I know this is becoming a broken record but this guy keeps creating business for me but not the kind I like to take on. Folks that come to me with junk built by this vendor are frustrated, disappointed, disillusioned with Oldsmobile's, and flat mad about the money they have been screwed out of.


This time its a gentleman with a beautiful pearl white 69 Cutlass Supreme that lives in the San Diego area who purchased a 455 engine from Lynn.


After failing within 30 miles of driving, he had the engine pulled, took it back to Lynn who said he would warranty repair it ( spun rod bearing apparently) and then re-installed the "repaired" engine, only to have it fail again, this time in about 40 miles of driving.


When the car came to me and we pulled the engine, the list if inconsistencies, low grade parts, poor machine work, improper clearances, and incorrect assembly procedures was so long it was comical ( not to the owner).


One of the big issues was the fact Lynn never revealed to this customer that he was using a 1965 vintage 425 block with the 45* bank angle to build a 455 out of, using incorrect length 6.720 H beam rods, a mild hydraulic flat tappet cam, flat top pistons that were roughly .020 in the hole, out of the box Pro Comp heads without proper prep for MLS gaskets, 5/16 pushrods when 3/8" were listed on the invoice, cheap crankshaft made in India with minimal if any heat treating, piston skirts badly scored as well as the cylinder walls from improper clearance and debris in the engine and list goes on. It appears from the condition of the bearings that the initial failure created a lot of metal shavings that were never completely cleaned out of the engine so that debris jammed the valving in several hydraulic lifters, destroyed all the remaining bearings, scored the crankshaft and basically contaminated everything.


This engine was promised to deliver at least 500hp and just the camshaft alone would not have supported that.


Now the owner had contacted the BAR about this and an inspector has visited MPP to discuss this issue with Lynn. From what we understand of that first meeting two weeks ago, Lynn offered to repair the engine again and replace all the failed components but the owner has made it clear to the BAR that he does not want Lynn working on this pile anymore and wants hos money back.


Stay tuned as another meeting between the BAR and Lynn is coming up.


Hope this is well read and helps others to think twice before spending their hard earned money with Lynn at MPP who continues to malign the good Mondello name..


Grant

 

So sad. I hate hearing of people getting ripped off. Even more so when it happens from the same place over and over again.

 

Friend of mine works in a machine shop in San Jose.

last summer

guy drops off his 69 442 with engine he got from Lynn , paid $15K for it, oil pressure was 20lbs..

 

 

What is the "BAR"??

 

my guess bureau of Automotive repair

https://www.bar.ca.gov/

 

Some of these threads should be shown to the president of the OCA, so they will stop him from advertising in JWO.

 

x2!!!

 

The BAR is in fact the Bureau of Automotive Repair and since Lynn works on customers cars as well as building engines and selling parts, is accountable to that agency for fair business practices.


We will see how well they do their job and see what Lynn is doing to folks.


I will speak with Jerry ( OCA President) about the advertising in JWO to see what can be done about it.

 

I just took screen shots of this thread & will also forward them to Jerry.

Email sent.

 

 

Thanks guys on the updates. I recently sent this guy cash up front for a pulley system for my 324. I hope I'm not another one of his victims. I am in Michigan and being a non-resident of California, I don't know if the BAR would go to bat for me. Hopefully I will not require their services.
I will keep you up to date on my transaction with Wellfringer.

 

I'll say one thing for Lynn, at least he's consistent. Reading the list of problems and mis-matched parts one would think this engine was built by someone who never seen an Oldsmobile engine before and this was their first time putting an engine together plus they lacked common sense. So much wasted time, energy and money. Jmo.

 

From what I've read, it seems like Lynn goes out of his way to purposely screw people over. I'm really glad I took the advice given years ago to stay far away from that place.

 

Another questionable vendor is Rocket Performance Parts on eBay.
His “small block Olds Procomp heads” aren’t 64cc’s, they’re over 70. Bernard has a post over on ROP explaining everything. You get what you pay for from that vendor.

