Projects Machine shop horror story !

I mentioned in my build thread of my 29 rpu that I had the 394 Olds engine machined for it by a hokey machine shop 9 or so years ago. When it came time to fire it up I saw some things that were not done right, so I tore it apart and took it to another shop to have it checked over, bored, and totally remachined to make it right.

I have used Joes Performance in Ft Myers for a long time, he did a few motors for us , and each one has been just perfect. But Joe had health issues and sold his operation to another shop and Joe moved there in an office capacity only. So, I took the Olds there in September to have it redone.

Since September I have called about 4 times and each time I was told things like "Oh, we didn't get the go-ahead from you yet ! (And I made it perfectly clear what I wanted done). Most recently, I called them two months ago and he said "Oh, you want us to start on it ? We will get started immediately !" What, am I speaking Chinese here ? I said in plain English, do the machining and order the pistons !

I called him Tuesday and his wife said he was on a machine and would call me back immediately......that was 2 days ago, no phone call yet. So today I went to the shop and there was my totally untouched motor sitting there ! Now he cops an at***ude with me and says "Did you give us a deposit ? " I said, "You NEVER asked me for a deposit !" That was when I made up my mind, and I have a trunk full of Oldsmobile engine.........I had them load it up and I hauled it out of there.

He said my crankshaft is at another shop (?) and he will get it back and have his girls call me. I just sent him an email, detailing every aspect of this transaction, and if I don't get the crank back he and I will be meeting in small claims court.

I went on line and looked up reviews on his shop and both people said he is a liar and won't give them an itemized list of what parts were used. I wish Joe was back in business, he was great !

Don

 

That ****s, we just lost our last small speed shop here and automotive machine shops are becoming as rare as hen's teeth.

 

Man what's with people theses days.
Send it to goatroaper

 

Times have changed where people do half *** work and call you when they get too it after a two hour lunch break

 

Ya know, I would send it to Tony but he is so far away. I have no doubt they do the best work on Olds engines of anyone, but shipping 700 pounds to Ohio would not be cheap or practical.

I just found out my crank is at South Florida crankshaft, so I am going to call them and try to get it moving back here.

Unbelievable !!

Don

 

Ok I am laughing but not at you. It just occurred to me that I got a cylinder hone and 3 drills so send me the block and I'll get started on it.

Sorry to laugh like I said not at you. This is a ****ing bummer. I wish you were close enough that I could take you to a good machinist and then we could go out for burgers.

I have had 2 machine shops that I have used around here for eons. one is Don Mann, he is older then dirt now but his son took over and is every bit as good a machinist as Don. The other machine shop went out of business in the '90s, I used them because they would let me do my own machine work and they had a crank guy that always finished my cranks after I roughed them that was a pure Ace.

Don's place is a race shop but he will do general machine work as well and they are well versed in all things old. I sure wish you were closer bud.

 

Haha, I know, Benno, I am sort of laughing too, after all, it is just a motor. I am happy I got back the majority of my parts. If I don't, you might see me on Judge Judy ! I am NOT going to take this one laying down.

Don

 

I sure wouldn't take it laying down. I'll start scrounging for a crank for you just in case. I would offer you mine but it comes with a motor and hydro attached.

 

Don, looking back to the day you dropped it off, I'm going to guess that now you could throw the shipping cash on the ground , light it on fire, then turn round and have your engine sitting there ready to go.

Isn't it bike week in Daytona down there now?
There will be thousands of trucks and trailers headed north in a couple days. Probably a bunch of hambers too.

 

Ya know I didn't even think of that send me the pig and we'll figure out how to get it back there on the flip side.

 

Don,,,Laying down is much better than standing up...LOL

 

Sadly, this is getting all too common. Guys who actually know these old motors retire and sell/close their shops, and whatever replacement machinist/shop you can find has never seen one.

 

I know what you guys are saying, but if I can't find a shop in Florida to do a simple, basically stock rebuild on the motor, that just seems wrong. I have heard there is a good machine shop in the Port Charlotte area, about an hour north, so I will start checking them out.

Don

 

I am not sure that it is a matter of familiarity with old motors. Automotive machine work is automotive machine work. Boring a cylinder in an olds isn't any different then boring a cylinder in a Chebby. If you have the tools and you are a competent machinist you can do the job.

Competency is what it falls back on, well that and a decent work ethic.

Being from another part of the country when I first landed back here my biggest frustration was the whole competency thing. Around here incompetence is the name of the game and it covers a pretty wide spectrum, not just machine work. Enter the new millennium and the work ethic (or the lack there of) soon followed incompetence, and it is fast overtaking it.

 

Hey Don
Give Big Daddy a call for shop recommendation.

 

Here in Albuquerque we have 2 excellent machine shops I am familiar with. Top notch work from both.

When I lived in Houston however I had a bad experience with a shop that is no longer in business. Go figure. I dropped off a 2 bolt sbc with aftermarket splayed caps and asked them to do the conversion. The engine was in a street/strip muscle car putting out roughly 500hp. 383ci. I got it back a few weeks later. ***embling it in my shop, I noticed right away that the main bolts were sloppy loose screwing them into the main bolt holes. I brought it back to them and they agreed they messed up. They located me another block and set about to redoing it. Due to time constraints now and me wanting to cover my backside, I also stepped up for them to ***emble the bottom end for me. That way my backside was covered if I had trouble later on. I got it back, bolted it into the car. 1 month later the bottom end let go in a big way. It was going to be some time before I was able to afford to fix what had happened. Due to moving I ended up parting out the whole car. Financially I did fine, but I lost the car which I wasn't ready to say goodbye to.

