Friend of mine is looking for an engine builder to redo his sister's tired 389 for her '62 Pontiac Catalina. We are in the Milwaukee, WI area. Thanks in advance, Rich
Westech Automotive, Norm Brandes, Silver Lake, Wisconsin. Don't know how far he is from you, however even if it's across the state from you, it'll be worth the drive. Haven't talked with him for a couple of years, I believe he's still working. That's Norm on the right, and 2 colleagues in the labs in Ann Arbor Michigan. Yes that's the Crusher Camaro behind them.
I use Wayne Shicantek, he machines at KD Customs in Iron Ridge. I actually have the block and crank at his shop right now for my ‘63 LeMans. He’s also done my OT Pontiac engines, including the one from my GTO. He’ll do anything, but specializes in Pontiacs. Many of the guys over on the Ames Pontiac Performance site from the Chicago to Green Bay Area use him. (414) 801-9230 No matter who you go with, make sure they know Pontiacs, it’s not “the same thing as a Chevy” Edit-go over to the Ames website and do a search under his name. Testimonials going back 20 years on Wayne.
For the good of the order, if one is determining whether a shop is competent to rebuild a stock '62 389" Pontiac, what questions should they be able to answer? jack vines
Well, a classic is what order do the rods go on the crank. I’ve heard many guys in the Pontiac circles find the machine shop put the rods on like a Chevy for example. Never happened to me, but more common than you would think.
Me and dad have built a lot of Pontiac motors, to us, they are nothing special, just like any engine. That being said, I have never built a Chevy V8, just one 250 inline six. The quality of the machine work should be first priority and how fast it can get done second. With the short supply of shop now, a few months wait would be reasonable, and longer if they are assembling it. Plan ahead and have as many of the parts and supplies ready so there's no down time waiting for deliveries. The last few I have built, '72 455, and '79 400 have been in the $4000 range with me assembling. Shop Butler Performance, you may find that buying a kit is a much cheaper way to go, I put a 468 ci kit in the '79 since it needed a bunch of machining. Cost was cheaper getting aftermarket parts then rebuilding the old ones.
Respectfully I could not even get them to give me a quote on boring and decking simple 350 SBC . Was told it might be $500 might be $1000 we charge by the hour don't know how long it takes . If a shop dosent know how long it takes to do the most commonly rebuilt engine in recent history . I'd walk . We take industrial stuff there and the work is OK but I'm not leaving my personal stuff with a answer like that . SBC should be X $ a hole and X to clean it X to deck it and be damn close to being right . I had the cam bearings and plugs out so it was ready to hot tank and machine . I'll ask the neighbor who has his Pontiacs done. I think he uses Baileys but I'm not certain.
Norm & Wayne have great reps. I recently had a block done by Don's Machine in Kenosha. 1st class shop too. The single biggest danger is "white box" lifters.
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