 

x2

 

The thing I dont understand is how these guys do this stuff and are still alive If i did something like that I would probably get killed

It is amazing as to how much junk I also see. Not just Oldsmobiles but all kinds of engines that people have paid a lot of money for and ended up with junk.

Problem is it makes everyone in the industry look bad. New customers come in thinking they are going to get ripped off before they even meet you. Kind of hard to overcome that sometimes.

 

I suspect that if he were in the Greater Los Angeles area, things would not go so swimmingly for Lynn as he'd be easier to locate. Instead he's 200 miles north up the coast in Paso Robles. When I met Joe Mondello he owned a machine shop in Van Nuys, CA.

 

This is one of the reason crate motors from your local GM/Ford/ Dodge dealer have become so popular.

Mike

 

A quick search on line is all it would take to prevent this from happening.
Grant its very nice of you to help the guys out that were taken!
Thanks for posting. I hope others will learn from yet another bad dealing.

 

Fraud sucks on all levels.

 

How is he still in business?

 

There's one born every minute.

Seriously, it's the Mondello name and his advertising copy that draws in people who don't know Lynn's reputation.

 

Joe’s son, Bernard Mondello seems to be doing pretty well despite Lynn’s reputation.
He should just buy out Lynn and put a stop to this nonsence.

 

I don't know about that, a search brings up crap about any business as todays customers seem to be entitled babies..
It gets harder and harder to tell the real bad vendors and the ones that didn't bend over when a customer screwed up and wanted the vendor to eat their mistake..

 

The "Mondello" name was a well established name and you could count on it. Since the original business was sold, you can't count on good things from the "west coast". When I see the "Mondello" name, I check to see if it west of the Misssissippi River. If it is.........I disregard that as anyone I want to deal with. Most "new" people are unaware there are two different entities using the "Mondello" name.

 

 

I was researching Olds stuff using Google when I stumbled across this site and I think another one that had bits and pieces with "Mondello".
I dug deeper and deeper and found this site and what I needed to know.
Unfortunately, most people find this site after they have experienced a problem.

 

Does Lynn at Mondello sell a rocker kit for a 350 olds for around $700?

 

If you are considering buying from Lynn, make sure you read this entire thread first.

 

too late....uggggh.... Im in the process of boxing up all the parts and getting a full refund

 

Please let us know if you actually get your money back as you may well be the first one.

 

Lynn was not giving cash refunds when I was bent over by him. Good luck.

 

sheeesh he told he would.... I got over charged $500 for my whole order and was told that a rocker kit was $700... the rockers looked like the ones on the website for $549

 

Well then, send it back. You may get lucky. Let us know. Keep the shipping receipt with tracking number so he can’t say you didn’t send it.

 

hmm are you saying that he promises to refund but doesn't? Just need to know how to handle this $1600 situation... If need be I will fly down there and get my money. Not my fault that I was lied to about my order and was over charged!!! He promised to get a Full refund no stock fee no nothing,

 

I ordered from them ONCE. 2 of the items they sent were not what I ordered. They decided to substitute a higher priced part without contacting me. When I said that was not what I ordered and was going to send the parts back they were going to charge me a restocking fee. I love giving these guys free advertisements.

Don W

 

So did he refund you at all?

 

I’m saying I don’t trust him because of his reputation and my experience. If you document what your returning and have a tracking number that shows it was delivered to him it may help if needed. At this point he has told you your getting a refund. Hopefully that’s what you will get.

 

I hope so, I just noticed that I was sent Edelbrock Aluminum heads (605199) which are hydraulic flat tappet.... I asked that my setup be for a hydraulic Roller which should have been (60515). Ughhhh… I'm not a tech or mechanic, just a customer that is learning. I feel that, If I tell you what I want and I pay (which I am now seeing that I was overly charged for) for the parts that were discussed. Then I should have been sent the right parts. I was told that a price for a part that wasn't true (over charged and sent the wrong parts)