 

I'm saying more-or-less the same thing; they've never seen one and can't be bothered to learn even the minimal amount it may take to do the work. Or say they'll tackle it but you just don't get a warm and fuzzy feeling about it. I used a local guy for years, but he retired recently (he brought in his son-in-law for a while hoping to train him as his replacement, but fired him after too many screw-ups) and just closed. Calls around to various 'car guys' in the area netted me no recommendations for a replacement shop.... unless I was building a late Chevy.

 

Just a wild thought. Tony will be in TX next month for the Roundup. Don't know if you had planned on heading over there but it would be a point to handover the motor. A HAMB relay to get it back home once completed.

Don't know where you are in FL but I used a shop out of Jupiter (north of Palm Beach) when I lived there. They were decent guys. PM me if you need details.

 

Oh, I thought your main point was that wanted your engine done correctly. Hell man its easy to get bogged down *****ing about the lack of integrity and character about people. We could ***** about it all day, in every walk of life, and everyone try to out "bad" the last guys story.

How come joes performance didnt get the first crack at your engine?


If your problem is getting your engine done, there's help, a way, and satisfaction to be had.

If you want to ***** about people and shops, there isn't any help. You'll waste every once of energy and immeasurable time, more than you've already lost.

 

My one short venture into the retail world was as a counterman /flunky at a machine shop.I understand what your saying and I would never approve of the way it was handled.But with that said I left there vowing never to work with the pubic again.
This is no excuse though for shabby work and treatment. I always look real hard at the facility and the people when I decide to get some work done. I will not leave my stuff at a dirty, dark ,stacked high type of shop.I don't mind old machinery ,old machinist ,and old methods but if you can't take out the trash and sweep the floor I won't leave you my stuff.
I ask about deposits and payments before its unloaded. I will only leave deposits up to the amount of parts.I always ask for an accurate timetable,(don't always get it) but ask anyway. I also ask when and how often I can check on the progress.I still get disappointed but its the nature of the sport.Good luck.

 

LOL I have been away fro things long enough that if someone brought me a late chevy (as in LS) I would have to study upon it a bit. Too many odd ball things and special tools required for ***embly.

There are some oddball things that one runs into on these old mills but the basic machine work is the same. Some of the older mills take a little different approach when setting up but any machinist worth his salt is going to notice that. Maybe not, any machinist who learned in a shop in the last century is going to notice it. As I recall and maybe I am just lucky to have been around good machinists, when I was coming up 90% of machine work was problem solving, it was not a mindless job.

There are a couple of HAMBers in the NW that can probably hook you up with a good machinist. Paul for one and the other I'll have to look up for you. Give me a minute.

 

Good hands on machinist are being replaced by CNC machine watchers.

 

Good shops are indeed hard to come by. As said before Tony is the guy to go to for an olds. Amazing work!

 

Unfortunately it's not just machine shops, I was in a local parts store looking for a carb lift plate and some sbc header bolts a couple months ago. The guy I was talking to was in his mid to late thirties and had grease under his nails so I thought I was in good hands, that was until he started talking. He had no idea what a lift plate was and when I told him the bolts were for a 1958 283 (because he didn't know how to look up a chevy small block), he told me he didn't know because the computer didn't go back that far.

 

76 truck is always a safe bet in an autoparts store.

 

Don, I have shipped engines with Fastenal from VT to IN for $175. Strapped or bolted to a pallet and covered with cardboard stapled at the edges. I have shipped three engines with them, Have never had an issue with them and they always get there quickly. They do not pick up so you have to get them to there dock. FWIW. Walt

 

My point is, though, none of that should be necessary. Somewhere down here there should be one shop that is capable of a simple bore and machine job. I had used another shop for a long time before I found Joe's Performance, and he was ok, but if he personally did the work it was better than if one of his guys did it. Joe was hands on and knows his stuff, too bad he has health issues.......I also like him as a person and he always did me right.

Don

 

I miss Joe too!
But unfortunately Joe is going out of business in every city and town in the U.S.

What about Hameetman? Maybe they know someone if they can't do it.
Hameetman Racing Engines
2524 NE 9th Ave, Cape Coral, FL 33909
(239) 738-8627

 

It's getting harder and harder to find a competent shop that does engines that are mainstream such as SBC, or SBF. Finding one now to get a decent job done on something as rare now as a 394 Olds or maybe an FE Ford, or a 348 Chevy is getting more than just tough.
I think if I was determined to use these good, but now rare engines, I would give a serious though to the Fastenal route to a guy known to be competent on the engine in question, and known to have good business practices and integrity.

 

Don, I used Weber Auto Machine over in Sanford, FL.
Give Tim a call 407-three, two, four - 0 two, 0 eight.

Tell him Montana sent you. He fixed me up when I detonated a block a few winters ago.
He still does it the old fasion way.