foreign material on upper cylinder wall of cylinder #2.

• Cylinder #2 - 50% leak down at TDC.  About 5% leak down at the the bottom of the stroke.

• Cylinder #8 - > 25% leak down at TDC. Less than 5% at bottom.

• Cylinder #1 - > 25% leak down at TDC. Less than 5% at bottom.

Both Nathan (Gerolamy) and Dave (Autotrend) said the engine needs to be rebuilt and that it was not safe to run the engine any longer without chancing more drastic damage. All evidence points to detonation damage caused by improper timing adjustment. 

Force Fed Performance was the last one to touch the distributor and Accel DFI timing synchronization.

10/10/05 - Left a message with Keith at Force Fed Performance. I gave a quick overview, and told him that it was the professional opinion of Nathan (Gerolamy) and Dave (Autotrend) that the engine damage was consistent with detonation caused by overly advanced timing. 

10/11/05 - The engine was pulled and delivered to Gerolamy. On 10/12/05, Gerolamy tore the engine apart. Pistons look good. Cylinders were slightly out of round (.0015) and this was causing the excessive leak down. Apparently, this is a typical problem with Dart aluminum blocks that experience detonation. 

10/12/05 - Left a message for Keith at Force Fed Performance.  I told him that I need to hear back from him, or I would pursue legal action.

10/13/05 - After several more messages, I was finally able to get Keith on the phone.  He agreed to refund the money I paid him for the removal and installation last time - about $1,800.

1/12/06 - Many more messages left at Force Fed Performance over several months with no reply. I did not receive any refund from Force Fed Performance. The engine was rebuilt, and has been reinstalled in the car.

1/12/06 - Complaint filed with the Bureau of Automotive Repair against Force Fed Performance.

Actions taken against Force Fed Performance:

1. Filed a complaint with Accel (Mr. Gasket is parent company).

2. Filed a complaint with California Bureau of Automotive Repair.

3. Lawsuit against Force Fed Performance is forthcoming:
   a. Engine diagnosis at Autotrend.
   b. Labor to pull and reinstall engine.
   c. Rebuild the engine.
   d. Tuning.

Total Damages - $11,513.59

Other Accel DFI configuration problems that were discovered:

• Fuel rail pressure was set to 42 psi but actual was 48 psi.

• RPM range topped out at 6200 rpm, but engine builder states this value should be more like 6800 rpm since peak horsepower is probably achieved between 6000 - 6500 rpm.

Force Fed Performance In the News

Big pot operation busted

Two YC homes said to house major cultivation outfit

By Rob Young/Appeal-Democrat

January 09, 2008 - 11:44 PM

Police on Wednesday uncovered a large-scale indoor marijuana-growing operation in the Tierra Buena section of Yuba City, believed to be the first of its kind found in the area.
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Stohlman was arrested without incident. Her boyfriend, James Keith Fletcher, was arrested at his Sacramento auto repair business, Force Fed Performance. Kyle Leonard of Citrus Heights, believed to be the electrician who set up the operation, was arrested along with Stohlman, said Hudson.

All three are facing cultivation charges and, because of the amount of marijuana involved, could end up being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento, he said.

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