what part stores offer hot tanking service?

I was reading a 1956 article on building a flatty and it said auto parts stores offer hot tanking services. I first thought that this showed how much better service was back in the day. But I also read a recent article on engine cleaning and said some auto parts stores offer it. Is this true? If so, which stores? And how much does it cost? Magnafluxing is about 200 for a block while we're on the subject, right?


thanks,

 

Some of the Orileys stores offer it

 

back when the parts store was the machine shop, it was a one stop shop. magnaflux, boring is done on a per cylinder basis, usually. O'Reilly's sends it to the main machine shop in KC, then sends it back to the store.

if you take it to a machine shop, they will usually cut you a deal on "prep" work if they know they get the "real" work. expect $50 for hot tanking, $20+ per cylinder for magnafluxing. your results may vary

 

Here in Connecticut they bake the blocks clean then blast them with steel shot. EPA killed hot tanking.

 

The napa here still had their old machine shop up until about 3 years ago. They did everything from hot tanking to head jobs. When their machinist quit they just shut it down. All the equipment just sits back there unused....drives me nuts. They won't sell it, or let anyone use it. They had some kick*** old pin-up calendars from the 50's & 60's on the walls back there too that'd been there since they were new. I always tried to talk the machinist into letting me buy em'....

 

that's whats wrong with this country. we need more crusty old *******s running machine shops. good rates great service and straight answers. keep hope alive, don't outsource machine work.

 

I take my blocks to several local machine shops and they charge between $35-50.00 a block to hot tank depending on how screwed up the block is and another $35 to flux the block. I live in the boonies and I imagine the rates are more reasonable. One shop in Nebraska, the guy is a flathead pro and he does a lot of work for me very reasonably. Call around and get yourself a shop that knows the flatheads, that is important. I found 5 or 6 shops within a 100 mile radius from my home that are knowledgeable about the flatheads.

31acoupe

 

35 dollars to flux the block? I thought it's 200 dollars or more.. wow, i'm moving from gold chainer florida

 

That would be a good price. Problem is, how can you offer a price like that for what essentially is at least an hours work, plus materials?

If you run the numbers, these days a one hour job is gonna have to cost at least $50-60 to cover labor, overhead, materials, etc. I guess that's why all the old shops are outta business now. Nobody can really afford to sustain the true cost of that kind of work. Can you imagine paying for 100 hours of today's labor at today's rates?