I recently had a neighbor ask me
"where he could get a billet flywheel resurfaced, that looked dis-colored from heat,
and get a scored crank journal repaired, that had a minor scratch from a spun bearing failure?"
he was told the $450 billet steel flywheel was not worth repairing,
and he would be better off buying a new forged crank "$780"
I suggested he try talking with several other other local machinists ,
at several other local machine shops,
before he just pitched his expensive and very repairable parts and buy new parts,
I told him, many "machine shops would much rather sell you newer, parts,
as it takes less work, by them and there's a higher profit margin, involved,
plus, they tend to add in other required / and profitable jobs,
thus, adding additional profit potential,
like reminding you you'll need to have the new components re-balanced,
to match the existing parts,
that might not be required with old, repaired parts, or might be included in the repairs, lowering the true profit margin,
this is especially common if the shops already backed up with work.
keep in mind the quality of the work done, and experience that's required to do anything, of the machine work,
depends on both the skill and experience of the machinist, the tooling he has at hand,
and whether or not he thinks doing the required work is worth his time and effort for what he can reasonably charge!
I know for example I had aluminum heads on a BBC at one time that required new valve seats and valves,
the machine shop I used to deal with told me the heads were "past the point they could be repaired"
I later found the machinist, just hated doing valve seats, and had recently had one of the required machines,
he needed to use break down, and he knew it would take several days work,
and several hundred dollars in parts cost,
he was reluctant to get involved with at the time,
a different machine shop completed the work in only 5 days, and did a great job,
" the required work did not take that long,
but waiting my turn to get the heads worked on did take several days"
and once the heads were done, they charged me $230, charged for labor and parts
So it was not, that the heads were "IRREPAIRABLE" but that the first machinist just did not want to do the work required
in many cases , (we can't do that translates into...)
" its not worth my time and the effort required for the price I can reasonably charge."
or
that work requires a tool I don't , or won't use often enough,
to justify its purchase price"
if you are going to build and maintain a high-performance car,
using some aftermarket parts,
you will be using, a local machine shops service's rather regularly
and most likely be forced into many detailed time-consuming discussions with several local machinists
on a regular recuring basis so you better try to make them like and understand you,
appreciate the business and cash you're investing in the process and cash for the parts you purchase from them,
and ideally take an interest in helping you succeed
related thread and linked sub linked info
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...haft-journal-surface-finnish.2728/#post-72043
"where he could get a billet flywheel resurfaced, that looked dis-colored from heat,
and get a scored crank journal repaired, that had a minor scratch from a spun bearing failure?"
he was told the $450 billet steel flywheel was not worth repairing,
and he would be better off buying a new forged crank "$780"
I suggested he try talking with several other other local machinists ,
at several other local machine shops,
before he just pitched his expensive and very repairable parts and buy new parts,
I told him, many "machine shops would much rather sell you newer, parts,
as it takes less work, by them and there's a higher profit margin, involved,
plus, they tend to add in other required / and profitable jobs,
thus, adding additional profit potential,
like reminding you you'll need to have the new components re-balanced,
to match the existing parts,
that might not be required with old, repaired parts, or might be included in the repairs, lowering the true profit margin,
this is especially common if the shops already backed up with work.
keep in mind the quality of the work done, and experience that's required to do anything, of the machine work,
depends on both the skill and experience of the machinist, the tooling he has at hand,
and whether or not he thinks doing the required work is worth his time and effort for what he can reasonably charge!
I know for example I had aluminum heads on a BBC at one time that required new valve seats and valves,
the machine shop I used to deal with told me the heads were "past the point they could be repaired"
I later found the machinist, just hated doing valve seats, and had recently had one of the required machines,
he needed to use break down, and he knew it would take several days work,
and several hundred dollars in parts cost,
he was reluctant to get involved with at the time,
a different machine shop completed the work in only 5 days, and did a great job,
" the required work did not take that long,
but waiting my turn to get the heads worked on did take several days"
and once the heads were done, they charged me $230, charged for labor and parts
So it was not, that the heads were "IRREPAIRABLE" but that the first machinist just did not want to do the work required
in many cases , (we can't do that translates into...)
" its not worth my time and the effort required for the price I can reasonably charge."
or
that work requires a tool I don't , or won't use often enough,
to justify its purchase price"
if you are going to build and maintain a high-performance car,
using some aftermarket parts,
you will be using, a local machine shops service's rather regularly
and most likely be forced into many detailed time-consuming discussions with several local machinists
on a regular recuring basis so you better try to make them like and understand you,
appreciate the business and cash you're investing in the process and cash for the parts you purchase from them,
and ideally take an interest in helping you succeed
related thread and linked sub linked info
Machine Shops Around Me
GRUMPY, I've got some options of machine shops around me that I'm going to try and call during the week and speak to them about boring and having block clearanced to stroke it. What are some things I need to know going into this and what should I ask and also talk to them about to feel them out...
garage.grumpysperformance.com
unshrouding valves, and polishing combustion chambers
I think you missed my point It was a pun intended towards Skipwhite performance..... Short of the long story Skipwhite performance build a motor for me in 2015 fast forward 2018 They built junk from what I have ran into, Grumpy and the gang have gave me all kinds of advice and help so far...
garage.grumpysperformance.com
finding a machine shop
HOW to find a decent machine shop THATS SIMPLE, IN CONCEPT (but can be a P.I.T.A. in some locals) GO TO THE LOCAL DRAG STRIP with a PAD and pen,ask several obviously experienced race car owners,about the machine shops they avoid and those they recommend I don,t know about all areas but here in...
garage.grumpysperformance.com
don,t guess on clearances and journal surface
So I decided to buy a couple of worthless old 283s to learn how to build engines. If I acquire the appropriate skills, I'm going to build a torquey 383 out of the anemic '77 350 in my C30. It tows cars, but it doesn't exactly set the road on fire, if you know what I mean. Anyway, I bought two...
garage.grumpysperformance.com
advice on picking a shop to do work
READ THIS THREAD AND LINKS FIRST viewtopic.php?f=87&t=4786&p=12990&hilit=machine+shop+written#p12990 MAKE SURE YOU CLEAN RECENTLY MACHINED PARTS THE MACHINE SHOPS VERY UNLIKELY TO DO A GOOD JOB http://www.gregsmithequipment.com/40-Gallon-Parts-Washer ALWAYS GET A WRITTEN DETAILED LIST OF WHATS...
garage.grumpysperformance.com
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...haft-journal-surface-finnish.2728/#post-72043
multi-angle valve job related
for a valve to function correctly it needs to both seal completely when seated against the head and allow efficient flow between the valve seat and underside of the valve as it lifts off its seat, the curtain area( that's BASICALLY, the distance the valve is off its seat times the valve...
garage.grumpysperformance.com
bearing clearances
Understanding Today’s Bearing Clearance Recipe ■Tech Center by Engine Builder Staff - Feb 6, 2015 0 3928 Print Email What’s needed to keep the rotating assembly rotating? It’s a recipe that includes three key ingredients: the bearing, the crankshaft and the oil. But understanding the...
garage.grumpysperformance.com
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