I can,t tell you how many times Ive had guys tell me long stories about having some engine shop or chassis shop or rear differential re-builder or clutch shop ETC. either take their money and not do the work as promised or not do the work on time as agreed too, or screw up the whole process. look the truth is that about 1/2 the machine-shops in many areas don,t do good work, don,t have skilled personnel, and don,t get the work done on schedule or get it done correctly. and some are out-right scam artists that should be arrested and jailed.
even the machine shops that do good work frequently don,t meet schedules they agree too!
your only recourse is to do the required research, go to the tracks and local corvette clubs, hot rod clubs etc. and ask questions, remember that in most areas you may find some guys getting good work done (the owners buddies) and much of the work rushed thru and not properly cared for, so its your job to search out and find the one or two shops you can trust that have both skilled personnel and the machines required to do the work you want done!
not much pissed me off faster than being charged for work that was obviously not ever done or some machinist telling you something you know for a fact is B.S.
before submitting your car for work or any major component like your (ENGINE,TRANSMISSION, FRAME, SUSPENSION, DIFFERENTIAL,PAINT WORK ETC.)you need to basically get a LEGAL contract signed with start and completion dates,CLEAR and NUMEROUS pictures of before and after work ,detailed descriptions of all work to be done, the listed prices for each process and completion dates listed and have all your parts clearly stamped so they can easily be identified with pictures of the stamped numbers, and the guys excepting the contracted work and a letter head contract
yes its a p.i.t.a. to do so, but you need some leverage if your forced to go to court, once you've dealt with a shop for a few months you may feel that's no longer required...IT IS! fail to do so and you'll usually find out why Ive found its a requirement!
OBVIOUSLY you want to do as much work as you can yourself, it would make very little sense to me to pay some guy $5000 to install a roll care in your car for example, if you have access to a place to work and your willing to learn new skills, a decent welder and a functional tubing notcher and a hydraulic tubing bender could all be purchased for about the same expense allowing you to do custom work, learn new skills and either keep or sell the tools later.
when I first started hot rodding I needed some brackets welded, the local welder at the time charged 1" an inch for welds, I quickly found the cost of having him weld the brackets would run close to 70% of what a decent arc welder at the time cost so I decided I needed to learn ho to weld because it was very obvious that over time Id easily pay for the welder many times over every year.
KEEP in mind if you don,t have a firm dated contract listing everything to be done and a FIRM due date when the parts are to be delivered, IF You paid in advance, the machine shop most likely spent the money, and now has no incentive to work on your stuff.
related threads
viewtopic.php?f=50&t=321&p=3007&hilit=machine+shop+written#p3007
viewtopic.php?f=50&t=1194&p=2483&hilit=machine+shop+written#p2483
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/engine-block-cylinder-wall-thickness.976/
viewtopic.php?f=62&t=3020&p=7961&hilit=finding+machine#p7961
viewtopic.php?f=50&t=5053
even the machine shops that do good work frequently don,t meet schedules they agree too!
your only recourse is to do the required research, go to the tracks and local corvette clubs, hot rod clubs etc. and ask questions, remember that in most areas you may find some guys getting good work done (the owners buddies) and much of the work rushed thru and not properly cared for, so its your job to search out and find the one or two shops you can trust that have both skilled personnel and the machines required to do the work you want done!
not much pissed me off faster than being charged for work that was obviously not ever done or some machinist telling you something you know for a fact is B.S.
before submitting your car for work or any major component like your (ENGINE,TRANSMISSION, FRAME, SUSPENSION, DIFFERENTIAL,PAINT WORK ETC.)you need to basically get a LEGAL contract signed with start and completion dates,CLEAR and NUMEROUS pictures of before and after work ,detailed descriptions of all work to be done, the listed prices for each process and completion dates listed and have all your parts clearly stamped so they can easily be identified with pictures of the stamped numbers, and the guys excepting the contracted work and a letter head contract
yes its a p.i.t.a. to do so, but you need some leverage if your forced to go to court, once you've dealt with a shop for a few months you may feel that's no longer required...IT IS! fail to do so and you'll usually find out why Ive found its a requirement!
OBVIOUSLY you want to do as much work as you can yourself, it would make very little sense to me to pay some guy $5000 to install a roll care in your car for example, if you have access to a place to work and your willing to learn new skills, a decent welder and a functional tubing notcher and a hydraulic tubing bender could all be purchased for about the same expense allowing you to do custom work, learn new skills and either keep or sell the tools later.
when I first started hot rodding I needed some brackets welded, the local welder at the time charged 1" an inch for welds, I quickly found the cost of having him weld the brackets would run close to 70% of what a decent arc welder at the time cost so I decided I needed to learn ho to weld because it was very obvious that over time Id easily pay for the welder many times over every year.
KEEP in mind if you don,t have a firm dated contract listing everything to be done and a FIRM due date when the parts are to be delivered, IF You paid in advance, the machine shop most likely spent the money, and now has no incentive to work on your stuff.
related threads
viewtopic.php?f=50&t=321&p=3007&hilit=machine+shop+written#p3007
viewtopic.php?f=50&t=1194&p=2483&hilit=machine+shop+written#p2483
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/engine-block-cylinder-wall-thickness.976/
viewtopic.php?f=62&t=3020&p=7961&hilit=finding+machine#p7961
viewtopic.php?f=50&t=5053
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