If I put this in the wrong section, my bad, Mods, move it if need be.
Okay, here's the days events. First I get a call from the local machine shop, Jeff tells me that the crank is too bad and will need to be welded, to do that, it must be sent down south, two week turn around. I tell him to hold off for a few and let me figure something out. Bear in mind, I only have $1k to get her back on the road. I had ordered the OTT steering and Mighty Kong cradle from Lowrange, theres $580 spent, factored in the $420 to get my engine kit here. With the crank being the hold back, I figured I would just get a junk yard crank, well, they wont sell just the crank. That said, I buy a whole engine, get it home. I get it on the stand, pop the head, what do you know, pistons toasted, bores are royaly done. So now I am down to the last $40 in the budget. I set the number, so I am damn well going to stick to it. I started thinking, and realized, the Sami doesn't NEED the steering at this moment, it's in decent condition and serviceable. Now, I called Lowrange, expecting the worst of course. I spoke with Jaren (hope I spelled it right), told him the situation, and that I need to get the engine master and skip on the OTT setup for the time being. He said it;s not a problem, put me on hold, grabbed the whole order off the ship stack, and said he will hold it on his desk and when I get the needed measurements, we can cancel the OTT and insert the master kit. Of course our conversation was longer, but I will spare everyone the chit chat.
Moral of the story is, LowRangeOffroad has the best customer service of any off road parts house and/or fabricator I have dealt with, very highly recommend them!!!