do you work for the state too??? Kids on a limited budget, and your his friend I assume you are not getting paid for the work you are putting in, right? So yet again it has nothing to do with being on a limited budget. The time it would have taken to once over the motor, either prior to purchase or post purchase on a stand not between the fenders would have save you all alot of trouble. You guys have DAYS into this, and it all could have been avoided (not buying it if it was inspected and found issues right then and there) or took the extra time to inspect it on an engine stand instead of in the car.
GRANTED. I give people the benefit of the doubt A LOT and when someone gives me their word I take it for truth, but i give myself some overhead to recover just incase.
Example: I just sold the headlight off the Ducati I am not using on ebay. I have pics of it 100% intact on the auction, and pics of it getting put in the box and taped up. (becasue I got burned in the past) EXACTLY like this dudes trying to do to me now, saying it was broken when he got it and demands his money back asap. I e-mail him pics of the headlight going into the box and say e-mail me a pic of it broken and I will see what I can do, it was not broken prior to shipping. 4 days and still no e-mail or further response. So either he was trying to scam me and get a refund and be off with a good headlight, or he is thinking about putting a hammer to the headlight to get me pics.
cover your ass, all the time.