To summarize the situation:

my post on Aug 11 on different board:

I paid Mike Frye, aka AllMotorMike, $1150 cash and gave him a 420a Cylinder Head in person back on 2 May 2009 to perform the following:

Race Port & Polish
Combustion Chamber Work
Bronze Valve Guides installed
Valve Job + 1mm Oversize Stainless Steel Valves

A set deadline was not established however I indicated that I would want delivery by the end of July at the latest.

We maintained correspondence throughout this time and he admitted that he did not have the ~$400 to pay the machinist who performed the valve & guide work. I was under the impression then everything was completed and only needed to be picked up. He used the money for other needs obviously and continued to tell me he had other side jobs lining up so he would be able to take care of it. I let him know on 6 August that I would be arriving in town the 15th/16th and to attempt to work something out. I subsequently asked him on 6 August for forward all the pertinent contact information of the machine shop that has my head so that I can arrange to pay for it and pick it up personally. For the sake of getting my head so my 2.4L project can move forward I will have to shell out more money and work some kind of payment plan with Mike Frye.

The last communication I have had with him was on 6 August - an email where all he wrote was "im trying" in response to my request to have the head ready.

I know his physical address, 16410 N 114TH DR SUN CITY AZ 85374, and his cell phone, 602.614.0159, however it is currently out of service. Today I had a friend in Phoenix send a letter to him via Certified Mail requesting for further information on my cylinder head's whereabouts. It will arrive tomorrow.

I know I took a risk back in May going this route however Mike's reputation at the time was not a cause for concern.

Gentlemen, what are your recommendations at this point? I could stop by his place this weekend while in town but I am not sure if that would achieve anything. I am not looking to cause a confrontation or anything but I do need my money or cylinder head.

and a follow up post from August 17:

I did recover my head this weekend successfully. I paid more money however...

Bottom line I gave 1150 cash and a head to AMM for a full race p&p, chamber work, bronze guides, 1mm O/S SS Valves, mill & valve job. The hand work was done by him, and later he took it to his machinist he uses apparently for the work that involves shop tools (press, mill etc).

He was upfront with me back in June that he did not have the $450 needed to pay the machinist to recover head. After numerous emails asking him to get it I finally decided to cut my loss and was prepared to go into town and pay an additional $450 to recover it personally. It took a bit to get him to give me the machinist information - which had me worried that it never even went to the machinist and he was attempting to shine me on - but eventually I had it and called the shop foreman. He told me it would take $508.18 to pick it up. Whatever I just wanted it back so my 2.4L can be assembled. I then stopped by his residence with the intention of working out a repayment plan. He never answered his door but I heard movement inside.

From what I heard from Driggs and Mark Bullett he is in a tight spot with finances - we all have problems but the $1150 I gave him initially should not have been used to float his personal bills. I am prepared to not recover the full $508 but he has expressed to me that he has every intention of paying me back.

He was honest with me throughout however in retrospect I would have paid half upfront and half on delivery.

So I am into this head for $1150 + $508.18. I have since spoke with him over the phone and he indicated he has every intention to pay me back.

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2012 2500HD LML

Dave please keep this updated.

Unfortunate to say, I recently found out about another friend who was hit by Mike's problems (he is a Neon site). He was a direct reference from me to Mike. He did eventually get his parts back, but unfortunately, it was shoddy work. Cam caps put on backwards and media from the glass bead machine still in the head. Bad stuff.

Mike did admit to fault and took full responsibility.

I am still highly concerned with these events. I do not reference people on a whim. People I reference are only a select few and I do not reference anybody unless I feel their work is superior and they can be trusted. For this reason, I do feel a responsiblity toward my friend and Dave's situation and I can only hope that this can come to an acceptable resolution.

I apologize for jumping in on your thread like this Dave. I just felt that this information connected up to your situation.

Captain Caveman

96 RS Turbo 11.414 @ 119.62 MSNS, Crower 2 NA cams, BW366, 10.5 comp, UDP, 60mm TB, W/A intercooler, 3.55 tranny 567.9whp 430tq
97 RS NA 13.188 @ 103.87 MSnS powered 12.5 comp, Crower 3's and 219.4whp with 175tq
98 RS DD 12.5 comp on stock ECU, LTH, Crower 2's, Koni, GC, Hypercoil, DG hats
99 OZ 5sp Stocker 15.856 @ 85.97
99 GS stocker auto 17.7@77mph!

wiki home page:http://www.2gnt.com/index.php?d=bullettdsm

An update for this situation:

After making contact with AllMotorMike asking if he could afford to repay me in payments he responded with:

Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 6:51 AM

yeah i should be able to do that, i actually just got laid off after 5 years at my job so im gonna see if i can make it on side work for the time being but yeah if u wanna do the 50.00 then im ok with that.


mike

I subsequently sent him a paypal money request and never heard anything more. Periodically, say every two to three weeks, I send him a payment reminder (with little hope) and have never heard anything from him.

I fired him an email today attempting to reassess the situation but do not expect much.

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2012 2500HD LML

An update to the situation though nothing surprising:

After many small promises every so often to receive payment I received the following email from Mike Frye:

from mike frye <killingmachine99@yahoo.com>
to Dave Tsang <code4@zero-signal.org>
date Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 7:32 PM
subject Re: Hey man
mailed-by yahoo.com
signed-by yahoo.com

ok for sure when i get my income tax, i filed tofay should have it in 8-14 days. also driggs was talking about knocking 200.00 off cause im gonna do some welding on his car. i just emailed him before u. shit kept coming up but theres no fucking around anymore i need to pay u back already. when i get my tax return which should is 2,4XX.XX i will get u ur money. sorry its taken this long.

mike

Before the end of the 14 days I discovered that Mike Frye, AMM, obtained his own Dealer Section on Neons.org. I contacted the admin staff there, linked them to the appropriate posts that detail him admitting fault to the situation, and asked them how he was allowed to sell his shit when he was currently in the black.

Matt Wiggins promptly replied with:

from Matt Wiggins <wiggs@iskewl.org>
to Dave Tsang <code4@zero-signal.org>
date Fri, Feb 19, 2010 at 11:24 AM
subject Re: Regarding AMM
mailed-by gmail.com
signed-by gmail.com

If I were I would post in his forum asking for a status update on when
you will be paid back.

This begins to give us some ground to apply pressure and help if at
all possible.

I gave Mike Frye well enough time to receive this supposed tax return and pay me before posting in his Dealer Section. It can be found here.

http://forums.neons.org/viewtopic.php?f=107&t=358183

I will provide further updates as they are available.

Oh, and apparently he is selling an $800 turbo he acquired recently. Sigh...

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2012 2500HD LML

Received payment for overdue balance. Consider this matter closed.

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2012 2500HD LML