Fred you are stuck between a rock and a hard place for sure.
A forensic investigation may or may not reveal the true cause of the failure. On the surface, a failed valve clip may be bad metal or bad installation or both. Exactly what did the rebuilder do? A complete full rebuild or something less? Did he send the head out?
I can't fault the rebuilder at this point for adhereing to his one year warranty. In fact, I think a one year guarantee on a rebuild is a phenominal warranty and I would have expected 90 days or so. So in that case the rebuilder seems to be pretty good. But again, until you can pinpoint with absolute proof the cause of the problem, you are stuck between a rock and a hard spot.
I would say that virtually all of us have had varying degrees of exasperation and disappointment in projects.
Given the fact that you have restored over fifty vehicles I'm sure this is not news to you. I would imagine that you've had many similar experiences in your other vehicle restorations at one level or another.
Fred, some of this is part of the experience. I have seen a rebuilt engine have a catastrophic failure within minutes of first being run. It was the fault of the installer not the rebuilder. I have seen freshly powder coated restored manifolds dropped and broken in half and have unfortunately been bumbled fingered myself and dropped and damaged perfectly restored parts as I was handling them putting them back in. I think it's part of the deal. Doesn't make it any easier to digest but it is part of the deal.
Lastly, a comment about human nature. I find that people will generally treat me the way that I treat them. For example; if I were riding my paint guy about every little run and flaw in the paint work and then one day after the paint warranty expired it began to blister, I would not expect him to "extend" the warranty at his expense. I tend to try to save my real fighting for the important stuff and try to accept the small stuff as part of the learning curve.
Just remember Fred: "You can't put a price on a good time"
