Over the past 30 years I have used most of the popular machine shops here in the Milwaukee Wisconsin area. I had been working with the same one for the better part of 20 years but there had always been some issues, none I felt were large enough to merit a change,.....until recently. Had a customers BBC 427 in for the most basic machine work, bore/hone, balance, and valve job. Got it back from them with serious chatter marks in #8 cylinder. When I called them out on the issue the shop owner refused to work out a solution. I was told that lately I always find something wrong with their work and that I should take my machine work elsewhere. That got me thinking that he was spot on right,.... if I always find something wrong then I should have been shopping for a higher quality shop long ago. We have a shop or two in the area that I feel can handle the more common engines (as one shop helped straighen out the BBC chatter issue) but I am not comfortable with any shop in the Metro Milwaukee area for the Buick machining. So if anyone would care to chime in with their personal recommendation for a Buick friendly machine shop within Wisconsin or outlying areas with their own experiences that would be great. I perform all prep, fitting, mock-up, measurements, set-up, and final assembly so I'm looking strickly for machine work only. Larry
Must be rich if they can turn away business. After 20 years they tell you to beat feet, I wonder how they treat the average guy who is a first time customer.
I know they have most of their eggs in 2-3 "very rich customer's baskets". He pulled the same "I don't want your business" card on a High End Hot-Rod/Restoration shop in Waukesha right before he turned his nose up at my shop......Anyhow, its time to move on to find a quality machine shop I can trust to perform the machine work right the first time with good customer service and without an attitude.
Hey Larry.. this may be off base, but this guy does high end Model T Ford restoring and quite a bit of T Model engine rebuilding. He does a lot of stuff himself but does farm out the machine work, much like we do. He's generally a know it all masshole (LOL) but he also KHS. He probably deals with low volume machine shops (old school?) and may be able to direct you to some one local that can do what you need, one hole at a time; not mass production, then come and get it. I bought a model T touring car from him and he delivered it to me in Darien, Il by Chicago. Mite be worth a try.... Bill Adam L Doleshal, (262) 569-5081, 847 W South St, Oconomowoc, WI ...
what was the cause of the noise anyway? edit, i misread your post. i thought you had a noise from the #8 cylinder. upon further review i see it was just sloppy work.
Good machine shops are hard to find. I thought that I was in good hands when I had my Chevy 383 built by what was supposed to be a reputable shop. After "Break in" the motor never stopped smoking. I finally pulled the motor and had it sent to a better shop. The block is toast, cylinders out of round, deck not square and best of all it had the wrong piston rings, that's why it always smoked. And they blamed me for not breaking it in correctly. :spank:
Tough to find a good machine shop nowadays. All the good ones around here have closed up, not sure why. I'm told that excessive regulations made it difficult to turn a profit..?? the only one left in my area is ok for daily driver type stuff, ie resurface cylinder heads, valve jobs etc, but by no means would I have them do any performance type of work.
I too am very picky when it comes to machine work. I use Terry Engine in Howard wis.Green Bay area. Small shop,never had a problem with any of my builds.been going to him for over 20 years.
Thanks Dan, That sounds like the same shop Ross Roman was telling me about,......the contact there he gave me is Shane Gritt. I'll give them a call. Larry
George @ Motor Masters (262) 670-9145 south of Hartford on Hwy 83 has done a few Turbo 6's and a BBC for me....
Shops are closing because anything built in the last 20 years is non-rebuildable. Ford mod motors, 5.7 Hemis etc. Theres not enough old engine work to keep a shop open.
Yes larry,Shane works for terry.they do great work.Shane has a badass 37? Chev truck.ls twin turbo.Fast!
I was in contact with Shane at Terry's Engine Rebuilding last night and it looks like I'll be headed up to Green Bay to check out their operation as per Dan Zepnick and Ross Roman's recommendation. I will keep you all informed. http://www.terrysenginerebuilding.com/ Thanks Guys Larry
call Aaron at 608-469-5893, he's built several engines for my customers cars and hes building my stock appearing BBB. he's one of the must anal guy I have met when it comes to machining. he is in edgerton,wi
